Scythe Synthesizer Wavetable Info

By @espiegel123

Scythe wavetables contain up to 256 frames (or slices or waveforms).

Audio to Wavetable Conversion

Scythe can create wavetables from audio imported from AudioShare. The maximum number of waveforms per wavetable is 256. Scythe uses a proprietary algorithm for analyzing audio and converting the audio to a wavetable. There is not a fixed ratio of audio duration to wavetable frame. The spectral (harmonic) complexity of the sound influences the conversion. I have had 1 second long sound that resulted in a full 256 frame wavetable and another sound whose 2.8 seconds resulted in 254 frames.

When I imported a 220Hz sine wave, the frames (waveforms) were very close (if not precisely), two cycles wide.

Jarryd Hall, Scythe's creator, told me:

Regarding the wavetable generation.

The engine works with its own file format and audio is processed in a way that works with the synthesis engine, generated specifically for the synthesis algorithms being used. Each wavetable can hold up to 256 (2^8) waves, with each wave containing 1024 (2^10) samples.

The processing is done using a few combined techniques and mainly focuses on frequency, where low-mid frequency sounds or sounds containing the most frequency changes generate the best wavetables.

The generated wave is heavily dependent on spectral content. Scythe doesn't work as a sampler/wavescanner.