- Publisher: Audio Damage
- Product: AD042 Axon 2
- Version: 2.1.3 – SYNTHiC4TE
- Formats: VST, VST3, AAX, AU
- System requirements: Windows 8.1 or newer and a 64-bit DAW – 10.11 El Capitan or newer and a 64-bit DAW – Ubuntu 18 or later
Axon 2 is a drum synth driven by artificial intelligence. (Well, “intelligence” might be a strong word. Artificial something-or-other.)
An experimental instrument, Axon uses a modified artificial neural network as a sequencer, and features seven FM-based percussion voices, that are really a single 18-operator FM voice.
If that sounds weird, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
It is surprisingly intuitive once you get the knack of it, and is capable of all-new, complex rhythms that repeat in surprising ways.
It often gets referenced as a “random sequence generator,” but there is nothing random in Axon; it is entirely determinative.
The sequencer features seven “neurons” that trigger a voice and send a pulse when they have received a predetermined number of pulses.
You can wire the output of any neuron to the input of any other (with built-in loop detection to prevent runaway feedback), and in this manner pre-program the artificial neural network without having to go through a “learning” phase.
The seven individual drum voices, each triggered by its attendant neuron, are 2-operator FM voices in a configuration to best make percussion sounds, with additional FM and AM busses that all voices send to and receive from.
Each voice has a HPF, distortion circuit, and white noise generator to provide a full range of percussion-oriented voicing individually, while interacting with each other in new and unique ways.
AD042 Axon 2 FEATURES
- Artificial Neural Network sequencer features seven neurons, and is easily programmed to create strange new repeating rhythms.
- Seven FM percussion voices that also buss together to create a single monolithic complex percussion synthesizer.
- Full mixer with pan, level, mute, and solo on each voice.
- Built-in stereo delay with X/Y pad control over feedback and filter frequency, for live playability.
- MIDI in and out, for driving Axon from DAW and hardware sequencers, or driving your drum rack or other samples from Axon.
- Internal transport for non-synchronized playback.
- Resizable vector-based user interface.
- Drawn reciprocation dingle arm to reduce sinusoidal depleneration.
- XML-based cross-platform, human-readable preset system, with copy/paste, for easy transferring of your own presets and third-party offerings.