Wavetable Synthesis

HALion’s wavetable synthesis offers you a wide range of possibilities, from the re-synthesis of samples to the creation of entirely new sounds.

In classic subtractive synthesis, static harmonic oscillator waveforms are sent through filters and amplifiers, where the sound is shaped. In wavetable synthesis, you can extract specific portions from samples and align them to form a wavetable. The waves in the wavetable are played back one after the other to create the sound progression. You can shape the sound in the same manner as in subtractive synthesis, by using filters, amplifiers, etc.

The Wavetable Editor is where you create wavetables, that is, where you load samples, insert wave extraction markers to add the waves, work on the spectrum of the waves, create the wavetable envelope, and specify the order of the waves in the wavetable.

HALion allows you to create your own wavetables by extracting single-cycle waves from samples. Single-cycle means that a wave is exactly one period long. The sophisticated sample analysis functions in the Wavetable Editor help you to find good positions for wave extraction.

HALion supports multi-channel wavetables with up to 6 channels (5.1) and allows you to define whether all channels, a specific channel, or the sum of all channels are to be used to extract waves. This means that you can combine waves of different channel widths in one wavetable. Zone playback always uses the maximum channel width of all waves in the wavetable. The 2D and 3D wave displays also display the maximum channel width. For example, if at least one wave is stereo, they display two channels. Programs that use multi-channel wavetables with more than two channels must be assigned to the surround output of HALion.

When HALion extracts a wave from a sample, a wavetable envelope is created. You can edit the envelope via the Envelope tab. This envelope is part of the wavetable, which means that you can always use the wavetable as it is, without having to assign and set up a new envelope.

The order of the waves in the wavetable determines how the sound evolves when you modulate the position. A wavetable can contain up to 1024 waves that can be extracted from different samples. A series of consecutive waves from the same sample is called a sequence. A wavetable can contain multiple sequences from different samples.

In the Zone Editor for a wavetable zone, in the Wavetable section, you can find the play parameters for wavetables. This is where you specify which oscillators to use and where to make settings for them.

You can use the Speed parameter to automatically modulate the wavetable position, or you can modulate it manually in the modulation matrix.