AXIOM 16-P Drum Synth: User Manual

1. What AXIOM 16-P is

AXIOM 16-P is a drum machine and small workstation that runs entirely in a web page. It has:

• 16 drum pads that you play with the mouse, the computer keyboard, touch or a MIDI controller.
• Several sound engines per pad: a sampler, a subtractive synth (with an FM stage), an additive synth and four more. The factory kits are made with these engines, so there are no audio files to download.
• A step sequencer with 16 pattern slots, ready-made song styles and live recording.
• Effects: reverb and delay for every pad, plus two more flexible effect slots.
• Two loopers and a DJ / LOOP mode with two decks, a crossfader and scratching.
• MIDI input, output, clock and MIDI Learn.

What you need

• A computer with Chrome, Edge or Brave gives the full feature set, including MIDI, choosing an audio output and saving to a folder.
• Safari (including iPhone and iPad) and Firefox play sound and run the whole app, but have no Web MIDI. Safari also has no folder picker and no output-device choice.
• Android with Chrome works with touch and USB MIDI (with an OTG cable). Phones and small screens use the compact layout (see Compact layout).
• Web MIDI needs a secure page. The SynthCraft site is served over https, so this is already the case.

Nothing is installed and nothing is sent to a server. Your work stays in your browser (or in a folder you choose).

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2. Quick start: your first sound

1. Open the app and click anywhere on the page. A box reading AUDIO ENGINE READY asks for this click, because browsers keep audio silent until you interact with a page.
2. Choose where to keep your files. The first time, the app asks whether to use a folder on your computer (it creates a folder called AXIOM Data inside the one you pick), to use the browser’s own storage, or to ask again later. Browser storage is fine to start with.
3. Hit a pad. Click one of the 16 pads, or press 1 2 3 4, Q W E R, A S D F or Z X C V. Clicking higher on a pad plays it louder.
4. Press PLAY (or the space bar) to start the sequencer. STOP returns to bar 1, step 1.
5. Change the drums. In the preset bar, open the KIT ONLY list and choose a kit. Loading a kit never changes your tempo or your pattern.
6. Change the rhythm. Open SEQUENCE STYLE and choose a style. This loads 16 patterns and never changes your sounds.
7. Hear a whole setup at once. MASTER FULL SET loads a kit, 16 patterns and effects together.
8. Set the tempo by typing in the BPM box, dragging the big BPM number up or down, or pressing TAP a few times in time.
9. Try the dice. RANDOM KIT makes a new sound for every pad; RANDOM PATTERN writes a new pattern.
10. Save your work with FILE → SAVE PROJECT when you like what you have.

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3. The interface

The window is a single “instrument”. A top bar holds the tempo, transport, volume, modes and menus. Below it are the pads, the pad editor and (in PERFORM) the sequencer.

The three modes: EDIT, PERFORM and DJ / LOOP

Three large buttons at the left of the top bar choose what the whole app is for. The app opens in PERFORM.

A typical workflow: design pads and kits in EDIT; play and write patterns in PERFORM; turn patterns into loops and mix them in DJ / LOOP.

Everything PERFORM does not need is switched off to save processor time. When you return to EDIT it all comes back, and your EDIT effects are kept.

Views

The app remembers your mode and view between visits.

The top bar

The tempo rule

Loading a kit, a full set, a sequence style, a pattern slot or a pasted pattern never changes your tempo or swing. Each of these only remembers the tempo it was saved with. To use that tempo, press ↺ PRESET, which sets BPM, swing and groove together. A small tag beside it shows what last changed the tempo: EXT CLOCK, TAP, PRESET, PROJECT or LOOP MATCH. The one exception is loading a project, which restores the tempo, swing and groove saved in it.

The FILE and SETTINGS menus

FILE

SETTINGS

Some switches (SLOW CPU, PAD LIGHTS, MONO PADS, FOLLOW CLOCK) are not remembered between visits. KITS LOAD AS, AUDIO BUFFER, mode and view are.

Compact layout (phones and small screens)

On a phone, a small window or a touch screen, the app opens in a compact layout: the menu and the EDIT | PERFORM | DJ buttons at the top, page tabs below them, and 16 large pads that change meaning with the tab. The COMPACT and FULL buttons (or Alt+4) switch layouts on any device.

Under the pads are play, stop, record, tap tempo and BPM buttons. A sheet button opens the editing panels (synth, LFO, final filter, effects, loopers, loop set, tools). The menu holds the kit, set and style lists, project save and load, rendering, export, MIDI and storage.

