Overwhelming Possibilities

#1

I just received my first Axoloti last week from the latest batch. I've been a long time lurker here, and have been extensively browsing threads for ideas for what to do with my new Axoloti.

When @weasel79 posted the topic Favourite Community Objects I was immediately overwhelmed by just how many things I could potentially do with my board. I had a couple of immediate ideas (some kind of complex FM synth, a sequencer like Omsonics stochastic inspiration generator) But now I cannot decide after seeing that huge list of community objects.

Just wondering if any of you have any simple but satisfying Axoloti projects you'd recommend for beginners? Or ideas you've had rolling around in your head, but haven't had a chance to try. Looking for inspiration and direction!

#2

I feel your pain - there's just so many possibilities! I have constant ideas but not enough time to try all of them!

What I liked doing at the beginning was making a simple subtractive mono synth and then experimenting with it - what happens if I have a bunch of different filters in parallel with offset cutoffs?... ....hmm, sounds nice... ....what happens if I send different lfo's/envelopes to them, each running at different speeds?... Etc.

I initially made some different patches along the lines of what I wanted - a synth, a sequencer, a Looper, some fx. And once I had the basic patches in place I had a lot of fun using them as templates and then experimenting with them and combining them- swapping out objects, using maths objects to manipulate controls, etc.

So I'd say, make some simple stuff and then just play around, ideas will form and it's a good way of learning the patcher.

It can be hard to finish stuff with the constant 'What if I try...' voice in my head!

#3

A good first project is to get some knobs and buttons working.

#4

try this thread for a generative/sequencer idea and video: https://sebiik.github.io/community.axoloti.com.backup/t/some-generative-ambient-relaxational-sounds/4561/3 download the patch add a few knobs, or more directly midi control them and figure out what's going on.

Same with the FM synth; SSS has a DX7 osc and sptnk has a4op Fm osc with a help patch.

I recommend sticking to your focus, seeing what is out there like the above that is like or near to what you want and taking ideas from there to get you where you need to go, follow the tutorials to fill in the gaps (watch Mytas's videos on youtube)

After all that just follow your interests and you'll end up with interesting patches

#5

As tele_player suggested, getting some physical buttons and knobs is definitely helpful for playing with ideas - having something tactile is more satisfying than just clicking in the patcher. Can start with whatever, I went the simple route and was using midi with an Akai MPK Mini which gave me a keyboard, 8 pads, and 8 knobs which was plenty to start messing with things.

Synth stuff is a great starting place - you can take a look at a lot of the sample patches and find things you like and try putting your own together to get yourself familiar with the patching. I'm primarily a guitar player so I went right into playing with effects for that. Tremolo is a very simple one to start off with and there is a lot of effect objects you can start playing with. Once you get the hang of things, more ideas will come to you

#6

Best way to learn Axoloti is just start building something.

And then when you have something build you can optimise it, with better or cheaper object or what ever your needs are.

The factory objects are usually a good starting point. Then you can always, lets say you are not happy with the filter that you use, try to find a better filter from the community library.

#7

I agree with everyone who said get some physical knobs and buttons working. :smiley: I bought my axoloti with the intention of building a stand-alone instrument (no need for a MIDI keyboard or anything) so the first thing I built was a one-octave button keyboard with a volume control and a button to toggle between two different adsr envelopes. It was really simple but since I'd never done anything like this before it felt so satisfying when I realised it actually worked!