I am in a battle with a colleague about synths and sequencers etc, because he was in a music store and was watching someone hitting pads on a midi controller outputting drum sounds. And as he is in his late 50's, and a rock drummer for well over 40 years, this image bothered him and now he says that any one who controls synths or sequencers etc have no musicianship. I guess mentioning the Axoloti in the subject heading, could be any device that helps achieve the same results, I am just trying to make this topic Axo relevant.
Anyhow, I keep telling him, it does not matter what method is used, as long as their is skill required to give the final desired result. But he says, wiring up electronics and writing code does not display any musicianship.
I am sure I am fighting a loosing battle here, because when people are set in their ways, they just won't budge, this is fine by me, but it did get me thinking about how we do define music and musicianship, and especially with our wonderful Axo's in hand, what does this mean for the future of music and the way music is created especially considering more and more DSP is appearing in more music related devices then ever, and or does this make the musician's like my colleague who use them hypocrites. I must admit, when it comes to reviews about effects consoles, I am always reading about modeling of amps and effects etc, this doesn't sound right to me, all they want to do is copy what has already been done, where is the new ?
Just a discussion point if anyone is interested. 
The Axoloti, musician ship or just music or sound
Hey, drumming on a pad is not the same thing as drumming on an acoustic drum.
Acoustic drums are more about expressiveness, while electronic drums are more about sound itself.
You can have the best technique of all time on the most velocity-sensitive drum controller with the best possible drum sampler in the world, that won't sound like a real drum kit played with sticks from a human (ok, maybe it goes fairly close, but you get the point)
I guess the main difference between "traditional" music and instruments and electronic-ish stuff is the "driving force": in the first case it's the ability of a human to produce sound interacting with a physical instrument. In the latter all the music and the structure comes down to an algorithm.
Of course there are some shades in between, but they usually tend to concentrate on one side or the other (for esample guitarists playing through chains of effects, keyboardists playing keyboard stuff: these are using electronic devices to produce traditional music. But there also are electronic artists like boards of canada that try to make electronic music with a very organic and human feel, being however clearly electronic)
It's never about the kit and always about the sounds that are coming out. Most people don't care if the drums are made of gold with john bonham behind them, if the music is good, it's good. You might not think it but the whole of music is one bigass algorithm, full of structure begging to be laid out and understood, all we've done is move it from paper to a different medium.
I suspect some of these arguments, are as old as music itself 
some classical music devotees will tell you rock/pop is not music.
there have been some great discussions around this on the lines community, this is just one (of many)
... I think Ive seen similar discussion on muffwiggler etc, I think electronic musicians do worry about it, which is interesting in itself.
of course, some electronics will make music making 'easier'... e.g. you don't need to practice for months, to get a single note (like a violin)... but making music more accessible is not bad!
(even this, i suspect is a demographic thing, look in africa, or the middle ages, many just pick up rudimentary instruments and just 'play', they don't/didn't need gear)
historically, music making was a social thing, and not high art, so why be 'pretentious' about it, its a form of expression/creativity... its one form of 'art', does it matter the medium you use to do this?
I will say there are some flip sides...
conformity
probably my biggest bug bear - DAWs, Grooveboxes, keyboards - really tend to 'push' people down the 4/4 , 120 bpm, 12 note western scales. sure most can be changed, but the defaults mean we all get comfortable with these when we start - which is when we are at the most 'vulnerable' to influence/setting patterns. so you have to make big efforts later to break this. (all compounded, by so much music we hear follows this)
focus
with a traditional instrument, you have to practice it for many months/years... so you build a huge relationship with it, an investment.
with electronic music, the temptation is to flip between different synths/daws/controllers... and we just don't have the limitations/boundaries, there are so many possibilities, its almost stifling.
put another way, guitarists tell me they are still 'learning' after 15 years on one instrument, do we have that kind of focus/relationship with electronic instruments?
expression
Roger Linn (and others Lippold Haken et al) have been saying the art of expression is lost in electronic music. Roger saying we almost have lost the 'solo' due to this lack of expression.
Its all down again, to grids / keyboard being 'black and white'... not being able to play 'in between', having 'too much precision' (adding 'randomness' to make more human is kind of missing the point)
this is why Im a real fan of expressive controllers, these let you get back that performance/expression side, and reward practice.
technical
its very easy to get caught up in the programming, the upgrading , the GAS for new gear.
sometimes I do think , sell it all, and just buy a piano!
