Wavetable
Live's two-oscillator wavetable synth in depth — table categories, Sub, dual filters and routing, the modulation matrix, unison modes, the FM/Classic/Modern oscillator effects and MPE — with eight technique blocks.
Wavetable is Live's workhorse for sounds that move. Two oscillators each scan a table of single-cycle waves; a sub oscillator holds the bottom; two filters with five circuit models can be wired serially, in parallel or one per oscillator; and a modulation matrix with three envelopes, two LFOs and the full MPE source set drives all of it. Its character is clean and wide rather than warm: when you want analogue dirt, go to Drift or Analog; when you want precision FM, go to Operator; when you want morphing, vowels, wobbles and big unison pads, this is the device.
Architecture
Each oscillator has a table (category and name), a Position through the table, an Effect mode (None, FM, Classic, Modern), Transpose and Detune, Gain and Pan. Oscillators and Sub feed the filter section, whose routing decides whether Filter 1 and 2 are in series, in parallel, or split so that Osc 1 goes to Filter 1 and Osc 2 to Filter 2. The amplifier is driven by the Amp envelope; everything else is driven from the Matrix.
Parameters that matter
Table categories
| Category | Contents | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Basics | Sine, triangle, saw, square, pulse sweeps and simple morphs | Subtractive-style bass and leads; Position as a pulse-width control |
| Collection | Curated multi-timbre tables with big morphs | Sound-design starting points, pads that evolve |
| Distortion | Folded, clipped and FM'd cycles | Growl bass, aggressive leads |
| Filter | Pre-filtered sweeps baked into the table | Resonant sweeps without a filter, acid-ish |
| Formant | Vowel-like resonances | Talking bass, vocal pads |
| Harmonics | Additive partial sets | Organ, glassy keys, clean digital |
| Noise | Noisy and chaotic cycles | Texture, hats, grit layers |
| Vintage | Sampled analogue oscillator cycles | Bass and brass with analogue imperfection |
Everything else
| Section | Parameter | Notes and starting points |
|---|---|---|
| Osc | Position | The main sound-design control. Modulate it; map it to a macro. 0–100% |
| Osc | Effect: FM | Tune (ratio) and Amt (index). Osc 2 modulates Osc 1 in FM mode; Osc 1 sine + Osc 2 FM is Operator-lite |
| Osc | Effect: Classic | PW (pulse width) and Sync. Analogue tricks on any table |
| Osc | Effect: Modern | Warp (phase distortion) and Fold (wavefolder). West-coast tricks on any table |
| Sub | On, Gain, Transpose, Tone | Transpose −1 or −2 octaves; Tone adds harmonics so it reads on small speakers |
| Filter | Type | LP, HP, BP, Notch, Morph (sweeps between types) |
| Filter | Circuit | Clean (transparent), OSR (aggressive resonance, Oberheim-ish), MS2 (12 dB, Moog-ish warm), SMP (Sequential-ish), PRD (ladder with drive, screams) |
| Filter | Drive | Pre-filter saturation on the non-Clean circuits; 10–30% on bass |
| Routing | Serial / Parallel / Split | Serial for HP→LP band-limiting; Parallel for two resonances (vowels); Split for separate treatment of each osc |
| Envelopes | Amp, Env 2, Env 3 | ADSR with curve (slope) controls and Loop modes; Env 2 and 3 are free modulators |
| LFO 1, 2 | Shape, Rate, Sync, Attack, Offset, Retrigger, Shaping | Sine, Triangle, Saw up/down, Square, Random, with Shape amount to skew the wave |
| Unison | Mode, Voices, Amount | See the unison table below |
| Global | Mono/Poly, Voices, Glide, Legato | Mono + Glide for bass; Voices 4 for pads to save CPU with Unison |
| MPE | Pressure, Slide, per-note pitch bend | Appear as matrix sources when MPE is enabled on the track |
Unison modes
| Mode | What it spreads | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Classic | Pitch detune across voices | Supersaw, big trance and synthwave leads |
| Shimmer | Pitch detune with slow random movement | Pads that breathe; dub chords |
| Noise | Random pitch modulation per voice | Dirty, grainy width; Reese-style movement |
| Phase Sync | Voices locked in phase, detune applied | Tight stacked bass that stays mono-compatible |
| Position Spread | Each voice at a different table position | Chorus of timbres rather than pitches; formant clouds |
| Random Note | Random octave/interval per voice | Chaotic clusters, generative pads |
Techniques
Position wobble bass (no filter)
Modulate Position instead of a filter: the timbre changes shape rather than brightness, which is why wavetable wobbles sound "vocal" where filter wobbles sound "dull-bright".
- Osc 1: Formant category, any table. Position 30%. Osc 2 off. Sub on, −1 octave, Gain −6 dB, Tone 20%.
- Matrix: LFO 1 → Osc 1 Position +60%. LFO 1 Sine, Sync 1/4, Retrigger on so every note starts the wobble at the same phase.
- Mono, Glide 40 ms. Filter 1 MS2 LP 3 kHz, Drive 20% just to round the top.
- Map LFO 1 Rate to a macro with values 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 for performance.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| LFO 1 Shape amount | 30–70% | Skews the sine toward a ramp: "wub" vs "yoi" |
| Position mod amount | 40–100% | How much of the table the wobble travels; more = more vowel change |
FM effect mode: Operator-style bass with wavetable carriers
In FM mode Osc 2 modulates Osc 1. Unlike Operator, the carrier can be any table, so you FM a formant or a folded wave and get spectra Operator cannot.