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4. The 16 pads

The 16 pads sit in a 4 by 4 grid. Hover a pad to see its name and keyboard key.

Every kit keeps this order, so the patterns of a style play the right sound in any kit. Two extra round pads, LP A and LP B, sit under the grid and play the two loopers (see Loopers).

Pad lights. A pad flashes for a moment when its sound plays, whether the hit comes from the sequencer, MIDI, a key or the mouse. Hi-hat choke. The closed hat (pad 7) cuts the open hat (pad 8), as on a real kit.

Tools under the pads

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5. The pad editor and sound engines

Select a pad and open the SOUND view (F2, or EDIT SOUND). The PAD SOUND ENGINE area has a tab for each engine. The lit tab is what the pad plays in EDIT mode. Each pad remembers the settings of every engine, so you can switch back and forth and compare.

• SAMPLER: plays a recording. This is the voice used by PERFORM.
• SUBTRACTIVE SYNTH: oscillators and noise, shaped by envelopes, filters and drive, with an optional FM stage.
• ADDITIVE SYNTH: a bank of sine-wave partials you can draw and shape.
• Four more engines, described in More engines: physical model, waveshaper, wavetable and vocoder.

Most sliders are drawn as rotary knobs. Drag a knob up or down to change it, hold Shift for fine steps, and double-click to reset it. Hover any control for a tooltip that explains it.

Rendering to the sampler

Every pad has a sampler, and the sampler’s sample is what PERFORM plays. Synth sounds are turned into samples by rendering. A pad with no sample is rendered automatically when you enter PERFORM.

These buttons are repeated at the top of each engine page. Rendering never changes which engine tab you are on.

Sampler

Use the sampler for recordings, for light-weight pads and for rendered synth sounds. It is the best engine for live playing.

In PERFORM mode the sample strip shows the waveform of the selected pad with one rubber-band tool. Drag the two vertical handles to set where the sample starts and stops; drag the two round points to set the fade-in and fade-out.

Subtractive synth

Sound starts in up to three oscillators and two noise generators. They are summed, shaped by an envelope and filters, then driven. Soft hits sound darker and hard hits brighter.

The top row has RECIPE CATEGORY (Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, Crash Cymbal, Ride Cymbal, Clap, Tom, Wood Block, Rim Shot, Bell and many more), CHAOS and RANDOMIZE SUB SYNTH. Choosing a category loads a starting patch and sets the effect sends to 0. Randomize varies the pad within ranges that suit its category; CHAOS (0–100%, default 25%, the same value as the UNIQ slider) sets how far it strays. Below are seven tabs: OSC 1, OSC 2, OSC 3, NOISE 1, NOISE 2, FM SYNTH and SUM & SHAPING.

Oscillators

OSC 2 and OSC 3 have the same controls with different starting values and wider frequency ranges. The waveforms are: Sine, Triangle, Saw + (Rising), Saw − (Falling), Square, Rectangle (25%), Random / S&H, Sub Sine, Hyper Saw, Metallic Bell, 808 Bridged-T Sub (the 808 kick resonator), 909 Snap Resonator (the 909 kick core), 6-Schmitt Metallic Cluster, and three cymbal oscillators:

• Metal Cluster: 6 squares: six square waves at the inharmonic ratios of the TR-808 hat and cymbal circuit.
• Shimmer Cluster: 12 beating squares: the same six with a slightly detuned twin each, so the metal shimmers like a crash or ride.
• Modal Plate: 14 inharmonic modes: the vibration modes of a struck plate, for clanging cymbal bodies.

Noise generators

Each noise generator has LEVEL, PAN, MUTE, TYPE, HP CUTOFF (HZ), LP CUTOFF (HZ) (together a band-pass), PRE-ADSR ATTACK and PRE-ADSR RELEASE. Types: White, Pink, Brown / Red (dark), Metallic Cluster, Velvet (sparse clicks) and Sizzle (grainy glitter, good for cymbals). Defaults: NOISE 1 is pink at 0.20 (HP 20, LP 1800 Hz); NOISE 2 is off at 0.00 (HP 3000, LP 6500 Hz).

SUM & SHAPING

FM SYNTH

The FM stage adds one carrier oscillator whose pitch is bent by any of your sources. Tick FM STAGE ON, then tick the sources that should act as modulators in SEND INTO FM. A ticked source leaves the normal sum and bends the carrier instead. It is off by default, and with it off the pad sounds exactly as before.

