Wavetable Synthesis Explained | Reverb

Justin enters the world of wavetable synthesis with the Arturia Pigments, an exciting new software synth from the impeccable instrument creators. So follow along and get oscillating.
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[@timothyclay1943]

Quite possibly the best explanation of wavetable synthesis I've ever seen, really fun to follow along, and so many 'lightbulb' moments after trying to wrap my head around it for so long!

[@LeBoomStudios]

He does that to you. He takes a complex topic you couldn't understand for the life of you and explains it so that a five-year-old could understand it, without omitting any important details. One point in which I have to object his explanations though is around 3 minutes in. He says that having a basically unlimited number of permutations in the oscillator is what gives wavetable synths their unique sound. I think this makes them absolutely not unique, since you can just imitate the oscillator of any other synth. The fact that analog synths all have slightly different characteristics in their oscillators, based on what components were used and how they're made, down to the very impedance in their circuits, gave each and every one of them a unique sound. Even when trying really hard, you couldn't make a Moog and a Roland sound exactly the same, they'd always have slight differences. With wavetables, this uniqueness is dead and gone.

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@LeBoomStudios yea that's true, but with enough skill and/or technology, you could create the uniqueness, and potentially create other unique stuff, exactly as it sounds in you head. That includes relatively simplistic sounds similar to the subtractive oscillators that ur talking abt. This is literally my first video on eavetables so idk if people use them for that already, but I think you could get some really sick sounds like that.

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@LeBoomStudios and another thing, I actually came to this after additive synthesis, which seems to be talked about like the graphene of synthesis lol, and for good reason. But anyways, I thought about combining wavetables with additive synthesis, and even using traditional oscillators as bigger packets of harmonics to use in the additive portion, which you could already recreate in modern wavetables, to basically create the ultimate sound synthesis machine lol. And if we're lucky then maybe with skill, and maybe the help of more technology like AI or something, we can learn pattern that create certain or specific sounds, including those in the physical world with accuracy, and maybe even recreate small unique kinks like you said in old analog synthesizers. As well as real physical sounds and instruments in the real world ofc. And then combine them and all kinds of things, can u imagine. I think that would be awesome and would love to see what people come up with with that.

[@valeriatapia1128]

For real 👌

[@OPTIONALWATCH]

He said he's new to this but in my opinion, I understood the concept better with him explaining it than any other self-proclaimed" wavetable professional online.

[@baadams]

Your explanation of this enabled me to really connect the dots. A year into music production and I'm now discovering the concept of sound design and how to use synthesizers. I was discouraged for a while b/c I wanted to create more cinematic sounds. Yet I had no idea that all those knobs and twists I'd been avoiding were THE answer. Seeing it in the beginning was extremely daunting. Like being in a foreign land and not knowing the language. But now a world have possibilities have opened up for me. Your explanation was so concise, informative, and detailed. THANK YOU.

[@suniso370]

I come from electric guitar world, but as a mix engineer and a dabbler in arrangements and more importantly a fan of sound in life and existence, this explanation was my graceful discovery of a new land in sound generation.

[@static-san]

Pigments is probably my favourite VST, likely in part because of the huge library of awesome presets it comes with, but the whole engine is amazing. Fun fact! Ensoniq tried to make wavetables a thing with their hardware samplers a few decades ago. They called their version of it "transwaves" but I don't think it got a lot of use. They implemented it by modulating the loop location in the wave by increments of the loopsize, so it was pretty memory hungry.

[@MetanoiaMan]

New learner, literally just KZbin'd 'Arturia Pigments' as it's what I've got before me in FL Studio '20. Found something beautiful and informative! What a world we live in.

[@christianwheeler8386]

Killer explanation. And I love how you can see how much you enjoy yourself. The “holy shit” moment was priceless.

[@IntheVastForest]

@11:42 - this has been my reaction every 45 seconds of this video. Amazing stuff!

[@MacLamar]

Glad I found this. Awesome tutorial. Totally loved your reaction from 11:30 to 12:10 Thanks for the video.

[@jamesp296]

can you do one on fm synthesis?

