Take a deep dive into Live’s newest onboard synth which promises to have your sound design making waves

Although Ableton Live 10 was packed with workflow enhancements and impressive new effects (like Echo and Pedal), the biggest news for sound designers has been Wavetable, an impressive new approach to wavetable-based synthesis, with an interface that lets you see nearly every design/modulation element on one screen.

Here we present Wavetable’s features in depth, along with a few expert tips along the way.

AUDIO ON FILESILO

Architecture

Some users have compared it to Serum and Massive, but Wavetable’s engine is different, with its own unique collection of wavetable data and filter options; it doesn’t replace either of those synths, but instead, expands the range of this popular synthesis method. Wavetable’s architecture is key to its capabilities.

Its two oscillators include nearly 200 preset tables organised into 11 categories. This makes it easy to find a starting point if you know what type of sound you’re after. In addition, Wavetable includes a flexible sub-oscillator that provides a wide range of functions that belie its name.

Those three generators feed a pair of multimode filters that can be arranged in parallel, serial, or split configurations. This is followed by an amp (volume) section and topped off with a unison effect that includes several modes that break new ground.

Unlike other plugins, there’s no dedicated effects section, as Wavetable is baked into Live Suite. Consequently, if you want to add final processing, you can take advantage of Ableton’s massive library of audio effects. Of course, if you’re a Max for Live user, you can design your own.

Oscillators

Getting the hang of Wavetable’s dual-oscillators is best done by simply dropping the instrument in a track and starting with the default preset, which consists of osc 1 only (osc 2 and the sub-osc switched off) feeding a 2-pole low-pass filter, with cutoff at max. From here, you can audition the contents of the 11 wavetable categories and inspect the tonal character of each, while sweeping them with the wave position slider (see Fig. 1).

PRO TIP

Setting the wave position to 50%, then applying a slow triangle LFO to the Osc 1 Pos routing in the mod matrix with a value of 50, is a great way to sweep each table automatically as you familiarise yourself with the content. Each wavetable category has a distinct flavour.

BASICS - Aptly named, this category covers bread-and-butter tables, leaning toward analogue oscillators, but with a few FM-derived options mixed in.

COLLECTION - Named after colours such as Olive or Sapphire, this is a set of go-to Ableton-flavoured tables that are both unusual and flexible.