Starting points

• 808-style kick: OSC 1 on 808 Bridged-T Sub, level 1.0, start 130 Hz, end 48 Hz, pitch decay 0.025, tone decay 1.4; a touch of pink noise as a click; ADSR decay 2.0, sustain 0; shaping HP 24 Hz.
• Snare: a sine body near 260–330 Hz with a short decay, plus loud white noise (HP 2 kHz) with a release around 0.4 s.
• Closed hat: two metallic oscillators plus metallic noise high-passed at 7 kHz, short ADSR decay (about 0.12 s). Put the open hat (longer decays) on pad 8 so the closed hat chokes it.
• Clap: two layers of noise, the second delayed a few milliseconds with a slower swell.
• Tom: a sine with a quick pitch drop and a little noise for the stick; use lower start and end frequencies for the lower toms.
• Cymbal: Modal Plate with a Metal Cluster and a Shimmer Cluster, Sizzle noise and a long decay; or add the FM stage with a cluster as the modulator.

Additive synth

An additive pad creates its sound by adding many sine waves, called partials. Each partial has a frequency, a level and a decay time. Bells, toms, glass, wood and metal are a handful of partials fading at different speeds, which is hard to make any other way. A pad can hold up to 128 partials. Live hits use up to 32 oscillators; to hear more, render the pad to the sampler. The badge ~N osc/hit shows the cost of one hit.

If you edit an additive pad that has been rendered, an orange note reminds you that edits are not heard in PERFORM until you render again.

The partial editor

The large canvas shows one bar per partial. The upper part shows level; the lower purple lane shows decay time on a log scale from 0.02 to 8 seconds. Bars move from cyan to orange as the harmonic ratio rises, and inharmonic partials are drawn in orange. Hover a bar to read its frequency, harmonic number, level and decay.

The EDIT row has A / B (which bank you edit), undo and redo arrows, and tool buttons: NORM (loudest = 1.0), SMOOTH, FLAT, INVERT, +H / -H (move every partial up or down one harmonic step), SNAP (to whole harmonics), + PARTIAL, - PARTIAL, UNMUTE ALL and COMMIT TOOLS, which prints the effect of the shaping sliders into the partials and resets those sliders (muted partials are deleted for good). The audition box plays the pad after every edit.

Shaping sliders

These work on top of the stored partials every time the pad plays, so they can be changed freely. They act on harmonic numbers, so they stay correct when you change the pitch.

Morph layer B

Layer B is a second set of partials copied from any pad and blended with the pad’s own (layer A) during each hit. Choose a pad in the list and press COPY TONE → B; tick align pitch to transpose it to match. Choose Cross-fade (A fades out as B fades in) or Glide (partials slide) (matching partials slide from A to B). MORPH START and MORPH END set how much of B is heard at the start and end of the hit (both 0 means B is silent), MORPH RAMP TIME sets the time between them and MORPH CURVE bends it. B → A, SWAP A/B, COMMIT BLEND → A and CLEAR B manage the two banks.

More engines

Four more tabs appear in EDIT. Each has RANDOMIZE and DEFAULTS buttons, a tooltip on every slider, and every slider can be an LFO target. They are light on the processor because a hit is calculated once and then played from memory.

Chord. The CHORD strip (on the vocoder page) plays up to four notes at once from a single hit: four note lists (semitones above the pad’s pitch, or off) and TRANSPOSE (−24 to +24). It works with every engine and is part of the render.

LFOs

Each pad has two LFOs (low-frequency oscillators) that move any slider of the pad editor during a hit. There are about 170 possible targets: oscillators, noise, filters, FM, envelopes, additive shaping, the final stage, pad volume, pan and tune, the other engines, and even the other LFO.

Pitch, filter cutoffs, resonance, levels, pan, FM index and the final filter move continuously within the hit. Other parameters take one value per hit. All LFO movement is included when you render to the sampler.

PAD CONTROLS

The final stage at the right of the editor applies to every engine. In PERFORM only volume, pan, the sends and basic sample controls remain.

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6. Kits, sets and styles

The preset bar at the right of the second row has three levels of preset, from biggest to smallest.

