I am friends with a hardcore dj from the midwest rave scene, and I think by what I hear from our conversations has survived well in the underground (I have not been to a warehouse rave in the midwest so I can't speak from experience). It's not like any scene has ever had it different than rave. Chip music has similar growing issues. First it's demoscene parties and LSDj and Nanoloop making their earliest beginnings, then next thing dubstep reggae 8-bit all on YouTube. But doesn't mean that chip music nights don't exist for those concerned about chip music's growing issues.
And I think growing old and grumpy does suck. :c
I went to a rave in Columbus as recently as 2005. It was doing pretty well, I have to admit. But there are problems in the rave scene that you would never in a million years have in the chip tunes scene, and I'm glad to have some distance from that.
