Its all about the music (challenge)

challenge
#1

lots of tech talk on the forum, anyone fancy a simple challenge to tip the balance the other way a little ?

Challenge: make a 'piece' of music using Axoloti

any style, any duration... any definition of the term music :slight_smile:
submit as many as you have time for, but must be made between now and end date (15th March and 29th March) - no previously released stuff.

no votes this time, its all about sitting down and making some music, here and now with Axoloti.

End date: 29th March (two weeks from now)

Restrictions: just one, all sound generated and effects used must come from Axoloti, so you cannot use external synths or effects (software or hardware) - thats it.

to keep it as open as possible:

  • you can use daws or other hardware for multi-tracking/loop/sequence/mixing or whatever
  • you can use samples in axoloti
  • as you can multi track, you can of course use as many axoloti patches as you wish

mixing, I guess we can allow some subtle eq/compression, but lets keep it subtle, unless its done in Axoloti, then it can be as wild as you like :wink:

this means no clever patching/programming is required, some simple axoloti patches are all you need, and you can glue it together with other tools you have.

of course, this is fully inclusive... if your thing is detailed patching/sound design/generative music, thats welcome too, whatever floats your boat.

Submission: post a link to soundcloud, you tube etc in this thread.
please make sure its an embedded link, people are unlikely to want to start downloading, and visiting other sites.

if you wish, you can also share any patch or patches in the community library, but this is not a requirement for this challenge.

Tips:

  • for those just starting out, the tutorial and demo patches give the basics for all you need for this challenge
  • for those who may not have been keeping up with axoloti development, 1.0.12 introduced some new oscillators (brds) and effects (clds,rngs,lmnts) - with these you can easily create nice effects and instruments e.g. a brds oscillator into a rngs/reverb, is simple but really effective, that anyone can patch in minutes
  • the community library has a lot of objects covering many areas, just don't get overwhelmed in the choice.

Hopefully wherever you are on your Axoloti journey, you can join in and have some fun, and use it as an excuse to 'focus on the music'

(any thoughts/suggestions, feel free to post below)

#2

Great idea. I'll get to it this weekend! :sunglasses:

#3

3 posts were split to a new topic: Off-topic challenge chat

#4

ok, heres quick piece, with some very simple patches ... as per challenge, everything is axoloti, I only played with the levels in Ableton.

a description of whats going on in the youtube description.

#5

OK, after trying to do something different (and failed...) Here is an improvised track recorded last Saturday for the "Placard" festival. It was played and diffused live on the internet, and I was just one of the 25 different artists (we each had a 30 min time schedule). It was also diffused via headphones in a number of places around France.

I am using 4 axoloti boards, in 3 different boxes.
The black box is running the usual granular sampler patch + a binaural bass sound (great for headphones). I had a microphone plugged into it, and made some sounds and notes with my mouth before it all get chopped up and out to our ears.
The Ribbon box has a patch that includes 4 delay lines fed with a selection of different oscillators, 8 different kind, selectable by the two buttons, and a reverb
The Keyboard Synth is two axoloti's. One for creating the sounds (where I can go up and down patches with two buttons), and the other is 6 different delay lines with volume, pan, reverb and variable delay length.

I just used a brickwall limiter while mixing the track, no extra effects or anything

I do recommend listening to the music before watching the 360° video, because it does get into the way of the experience, and also, sorry about the 1st minute of the video, I forgot to switch the camera on, so I filled it up with inverse footage.

#6

all part of the process, I think, I did the same last week, had an idea, but whichever way I turned it, it just never gelled.

but thank you for the piece you have given us, wow, such variation from haunting to quite mellow, quite a roller coast ride :slight_smile:
(I've not watched the video yet, but hope to get some time later)

#7

I just left a comment on YouTube. This is great stuff! Like discussed before I'd love to get access to that granular sampler patch of yours.

#8

Very, very nice! Oh, to own a Soundplane. If I am correct you used some of the physical modeling oscillators. That brassy / syncy sound is especially great. Was that modeled as well?

#9

...so here's my itsy bitsy chunk of noise...called 'it happend at 2:07' to keep you listening...
recorded live at first take,'pure axo' (a tiny bit of mastering done with LIVE)

..setup is including the mandatory bottle of something :wink:

this is the patch:
(it's all mapped to a LIVID BASE,without it may not make much sense...)

dronemachine.axp (47.8 KB)

#10

Nice @rbrt gets wild in the middle

@brasso which bit? Sorry, I put this together pretty quickly, basically they are simple all patches brds oscillators into clds reverb... and some into a lp or comb filter on some- I'd need to check. Then its just adjust params a bit, and scale x,y,z of soundplane into various params. As I said, quick simple stuff... often I prefer this over creating complex patches. (and maximizes resources I have for patch)
(I just switch between them all using program changes messages from the push2, using clip launch, again super easy, but very hands on)

#11

Let me gues. You like drones and distortion. Edgy stuff!

Just like the other tracks it proves that it is not difficult to give the Axoloti a personal push. It surely does not sound characterless or confining.

#12

Great track @rbrt ! I can definitely recognize the axoloti sound on this track, I'm starting to really like the way the sound glitches out when pushed to some extent.
I love some of the sounds and expressiveness from your track too @thetechnobear I do look at your soundplane with envy, It look really pleasing to play !
We should really make an axoloti big band one day :slight_smile:

#13

Yeah, those modeled brds oscillators are going to get a lot of attention from me. In that respect your tracks is a very good demo of the sort of stuff I hope the Axoloti can offer. The viola type sound starting at 1:00 min is a modeling giveaway. Such sounds are very difficult to do well with anyhting else then modeling. Off course there is sampling but then you only get pure imitations of real instruments and as remarked earlier I am more interested in the fifty shades inbetween (cuse me!) The sound I tried to point out earlier is the buzy one that starts at 2:20 min. Very nice!
Also love your jamy's and socks by the way.

#14

as you say the early one, is brds/bowed... and the sequenced line is brds/pluck

so its switches at 2:30, id guess its one after this that you mean...
patch before 2:30 is based on the brds/wavetable

patch from 2:30 is based on brds/sawswarm into Johannes's lp filter ( which I love, very creamy)
the swarm and lp, are being modulated to varying degrees, by pressure and Y, so hard pressure, and high on Y axis, is quite bright/harsh, lower pressure, low Y is mellow.

for sure, lots to still play with brds, has so many oscillator types, and I really only played with the more obvious ones, and not even touched layering, or crossfading (my favourite 'trick') with combinations... the cpu was nice and low, so definitely lots of opportunities there.

#15

Finally have my Axo with Axocontrol :wink:
This is just some noise from the Axocontrol test patch going into Ab Live 4 Loopers with limiters.

#16

Glad to hear you have the axocontrol sorted out :smile:
This track reminds me of some of the soundtrack from forbidden planet, very inspiring.

#17

Yeah sorry. I mean 2:35 min. Anyway. Your contribution and that of Mathew basically prove that the Axoloti already ticks most boxes as far as my Holy Grail ideals (see thread) are concerned. His granulator and / or these modeling oscillators plus a fair bit of delay hanky panky between them and a "standard" subtractive final section should already come very close without me having to dive into C.

#18

Yeah, very Louis and Bebe Barron indeed. If you'd add a spring reverb it would really get the monster of the ID running.

#19

Thanks @thetechnobear, this must reside on the subconscious...

@brasso don't know if there is any emulation on the axo world; the patch used does have reverb, on/off controlled by the joystick button :wink:

#20

What I meant is that adding a spring reverb would take it even closer to the typical 50ties SCI FI movie sound Technobear is associating your stuff with.