Waldorf Nave - Manual (Page 54)

Sound Synthesis Basics
Nave User Manual 54
Sound Synthesis Basics
Wavetable Synthesis in Nave
The sound generation of the wavetables in Nave is based
on wavetable synthesis.
The following overview explains how the Wavetable
Synthesis works:
A wavetable in Nave is a table consisting of single wave-
forms. Each waveform is classified by its own special
sound character. The main difference of wavetable syn-
thesis in comparison with other sound generation prin-
ciples is the facility not only to play one waveform per
oscillator, but also to walk through the wavetable via
different modulations. Therefore you can create wavetab-
le sweeps. The results can be dramatic - much more so
than those any sample playback based system could ever
produce.
This principle offers powerful capabilities. To give some
examples:
• Each note on a keyboard can access a different wave
of a wavetable.
• The Travel parameter allows a cyclic go through all
waves of a wavetable.
• A LFO can modulate the position within the wave-
table. You can create subtle to drastic sound changes.
• User-selected controllers e.g. the mod wheel, can
change the position within the wavetable. When you
turn the wheel while playing a chord, each note’s
wave will be modified intantly.
You should keep the following sentence in mind:
w
A wavetable is a list with two or more waves, among
which you can move at will.
Modulating Waves over time
The graphic below shows a wavetable with 60 waves
and some of its contained waves from position 0 to 59 on
the vertical axis.
When you set Wave to 0, Mod Source Free Env-> Wave
Position with maximum amount and Free Env Attack to
some medium value, the horizontal axis represents the
audio signal that is generated and the diagonal line in the
graphic shows the attack stage over time.