Wavetable Oscillators Wavetable Oscillators

Wavetable Oscillators

Minimal Audio Support Minimal Audio Support

Overview

Current includes two wavetable oscillators that utilize spectral processing to perfectly reproduce a series of waveforms with virtually no aliasing or other artifacts.

You can navigate through these waveforms using the Position knob to create timbral movement and build expressive patches.

The Stream provides a wide variety of wavetables ranging from raw analog tones to expressive bowed strings, powerful bass growls, and much more. Once a wavetable is loaded, it can be further manipulated using the wave and warp effect slots, which include formant shifting, wave shaping, filtering, and other creative possibilities.

You can also import and create your own wavetables by dragging an audio file onto the waveform display.

 

wavetable.png

 


1. Wavetable Controls

POSITION: Set the position of the currently loaded wavetable. Each wavetable consists of multiple frames that can be played back in any sequence you like when combined with modulation.

WAVE EFFECT TYPE: Choose from a variety of different waveform manipulation effects. The WAVE effects range from hard sync and other classic wave-shaping techniques to detuned flanging and bit reduction.

WAVE EFFECT AMOUNT: Adjust the amount of waveform manipulation. This is a great way to customize the current wavetable or add additional movement to a patch.

WARP EFFECT TYPE: Choose from a variety of different spectral warping effects. The WARP effects use frequency-domain and additive processes to apply filtering, formant shifting, harmonic shifting, and other unique effects.

WARP EFFECT AMOUNT: Adjust the amount of spectral warping. This is a great way to customize the current wavetable or add additional movement to a patch.

Learn what each wavetable effect does here: Wavetable Wave & Warp Effects

 


2. Unison

UNISON VOICES: Set the number of unison voices. Adding more voices will create a denser sound, but it will also require somewhat more CPU.

UNISON DETUNE: Adjust the amount of detuning between the unison voices.

UNISON WIDTH: Adjust the stereo width of the unison effect. This combines panning and phase manipulation to create a wide stereo image. Note that this will manipulate the stereo image even without detuning or phase randomization.

 


3. Display Controls

OCTAVE: Transpose the tuning of the wavetable oscillator by one or more octaves.

TUNING MODE: This section explains how to set the tuning of the wavetable oscillator.

  • KEY: This option provides standard key tracking behavior with variable semitone offset.
  • FIXED: This option forces the wavetable oscillator to be tuned to a specific note, regardless of the notes played on the keyboard.
  • RATIO: This option allows you to shift the tuning up or down by multiplying or dividing it by a whole number ratio. It is particularly useful for FM synthesis and creating layers based on the harmonic series.
  • SCALE: Lock the tuning to the root note of the currently selected scale. Notes on the keyboard will be ignored, and the tuning will be transposed when the scale changes.

SEMITONE (KEY TUNING): Transpose the tuning of the wavetable oscillator in semitones.

FIXED NOTE (FIXED TUNING): Set the fixed note for the wavetable oscillator, which will remain constant regardless of the notes played on the keyboard.

TUNING RATIO (RATIO TUNING): Set the tuning of the wavetable oscillator by multiplying or dividing its current frequency with a whole number ratio.

SCALE TUNING INTERVAL (SCALE TUNING): Set the fixed tuning interval relative to the currently selected scale to the right of the keyboard.

BLEND: When activated, the oscillator will smoothly interpolate between adjacent frames to create a smoother sound. When inactive, it is much easier to set the wavetable position to a specific frame.

OSCILLATOR PHASE: Set the start phase of the oscillator in degrees.

RANDOM PHASE: Adjust how much randomization will be applied to the oscillator's phase when a new voice starts. If you want the oscillator phase to always start at the same point, then set this to 0%. Phase randomization is especially useful when using unison because it will help decorrelate the unison voices and create a diffused sound.

WAVEFORM FADE: Adjust the amount of fade windowing at the beginning and end of the current wavetable frame. Note that this windowing occurs after the WAVE effect and before the WARP effect.

FUNDAMENTAL: Toggle the first harmonic of the waveform on or off. This can be useful when combining the wavetable oscillator with a sub-oscillator.

 


4. Generic Controls

PITCH: Adjust the pitch of the wavetable oscillator in semitones.

FINE: Adjust the pitch of the wavetable oscillator in cents.

PAN: Adjust the panning of the wavetable oscillator.

LEVEL: Adjust the gain of the wavetable oscillator.

 


5. Wavetable Import

It is possible to create your own wavetables using Current’s wave-slicing algorithm. To access the import options, simply drag and drop an audio file onto the wavetable display. This will bring up the different import options.

 

Wavetable Import.png

 

EXISTING WAVETABLE: Import an existing wavetable file without applying any processing. Use this option if you have wavetables from other synthesizers or third-party packs that you would like to use.

INSTRUMENT: This option is most effective for organic sounds. It aims to preserve the original waveform with minimal distortion.

SYNTH: This option is most effective for synthesized sounds. It normalizes each frame to ensure a consistent volume level in the waveform.

WITH PITCH: This uses the INSTRUMENT import algorithm but provides a text editor where you can enter the pitch of the source material. If you know the original pitch of the sound, this is often the best option.

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