Custom Waves in Operator

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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Chris Tian
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Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2013 5:46 pm

Custom Waves in Operator

Post by Chris Tian » Tue Dec 03, 2013 7:34 am

Hi,

can anyone explain me or can point me to a reference which explains how custom drawn waves work technically?

Why did we cover tens of years always only sinus, square, pulse and sawtooth?

deva
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Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:32 pm

Re: Custom Waves in Operator

Post by deva » Tue Dec 03, 2013 11:10 am

It is an additive waveform... so you can draw the partials (either 16, 32 or 64)

justin
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Re: Custom Waves in Operator

Post by justin » Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:25 pm

I'll add a bit more... The lines to the left are the lower harmonics, and to the right you have the upper harmonics. Generally speaking, the highest bar along the x axis describes the fundamental of the sound (the main pitch) and the other bars represent the harmonics of the sound (these are usually lower than the fundamental). The configuration of these bars describes the even and odd harmonics (think saw or square wave) in the sound, and as such you could recreate the classic sine, square and saw waveforms. But you can also create lots of weird and wonderful timbres that cannot be accomplished through the use of "traditional" waveforms.

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