• Choosing a set also moves the KIT and STYLE lists to the matching entries.
• Loading a kit replaces everything you did to the pads, including edits and loaded samples. Loading a style or set replaces all 16 pattern slots. Save a project first, or use UNDO.
• A kit also replaces the master compressor and reverb settings and sets the master level. If the volume changes after a kit load, adjust MASTER VOL.
• A first-time user starts with the lightest reverb, Light Room. Once you choose a reverb yourself, kits may bring their own.
• Kits are stored as synth settings and as rendered samples. With KITS LOAD AS: SAMPLES the rendered sound loads, which is light on the processor; with SYNTHS the pads stay live and editable. The first time you use a kit it is rendered on your computer, which takes about a second, and the result is kept for next time.

Pattern order of a style

Every style is one song of 16 parts, colour coded on the pattern buttons:

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7. The sequencer and patterns

The sequencer is part of PERFORM mode. The toolbar at the top (patterns, bars, style and random pattern) stays in view while the track rows scroll beneath it. The TOOLS button opens the rest of the tools and the full grid; closed, the pads stay large.

How it is organised

You edit one track at a time in the step row. Select a track by pressing its pad (or a looper pad). The step lights under STEP // BEAT follow the playhead while the bar you are looking at is the one playing. Steps 1–4 are red, 5–8 orange, 9–12 yellow and 13–16 white, so you can count beats at a glance.

Steps

New steps have velocity 100, no timing offset, centre pan and the Normal modifier. Switching a step off keeps its values for when you switch it on again.

Step inspector

Step modifiers

Parameter lane

The strip under the step row has 16 cells and four tabs. Press and drag across the cells to draw values.

Pad velocity can be a performance in itself: factory patterns use accents, ghost notes and rising rolls. VELOCITY RESPONSE and VELOCITY CURVE in PAD CONTROLS decide how much each pad reacts.

Bars, length and the grid

Live recording

Press REC to arm recording. If the sequencer is stopped it starts. Pads you press (mouse, keys or MIDI) while it plays are written into the current pattern at the playhead. The gear next to REC opens SEQUENCER LIVE RECORD SETUP.

Velocity comes from where you click the pad, a fixed 100 for computer keys, or the MIDI velocity. A locked pattern slot refuses recording.

Track, bar and pattern tools

Track tools work on the selected track and shown bar. They are refused on a locked pattern.

Pattern tools work on the whole active pattern.

Pattern slots and switching

The PATTERNS row has 16 buttons, each showing its number and role (Intro, Verse 1, Chorus 2, Fill and so on). A slot stores all tracks and bars, the length, the role, a name and the tempo it was written at. Slots are saved in projects.

A cued button pulses; a slot cued for the next bar line has an orange outline and a faster pulse. Clicking another slot replaces the cue.

• CHAIN: ON turns on song mode. At the end of each pattern the next slot is cued, through slot 16 and back to 1. Choose a style, switch CHAIN on and press PLAY to hear a whole song.
• FOLLOW moves on from an intro, fill or bridge after it has played once, by default to a verse. GOES TO... lets you choose a target for each. Switched off, the part loops until you choose another.

Swing and groove

Swing changes what you hear and what a rendered WAV contains. It does not move steps in the pattern.

Rendering a sequence to a loop

The RENDER SEQUENCE... button in the sequencer area opens a window with three choices:

• Render the active sequence into a loop slot you choose (a slot that already has a sound is replaced).
• Render all sequences to all 16 loops. This replaces every loop and asks first. Empty sequences leave their loop empty.
• Render to a WAV file (16 or 24 bit): the active sequence or all of them, one file each, saved into the app’s data folder, a folder you choose, or downloaded.

Renders use the pads’ samples and the reverb and delay as PERFORM plays them. The tail of the last bar is folded onto the start so the loop repeats without a gap. Shortcut buttons in the loop area (SEQ → LOOP, ALL → LOOPS) do the same.

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8. Effects

The effects are send effects: each pad has send knobs that feed a copy of the sound into a shared effect slot, and the slot’s output is added back to the mix. The effect makes the wet signal only; the dry pad stays as it is.

Edit them in the 4 AUX FX BAYS tab. Each pad has four matching send sliders in PAD CONTROLS. In PERFORM only the reverb and delay exist, as the light Light Room reverb and a basic stereo delay unless you chose others. To bring a heavy reverb into PERFORM, use PRINT SEND FX, or render with + SEND FX.

