Starting points for guitarists

[kat]

I think the Axoloti is super fun for creating and controlling guitar effects, and if you compare to the cost of digital effects pedals, it is an absolute bargain (I mean, assuming Axoloti boards are in stock and you can actually get one!). I would love to see more guitarists using Axoloti and designing effects/patches for it. So... the point of this post/thread is to highlight some simple starting points. That is, some guitar effects you can either use or build immediately, with very little knowledge, that can compete with off-the-shelf digital pedals.

My first few picks do not really rest on objects/patches/code that I wrote... the point here is to share a few things I use regularly that will provide "instant gratification" if you buy an Axoloti and want to use it for guitar. A super crude demo of a few that I like is here:

And a page I wrote up with my own review of Axoloti for guitar (which also has info on how to make the simple patches in the video) is here:
http://www.kathrynschaffer.com/unpro.php#axolotiModal

If there are others in the community with some go-to guitar effects to share, please post them here! (and yes, I know there's the whole "stomps" folder in the library but honestly I never find myself playing any of those... do you?)

[Gavin]

There is my diode clipper object in the community library I created for distortion with more options. This explain it.

Gavin Contributions

New Object gav/Diode Clipping/Diode Clipping simulator one.axo This object is designed to emulate the effect diodes have in effect pedals to make the audio clip. The object controls seperately both halves of the signal, this allowing for asymetric configurations if desired. Clip level sets the voltage level (represented as 0 to 64, reverse for negative half of signal) at which the signal will clip. The 12 radio buttons determine the shape of the clip, ranging from soft to hard. However an ad…

And soon I want to build on it, looking to add a little randomness to slightly fluctuate the voltage clipping level, and the clipping shape. I want to try and close the gap between the unpredictable tolerences of a real diode and simulating one.

[valmir]

Community Pedalboard

Hi everybody. Inspired by this thread https://sebiik.github.io/community.axoloti.com.backup/t/general-midi-collaborative-library/2545 , I thought I'd start to publish some guitar oriented FX I patched with axoloti. I made them community-friendly (I HOPE!), a subpatch like a good old stompbox, with ins and outs, relevant controls and a switch. I used many community objects from @rbrt, @lokki, @TheSlowGrowth and many others... I'd like YOU to use this thread to post your effects in a similar format, so to inspire others a…

[kat]

Thanks @Gavin and @valmir.

I'm such an analog distortion snob, I have a hard time envisioning playing a digital diode clip. But I did play with that and I'm curious to open it up someday and see what the code looks like. @valmir, I don't know how I missed your original thread - thanks for linking it. I like the way you have set those up - very usable. You need to get the patches into the community library!

You are absolutely right that commercial tremolos are such a ripoff and Axoloti does that very easily and with infinitely more interesting options, which is a great thing to advertise to anyone who is considering buying one just for guitar purposes. I also had fun with your triangle wave and the deco one... again, I will probably come back and open up the guts and play with those. And yeah, the freeze is a nice practical thing to have so that's cool too. Thank you for sharing!

Nobody else? Anybody have a set of delay patches set up that can rival a Line 6? I know it's possible... and I would also love to hear if anyone has tried to top the "factory" wah...

[Gavin]

@kat,
I'll see if I can get patches done in the next week..

I do wonder however, which is more related to my personal goals, whether their is any value in recreating other existing pedals. Your right, analog distortion is practically impossible to compete against, but the diode clipping simulator (the code is really simple by the way, almost a beginners guide to coding approach) was an idea that no diode dist pedal could do, diodes clip at a certain voltage, I thought wouldn't it be interesting to be able to adjust the voltage, then came adding the curve, just a simple bit ship did that.
I guess its best summarized that I am looking for new ways to do things, rather then matching what is already done, but I also want to use cheap simple coding techniques that will result in odd results. Like for example, something I intend to work on shortly is a kind of repeating envelope following accent, so the envelope is triggered by a fixed sequence pattern, and as you strike the string, the tone will be influenced by whether you pluck it in time or not. I have lots of ideas like this that I have never seen in pedals, nor multi effect systems.

There is also the option of instead of creating patches, to create subpatches that could be added to a multiplexor so many effects can be added to a patch. just an idea..

BTW.. whats so special about Line 6 delay ??

Not a fan of delay, or line 6, have a looper patch though. Can fixed length, any length, have multiple running on one patch...

[kat]

I do wonder however, which is more related to my personal goals, whether their is any value in recreating other existing pedals.

I do think there is value in recreating existing pedals with Axoloti. Well, specifically, recreating certain types of sound or signal processing. The world of manipulating guitar sounds has been explored so extensively over the decades that guitar pedals have been a huge money-making project... almost any interesting sound you can imagine is probably a copy of something.

What Axoloti offers is that it is so much more compact, affordable, and capable of customized control. The control aspect is key. You can decide both the interface that you want (e.g. knobs or MIDI or whatever) and which things you want to actively control. With off-the-shelf pedals you are stuck with whatever interface they give you, and often it is both more complex than you might want and more limited.

I tend to be pretty impressed by the DSP wizards at Line 6 and EHX and some of the other digital pedal manufacturers. A lot of money and intelligence and time has been put in, in the industry, to find interesting and beautiful ways to filter and modulate a guitar signal. I do not own any of these pedals, but when I have tried them, there is a serious "wow" factor to the sounds they make and the range of options they can provide. I definitely think it is interesting to see how possible it is to get that quality and range of sound out of Axoloti.

I do also enjoy how Axoloti can make you create music in new ways with a guitar, which it absolutely can do. Like you, I've got my patches that are more of an algorithm that I actively interact with through improvising, and I think that's super cool too. However, if I'm playing with other musicians or working on a more straightforward song, I still use the Axoloti constantly, and usually I want it to replace well-known effects but in a way that I can actively tweak/hack.

For me, it is super cool that I can have more-or-less a whole DIY pedalboard with a few analog distortion pedals I have built myself, and the Axoloti filling in for delays, looper, reverb, bitcrusher, and so on.

[valmir]

I also approve the idea of recreating what already exist, for convenience (money, no hassle with ground loop noise, flexible routing of signals, weight...) and because you can (should?) evolve from there...

[Gavin]

@kat, I was looking at your link and saw you rightup on digipots, I was wondering seeing you also make your own pedals, have you ever thought of replacing the pots on your pedals with digipots so they could be controlled by an Axo or similar ?

[kat]

Hi @Gavin,
I made a new thread with my reply... yes, this is something I'm working with right now and would love to discuss!

[timeorspace]

Thank you for this informative post and subsequent discussions @kat ... it has prompted and motivated me to plug my bass into the axoloti for the first time... I am plugged into my DIY Bass to Midi unit and sending both straight bass and midi to the axoloti. I look forward to some potential fun and inspiring sounds and patches with this setup. Cheers.