Wavetables Explained + How to get LoFi digital vibes

[@StarskyCarr]

Some clarification on tuning from Waldorf - this how they can use 128 samples but have higher resolution: The ASIC in the original hardware ran at 250 kHz sampling rate, and the plugin does it too internally regardless of the DAW sampling rate. You see this also in the internal spectrum analyzer which goes up to 125 kHz in display.

[@RoyChartier]

One of Starsky's best...30 years ago you'd need to take a university course to learn this.

[@Max_0]

For those of us who still have Microwaves, it’s a bonus to get an editor along with the plugin.

[@StarskyCarr]

Yeah… that’s an amazing bonus.

[@mollyoko]

stereoping programmer for pros.

[@marshalsea000]

Anyone know if this works with the MW2 as an editor?

[@FreeThink1984]

Based

[@StarskyCarr]

@@mollyokoI’ve got a stepping and was hoping to use in the software (one it in the Prophet VS), but it’s not possible (yet).

[@sokoleski]

I love your videos.... so informative and digestible ...without becoming dry! Always a thorough walk thru !! MY ABSOLUT fav Synth channel 💚

[@JoshRichmanDesign]

Such a cool explanation. Really enjoyable and learned a ton! Thank you for demystifying Wavetables and this category of synths. I still struggle with them feeling musical and not cheesy. Finding good musical sounds buried in a sea of thousands of bad wave sounds is a serious UX problem.

[@dxmat]

I've had the microwave I revA on my rack since 2002, but this plugin is awesome and sounds very close to the original. The editor feature is a must have for me.

[@TechnoAssassin-vx6zf]

Mr Carr must have a warehouse to keep all his synths 😬🙈🤣

[@StarskyCarr]

Haha… pretty much / the studio is full and I was planning a second, so have another space with a lot of boxes at the moment.

[@StopTryingSoHard]

I bought a warehouse building (with 10 "individual" warehouse/shops/etc) and my wife was like, oh that's a good investment, little did she know it was to deal with the studio overflow.

[@suspiciouswatermelon7639]

He needs a warehouse.. to keep his synths from getting deehhhrrrty.

[@robertsutton7949]

You’re doing a great job, Starsky. Really enjoying these.

[@cosmicaddress7851]

Fantastic video - thank you! I'm super impressed by the Microwave plug-in, takes me back to Tangerine Dream and Deep Forrest in a way my Modwave and other wavetable synths don't. Now I understand why! Cheers

[@LB-pp7pu]

Great video! Maybe a cool idea for the next would be a comparison between this plug in and the Waldorf M

[@adamwroblewski1435]

Excited to gain more knowledge about this stuff, thanks Starsky--great idea.

[@erlannderrantem6972]

The overflow distortion thing was really interesting, didn’t knew the microwave did that😮

[@RussCottier]

Good to see you understand and explain alias frequencies and the no-harmonically related content.

[@unclemick-synths]

25:25 ❤ this is so great Starsky! Reading between the lines of this section of the video really shows me the kinds of motions to aim for in the sounds I create for sampling to make my own wavetables. Now I can go back to your other video and create wavetables with intent. One of the main reasons I create my own sounds and patches is because *_nothing_* kills my muse quicker than trawling through hundreds of patches/samples/wavetables in the vain hope of finding the sound I need amongst all the rejects. The only time I do that is in a "blank page" search for a sound to trigger an initial idea. Otherwise it's actually quicker to design a sound from scratch, or if not actually quicker at least my muse stays excited and doesn't bugger off! 😎👍

[@discombob93]

Starsky... you are on a roll, sir!! Subscribed to support you, as I'm so glad to see quality synth education for people new to this stuff on youtube. In recent years, youtube has started to feel more like just a bunch of low effort, hard sales pitches in these niches and less like presenting quality information such as this. You also make excellent, classy electronic music with obviously deep genre roots.

[@StarskyCarr]

Thanks... I like doing stuff like this - it doesn't get as many views but, like you, I've noticed how things can start to be perceived as a bit salesy even if they're intended to be useful/helpful. I started the channel to be useful, not to help sell stuff. But, people want to see shiny new things (the viewing figures attest to it), so it's a fine balance I'm trying to pull back toward the 'educational'.

[@discombob93]

@@StarskyCarr Educating on all the latest gear never hurts :)

[@tyromelive2851]

Nice collection! At this point, you're just one synth away from running your own power plant. 😂

[@derekholland3328]

great vid as usual Starsky.

