The "Other" Wavetable Synths

[Apostate]

Is discoDSP Corona a wavetable synth or not?

I don't know about it being a wavetable synth, but it's a fine synth all the same imo.

[Apostate]

Ingonator, thanks for the fast and informative reply. It looks as though Wavegenerator might be the synth for me, as I wish to create waves. It's a pity I can't import though.

[Ingonator]

Although Massive has been around for a while the upside of that is it has some of the best soundsets available for any synth as some of the best designers have really got to know it well (the downside being there's also a lot of crap).

Oops, forgot to mention that i have Massive too...

[Ingonator]

Ingonator, thanks for the fast and informative reply. It looks as though Wavegenerator might be the synth for me, as I wish to create waves. It's a pity I can't import though.

There is a special record mode in the wavetable editor of Wavegenerator where you could "draw" partials and multiple waveforms will be created automatically while doing that (up to 256 waveforms).

It is also possible to copy a waveform from one wavetable and then paste to another one.

[Astralp]

Another vote for Dune 2 from me, I also love Largo but you can at least import WT's into Dune 2. I like the fact that both of these synths have good sounding standard oscillators as well as I do prefer mixing Wavetables with SAWs for example.

I've spent a little time with the Nave demo and will definitely get it at some point, it sounds great and uses surprisingly little CPU. I'll no doubt get Serum one day, but whilst it is seriously impressive, I find the sound a bit 'in your face' for my taste but I'm sure it could be tamed? I keep trying to like Massive as I've had it for years, but I just don't like what I get out of it.. maybe one day.

If I had to choose just one synth with Wavetable capabilities though it would be Dune 2 every time, it has so much going for it.

[Apostate]

Ingonator, thanks for the fast and informative reply. It looks as though Wavegenerator might be the synth for me, as I wish to create waves. It's a pity I can't import though.

There is a special record mode in the wavetable editor of Wavegenerator where you could "draw" partials and multiple waveforms will be created automatically while doing that (up to 256 waveforms).

It is also possible to copy a waveform from one wavetable and then paste to another one.

Ohhh, this sounds better and better. I sure wish I'd had more time with that synth, but it's likely I'll grab that and the PPG sometime this year. Had plenty of time with the PPG, great synth!

Z3ta is another WT (or whatever) synth that I'd never part with, terrific instrument imo.

[Lotuzia]

Massive, Largo and Nave are currently on my podium.

There's so much to do with this trio.

Did anyone mentioned the Korg WS ?

[Apostate]

Oops, wrong topic. Sorry.

[EnGee]

Massive, Hybrid3 and Largo are my favourites. I don't have Largo but Massive can cover it to an extent. Massive is a pleasure to program and has an original workflow while Serum for me is just an ugly copy of Massive and Razor.

Hybrid3 has lighter and softer character than Massive. Love it's sound

Nave is very good but I prefer the sound of Largo which is from the best synths ever IMO.

[Yorrrrrr]

Another vote for DUNE 2.

[goldenanalog]

Dune 2 supposedly will have a WT tool that will allow users to roll their own - overall: its reportedly lighter on the cpu then Serum -

It's "lighter... than", not "then".

You're right, of course!

Probably attributable to old age

Ingo: Do you have an Ipad, and if so: have you played around with some of the softs discussed here on your ipad (Nave, Wavegenerator, etc.) -

It seems like the functionality for many softsynths running on ios/win is the same in both ecosystems; the big difference being that you can easily run multiple instances of most softs on an up-to-date computer versus only singly on an ipad -

WT and additive synthesis are both fairly efficient sound-making methods digitally, lending themselves very well to the ios platform, especially now that the tech in, say, an Air2 is comparable to a computer based on a Q6600 - sure: 3 cores versus 4, etc. - and a Q6600 based computer running that gen's tech is old at this point (the current fastest workstations are roughly 8-10 times faster) but is still fully capable of running fairly demanding softsynths, supporting a DAW, etc - within reason, of course -

I have both wavegenerator and wavemapper on ios but only wavegenerator on the computer - unless I need to have a copy of wavemapper running on a computer (due to functional differences) I'll use ios wavemapper for wavetable design, then transfer -

Arturia, Virsyn, Palm, Waldorf, The Propellorheads, Korg, Yamaha, Akai, Casio(!), Moog, Cakewalk, IK Multi - all these guys now have a stake in ios - ipads are extremely portable, and with a little ingenuity they can be adapted for live performance use, even as a sound module that you depend on -

[Dan_E10]

The "wavetables" in Diversion are usally single waveforms, at least those that you could create yourself in the editor (some of the factory waveforms also allow morphing/blending).
Same is true about Cakewalk rapture where the termn "wavetables" was "misused" for single waveforms.

Seems wikipedia and wikibooks misuse the term wavetable as well then as they define a wavetable as a single cycle waveform. It seems this was the original definition of wavetable but was extended in functionality by PPG and the PPG definition is now more commonly recognized. However, I'm not sure I would consider Cakewalk's or Diversion's use of wavetable as misuse.

The wavetable is in essence an array of N values, with values 1 through to N representing one whole cycle of the oscillator. Each value represents an amplitude at a certain point in the cycle. Wavetables are often displayed graphically with the option for the user to draw in the waveshape he or she requires, and as such it represents a very powerful tool. There is also the possibility of loading a pre-recorded waveshape as well; but note that a wavetable oscillator is only a reference table for one cycle of a waveform; it is not the same as a sampler.

The term "waveform table" (or "wave shape table" as equivalent) is often abbreviated to "wavetable",[3] and its derive term "wavetable oscillator"[4] seems to be almost same as "table-lookup oscillator" mentioned above, although a word "wave" (or "waveform", "wave shape") may possibly imply a nuance of single-cycle waveform.

However, a derive term "wavetable synthesis" seems slightly confusing. In a natural usage of words, its original meaning is basically same as "table-lookup synthesis",[4] and possibly several actions on waveform(s) may be expected,[5] as seen on a paper about Karplus–Strong string synthesis[6] (a simplest class of "wavetable-modification algorithm" known as digital waveguide synthesis[7]). Then in the late-1970s, Michael McNabb[8][9] and Wolfgang Palm[10] independently develop the multiple-wavetable extension on the table-lookup synthesis[note 1] which was typically used on PPG Wave and known with wavetable sweeping,[11] and it was later referred as "multiple wavetable synthesis" by Horner, Beauchamp & Haken 1993.[12] Simultaneously since late-1970s, also the sample-based synthesis using relatively long samples instead of single-cycle waveforms, have become influential by the introductions of the Fairlight CMI and E-mu Emulator.

Dan

[Apostate]

I really like the sound of Hybrid. It doesn't do everything I'd like it to, but what it does do it does quite well. A very interesting synth imo.

[Apostate]

I'm wondering, would anyone buy Codex over the Wavegenerator by Palm? I really, really like the OSCs in the Codex, but the Wavegenerator has so much more modulation wise. I think what I might be asking is how the Wavegenerator oscs stand up to Codex's. Would appreciate any input a lot, I tried the WG for that stupid week demo and came nowhere near scratching the surface. He needs to change that one week deal imo.