Reverb and delay

Reverbs: Light Room (cheapest), Plate (default), Studio Hall, Chamber, Cathedral. Controls include pre-delay, size, decay (0.2–15 s), damping, low cut, diffusion, modulation, stereo width and early reflections. Delays: Stereo Delay (default), Ping-Pong+, Tape Echo. Controls include time (or tempo sync), a separate right time, feedback, ping-pong amount, low and high cut inside the repeats, wobble, drive and stereo width; changing the time glides like tape. Moving a knob changes the sound at once and never cuts the tail.

Tempo sync values

Wherever a time is tempo-synced (effects and LFOs), you can choose 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 as straight, dotted and triplet values, plus 1/64 and 1/128 for effects, and 1, 2 or 4 bars. A dotted note lasts one and a half times the straight note; a triplet two thirds.

Live trigger pads

In EDIT, AUX FX LIVE TRIGGER PADS let you play an effect like an instrument. Switch TRIGGER MODE on; each slot is then silent until you hold its trigger pad (or key 5, 6, 7 or 8 for FX 1 to 4). Releasing it fades the effect out, and the effect keeps running while closed so opening a reverb brings in the tail built up so far.

In PERFORM and DJ / LOOP the effects always pass and the trigger pads are not used; trigger mode comes back when you return to EDIT.

The master bus

All pads, the loopers and the effect returns meet in the master bus: a compressor, then MASTER VOL, then a limiter and a soft clipper, so the output never exceeds full scale. Loading a kit may change the compressor and master level. The metronome click goes straight to the output and is not affected.

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9. Loopers and loop sets

Looper A and Looper B

The loop tool exists twice. Looper A is sequencer track 17 and Looper B is track 18. Each has its own eight loop slots, level, pan, effect sends and on / off switch, and each can hold a short loop or a whole song. Under the pad grid, LP A and LP B pads play them, with LOOP A: ON / LOOP B: ON switches beside them. Switching one off silences it and frees its processor time.

Tap a looper pad to select that looper and play it. While the sequencer is playing the loop starts on the next bar line (the pad pulses until it does); with the sequencer stopped it starts at once. Sequence a looper like any other pad by putting steps on its track. A trigger plays the loop once; a new trigger cuts it and restarts.

The 8-slot loop slicer

Open the 8-SLOT LOOP SLICER tab (EDIT) or tap a looper pad. The buttons LOOPER A | LOOPER B at the top choose which looper the rack, the waveform and PAD CONTROLS edit.

While a looper is selected, PAD CONTROLS (volume, pan, pitch, filter, drive, sends) control the looper instead of a pad.

Loop sets

A loop set is a bank of 16 named loops. The LOOP SET tab (EDIT) lists them and lets you rename, render, load and delete loops, SAVE SET to a file (.axloops), LOAD SET, and CLEAR ALL. Loops come from RENDER SEQUENCE or from audio files. The set is kept in your browser or data folder. Large songs are not kept in the set after a restart.

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10. DJ / LOOP mode

Press DJ / LOOP (or F10). The pads and sequencer switch off and the DJ rig opens: two turntables (deck A on the left, deck B on the right, which are the two loopers), the list of 16 loops between them, and under each deck a 3-band EQ and a level fader. The crossfader sits between the decks. Only one loop plays on a deck at a time. The first time you enter DJ / LOOP with empty decks, the app renders a long intro and a percussion loop from the current kit and style and loads them so there is something to play.

Loading and starting

• Click a deck’s platter (or name) to select it, then click a loop pad to load that loop into it. The pad shows which deck holds it.
• LOAD opens an audio file straight into the deck as a song. Dropping a file on a deck does the same. STORE FILES IN A PAD also keeps it in a free loop pad.
• Selecting a deck does not start it. Press the deck’s own PLAY.
• While the clock runs, a started or loaded loop waits for the next bar line. With the transport stopped it starts at once. PLAY on a deck starts the main transport if everything is stopped; STOP CLOCK WHEN DECKS STOP (on by default) stops it again when the last deck stops.

DJ pads

Sixteen DJ pads sit under the decks (deck A pads 1–8, deck B pads 9–16). They are a separate set of effect and shout sounds made by the app: air horn, siren, laser, rewind, scratch, spin down, voice hits, bass drop, riser, boom, radio tuning, news sting, brass hit, crowd and boing. They answer to the normal pad keys, to MIDI notes 36–51 and to a click or touch. Your kit is not touched and plays again when you leave DJ / LOOP. To use your own sound, right-click (or hold) a DJ pad, or open DJ PADS...: LOAD puts a sound file (up to 12 seconds) in a pad, RESET restores the built-in sound, and LOAD 16 FILES... fills the pads in file-name order.

