Hi everyone... I have been quiet for a while because Axo has become so intuitive for me to use that I just make music instead of hanging around on the forum problem-solving... lovely for my own projects but not very collegial - sorry!
But! I have a challenge at hand. I have been using Axoloti for vocal effects with mixed results, and I am trying to figure out if there are hardware/fixed limitations that I am running up against, or if I can overcome my issues with some creativity.
To deal with mic/line level what I'm doing at the moment is routing my mic into an Eventide MixingLink which is sort of like a fancy DI box with an effects loop. I take the signal out of the MixingLink and into Axo, then back into the MixingLink which then I take out to the PA. In terms of patching, I've experimented with all kinds of stuff but almost the only thing I like is @cpwitz's tape delay, which ends up being really lovely on voice with the right settings.
Here are my problems:
1) playing live, my output levels are low compared to what sound guys expect from a vocal effects system (maybe this is just how I have the patch set up, or maybe it's that using a delay intrinsically makes me feedback-prone so I ended up backing off on levels? Anyway, I have to debug this either way.)
2) (the more serious problem): there seems to be some reason why my bare vocals, if I route them through Axoloti, sound like crap. I initially wanted to use an expression pedal tied to my vocal effects so that I can mix dry and wet... but "dry" sent through the Axoloti (that is, routing in and out without doing anything to the signal in the patch) sounds gritty and tinny and extremely "digital" with more feedback than I get if I bypass the Axo altogether. Since this is the case I don't gain the degree of effects control that I wanted in the first place, and I'm wondering if the whole idea of using Axoloti for voice is silly and I should buy something purpose-built.
I think I'm probably missing something...but I initially tried this on the presumption that sound signals are sound signals, and since I've had great success getting warm and full guitar sounds processed through the Axoloti, voice should not be different. if anybody has any insights or has done successful voice/mic-level processing through Axoloti and has tips on the right setup, I'd be really grateful! Thanks all!