[@StarskyCarr]

Thanks 🙏 🤩

[@inperfectsequence7840]

I still have my beloved villain ¨blofeld¨, really convincing on a digital sound similar to a Waldorf Micro Q, but with a polyphony of 25 voices, the widest of all Waldorf hardware. PPG clone for its filter and 2 fused wavetable system, is everything I could wish for with its 8 multi parts and 8 outputs for layers of 8 presets (1 on each output). It is the most desired thing I am waiting for. Thanks for the video, I own an Access virus Ti2 and a white blofeld keyboard, I would never sell them for anything in the world. Thanks for this video.

[@chokocat9064]

Thanks Starsky!! For a moment there I thought you were going to explain the workings of a phase accumulator!!

[@StarskyCarr]

If you set your phase accumulator to stun it’s less likely to cause any lasting injury or serious damage 🔫

[@Amazology]

Prophet VS choir was awesome

[@Vincefromsin]

PPG choir too 😉

[@mattkaz9604]

Good video. I have a Blofeld and all anyone talks about are it's great pads and textures, but for me the low-fi wavetable basses are just as impressive.

[@StarskyCarr]

definitely.

[@mvsr990]

For a budget lofi wavetable synth I enjoyed the Fred's Lab Tooro a lot - it got me hooked on the sound and I 'upgraded' to a Waldorf M but I find myself missing the Tooro sometimes.

[@adamfullerton8651]

Bloody lovely. Thank you.

[@denisbassom172]

I need to update my mid 90's wave/PCM synth!

[@marshalsea000]

Great vid - loads of things in here that took ages for me to learn back then. Love the push back on "clean sounds" - complaining about the actualness of something, pointless.

[@thefishdog]

I'm not afraid to say I like Romplers and Wavetables

[@StarskyCarr]

My name is fishdog and I’m a digiholic

[@thefishdog]

@@StarskyCarr rise of the digital junk

[@roger5482]

Great learning - thanks

[@StarskyCarr]

Nice to hear ... I hope you got some useful bits from it.

[@fullcircleaudio]

For Lodi vibe could sample the synth at low register and pitch up in sampler

[@cazalorganism7020]

Peace Starsky. I’ve had a Virus TI2 for about 6-7 years now in my small but utilitarian collection of hard synths. I’ve been curious about the Blofeld for a very long time too though, seems so unique and pleasing specifically for wavetable atmospheres and drones. As someone who has owns Virus and a strong knowledge of them, would you recommend a Blofeld to someone like me? Cheers G.

[@synthshed]

I don’t think I saw it in your initial run-down but the Sequential Pro 3 is worth a mention: its 3rd oscillator can play (and modulate) wavetable sources. Pretty cool for a synth that also does the classic analogue subtractive stuff.

[@synthshed]

PS thanks for a great video - super-clear explanation and very GAS-SY. The microwave might be my first new plugin purchase in a long time!

[@StarskyCarr]

I’ve never used a Pro3. I should see if I can get hold of one as soon as many people tell me they love them, but personally I’m covered for what it can do… maybe a video showing how it could replace a load of monos?

[@synthshed]

@@StarskyCarryes I can see might be entirely surplus to requirements considering your collection lol. That’s a good idea though!

[@Vincefromsin]

So you speak about microKorg but a lot of Korg synths has DWGS. Starting with M1 and T4 for instance.

[@rogerzinn8898]

Great vid!

[@mkkrt]

Educational. Thanks!

[@joeriben]

Quite helpful, thanks!

[@fullcircleaudio]

You could use reverb to smoothie the steps?

[@MusicOfDreamweaver]

This was fantastic. I have bought a Argon 8X to have something that isn’t analog, but I haven’t gotten into it yet. Would love to see some patch ideas?

[@StarskyCarr]

I'll have a think. The difficulty with wavetables is that they can be different on each synth, so it's not as simple as 'pick a sawtooth'. Often the little gems are hidden in individual waveforms. Maybe thats the video?

[@AudioLomtik]

Could the wave tables for this plugin be directly imported to the 3rd Wave?

[@StarskyCarr]

I doubt it, I don’t think they’re easily transferable.

[@kcrosley]

@AudioLomtik, short answer, not directly. The MicroWave waveform format is just 64 8-bit values which are then mirrored across both axes to form the complete 128 sample waveform. Wavetables are then specified internally by selecting waveforms to populate the “control table”. The modern “Serum style” .wav format is 32-bit, 2048 samples per frame. We can however create modern wavetables inspired by these techniques. I’ve done that and will be discussing Microwave and those wavetables in my next video.

[@alejandropnt]

How those Lo-Fi artefacts compares to the ones of the Modbap Osiris Bifidelity knob? I think it's some mix of sample rate reduction and distorsion?

