Glossary

Glossary

This glossary defines FWG-specific usage. It is reference material, so the entries stay terse; musician/technical routing markers are omitted unless a warning is genuinely necessary.

Batch

A group of files generated in one Bulk Random or Explorer export.

Branch

One complete endpoint signal path, especially in crossfade or phase-modulated rendering.

Complete patch

See Patch. Used when the umbrella meaning needs emphasis.

Cycle

An overloaded musical/engineering term. In FWG render-planning contexts, an unqualified cycle normally means one nominal root cycle at the shared Root Frequency; where that distinction could be confused with an audible period after Pitch Offset or modulation, the wiki uses nominal root cycle.

Cycle-stepped

A Morph whose position changes at Root Frequency cycle boundaries rather than every output PCM sample.

Drawn

An editable per-endpoint waveform/control source materialised at runtime as 512 internal cycle samples. Drawn can be hand-edited, imported from browser-decodable audio or JSON, machine-generated, or reconstructed from sparse authored values. A pristine schema-13 construction/transform/normalise pipeline may remain the saved authority until ordinary editing or flattening makes the literal 512-sample table authoritative. Drawn can be routed as audio, used as a Scanning LFO, combined through Wavetable Types, or used independently in Morph START and END.

Drawn construction / resample mode

The stage-1 rule that turns authored Drawn values into the complete canonical waveform. Current v3 construction includes Steps, Linear, Power, Power Symmetric, Superellipse, the Cardinal family, and Fourier. The resample_mode field belongs to this stage.

Cardinal reconstruction

A neighbour-aware cubic Drawn stage-1 reconstruction family. Adjacent authored values help determine the tangent through each point. cardinal, cardinal-limit, and cardinal-clip accept one finite signed public parameter from −1 through +1 and share the bare default 0.621864; FWG maps that control internally to Cardinal tangent strength. Ordinary cardinal may require proportional Drawn admission fitting, cardinal-limit locally caps the shared tangent using Bézier amplitude headroom, and cardinal-clip deliberately hard-clips excursions to ±1.

Drawn transform

The optional stage-2 whole-waveform operation applied after stage 1 has materialised to the bounded canonical 512-internal-cycle-sample Float32 Drawn table. v3 provides Fourier, Haar, and Walsh-Hadamard transforms. Only one transform stage is retained; Haar and Walsh are transform-only, while Fourier is also available as stage-1 construction.

Fourier reconstruction / transform

A periodic Drawn Fourier operation. As resample_mode, Fourier treats authored amplitudes as equally spaced samples of one cycle and reconstructs them harmonically. As stage-2 transform, it instead consumes the exact completed 512-sample Float32 Drawn table. Bare fourier keeps all available components; selector N means exactly component N, -N selects that component with coefficient polarity inverted, :B, A:, and A:B are inclusive ranges, and comma joins selections. For the 512-sample transform the public real-waveform domain is 0…256: 0 is DC and 256 is Nyquist. A valid order unavailable in a smaller direct sparse Fourier input contributes zero.

Haar transform

A transform-only Drawn stage-2 wavelet decomposition with bands 0…9. Band 0 is mean/DC; bands 1–9 run from coarsest to finest dyadic detail. Haar is alignment-sensitive because its fixed half/quarter/eighth/etc. partitions are tied to positions in the 512-sample cycle; FWG does not secretly rotate the input to compensate.

Walsh-Hadamard transform

A transform-only Drawn stage-2 decomposition using 512 real rectangular ±1 basis components in sequency order 0…511. Sequency N has N sign changes between adjacent samples across the 512-point interval; the loop seam is not counted as an additional change.

Drawn final normalise

The optional normalise:true operation after stage-1 construction and any stage-2 transform. It applies one uniform gain around zero to raise a meaningful sub-full-scale peak to one rail while preserving DC and waveform proportions. It is not a bipolar min/max remap and does not independently stretch the positive and negative rails.

