Ableton Forum

I barely know anything about synthesizers, but what I noticed about wavetable is that it didn't have many instruments for playing full chords. I was experimenting with the 30-day free trial. Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but it seemed like so many of the instruments were limited to playing one note at a time that it really didn't feel very versatile. Granted there are plenty of other instruments in Live to be sure. But I would have liked wavetable more if the instruments were geared toward being able to play both chords and single-notes. Maybe my lack of knowledge about programming a synthesizer is showing.

Thanks all. I've been using standard for over a decade, back when 3rd party plugins were a must have. Wavetable does sound incredible in the demo videos.

spendthrift2 wrote:Maybe my lack of knowledge about programming a synthesizer is showing.

Yes you can make any mono patch poly via a setting on the synth

djsinistral wrote:

spendthrift2 wrote:Maybe my lack of knowledge about programming a synthesizer is showing.

Yes you can make any mono patch poly via a setting on the synth

Thanks. I didn't get Suite after all, but good to know for the future! Why don't they come already formatted for chords? Is it a CPU thing?

spendthrift2 wrote:Thanks. I didn't get Suite after all, but good to know for the future! Why don't they come already formatted for chords? Is it a CPU thing?

CPU is a factor, but the main reason is certain sounds are programmed for use as a Bass or Lead sound (mono) and may not sound pleasant as a chord... Select a harsh/distorted lead preset, switch to polyphonic, play a chord and you'll hear what I mean - super harsh! The Pads/Keys style sounds are designed to sound good for polyphonic use.

It's also a hangover from hardware days - many old synthesisers are monophonic, including legends like the Moog Minimoog and Roland TB303. So, the software copies this monophonic thing, but ofc software isn't physically limited like hardware!

djsinistral wrote:

spendthrift2 wrote:Thanks. I didn't get Suite after all, but good to know for the future! Why don't they come already formatted for chords? Is it a CPU thing?

CPU is a factor, but the main reason is certain sounds are programmed for use as a Bass or Lead sound (mono) and may not sound pleasant as a chord... Select a harsh/distorted lead preset, switch to polyphonic, play a chord and you'll hear what I mean - super harsh! The Pads/Keys style sounds are designed to sound good for polyphonic use.

It's also a hangover from hardware days - many old synthesisers are monophonic, including legends like the Moog Minimoog and Roland TB303. So, the software copies this monophonic thing, but ofc software isn't physically limited like hardware!

Got it! Thank you for the explanation!