- Osc 1 Basics, pick the sine-to-saw sweep table, Position 20%. Effect: FM. Tune 1.00 (ratio 1), Amt 15%.
- Osc 2 on, Basics sine, Gain −inf in the mix: its only job is to modulate (in FM mode Osc 2 still passes audio, so pull its gain down or keep it as a layer deliberately).
- Matrix: Env 3 → Osc 1 FM Amt +50%. Env 3 Attack 0, Decay 220 ms, Sustain 10%.
- Velocity → FM Amt +30% in the MIDI tab of the matrix for dynamic bite.
- Tune 2.00 for hollow, 3.50 for metal, 0.50 for sub-harmonic growl.
Split routing talking bass
Split sends Osc 1 to Filter 1 and Osc 2 (with Sub) to Filter 2. Two band-passes at different frequencies, modulated in opposite directions, are a two-formant vocal tract.
- Osc 1 Distortion table, Osc 2 Basics square at Transpose 0. Routing Split.
- Filter 1: BP, OSR, 500 Hz, Res 45%. Filter 2: BP, OSR, 1600 Hz, Res 45%.
- Matrix: LFO 1 → Filter 1 Freq +30%; LFO 1 → Filter 2 Freq −30%. One LFO, opposite directions: as one formant rises the other falls (the "ow" → "ee" motion).
- Sub on, −1 octave, routed with Osc 2 so it passes Filter 2; set Filter 2 type to Morph halfway between LP and BP so the sub survives.
- Unison Position Spread, 3 voices, 20%: slight timbral chorus without pitch detune.
Classic unison supersaw with Sync
Eight detuned voices from a Basics saw, plus the Classic effect's Sync for an extra resonant edge. Wavetable's unison is per-voice, so chords get very big very fast; watch Voices.
- Osc 1 Basics saw, Osc 2 same table, Transpose +12, Gain −8 dB, Detune +6 cents.
- Unison Classic, 8 voices, Amount 35%. Set global Voices to 4 so chords stay under 32 oscillator pairs.
- Osc 1 Effect Classic, Sync 0 → modulate Sync from Env 2 +40%, Decay 400 ms: a sync sweep on every note.
- Filter 1 Clean LP 24 dB 6 kHz; Amp env Attack 15 ms, Release 600 ms.
Modern effect: wavefolded lead from a sine
Modern mode gives each table a Warp (phase distortion) and Fold (wavefolder). Starting from a sine, these two controls are a west-coast oscillator: timbre comes from folding, not filtering.
- Osc 1 Basics, sine position. Effect Modern. Fold 10%, Warp 0%.
- Matrix: Env 3 → Fold +60%, Env 3 Decay 500 ms, Sustain 30%. Velocity → Fold +25%.
- LFO 2 Triangle 0.3 Hz → Warp +20% for slow asymmetry drift.
- Filter 1 Clean LP 12 dB at 1.5 kHz with Env 3 → Freq +40%: a lowpass-gate-style shape where loudness and brightness fall together.
Shimmer unison pad with LFO-driven position
Shimmer unison adds slow random pitch motion per voice, which is exactly what a pad needs to stop sounding static. Add a slow position scan and the pad never repeats.
- Osc 1 Collection, a slow-morph table. Osc 2 Harmonics table, Transpose −12, Gain −10 dB.
- Unison Shimmer, 6 voices, Amount 25%. Amp env Attack 900 ms, Release 2.5 s.
- Matrix: LFO 1 Sine 0.07 Hz free → Osc 1 Position +45%; LFO 2 Triangle 0.11 Hz → Osc 2 Position +30%. Two unrelated rates never line up.
- Filter 1 MS2 LP 2 kHz, Res 10%; Env 2 → Freq +20% with Attack 1.5 s so the pad opens after it starts.
MPE lead: Slide to position, Pressure to filter
With MPE enabled on the track, Pressure and Slide appear in the matrix. Slide (vertical finger movement on Push 3 or a Linnstrument) onto Position is the most musical mapping Wavetable has.
- Enable MPE on the track's input (and in Push 3's pad settings). In Wavetable's matrix MIDI tab, set Pitch Bend range to 48 so per-note slides are wide.
- Slide → Osc 1 Position +70%. Pressure → Filter 1 Freq +40% and → Amp +15%.
- Osc 1 Formant table so Slide changes the vowel; Mono off (MPE needs poly), Glide off.
- Pressure → LFO 1 Amount so vibrato appears only when you press harder.
Random Note unison as a generative cluster
Random Note unison assigns each voice a random interval. With a Harmonics table and a long envelope, one key becomes a shifting chord cluster; retrigger a note and the cluster changes.
- Unison Random Note, 5 voices, Amount 40% (controls the interval range). Amp env Attack 1.2 s, Release 4 s.
- Put a Scale MIDI effect before it, though note that unison intervals are not scale-quantised; follow with Spectral Resonator in MIDI mode fed by the same clip to pull the cluster toward the chord.
- LFO 1 Random (S&H) 1/2 → Osc 1 Position +50% for stepped timbre changes.
Presets to build first
- Formant wobble bass with LFO rate macro and Sub.
- FM-mode bass with Env 3 on index, velocity on index.
- Split-routing vowel bass with one LFO on two filters.
- Classic unison supersaw, Voices 4, HP 120 Hz.
- Modern fold lead with Env 3 on Fold and cutoff.
- Shimmer pad with two free-running position LFOs.
- MPE lead with Slide → Position for Push 3.
- Random Note cluster into Spectral Resonator.