[@helldorado1489]

FM: hardest synthesis to learn.

[@gabsauvage]

yep, thumbs up! Also granular would be cool, like with using the latest granular synth from Audio Damage: Quanta.

[@theoryofmachines]

Helldorado fm is pretty simple

[@theoryofmachines]

@Die Marmeladenfresse/Derrbenn im serious

[@hostnik777]

This has everything you could ever want to know and more: kzbin.info/aero/PLOMuI-j1vRxSB9oqcGoJg82N1Q7DlZJOU

[@kirstenhunneyball1233]

This is super cool thank you! I've been struggling to get my head around the concept for ages and you just made it so simple to understand! thank you!

[@timmah4476]

Really nice video - pretty new to wavetable synthesis and didn't know Arturia even made one until I found this vid... That bass sound in the demo at the end is DOPE!! Love the way it morphs between the notes with so much harmonic richness and character! Beautiful :)

[@nikolaaskaas]

Really love the setup of this video, feel very cozy :)

[@devtank]

Hey great video Justin. Thank you. I just downloaded the demo and played with it for a few minutes, I have no idea what I'm doing but I am loving what coumes out of Pigments.

[@ConwayBob]

Thanks for this. Now I have a clearer understanding of what Pigments (and similar virtual instruments) can do.

[@SvintMvrcus]

I love pigments it’s been my fav synth for the last 2 years I use it on every one of my non sampled tracks. Serum and Massive X are dope too but the UI and the workflow + sound in pigments is unmatched imo

[@CG1970ify]

A great and simple very useful lesson on wave table synthesis... COOL

[@myphonevideos9179]

Thank you!!! I really liked the ending composition too!!!

[@ChazSeamus28]

Always enjoy watching this dude.. whatever the demo but this wavetable looks alot clearer and easier to understand..for me anyways.. the one in live was pretty hard to grasp definitely checking this pigments out thanks

[@morin1997]

That music at the end of the video is so amazing!!! :)

[@w0mblemania]

This was really, really good. Thank you.

[@FullSpectrum312]

Thank you for this informative, succinct, and clear to understand video on wavetable synthesis. Great job!

[@martinhaswell9671]

Really useful, thanks, have learned so much from Pigments because the modulations are so clear.

[@yobhsiFehT]

I could listen to a whole track of just that bass at the end! 😳😍

[@eighth_wave]

Finally wavetable synthesis doesn't confuse me anymore. Thank you!

[@gastonsalip1579]

justin did it again!! the best synths videos always!! justin we want more ore ore ore

[@jamesedinger4956]

You have a great "teacher" sensibility...good stuff!

[@ricjai]

rich reverb hear...im evolving over time!

[@hughakston3518]

Can you do an in depth review of the bytebeat synth on No Man's Sky

[@Rockwithmeping]

That last presets is sick!!!

[@jadomi2076]

This was great, thanks for the effort

[@jmcbeady8210]

Great job teaching the fundamentals.

[@InstrumentalMusicWorship]

thank you for all this material. it really help me to create better songs every time. Producing instrumental music!!!

[@hostnik777]

Ok that was a good intro to wavetable, but it really didn't even touch on how you use them for sound design and why to use a wavetable versus another synthesis method...

[@JayTheLane]

Pigments is mighty powerful and not fully understand by many. Dig in people.

[@sumchi3690]

Thanks my friend...this has made the subject so understandable for me. Now I am keen to get back into malstrom and even easier in Thor even though it hasn’t got as many wavetables. Again...thanks sooo much! Edit..the visuals have given me a new understanding on modulations as well( I’m new to this)😊

[@xVGAmusicPlayerz]

The Wavetables from old Chips from 19's Like N163 or the Famicom Disk System Use Kind of Sound Generations to Make Other Wave using Pulse Waves Formation (Like Triangle Formation or Sawtooth Formation)

[@thaexception3406]

Informative and clear explanation!

[@fabinhomrjoker]

Great Job man....Thank you!

[@mondostereo3d]

Thank you so much, you made things clear very good.

[@KordTaylor]

Nice video. Thank you. 👏🏻

[@tomdemojo45]

Nice intro to wavetables!

