A few new videos of my Axoloti projects

#1

Here are a few videos of my last 3 projects using my axoloti boxes.

The first one is using just a usb keyboard and one axoloti board, with a patch that includes 8 short mono sequencer lines, each connected to a different synth. I record each line one after the other, over and over again.
It's quite a melodic performance (for once) and I really want to continue exploring this kind of patch / performance configuration. I still need to find a way to have a sequencer subobject that allows me to have some release on the synth sound

The second video is a setup using 3 different axoloti boxes. The audio is daisy chained one into the other (green into yellow, yellow into black). The black box is just a reverb patch. The other two have sequencers, and synths of all kind. The yellow box is also sending analog signals out of PA4 and PA5, that I can patch up into any input of any box. The Greenbox is the master clock and sends it into the yellow box.
This one is much less melodic (even if there's a small modal jam starting at around 22'50).
All this setup is powered by a usb battery charger (that gives me around 7 hours of playtime, fully charged)
So this was a proof of concept for one of my dreams to have a battery powered modular synth setup, that I could play anywhere. The whole setup fits into 1 keyboard bag + 1 backpack (with the battery powered Roland amp). This is the setup I have the most liberty with, and making new patches for all 3 boxes is really quite exciting and fun. The hardest part is getting to know one's patch well enough to feel confortable when playing them (it just takes hours of playing and adjusting)

The last video, is a single patch using my black box, and a home made usb controller. It's a simple 4 operator FM patch going into some delay, but it can be very expressive and produce some great sounds.

All these performances are going to be part of a project I'm working on these days, called "Future Floods" that will consist on live music that someone could play on a raft, a lonely comet, an iceberg or the roof of a house. "I don't know where I'm going in life, but I taking my axoloti with me !" :slight_smile:

Call for instrument builders
#2

I thought I would share the patches used for each video, so I'll start with the first one today (snatches of dreams).
It's using a single patch, that has been in my community shared patch folder for some time now. But here it is too : 8linesequence.axp (84.6 KB)

It doesn't use any Gpio, but does use midi CC's. CC#97 changes the sequencer/synth line from 1 to 8 (after the 8th it goes back to the first). Each line has a separate table for note information (monophonic) and gate info, and then goes into a simple synth.
It's layering up the different lines that make it interesting.

I've tried to put a few labels on the important stuff, but nothing is complicated.
the different presets are just drum sequence variations (drum volume on CC#7)

I've also made a version of my sequencer object with 3 different CV tables (note, velocity and modwheel), plus gate on and off. It works just as well and allows much more variation in the sequences.

The big problem my small mind can't get by, is that I can't have any decay in my synth sounds, for some reasons (some I get, others a bit less) it doesn't work as expected, with the gate table or something... can't remember what now, but I know I got lost many times, (I even tried doing a table for the enveloppe information, but that didn't work either)
And I would love to have something like it, but polyphonic.
So If anyone ever wants to work on such objects, they can count on me for testing them out like mad.

I'll try and sort out my 3 different patches of the video 2 and put them online soon

#3

May i ask how much of your music is score and how much improvisation?

#4

100% improvisation these days. I don't have a good memory and can't read music, so I have no other choise

#5

I've just come back from a Gig I did at a great place during a festival (formes diverses de vida) in Amposta (Catalonia).
I did a perfomance using 4 axoloti boxes and a few midi controllers. Here is the video of the act, sorry about the missing video during the intro.

The festival was really fun, I met 2 people who owned axoloti's and a few others that were considering buying some soon.

#6

really nice video....
love the fm bells sounds, shows the power of axoloti for this... FM is becoming my favourite synthesis on axoloti.
(FM seems to be having a 'come back', perhaps due to the Volca FM?!)

what reverb are you using?

Id have loved to hear this live.... are you coming any further south in Spain anytime soon, if you do give me a shout :slight_smile:

#7

Thanks @thetechnobear It was great fun to work on these patches / setup, and playing live was great fun (a bit warm).
I havn't any future plans to play this year in Spain for the moment, but I'll try and announce it if ever I do.
I used a bit of extra plate reverb (Valhalla) for the video mixedown because it sounded very dry compared to the live sound (on the camera) otherwise on my different patches, I use a few short reverbs (my sub object is one of them) and I think I used some other reverb on an other patch (can't remember, and I havn't got my axoloti setup available to check)
As my internet connection is dead since the last few days (and it might last some time) I'll try to use my free time to do a few videos explaining my setup and the different patches.
Otherwise as you heard, and guessed, FM is my favorite synthesis methods these days too :wink: