Surge XT Third Party Wavetables: EMU VSCO, not behaving like I expect

[Rahodees]

I may have something to learn about wavetables.

When I load up, for example, the EMU VSCO Triangle instrument wavetable, and turn the amp EG sustain all the way up, I _expect_ to hear a sustained tone, but _instead_ get a familiar triangle ding sound with a very triangle-sound-like envelope (i.e. quick attack, no sustain, quick release).

In fact as far as I can tell the amp EG has no effect on what I hear when I play a note.

This is different from what I thought a wavetable does. (And is different from how nonVSCO wavetables seem to behave in Surge.) I would have expected a "triangle" wavetable to encode the evolution of a triangle's sound over time, and when I play a note, I'm playing just a slice of that evolution.

I am not even sure how it's possible for a single slice of a wavetable to have an amplitude envelope of its own--the slice represents close to a single instant of time, and envelopes apply to things that are extended in time. It seems like therefore it should "naturally" be just a sustained sound unless I assign an envelope myself.

What am I missing concerning wavetables in general or concerning this particular set of wavetables?

[SeBaer]

I actually experienced that as well. Some wavetables in .wav format play like samples while others don't. I have not yet discovered what's the reason behind that. Maybe it's a flag in the .wav file? Or frame size coded in there? In Vital you can set the frame size yourself, if the wavetable doesn't have it specified. May be that could be it.

[EvilDragon]

Yes, some of those wavetables are instead masquerading as traditional "oneshot" samples, so they aren't supposed to be looped as an oscillator.

[SeBaer]

Yes, some of those wavetables are instead masquerading as traditional "oneshot" samples, so they aren't supposed to be looped as an oscillator.

Would there be any way to force them to?

[EvilDragon]

https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/su ... ge#oneshot

So, as soon as you add loop points to the WAV file, it becomes a regular wavetable that loops as an oscillator. Loop length decides size of the wavetable frame (1024 samples, 2048 samples...).

But since these EMU VSCO oneshots are all decaying waveforms, I'm not sure how useful it would be to make them into oscillators. Have fun, I guess

[FrogsInPants]

With something like a triangle, I expect there's some inharmonic content that would be difficult to capture in a regular wavetable, as well.

[EvilDragon]

Well in this case it just plays back as a oneshot sample, so it does capture the inharmonic parts too.

[SeBaer]

https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/su ... ge#oneshot

So, as soon as you add loop points to the WAV file, it becomes a regular wavetable that loops as an oscillator. Loop length decides size of the wavetable frame (1024 samples, 2048 samples...).

But since these EMU VSCO oneshots are all decaying waveforms, I'm not sure how useful it would be to make them into oscillators. Have fun, I guess

When I read up on wavetables on that page and follow the links, I encounter 'WaveEdit' as a wavetable editor at some point, which is referenced in the online manual. Since WaveEdit is open source itself, wouldn't it be cool if it was possible to integrate into Surge?

[EvilDragon]

We have somewhat different plans regarding wavetable editing in Surge.

[SeBaer]

So there will be wavetable editing capabilities?

[EvilDragon]

Not any time soon!