Drawn admission boundary

The boundary where authored/reconstructed material becomes the bounded canonical 512-internal-cycle-sample Float32 Drawn waveform. Finite authored values outside ±1 are clipped at input. Reconstruction/transform modes that permit temporary overshoot are either proportionally fitted as a complete waveform (cardinal, Fourier, Haar, Walsh), made rail-safe by their own limiter (cardinal-limit), or deliberately hard-clipped by a -clip variant. A stage-2 transform consumes the exact admitted stage-1 Float32 table, never sparse anchors or a private higher-precision reconstruction workspace. Optional normalise:true is a separate final uniform-gain stage after transformation.

Phase-Coherent Mode

An optional, workspace-local best-effort registration stage that circularly rotates the completed constructed table containing 512 internal cycle samples before downstream Morph/modulation/render DSP. v3.0 uses exact integer circular rotation.

END patch

The endpoint patch assigned to END.

Entropy

A measure of uncertainty relative to a specified probability model. In FWG, generated-seed uncertainty, named-draw width, idealised trace surprisal, effective patch variation, exact-output distinguishability, search acceptance rate, and subjective musical variation are different quantities and should not be treated as interchangeable.

Endpoint

START or END in Morph.

Endpoint patch

The generator, routing, modulation, Pitch Offset, windows, filtering, Drawn data, and related sound state for one endpoint. Playground edits one endpoint-style state.

Explorer recipe

A batch-level JSON that restores Explorer's pre-batch patch, rules, seed, render settings, and naming. Recipe identity comes from JSON content rather than filename, so a useful recipe can be renamed and kept as a personal Explorer preset.

Frame

An overloaded term that should normally be qualified. In wavetable-synthesis documentation, a wavetable frame may mean one discrete waveform state or slot along a wavetable. In PCM/audio-file terminology, a PCM sample frame means the simultaneous channel sample or samples at one instant. These are different concepts. FWG WAVs contain ordinary output PCM samples/PCM sample frames and do not inherently contain universal wavetable-frame markers. Manufacturers may use frame, wave, waveform, table, or related terms for similar wavetable objects.

PCM sample frame

The simultaneous PCM sample or samples for all channels at one instant. An FWG WAV is mono, so one PCM sample frame contains one output PCM sample. This is not a wavetable frame.

Wavetable frame

One discrete waveform state intended to occupy one position along a destination wavetable. A destination synthesizer may derive wavetable frames from fixed PCM sample counts, metadata, filenames, or other conventions. FWG ordinary WAV audio does not contain universal wavetable-frame markers.

Generator Family

The algorithm that creates taps A–D.

FFT — Fast Fourier Transform

A computational method for converting a sampled waveform between time-domain values and a frequency-domain representation. FWG uses FFT-based processing in spectral analysis/morphing and related spectral operations. An FFT does not add independent source detail that was absent from the sampled waveform.

Float32 — 32-bit floating-point value

A number stored in IEEE-754 single-precision floating-point form. FWG uses Float32 values for important internal/runtime waveform representations, including the canonical 512-internal-cycle-sample Drawn table. “Float32” describes numerical representation, not WAV output bit depth.

LFO — low-frequency oscillator

A comparatively slow periodic or shaped control signal used to modulate another parameter rather than normally being heard as the final audio signal. In FWG Scanning, the shared Drawn waveform can act as the LFO shape that moves through a Scanning recipe.

RMS — root mean square

A measure related to the average magnitude/energy of a changing numerical signal. In waveform comparison, RMS difference summarises typical pointwise error across compared samples; it complements, rather than replaces, maximum absolute difference.

Scanning recipe

A declarative base-generator + Pot1/Pot2/Pot3 trajectory definition used by built-in or session custom Scanning generators. Standalone recipes contain no Drawn waveform or Smooth/Crunchy setting.

Custom Scanning recipe

A valid imported Scanning recipe that does not resolve to a built-in recipe. Custom recipes live in the page-session library only and clear on reload; exported Morph/Explorer JSON embeds any custom definitions needed for reconstruction.