I will say, I fall foul of all of these 'flip sides' even though I try to consciously avoid them... but the upside is this area is its full of possibilities... avoid the 'traps' and the creative possibilities are unimaginable.
apologies for long post, but I think its a fascinating topic... and one I love to read about, as others posts on this, have given me huge insight into 'what is music', and a way to help me think about my relationship with it.
all said and done though, if your having fun, enjoying it... then I think everything else is irrelevant.
(unless of course your trying to make money from it 
)
I think the 'having fun' bit is key, really.
I imagine that most people on this forum (and in electronic music-making generally) are essentially hobbyists.
If we're generally making music primarily for our own enjoyment, I don't see why we should feel any particular obligation to push the boundaries, musically, technically, or in any other respect, unless we want to.
Having said that, I do agree about the temptation to be hemmed-in by constraints inherent in the way software tools in particular are designed.
a|x
I like complex questions like this, I’ll try a short answer from my point of view
I find defining musicianship is as hard as defining music, but it can be separated into 2 main categories : composing / arranging / producing vs performance / virtuosity / instrument skills
The concept behind both worlds is the same : producing an emotion.
The tools being used can orient us towards one or the other, but any of them have the same power to move us.
I can be just as amazed by listening to Petsounds than watching Sam Aaron program a gig with Sonic Pi.
Electronic music can fulfill most creative needs in infinite ways. The sonic range, the expressiveness and the control methods are gigantic, and new instruments can be conceived by the hour.
Are the majority of people ready for such acoustic richness ? maybe not, as emotions are related to a number of outside factors, such as security, habits, and that certain intelligence that helps us deal with the unknown.
Personally I don't see any difference between writing complex orchestral score and complex musical algorithm. Both require certain musical and mathematical skills. Composer doesn't even necessarily has to be a good instrumentalist. And the other way around, world is full of great interprets who are not composing their stuff. Definitely not a black or white topic to discuss.
I am all for creating something new. But to create somethng new, you have to have a pretty good understanding what is all ready existing. So I think it is a long process to get to the point that you can create some form of effect or synthesis that have not been made before.
Axoloti have played a huge role in my understanding on how to build different types of effects. This is why I prefer to use factory objects to make patches, rather than very customised objects. I understand everything better when connecting cables, objects, etc. myself. I dont understand the code part so well. So Axoloti does bring you(at least myself) closer to making something new, by understanding and exploring the all ready existing.
Just out of curiosity, if anyones knows: What is the latest effect type that was created and what was it?
Wow, I am amazed by all the wonderful perspectives on this.
I think one area that cannot be avoided is progress and technological advancement, if we are not part of it, we are just spectators, and it will keep changing, so I expect our views on matters like these will evolve with it. When those do make judgments however, it is often related to music and understandings of the past, but what of the future..
Good question @grimmreefer about the latest effect, I would be interested in this too ? I bet it was done on the Axo.. !!
I am not sure it is that new. I havent seen any form of synthesis on Axoloti, that I havent seen anywhere else.... YET.....
If you think of granular synthesis, which many people think of as a "newer" technique, it is actually really old. It was invented in the 50's by Iannis Xenakis. He took some tape of a tape recorder and cut it in pieces and put it back together in another order. That's how granular synthesis was invented. I guess the technique has been refined over the years, with no need for using tape machines anymore, it can be done real time on computers. But the technique is still old. And I think most advance in music technology today is not creating something new, but refining what we all ready have got.
Anyway, still curious about what the latest invented new technique is in audio production. I'd be suprised if it was from this decade.
But to be honest, I really dont know.
standing on the shoulders of giants - nothing is ever truly original ?
even if nothing is new (which i suspect is not true) , the ways we can combine , or execute is massively increase now due to computing power... its also more available to everyday musicians, so more people get to twist and bend it.
and with things (like Axoloti) getting smaller, the form factor make new things possible... there have been some really interesting 'diy instruments' recently, which change the way musicians interface with electronic sound.
this is why Im excited by axoloti... its not new synthesis (which I don't have the maths for!), but the ability to combine different synthesis, and also controllers - so many possibilities.
Yeah, I dont know what is "new" and original in Axoloti context. But I still think that you need to have a pretty good understanding of what is old before you can create something new. I think that is crucial for developing new stuff. Or else it is impossible to know if you are just creating something that was all ready made. Maybe it is new to you, but not the world.
