Axé (Ash-eh)

Axé (pronounced ash-eh) brings Epic Music and Latin American instruments together for the first time. Our aim was to sample a massive ensemble of powerful drums in a wet hall to create a massive-sounding ensemble that will bring composers a new take on what Epic Soundtracks can be.

With 81 Instruments in total, divided in 5 categories (17 Low Surdos, 17 High Surdos, 17 Dobras, 15 Caixas and 15 Repiques), Axé delivers a complete set of percussion that can fit perfectly in any large-size Epic composition.

Axé comes with different mixes aimed to offer composers a wide amount of perspectives that can adapt to any need. From Four independent Mono Spot mixes for a localised feeling, all the way to Stereo mixes (Close, Mid, Far and Balanced) and even Immersive Mixes (180-degrees, 360-degrees, 360-degrees with Presence and Front) natively compatible with any speaker-array.

Axé also includes Sound Design Percussion Kits as well as Tonal Articulations, and finally, we also developed a Smart Sequencer that will help you generate musically-coherent rhythms with one click.

Axé is available at https://www.audiobrewers.com

Instruments

With 81 instruments in total, divided in 5 categories (17 Low Surdos, 17 High Surdos, 17 Dobras, 15 Caixas and 15 Repiques), Axé contains a gamma that covers the whole frequency spectrum, from roaring Low-Frequency Surdos all the way to the massive High-Frequency transients the Repiques can produce when in ensemble:

• 17 Low Surdos: The Surdo (or Fundo) is a large bass drum with a very deep sound and beefy tails. To be able to tune it 'Low' (Primeiro), it should be around 20-26 inches (50-65cms) in diameter. Although traditionally the heads would be made from goat skin, nowadays they are made from Nylon for better resonance.
• 17 High Surdos: The Surdo can also be tuned to be 'High' (Segundo) when their diameter is between 16-20 inches (40-50cms), usually a perfect 4th-5th from the Low Surdo, and together, they beat the base rhythm of a Samba Reggae band.
• 17 Dobras: The Dobra (or Surdo Terceiro) is an amazing drum that, although still low in Pitch, has a much more dry sound and it's perfect for playing syncopations in Samba Reggae and even being in the foreground of music. The Dobra is slightly smaller than the Surdo Segundo and the beaters are less 'spongy' to produce louder transients and shorter tails.
• 15 Caixas: The Caixa is the most familiar instrument to non-Brazilian audiences: A Snare. For Samba Reggae and other Brazilian Rhythms, they are in charge of creating a rhythmic background "mat" in around which music revolves.
• 15 Repiques: The Repique (Also known as Repinique) is the front-person of the ensemble - the 'melody'. They are a small drum that is usually hit with a Nylon stick (some types of music use Wooden sticks). Repiniques have a huge Transient and when played in ensemble, create a massive and aggresive sound.

Mixes:

• 4 Spot Mixes.
  Axé contains 4 Mono Spot mixes for very localised sounds. Each of the Spots aims to a different section of the ensemble, providing powerful transients with a lot of presence.
• 4 Stereo Mixes.
  We also crafted four Stereo mixes for different perspectives: Close, Mid, Far and 'Mix', which provides a balanced sound between focus and space. The Stereo Mixes are a great way to start your composition before you can start adding and swapping other mixes and perspectives.

• 4 Ambisonics Immersive Mixes.
  As our main aim to offer tools for composers wanting to create immersive music (such as Surround, Atmos, etc.), we recorded and mixed Axé using also Ambisonics Microphones, and created four immersive Mixes that offer the perfect sensation of being right there with the percussion ensemble.

  A 180° Immersive Mix creates a half-moon immersive experience with the ensemble. Here, you can feel as if the instruments were from your left to your right, in front of you.

  A 360° Immersive Mix puts you right in the middle of the ensemble, where you can listen to the instruments all around you.

  A 360° Presence Immersive Mix works just like the 360° Mix, but the instruments have much more presence so their transients are much more aggressive.

  A Front Immersive Mix places the ensemble right in front of you, for a more localised placement of the ensemble - a great way to be able to pan the ensemble in the sonic spatial field.

Introducing our 'Smart Sequencer'

Because we're a hungry bunch of developers and musicians who want to provide users with the best of the best, we also took the liberty to create a Smart Sequencer aimed to assist composers in sequencing rhythms.

Our Sequencer is different from other sequencers as it offers up to 16 different tracks that are completely Assignable, Muteable, Soloable, Clearable and Randomisable.

But wait! When we mean Randomisable, we do not mean 'it will add random hits here and there'. We've spent a great amount of time to create what we call a 'Smart Sequencer' - every time you randomize a track (or the whole session), a completely musically-coherent rhythm will be generated, meaning it will always be usable with your music, and at the same time, it will always be unique.

Once you're done creating your Rhythm, you can Save it as a MIDI file or you can even Drag and Drop it directly into your DAW, making your workflow straight and simple.

Finally, you can load your rhythms (any MIDI, for that matter!) into Axé to play with them without the need of a DAW, modify them if you will, and manipulate the results.

Axé comes in Stereo and Ambisonics

So it's compatible with any speaker array configuration.