Wavetable Synthesis?

[zerocrossing]

...Indexed multi-cycle wavetables can give you the classic timbral evolution people associate with PPG etc.

Are there any good editors for Indexed multi-cycle wavetables and what are the best VSTs to work with them ?

My favorites are Tone2's Icarus and Dune 3, but I have to say that I've not spent much time editing wavetables in Serum 2. Previous attempts were a bit difficult for me. I like to take a sample and import it and have the plugin make me a wavetable out of it, and I had a hard time getting Serum 1 to get me the results that I was after.

[swilow11]

^I find Vital sometimes works a bit better although options are more limited compared to Serum. I find that using Vital to do stuff like resynthesising preset often works better than Serums resample option.

Slightly diverging off topic, but the Carve Toy browser based wavetable creator is really fun and easy to use.

[HAL76]

This is one of the first wavetable synths and MosLab made it shine like a diamond



In the 90s we used the Micowave 1+2, Waldorf made a Quantum out of it in the meanwhile and kids today use Serum, currently raving about V2.

[pasha12345]

What is the practical usefulness of wavetable synthesis? What sounds could I make with it specifically that I couldn't with the other synthesis methods?
For what do you personally use wavetable synthesis?

Skrillex, using Massive, essentially shaped the dubstep style, which then inspired many imitators and pushed wavetable synthesis to evolve. Today, Serum is considered the number one wavetable synth.

[9b0]

What is the practical usefulness of wavetable synthesis? What sounds could I make with it specifically that I couldn't with the other synthesis methods?
For what do you personally use wavetable synthesis?

there's nothing that you could not do using other synthesis methods.

a single wavetable oscillator is only capable of creating harmonics exactly at integer multiples of the fundamental. this is due to repetition. technically they are samplers, but they usually use additional tables with reducted spectral content to avoid aliasing. usually, warping and FM results in aliasing when using wavetable osc's.

compared to subtractive synthesis:
subtractive synthesis mostly operates with basic waveforms (saw - all the harmonics, squarewave - odd harmonics, pulse - two inverted saw waves with phase offset, triangle - lowpass filtered square, sine - fundamental frequency and noise - random values). you can shape the harmonic content using filters. with many keyboard tracked filters, you can recreate any wavetable really, it might just be tedious. a wavetables can be thought of as saw waves filtered with a keytracked filterbank.

compared to additive synthesis:
additive and wavetable are equivalent if you lock the partials to integer multiples of the fundamental. additive can do more in theory (partials anywhere you like), but in practice it’s much harder to control and parameterize.

compared to FM synthesis:
wavetables can store FM sounds, where ratios are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency.

IMO wavetable synths are in most cases used as simple subtractive synths, in most cases using the most basic waveforms. the most common sounds do not require wavetables to be generated. not even the ones used by Skrillex: he used Massive, but that does not mean, that the Scrapyard wavetable could not be replaced by some filtering or effects on a simple saw wave. Chet Singer's saxophone and brass ensembles in Reaktor are truely wonderful examples on what Wavetables are capable of when someone knows how to use them.

[Ah_Dziz]

If you want a wide range of tones and the transitions between them to be made by a single oscillator. Or if you like the feature set of a given wavetable synth outside of it's ability to scan through wavetables. Those are the reasons I use wavetable synths when I do. There's plenty of fun to be had with wavetable synthesis and with making your own wavetables. Then there's playing with scanning wavetables at a higher frequency than your fundamental pitch and using wavetables as a base of a more complex synthesis, like using a wavetable oscillator to excite a physical model.

[SoundOutWest]

Really good question and even better answers, I'll add the following:

• Simply having more waveforms is a big plus and saves time. Wavetables are essentially sampling on the microscopic level: you take a single waveform cycle, draw it out by using thousands of individual points and connect the points like a graph. This means you are no longer restricted to the basic waves like sines and saws- however any wave can be made by adding various sine waves together, so it's not like these are new "exotic" waves that don't exist in other synths.

• Technically speaking, there is no waveform that wavetable can make that an FM synth can't, *but* it will take a long time and far too many operators to recreate more complex waveforms, since you're building the wave from the ground-up.

• You're right to wonder if wavetable synths have a signature "sound," because they don't, that's actually an intended feature if you ask the guys that made NI's Massive. They can sound a bit brighter simply because they are usually not programmed to emulate the subtle saturation that most analog gear creates.

• Modulation. You can morph between 2 or more waves with a single slider, which is great for both growls and evolving pads. Their usage in making pads is the real appeal in my opinion.

• If some of those features don't sound that unique, it's because many software subtractive/FM synths actually have wavetables hidden in them. If the synth gives you an option to morph through different waveforms (as opposed to only have singular, discrete waves that you can't morph between), it is likely using a wavetable to generate the initial waveform. Sytrus does this.

Honestly there is no case where I would *always* use wavetables, but they certainly make some things easier.

[sqigls]

What is the practical usefulness of wavetable synthesis? What sounds could I make with it specifically that I couldn't with the other synthesis methods?
For what do you personally use wavetable synthesis?

Skrillex, using Massive, essentially shaped the dubstep style, which then inspired many imitators and pushed wavetable synthesis to evolve. Today, Serum is considered the number one wavetable synth.

f**k off "shaped the dubstep sound"
Bro Step maybe, but i think many label it Complextro.

Skrilldo is NOT Dubstep.

[ere2learn]

Skrilldo is NOT Dubstep.

Was that synth used on tracks like Midnight Request Line?

“No, no. We’re talking 2003, 2004. I got introduced by a mate of mine to a plugin called Junglist, by Synapse Audio. Most of the sounds for Request Line were made on that. Actually, to be fair, the bassline was made on TS404, but the rest of the synths were Junglist. It was Absynth as well, that and Junglist were the first two VSTs I ever owned. Well, I say ‘owned’... [laughs]”

I never knew Synapse had a hand in the birth of dubstep

[BlackOctopusSteve]

Wavetable synthesis is great for getting a more digital/modern sound (vs warm/analog sound).

There are some ways you can create movement with LFO by modulating the wavetable position (cycling through the waveform).

It's also great for loading samples into and using the features of a synth like Serum on top of a sample you've downloaded from a sample pack.

[zerocrossing]

Wavetable synthesis is great for getting a more digital/modern sound (vs warm/analog sound).

There are some ways you can create movement with LFO by modulating the wavetable position (cycling through the waveform).

It's also great for loading samples into and using the features of a synth like Serum on top of a sample you've downloaded from a sample pack.

Now, use a wavetable LFO to modulate an audio rate wavetable's index, and now you're cooking with gas.

[imrae]

Wavetable synthesis is great for getting a more digital/modern sound (vs warm/analog sound).

There have also been some lovely "warm/analog" patches made for wavetable synths e.g.
https://plugmon.jp/product/analog-anthem/
https://waldorfmusic.com/produkt/sounds ... g-voltage/

Indeed, I believe many "virual analog" synths use wavetables to implement band-limited oscillators.

Of course, in all those cases one also uses a nice filter...