[@leepshin]

Third time lucky then? lol Thanks for fixing the sound issue. I can hear it now. What was the problem anyway?

[@DanielS10291]

Surprisingly i understood this quite well. So youre cycling through multiple waves rather than affecting one with an LFO…i think?

[@VibeXplorer]

Thought: If a waveform from a pure old-school wavetable synth is identical to the waveform of an analog synth, it follows that it should sound every bit as "warm and pleasing" as an analog synth, right? I guess the answer is no because the filter of the analog filter - which the waveform is going into after coming from the oscillator - is what is most responsible for the "analog sound". Unless the waveform from wave table already has the harmonics that would come from the analog filter "built in". (Great video from Reverb as usual!)

[@creadisteart1187]

Thanks. Its realy instructive. Très cool merci

[@JavascriptJack]

Justin, how does Pigments match up to the Blofeld or Nave from Waldorf?

[@BenAngMusic]

This is so clear! Thank you!!!

[@skinnyTheCat]

Best explanation / tutorial on WT for me sofar! Thanks ! Peace

[@Jamailmusic]

Such a beautiful explanation!

[@nedfellenor8203]

Very helpful and I love his reactions to the presets hahaha

[@EverettDudgeon138]

Interesting how he says that in 2018 you are more likely to find wavetable synthesis in a software instrument rather than hardware.....fast forward to 2020-2022 and there's the Pro 3, HydraSynth, Iridium, Quantum, M, Summit, Peak, Modwave, and now Roland's N/Zyme expansion for the Fantom.

[@johnnymassacre]

Video starts at 2:33

[@andrewford80]

I've been a synth nerd for years but never really got wavetable until this video explained it. thanks a lot for that!

[@andycordy5190]

Thank you. Clearly it's pretty tricky to get away from what sounds like conventional sine, square, triangle, saw using reverb, delay flanger, chorus etc. into something really different.

[@Purple431]

I actually like additive synthesis on a sawtooth wave because it contains all of the harmonics 1:1 1:2 1:3 1:4 1:5 ect

[@walkaboutarts]

like your gestures

[@vincemusic912]

Amazing video, Thank you a lot !

[@certainlyjoel]

God bless this man

[@ferynarayana1488]

propellerhead reason also have europa as their powerful waveable synth

[@Marrcello]

Beautiful 👌🏽

[@peterhayman]

How about wavetable synths, do they have souls?

[@xari9150]

Amazing explanation!

[@flyingisland7583]

Nice video 👍 I just started to seriously put my fingers in this wavetables thing I have for years. I was not a big fan of elm crazy bass and synth, I more a smooth guy (sine wave) but I can’t lie this modern sound synthesis becomes extremely amazing and this Arturia Pigments looks really cool! 👍 again

[@banjoben389]

My Favorite Synth Guy!

[@natashaa2269]

@ 11:24 dayuuummmmmmmmm...... in love!!!

[@troyh1602]

11:42 made my day

[@Matthew8473]

This is a revelation. I recently read a similar book, and it was a revelation in itself. "The Art of Meaningful Relationships in the 21st Century" by Leo Flint

[@natbvm1880]

Thank you thank you thank you

[@mitade8711]

Makes a lot of mathematical sense! Thanks Justin.

[@IHMadeThis]

I'm trying to focus but I can't stop thinking about how much I want that Keylab 61...

[@saam6768]

Justin Delay is a hell of teacher.

[@epicfailled]

at around 8 min mark, I see that there is a modulating waveform and a fixed semi sine-triangle wave, which adds some consistency to the sound. How to add that?

[@Rightly_Divided]

Good explanation. So basically my Roland Fantom 6 or Roland System 8 (which together cost me over $5000) may not be able to achieve the same level of awesomeness as Serum or Massive?

[@junglsmor]

best product placement ever

[@krisrhodes5180]

So as it morphs through the four stages of the wavetable, to my ear it sounds like it's basically just raising and lowering gain on the four waves that make up each stage. Is that accurate? That sounds more chunky and simple than I was expecting based on my vague non-understanding of what I've heard about WT synth before.

