AD042 Axon 2

The Axon 2 download includes 32/64-bit VST and VST3, and 64-bit AAX for Windows 8 or greater, and as a 32/64-bit AU/VST/VST3/AAX for OSX (10.8 or greater). 

Also available for iOS AUv3 and Standalone in the App Store.

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. 

Manual (PDF)

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.