Decks while you play

In PERFORM a small DECK A / DECK B button next to each looper switch opens a mini mixer with play and stop, the loop list, EQ with kill buttons, level and crossfader, so loops can be mixed while you play and sequence.

Layering idea

Render all sequences to loops, then load a verse or chorus loop on one deck and a percussion loop on the other. Use the crossfader and EQ to bring the percussion in and out.

Limits

EQ crossovers are steep, so a kill leaves a little sound right next to a crossover frequency. The tempo of a song is detected roughly, so use TAP to correct it. The loop length buttons assume 4/4.

Deck keys

In DJ / LOOP the plain letter keys play the DJ pads, so deck commands use Shift: Shift+Q A Z W S are deck A play, cue, sync, scratch forward and scratch reverse; Shift+P L M O K are the same for deck B; Shift+1 to 0 load loops 1–10 into the selected deck. Tab switches the selected deck, and [ ] move the crossfader. Every control of the rig can be mapped with MIDI Learn, including a jog wheel for the platter.

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11. MIDI

MIDI needs a browser with Web MIDI (Chrome, Edge, Brave or Opera). Without it, the MIDI input list reads “Web MIDI Unsupported”; MIDI file import still works.

Devices and the monitor

To MIDI out the app sends a short note (note on and off) for every sequencer step, on channel 10 by default with the step’s MIDI note and velocity, plus MIDI clock (24 ticks per quarter note) and Start, Continue and Stop messages. The clock ignores swing.

What incoming messages do

• Notes 36–51 play pads 1–16 (pad 1 is C1, pad 2 is C#1, and so on up to D#2). Note numbers here follow the convention where middle C is C3 = 60; some programs show them an octave lower. Note 35 also plays the sub kick pad. Velocity sets the pad level, and with REC armed the hit is recorded.
• The NOTE MAP in MIDI SETUP chooses what a note plays. Pads in order from C (default) plays pad 1, 2, 3 and so on from note 36. General MIDI drums plays the pad whose drum role matches the General MIDI note, so a GM drum keyboard or drum track plays kick, snare, toms and hats on the right pads whatever your controller’s layout.
• A control you have mapped yourself with MIDI Learn on a pad note does not take the pad over: the pad plays and the mapping is ignored. Learn that control again on another note.
• Start, Continue and Stop messages start, resume and pause the transport. Some controllers send transport as controllers 116 (stop), 117 (play / pause) and 118 (record) with a value of 64 or more, or as MIDI Machine Control; those work too.

MIDI Learn

1. Choose MIDI → MIDI LEARN. A banner reads MIDI LEARN ACTIVE and learnable controls get a dashed outline.
2. Click an on-screen control. It pulses and the banner says what it is listening for.
3. Press a key or pad, or turn a knob, on your controller. A chime confirms the binding.
4. Click the next control, or press EXIT LEARN to finish. Bindings are kept in your browser and are not part of a project.

Navigation buttons (PADS, SOUND, SEQ, the editor tabs) keep working while learn is on; Alt+click one to learn it. File pickers, text boxes and drawing canvases cannot be learned. While learn is on, clicking a control selects it for learning instead of operating it.

Mapping table and learn sets

Pad controllers

MIDI SETUP → PAD CONTROLLERS suits grid controllers such as the AKAI APC Key 25 or mini and the Novation Launchpad. With 8 x 4 pads, the top two rows play pads 1–16 and the bottom two rows toggle steps 1–16 of the selected pad.

MIDI clock

Sending. With a MIDI OUT port chosen, the app sends the clock and transport messages whenever it is not following another clock.

Following. To sync to a drum machine, DAW or hardware sequencer:

1. Choose the master’s port as MIDI IN (USB). Clock is read from this input only.
2. Open SETTINGS and press FOLLOW CLOCK so it reads ON.
3. Start the master. The app rewinds and starts on the master’s next tick; Continue resumes and Stop pauses.

The tempo is taken from the spacing of ticks, may be fractional, and the tag shows EXT CLOCK. While following, typing a BPM or using TAP is overridden by the next clock update. CLOCK OFFSET (−80 to +80 ms) shifts your beats later (+) or earlier (−) against the master: if your kick lands late, use a negative value. Start at 0 and adjust by ear in steps of 1–5 ms. Ableton Link cannot run inside a web page; to follow Ableton Live, send it as MIDI clock.

