New member having a Friday feeling

#1

So I am trying to build a dedicated electronic instrument and have been looking at PD for a while as well as modular analog synths, then finally (I hope) I've found Axoloti and I'm excited.

My definition of a dedicated electronic instrument is something that is like a product, in a box, controllable externally, that produces a specific timbre, or family of timbres that can be played like an instrument by some kind of control surface or input.

So far I've experimented with a) analog semi-modular b) Audulus on iPad c) VCV rack on Mac d) PD on Mac. None of these seem to work for me.

a) Too expensive and a long journey as it costs a lot to experiment with different modules, too uncontrollable. And when you find the right sound you can't bottle it all into one small box.
b) Too complicated, and I don't like the sounds I've heard out of it but looks beautiful.
c) Too restrictive UI but some brilliant sounds, a great fake modular but not suitable for building an experimental instrument.
d) Pd definitely the best option, though I don't like the sounds I've heard from it and the cost of making a dedicated instrument in a box with Raspberry Pi is very high because of the additional hardware required.

So far Axoloti looks like it may be exactly what I need. Then I managed to find the list of primitives available and wow, it looks comprehensive, my excitement got going when I saw that there are now Mutable instruments patches to add some fabulous effects into the mix.

My Axoloti arrived in the post yesterday, right now I"m working 12 hour shifts so no time to play, I have to wait till Saturday.

Can't wait.

#2

This thing sounds great.

#3

The more I find out about this the cleverer it seems.

Now I've found my way around I realise I should have posted this in 'the lounge', I'll get it right in future

#4

Yeah Axoloti is fun :slight_smile:

Mine have not been in much use lately, as I have been building a lot of stuff in Pure Data.

I am waiting to get one of these boxes to make Axoloti a bit more like a real instrument:

I hope they soon have next batch ready :slight_smile:

#5

thanks for the heads up @jaffasplaffa , just ordered one :slight_smile:

@blackmountain , have you had time to play yet?
axoloti is cool, its really immediate to get good results - but also the more you invest time/effort into it , the deeper more rewarding it becomes.
(I still find it amazing what it can achieve with its CPU, compared to things like rPI etc, and the 'instant on' is fantastic)

#6

@thetechnobear

Yeah I dont think they had many left of this batch, so if you want one right now, I think it was smart move to order right away.

I am waiting for next batch, which should arrive I hope within a month or so. They come in different colors and so on. I would like a black one, which comes in next batch.

They have all ready made a couple of objects for it, you can check them here:

But yeah, I really look forward to be have a more "finished" instrument than these bare boards, hehe :slight_smile:

Edit.. Oh you found their object page all ready, hehe :slight_smile:

#7

yeah, I'm not too concerned about colour... more about getting another axoloti in a case, with a UI, as they get used more like that! quite looking forward to creating an "instrument" for it, I love the AxoControl, but the lack of a display made user feedback quite tricky.

oh, I think i bought the last one... as now they are all shown as sold out - lol :slight_smile:

#8

I just dont have too good experiences with white synths. They dont stay white very long. But yeah, minor detail and doesnt really mean anything for the functionality I guess.

Yes, to me this seems like the best option yet of all the options available, it has everything to make nice instruments, like parameter feedback(display) plenty of knobs and a few buttons. It all looks good :slight_smile:

Ha nice, I look forward to see what will come out for this controller. I think they are still planning some updates for the objects :slight_smile:

#9

Yes, had some time to start with it and I find a lot to like. It seems more intrinsically musical than PD and the granularity of the objects is a bit higher in many cases, so its more like VCV rack mixed with PD. The UI is easier to look at than PD for sure which is a bonus.

I'm mainly interested right now in creating polyphonic drones of various kinds and I think it will serve really well for that. I have some PD patches that I want to try converting over.

And yes, the 'instant on' is a big element of the way this can be 'instrumenty'.

I am starting some Eurorack so I'd ideally like this to be mounted in a rack, even if its not actually integrated electronically, just for ease of managing it. I've spent some time looking at the hardware thread and it doesn't look amazingly difficult to get it into a rack. The way the board is designed to split into two mini boards is really cool.

My one concern is whether there is enough processing power for some of the ideas I have and whether I'll need multiple instances to get the sound.