[@StarskyCarr]

They’re both lo-fi but different. I’ve not tested the Osiris for aliasing or imaging tbh… most will do it to some extent, unless there’s some serious CPU hammering. The Osiris Lofi can much more obvious and crunchy and go into complete sonic destruction.

[@alejandropnt]

@@StarskyCarr thanks for your feedback. Loved the in-depth video!

[@MadelnMachines]

What's the software you mentioned that creates vocal wavetable from text?

[@StarskyCarr]

MW2E by 12decode - nice guy. he uploaded a demo of him doing it you can probably find on the 12decode site somewhere. I can't remember if I ever had a go myself.. it was a while back :) Pretty sure I did - I remember thinking it was a cool update.

[@tedheshio]

Can you put together a pack of Prophet VS waves for Digitakt II Grid machine?!

[@StarskyCarr]

Do you know what format the wavetables are? I may have them in the correct format already.

[@Producer4Realz]

What about the Kawai K3?

[@dannyprovencher]

Would be nice if you could do a Microwave 1 soundset.

[@StarskyCarr]

Nice idea.

[@dannyprovencher]

@@StarskyCarr I really liked the one you did for the Pro-800.

[@xiaoxia5]

that Prophet VS looks like it’s in really great shape. are you the original owner?

[@StarskyCarr]

no, I'm not the original - there absolutely no way I could've afforded it back in the day|! It's in really good shape though.

[@HJPhilippi]

Wavetable and granular synthesis are by far the most interesting for me. Now you've covered one half. 😉 Seriously: have you ever tried granular? Like the cool Tasty Chips GR-1?

[@StarskyCarr]

Haha … I’ve demo’d some granular in the Iridium and in Pigments - I can’t remember what videos. The Polyend tracker has it too (albeit only a single grain). I might do something on it if I can get hold of a cool granular hardware unit.

[@bornhuman67]

@@StarskyCarr The Texture Lab is pretty wonderful... (and a good bit more affordable than eg. a Torso)

[@HJPhilippi]

@@StarskyCarr Hope that Tasty Chips are reading this... 😉🤞

[@StarskyCarr]

@@HJPhilippi Maybe I'll give them a tinkle?

[@rtintera]

Don’t some ensoniqs fall into that category too?

[@StarskyCarr]

I do show the SQ80 in it... the Arturia. I don't have any hardware version (cant have them all!) :)

[@dobanyi]

Jesus Christ just how many synths do you have?? :D :D

[@StarskyCarr]

haha ... careful, look what happened to John Lennon when he was compared to Jesus! and your profile pic is looking pretty messiah-like!

[@waggon321]

Is the Microwave 1 a PPG in a box?

[@StarskyCarr]

Sort of. It’s the evolution of the PPG - same wavetables but not implemented exactly the same - digital oscillators with analog filters etc.

[@erlannderrantem6972]

The PPG Wave was built and sold by Wolfgang Palm, his business went bankrupt sometime in the late 80s i think and Waldorf came and bought the rights to use the technology and adapted to the quickly evolving hardware. the microwave was a smaller version of the PPG wave. And honestly they still do exactly that, adapting the wavetable tech to new hardware.

[@unduloid]

What they all have in common is that I don't own any of them.

[@StarskyCarr]

thats like an inverse snap... do we get double points?

[@Bigger-Circuitry-Bigger-SOUND]

The Microwave 1A and Prophet VS are impossible to fully replicate because of the same magical filter they have the CEM 3389 which is the most advanced and beautiful filter that Curtis have ever made… please Starsky leave Serum out of this category as it is the most awful, cheesy, one dimensional instrument ever made, Serum sounds like some metal scratching glass

[@AynsleyGreen]

@@Bigger-Circuitry-Bigger-SOUND Agreed, Serum has zero character. The decade when it was popular resulted in some truly awful synth pop in the charts

[@FreeThink1984]

Hater

[@FreeThink1984]

@@AynsleyGreenhater

[@StarskyCarr]

Haha.. not a fan then ;). It's so popular, probably exactly because of those things. And thats why those EDM tracks its so popular on can sound so harsh - which is, of course, exactly what they're going for.

[@Bigger-Circuitry-Bigger-SOUND]

@@StarskyCarr i m not sure man, in my opinion most of the EDM producers make music not driven by individual creativity but simply emulate each other to get fame and money as fast as possible “so if that guy made a hit with serum i ll do the same etc” …. i love software NI, Spectrasonics, Gfirce are Dope but Serum tho is awful the tone it has