MIDI files

Export. EXPORT MIDI (pattern tools) saves the active pattern as a Type 0 file at 480 PPQN on channel 10 at the current tempo. Each active step becomes a note with its velocity. Timing offsets, swing, pan and modifiers are not written, and a ratchet is one note. Each pad writes the General MIDI note for its role (kick 36, sub kick 35, snare 38, clap 39, rim 37, closed hat 42, open hat 46, and so on), so a GM module plays the right instrument.

Import. FILE → MIDI IMPORT opens a window for Standard MIDI files (.mid, .midi; type 0 or 1). Choose the file, pick the track if there are several, set how many bars to import (1, 2, 4 or 8), audition it, and adjust the routing table that maps each MIDI note to a pad. AUTO-DETECT GM resets the routing to General MIDI roles. Press COMMIT TO SEQUENCER to import.

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12. Projects, autosave and export

Saving and loading

FILE → SAVE PROJECT downloads everything as one .axiomproject file, including sample audio. LOAD PROJECT replaces the current state with a project file; it stops playback first and sets the tempo, swing and groove from the file. It rejects patch and song files, and files from a newer version of the app.

A project contains: tempo, swing, groove, click settings; the master bus; all 16 pads with every engine’s settings and their sample audio; the effect slots; all 16 pattern slots with names, roles and lock state; track mute and solo; chain mode; record settings; and the OFF switches for pads 9–16 and the loopers.

A project does not contain the looper audio, your MIDI mappings (they have their own export), the mode and view, or the current choices in the SET, KIT and STYLE lists.

Autosave

The app checks for changes every few seconds and saves to your browser’s storage, including sample audio. While the sequencer plays it saves at most every 20 seconds to keep playback smooth, and it saves when you switch tabs or close the page. On your next visit a bar offers RESTORE (loads the session, including its tempo) or START FRESH (deletes the autosave). Until you choose, the old autosave is not overwritten.

Undo and redo

Up to 32 steps, from FILE or with Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z (or Ctrl+Y). A step is recorded a moment after you change a control, click a step, draw in a lane or load a preset. Covered: pad settings, mixer, effects, steps, pattern slots and the master bus. Not covered: loading or replacing a sample, tempo, swing and click, loop audio, MIDI mappings, and mode and view. The additive editor also has its own undo for the canvas.

Exporting audio and packs

Where your files live

The app holds no audio files of its own. Rendered kits, loops, loop sets, sequences, imported MIDI files, renders and projects are kept in the place you chose at first start. With a folder, everything is in a folder called AXIOM Data, which you can copy to a thumb drive or another computer. With browser storage, the files live inside this browser. Change the choice any time in SETTINGS → STORAGE FOLDER.

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13. Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts do not fire while you type in a text or number box. Function keys also work while a list has focus, and ignore Ctrl, Alt, Shift and Cmd combinations.

Pad keys are ignored while Ctrl, Cmd or Alt is held and while a key auto-repeats. Modal windows close with their close button, not Esc.

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14. Tips for slow computers

Audio is generated live, so an older computer can crackle or drop quiet sounds. Work through this list in order:

1. Use PERFORM mode. It plays rendered samples with just a reverb and a delay, and is by far the lightest.
2. Open SETTINGS, set AUDIO BUFFER to SAFE (SLOW PC) and reload the page. Only live pad playing feels the extra delay; the sequencer schedules ahead.
3. Keep KITS LOAD AS: SAMPLES and MONO PADS: ON.
4. Lower VOICE LIMIT to 16–24.
5. Switch SLOW CPU on, and use OFF 9-12 / OFF 13-16 for pads you do not need.
6. Use fewer effect sends and keep the reverb light (Light Room is the cheapest). Print heavy effects into a sample with PRINT SEND FX.
7. Switch off a looper you are not using with its LOOP switch, and use RENDER AT TEMPO on loops.
8. Close other tabs and apps. Chrome and Edge give the best results.

The LOAD / DSP badge

When the app notices it is falling behind, it protects the beat: it widens its scheduling window, halves the voice limit for a few seconds and skips soft ghost notes on non-essential pads. Kick, snare, clap and rim are never skipped, and a kick, snare or clap can steal the tail of a hat or percussion voice. If you need the reverb to stay on regardless, leave FX AUTO-MUTE ON OVERLOAD off (the default).

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15. Troubleshooting

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16. Glossary

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