[@papakilatube]

justin delay? from reverb?

[@onibilos]

How do you have so good cpu usage when you're using so many pigments templates? i have 10900k and sometimes struggles with only 1 or 2 granular pads

[@Lets-Drone-With-Bone]

Great video, very intuitive :- )

[@uhoh007]

I wish you would compare in depth Blofeld to Virus TI in wavetable context. Hardware, please.

[@jefflindsay6446]

Sweet, I'm NOT the only person that moves their mouth when tweaking a formant filter!

[@tamas.bohacs]

I would recommend audio post-production on the video next time, especially if you have a ton of pop and cracks in the dialogue. I would love to hear some EQ and comp on it as well.

[@Ohmman]

vital all the way man

[@pregfcbankingculture]

11:09 reminds me of the old pc adlib opl2/3 banks :D

[@motoservo]

Nice track.

[@kronossonork6994]

Which of these are best to worst? Massive Serum Sylenth Diva Pigments Crystal Absynth Falcon Omnisphere Codex Dexed

[@IAmTheLaw67]

They’re all very different, but here’s some tips: Falcon is the best powerhouse synth on the market right now. If you can only get one synth, I’d get falcon. Diva is considered by many to be the best analog soft synth on the market. Pigments and Serum are similar, but I would say that Pigments is the better synth overall. Dexed is one of the best FM synths, which is awesome because it’s free. Omnisphere used to be a must have for any serious producer, but people are less sweet on it now simply for the fact that it’s quite old now and there are more plugins now that do the same thing. With that being said, it’s still a great tool. Massive is great but pretty dated now. Still totally usable though. I haven’t used Absynth, Crystal, or Codex, so can’t say much about those.

[@thatchinaboi]

Falcon is the most capable and powerful. Parawave Rapid is my favorite.

[@Enogimka]

I guess the verdict goes in the way which you' e used the most. Also the interface of it helps you get ypur way through the plugin I think. I've plaued around with Absynth I own Masive I think cause I bought the Komplete bunddle from native instrument couple years ago and I had it in the bundle. Didn't got time to explore it and learn how to use it yet. But still for the time I've used Absynth the interface wasn't actually that much intuitive to me. To make it clear when I started exploring I've never watch videos of people using it or had a slight understanding of the menus and control I had at my disposition. When looking a bit into it online I came to envy plugins with wave worm visualizer a bit more and more. So I think you can look up which has the type of interface ypu like the most and then dive into it to learn the whole thing. Cause the plugin is only gonna be as good as you know how to us it and know your way around and all. I guess all of them are decent but when you only know them decently well you're not capable to use them at their full potential.

[@PeterKeaneMusic]

superb

[@remuted8656]

@11:56 WOW!

[@CalvinLimuel]

Arturia's been advertising these hard hahaha

[@studilocker4439]

Question: what is with the note or pitch of a tone while modulating the wave?

[@MyManDan]

This video was absolutely useless to plants... Can you please do a video on photosynthesizers?

[@1987rickjoy]

Try shaping ur plant like a wavetable😂😂😂😂

[@SashaYokey]

Thanks!

[@bitronicc1887]

@Reverb Surprised you didn't mention that Deadmau5 is actually the co-creator/founder of Serum

[@Paradroidx]

don't forget Skrillex helped also

[@joker-lu1vh]

{Amazing}

[@MarvelousMixinMiguel]

Thanks for the video. Is reverb doing a video on the new vaporizer2. I know comparing vaporizer2 with Pigment is not apples to apples but could you state some of the strengths. I'm interested in getting vaporizer2 but I need someone with more knowledge to just state the facts. Can it do what the vendor states and does it do a great job.

[@jayantajeet]

Please explain synthesis of Korg x50

[@danielgent6035]

An American used the phrase "your cup of tea"? At 12 minutes In England that means "your thing" but in the US that probably means dumped in the sea for being a traitor! Great video

[@JMLRecording]

drum machines most certainly do have soul: Mihael Jackson = LINN!!

[@lebocharp]

"holy shit" - justin

[@TheRangeControl]

what differentiates a wav from a wavetable?