But yeah, Axoloti might all ready have spit out something new. I cant say if factual true or not. There might be some new technologies involved in some axoloti patches all ready
But I do know that many effects are delay based, just different variations of how to use delay. Like chorus, flanger and delay and others. The all come from same technology - delay with modulation. Nothing new there.
Yeah true, Axoloti gives a lot of possibilities that was not there before. I tried Pure Data and Max MSP many times, but to me those are very much counter productive with exponential learning curve. They are not that "musical" imo and very hard in the beginning. If you want to build simple things, I dont see any reason to use them in the first place. There are hundreds of other choices that are much easier to use, that probably offer what you need.
Axoloti has definatly given me a much better perspective into "modular world". I am a "visual kind of guy" and I need visual feedback like Axoloti gives and also making patches in axoloti is much easier, imo, than PD MAX, etc.. I tried learning those many times, but after I got Axoloti I had within a year of getting it, all ready build all of those effects I dreamt of when I ventured in to PD, Max & reaktor. Axoloti made this possible.
So big thanks for making something that is imo way easier to understand and way more musical than a text based application Also the last post I made does give Axoloti a lot of credit for understanding all ready existing technology.
Ok article, btw. Originality does of course become harder, the more technology that becomes available. It is harder to invent something new, with out copying something old. BUT on the other hand, having lots of new technology could also bring new technologies, much easier.
Maybe I am a little naive to the more over priced items, but what is original about the Axo is on the guitar effects side. Yes we have seen versions with other maker boards, but the are very limited, no software, there are some devices that are finished polished products, they gui based software although limited, but it is definitely not open source, and the device is quite pricey.
The Axo is fully customization hardware, (within reason, you can't connect a dishwasher to it..) The software (also in a constant state of being further improved) is not just graphical, but can also be coded and all the objects are practically fully customizable, and the community and contributions is forever growing, well I don't need to preach to all of you on this.... !!
But to prove a point on the effects side, this is the first time I have ever thought of or even heard of being able to use an LFO to do something as simple as generate some kind of wavy pattern to adjust, volume, pan, or any other kind of filter for that fact. OK we have the flange, but this is very specific and it is very different to what I have described. I have been buying guitar pedals, trying them out, reading reviews for nearly 30 years and I haven't seen it yet. Maybe simple for someone in the synth world, but I have spoken to many guitarists about the Axo, and they all think its too complicated. I am sure a guitarist somewhere has seen this and is thinking of ways to do something similar and thinking they can make a pot load of cash.
Yeah sure, the open source approach to a hardware device is definatly new. Didnt think of it that way
Yes Axoloti can stille be complicated, but it can also be very simple. I think many musicians like to just have an effect and use it. They select a distortion pedal because they like the sound(there are 100's to choose from) so no need to really dig under the hood. And nothing wrong with that.
On Axoloti, to be able to build something that has got a specific sound, you first need to know what technology is used in the pedal and next you have to find out how to build it, maybe even create a custom object to get exactly what you want. You suddenly find yourself learning a lot of stuff which might not actually be what you want to do. You want to play the guitar not read about building distortion effecrt For many people it is just easier to go and buy a new pedal.
I have seen a dedicated "Guitar FX" a bit similar to Axoloti. It has got an Analog stage on the output for drive etc. It is called dmfx-1. Unfortunaly it is not in production, but everything you need to know to build one is on Github. I would love one of these to put after my Axoloti, to off load Axoloti a bit. Then I could use Axoloti for sequences synth etc and dmfx-1 for effects.
Basic demo of the drive circuit in dmfx-1
I disagree, with the correct buffering/voltage dividers you can indeed connect a dishwasher to it, or a microwave or a toaster oven... Fanfare for the common man when your cheese on toast is ready anyone? expresso with your aria? I know the axo seems like it's 'just' an audio producing unit but it's so much more than that, it's a whole development board that you can interface to pretty much anything.
I suspect that most of your guitar friends aren't using DAWs, if they're not then they're stuck in a live situation, where it might not be so easy to implement. If you're using a daw then these things are all there right at your fingertips and have been for a while.
I agree though that the axo may be a bit complicated for some but (and it's a big but) as the axo matures the ease of use will be ironed out as we share more and more patches to the community/factory libraries.
I bet all of your pals are capable of using presets on an effects unit and tweaking settings to suit? Add in tempo tap (everyone can count to 4!) or bpm detector and you've probably solved a lot of the issues.