WaveSynth is a polyphonic wavetable synthesizer that analyzes source audio and stores waveforms that you can immediately play with a MIDI keyboard. If you're unsure of how to set the plugin up, consult a set of directions below for some help. After that, give WaveSynth some source audio and jam on your MIDI keyboard.

Ableton Live:

1. Route any audio into an Audio track.

2. Insert WaveSynth into the same track after the audio.

3. Set up a MIDI pattern in a MIDI track and send the MIDI information to the track from step 1.

FL Studio:

1. Route any audio into a mixer track.

2. Insert WaveSynth into the same track and set its MIDI input to a port of your choosing.

3. Insert a MIDI Out plugin and set its output to the port from step 2.

The Waves section of the user interface contains controls relating to the source waveforms that WaveSynth stores and outputs.

Scan Rate: This determines how frequently WaveSynth scans the source audio and stores waveforms. The rate is initially set in milliseconds and ranges from 0 ms (which means WaveSynth never stops scanning) to the length of one measure of music in your DAW. This changes a bit when Tempo Sync is enabled—see the Tempo Sync description below for details.

Number of Cycles: This chooses how many cycles of a stored waveform WaveSynth will output when a note sounds. The default is 1, and at this setting WaveSynth will output a single-cycle waveform at a frequency of the sounding note. If this setting is changed to 2, for example, then WaveSynth will output two waveform cycles, but those cycles will be at twice the frequency of the sounding note. The maximum number of cycles is 10.

Min Wave Size: This decides the minimum length a waveform can be until WaveSynth will stop scanning and storing it. This control is measured in milliseconds and ranges from 0.00 ms to 2.50 ms.

Tempo Sync: When this is enabled, the Scan Rate control is linked to the BPM value in your host and will be measured in "steps"—16 steps is equal to one beat of music. With Tempo Sync activated, the range of the Scan Rate control is from 1 to the number of beats in one measure of music multiplied by 16.

Dynamics: This modifies the output volume of each waveform. At its default—100.0%—the waveforms will output at the same level at which they were stored. At 0.0%, the output levels will be adjusted so that every waveform hits peak volume. This control can also be set at any percentage in between.

Crossfade: This controls how each waveform will transition to the next via crossfading. At 0.0%, each waveform will have no transition from the previous one, which will most likely cause audible clicking. At 50.0%, a waveform will begin to crossfade to the next when the halfway point of the scan rate has been reached. At 100.0%, as you probably can guess, the waveforms are constantly crossfading.

The Envelope section of the interface has controls that set the volume envelope for each sounding note, similarly to the majority of synthesizers. WaveSynth uses the four-stage ADSR envelope model.

Attack: This controls the speed at which a note will go from silence to peak volume. It's measured in milliseconds and ranges from 0 ms to 5,000 ms.

Decay: This controls the speed at which a note will go from peak level to the sustain level, which is set by the Sustain control (described below). It shares the same range as the Attack control.

Sustain: The Sustain control determines at which level a sounding note will settle at after the decay stage until that note is released. It's measured in decibels and ranges from silence to peak level (0.00 dB). Note that if the Gain control (detailed below) is adjusted, the peak level of this control will change to reflect that.

Release: This sets the speed at which a note will go from the sustain level to silence, which occurs when a sounding note is released. Its range is the same at those of the Attack and Decay controls.

Tension Controls: The horizontal sliders found underneath the Attack, Decay, and Release controls modify the tension of that stage of the envelope—its default is 0% (center) and ranges from -100% (far left) to 100% (far right). At values less than 0%, the volume of a stage will be louder overall, and at values greater than 0%, its overall volume will be quieter. The overall length of a note will not change at all.

WaveSynth comes with the option of running sounding notes through a low-pass filter—when active, each note is filtered individually. Note that, unlike most filters, there is no control for the filter's cut-off frequency. Instead, that frequency is determined by the current position of the volume envelope.

Active: This is simply a button to activate and deactivate the filter.

Resonance: This controls the filter's resonance, or how much emphasis the cut-off frequency will have in the filter's output.

Filter Peak: This sets the peak frequency in the filter that a sounding note will have—the peak level that the envelope reaches at the end of the Attack stage.

There are two controls in the lower left of the interface that relate to volume.

Gain: This controls the master volume level of WaveSynth's output and is measured in decibels.

Wet/Dry: This modifies the wet/dry mix of the audio, with "wet" being WaveSynth's output and "dry" being the source audio.

Lastly, there are five more controls on the far-right side of the user interface.

Pitch: This control offers a way to quickly adjust the pitch of every sounding note. It's measured in semitones and ranges from -24 to +24, so the full range is four octaves, two octaves down and two octaves up from a note's original pitch.

Correct Pitch: This control is a curiosity from WaveSynth's development process. When disabled, WaveSynth will not output waveforms at a predictable pitch, which could be useful in certain scenarios.

Pause: When enabled, this control pauses the stream of waveforms that WaveSynth outputs—new notes will still sound, but the waveform used will not change. Note that when you click this control with a mouse, it will immediately disable when you remove pressure from the mouse button—for a more permanent way to enable this control, link it to a knob on a MIDI device.

Stereo Width: This adjusts the width of the stereo image of WaveSynth's output. Note that when the Wet/Dry control (detailed above) is adjusted, this control will only affect the "wet" sound and not the "dry" sound.

Interpolation: This control determines which interpolation method WaveSynth will use when it outputs waveforms. The options are: None, Linear, Cosine, and Cubic. "None" uses the least CPU, but also sounds the "worst." When working with simple waveforms, use "Linear."