Akai AX 60

ianjhicks · Post by **ianjhicks** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:16 pm

Just picked one up from guitar center of all places! I've been playing around with it, good stuff, the filter is harsher than i though it would be and I can see what people were saying about the "sweet spots" cool synth, I'm still alittle curious about what the cut off freq pot above the mod wheel does though..

gryphon · Post by **gryphon** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 2:05 pm

it controls how much the mod wheel affects filter cutoff. to turn on the modwheel, hit the button closest to it on the panel, i think it's underneath the arpeggiator and unison buttons. Then the knob actually does something.

Johnny Lenin · Post by **Johnny Lenin** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 2:41 pm

Yeah, the AX60 is one of the unsung heroes of synthdom. It has some really nice tone -- not sweet exactly, but definitely effective. The more I play it, the more I appreciate it. The MIDI implementation is pretty bad, though...

JUGEL · Post by **JUGEL** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:03 pm

It's slowly becoming one of my favorite synths. It just screams "techno" in all it's forms (hard, minimal, ambient, etc).

Very early Warp Records sounding. (Black Dog, B12, Nightmares on Wax). Great squelch's and sound effects. Could make the intro to Kraftwerk's "Robots" pretty easily. And some great pads/chorus sounds. And some decent mellow leads using self-oscillation.

The overall sound reminds me of a budget Jupiter 6. Just the programming isn't similar at all.

I really want to use it with a vocoder .. it's RES really sings.

Anyone know where/how to go about getting the cable to hook this up to an Akai sampler??

Johnny Lenin · Post by **Johnny Lenin** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:21 pm

JUGEL wrote:I really want to use it with a vocoder .. it's RES really sings.

It's funny that you mention that; I had the same thought exactly.

Right now, I'm finding that between the AX60 and JX-8P, I have a fine palette of analog sounds. More immediate control on the AX60, more sweetness and smoothness [though not necessarily always sweet and smooth] on the JX-8P. The complement each other perfectly.

Intervene · Post by **Intervene** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:47 pm

JUGEL wrote: Anyone know where/how to go about getting the cable to hook this up to an Akai sampler??

i remember asking the same question some time ago, and shoot me if im wrong but i do rembember someone saying that it was the same cable as used to the midipickup for the new roland guitar synths or something.

or something. ee

Chaorta · Post by **Chaorta** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:17 am

AX60 was my first analog synth

You can mod the cable that connects the samplers to it as an external in to process signals to the filter.

To be honest, i dont know a single person that's ever actually run a sampler through that input.

synapsecollapse · Post by **synapsecollapse** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:35 am

i could have sworn that Architecture had done the ax60 - s612 connection - he wrote the page about it on the sealed synthesis page.

http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/ar_ax60.html

ill try to message him and see if he can stop by and explain it.

phwb · Post by **phwb** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:58 am

I used it with the s612 and the s900 it never worked properly though. the s900 had this sine wave that sounded pretty awesome. I would sample a unison patch on my polysix and play in poly along with the AX-60, that was pretty sweet.

I'm sorry, 12 bit just sound awesome, it doesn't make sense but it just does. the s612 kinda sounded pretty analog on it's own as it had a 12db filter if I'm not mistaken but it's a lot cheesier and too limited. It had some really good hands on real time manipulation and you could keep stacking sounds forever which gets pretty cool after a while (you could probably do this with the s900 but it's not staring you in the face).

It's the roland cable alright, it took me months before I was finally able to figure it out. I nearly made one myself.

ianjhicks · Post by **ianjhicks** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:23 pm

can the ax60 interface with the s2000?

JUGEL · Post by **JUGEL** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:09 pm

nah ... too new

9mm · Post by **9mm** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:34 am

s612 - s1000 i think is all it can interface with. too bad too. would have loved to run all the akais through it.

though, true, 12 bit sounds awesome. you can just decimate that lo-fi crunchy sound through the ax60

Sir Ruff · Post by **Sir Ruff** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 3:00 am

phwb wrote: the s900 had this sine wave that sounded pretty awesome.

god bless that sine wave... a million rave records would be bassless without it!

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 4:59 am

Sir Ruff wrote:
phwb wrote: the s900 had this sine wave that sounded pretty awesome.
god bless that sine wave... a million rave records would be bassless without it!

Is it just a typical sine sound or does it have a uniqueness?

I love my VX90. Nice and squealchy. It can sound kind of lame, but if you program it right, you can be pleasantly suprised.

ianjhicks · Post by **ianjhicks** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:03 am

another thing about the AX60... It does have 2 envelope generators right? one for the filter and one for the amp, you just use the same sliders for both and switch with the buttons to the left of the sliders? Thats what seems to be going on with mine, but all the literature on the net says it only has one env generator, can someone set the record straight?