My Soundcloud Tracks (Ax60, uQ, Bass Station)

[smoothcriminal]

Some electronic music for your enjoyment made with an Akai Ax60 + software drums and FX.


http://soundcloud.com/mattplanner/axaisong

[D-Collector]

Nice! Great to hear the AX60, it has a special sound. I have always wanted one. Catchy rhythm too!

[garranimal]

A most under-rated synth, you've done it some justice.

[smoothcriminal]

I agree it's underrated... whats not to like about a $300 analog poly? I'm going to try to make a few tracks that aren't so saturated with effects to serve as more straight-up demos of what it can do.

[smoothcriminal]

here's another track I made for the "one underrated synth" contest. Although it's inelegible because I used a delay.

soundcloud page

[Composition86]

here's another track I made for the "one underrated synth" contest. Although it's inelegible because I used a delay.

soundcloud page

I like this second one, crazy bassline! Everything else is ok but I think that a louder arpeggio would be better.

[smoothcriminal]

For sure, I'll keep working on it. I mixed it on headphones (which is bad apparently) and I'm finding it borderline unlistenable on my stereo speakers. So maybe a 2nd pass mixdown.

[smoothcriminal]

I suspect the last couple of tracks I've been uploading were rendered at the wrong samplerate causing them to sound shitty. Here's a new one -


http://soundcloud.com/mattplanner/padded-echo-chamber

[ninja6485]

noooo - the first song you posted uses a very similar form to my competition piece!!! sounds great though! i never knew how the ax-60 sounded before. i definitly like it. from your song it sounds more apealing then my juno 60, but you know what they say: the grass is alwayse greener on the other side.

[smoothcriminal]

Do you mean similar form as in the patches used or the song structure?

At some point I hope to get the chance to A/B an AX60 and a Juno60. They are so similar in terms of what front-panel controls are available, it makes me curious about how similar patches compare.

[ninja6485]

song structure. i would be interested in hearing an a/b sort of thing. sounds like something solderman would have up his sleeve already

[smoothcriminal]

Ah, I'm in the process of trying to learn music theory/songwriting, and that song was my first attempt at a traditional "pop" structure as per the textbook I'm reading, so it's not too surprising that it would be similar. Can't wait to hear yer track!

The A/B seems like a good opportunity to directly compare DCOs and VCOs since the two synths happen to have editing parameters that roughly correspond, taking out alot of the guesswork in making similar patches. Speaking of A/B, how do you find your JX8P compares to the Juno 60? The JX8Ps have piqued my interest since they are so affordable compared to Junos at this point, if you buy one without a controller, and I don't mind software editing via MIDI.

[ninja6485]

i like it alot more actually! i alwayse have to do alot of work to my juno 60 tracks to get them to sound right, but my jx alwayse sounds right when i record it (would it be correct to say when i "track" with it? i'm not familiar with that phrase, but it sounds like it works in that context.). i think partially that's because i wasn't expecting the jx to be anything special. as far as comparing them, the juno: apple, the jx: orange. without owning them, i picked the juno first due to hear-say. but after owning them, i would pick the jx. it's alot trancier which i like, and it has a really nice 90's 'windows 95ish' type of tinge to it that i find really appealing. it sounds like stuff you would hear on an aqualite or resistance d album. i don't really see it as an alternatice to the juno: the two compliment eachother nicely, and don't really overlap. editing it isn't really a big deal, it's just more work unless you have the pg-800 which i do not. i rely on hitting the buttons! you can do alot of strange harmonies by pitching the two oscilators differently, and wile playing the patch you can switch between the different modes, 2 mono modes, 2 poly modes, etc, which dramatically change the nature of the sound, and you can switch modes wile playing for different parts which is pretty sweet.(which is possible on the juno if you turn it on wile holding the transpose button) plus the portmento. it can do a nice detuned supersaw sound as well.

Ah, I'm in the process of trying to learn music theory/songwriting, and that song was my first attempt at a traditional "pop" structure as per the textbook I'm reading, so it's not too surprising that it would be similar. Can't wait to hear yer track!

awesome. i'm using an intro section +transition, then i build and introduce theme 1, go to theme 2 with no transition, and then revisit themes 1 followed by theme 2 over 1 transposed to the dominant and then cut the rhythm and play theme 1&2 together again in the tonic wile leaving the main bassline in the dominant as the coda. it has too many layers, which is pushing the envelope of my eqing ability, but as soon as i get a decent enough mix and run it through wavelab i'll post it. i'm using the Korg radias btw maybe i'll do a second entry with the jx and we can compare.

[smoothcriminal]

New track, slightly different directions than my other tracks... more of a drone, with some rough samples from science documentaries...

http://soundcloud.com/mattplanner/expanding-universe

[themilford]

Nice tracks!

It's nice to hear other folks using this synth.

Now we just need a few Youtube vids... if I wasn't such a sucky keyboard player I would make one myself.

What are your feelings on the low-end/bass capabilities of the AX-60?

I ended up getting the Mopho and a set of bass pedals to help out there.