JSON sidecar

The FWG design record matching a rendered WAV. It normally represents one complete patch. Current v3.0 sidecars default to deterministic gzip-compressed .json.gz; plain .json remains importable.

Morph

The relationship and transition between START and END.

Morph patch

A complete patch built around a START→END relationship. In sound-design discussion, this may refer to START, END, and Morph settings; the unqualified complete patch also includes render/export settings and associated JSON context.

Morph Render Mode

The algorithmic strategy used to turn START into END or combine their roles.

MPC Wavetable Mode

A fixed nominal-root-cycles × output-PCM-samples-per-nominal-root-cycle export layout that creates MPC-style WAV folders and an MPC-specific format.json. The same simple WAV geometry may also be useful for other synthesizers, but their packaging and metadata requirements may differ.

Named draw

A separately addressed deterministic choice identified by a stable human-readable path. Each path uses the seed, domain, versioned engine/model, and path text to obtain one 32-bit value. Different paths from one seed do not create unlimited independent entropy.

Modulo bias

A small departure from exact uniformity caused when one 32-bit value is reduced modulo a range that does not divide 2^32. Some outcomes then receive one additional 32-bit source value. FWG accepts this for non-security sound design and documents the exact scale.

Reproducibility record

A seed, patch, optional audit trace, render context, WAV, or JSON combination sufficient to regenerate an FWG output. Reproducibility is not the same as authentication, trusted timestamping, tamper evidence, or proof of historical execution.

Modulation Depth

The shared unitless 1–256 START-mod-END control. Phase Modulation resolves it to degrees, Frequency Modulation to cents/octaves, and AM, Ring Modulation, and PWM to family-specific percentage ranges.

Moving START-mod-END

A START-mod-END mode in which START remains the modulation source, END remains the audible carrier, and both branches travel through the Morph path. Reverse changes traversal direction only.

Fixed START-mod-END

A START-mod-END mode with no interpolation inside either branch. Forward uses START as source and END as carrier; Reverse swaps those roles.

Source Rate

The multiplier applied when reading the START-mod-END modulation source: 1×, 2×, 3×, 5×, ½×, ⅓×, or ⅕×.

START-mod-END Mode

The external modulation family used between endpoint branches: Phase Modulation, Frequency Modulation, Pulse Width Modulation, Amplitude Modulation, or Ring Modulation.

Nominal Frequency

The oscillator frequency after applying a patch's static Pitch Offset to Root Frequency, before FM or other time-varying modulation. Playground, Morph, and Explorer display it as Nominal freq beneath Pitch Offset. The Calculators tab can solve for Nominal Frequency, Pitch Offset, or Root Frequency.

Nominal root

Older/internal wording for the shared Root Frequency used by render timing and cycle blocks. See Root Frequency.

Patch

Unless qualified, the umbrella record for one output: START patch, END patch, Morph settings, render/export settings, Drawn waveform data, and relevant generation/import/export context that can be stored in one JSON sidecar.

Pitch Offset

A static per-patch frequency offset measured in cents. Positive values raise and negative values lower the oscillator relative to Root Frequency; 1200 cents equals one octave.

Planner

The versioned randomisation or preset logic that decides which named draws to request and how to turn their mapped results into a complete patch. A planner is not the hash function itself.

Random-origin record

A seed-based record of how an endpoint patch was generated, including its generated snapshot and later field differences where available.

Sample

An overloaded term that should normally be qualified. An internal cycle sample is one stored amplitude value inside an FWG internal oscillator or Drawn cycle. An output PCM sample is one amplitude value written to an FWG mono WAV. A PCM sample frame is a separate file/audio term; in mono FWG output it contains one output PCM sample.

Sample Rate

The visible FWG control for the WAV output sample rate: the number of PCM sample frames written per second. It is distinct from FWG's 512-internal-cycle-sample point count.

Root Frequency

The shared base oscillator frequency used for audition and render planning. It determines root-cycle duration, Cycles render length, Cycle-stepped boundaries, and Per Cycle cleanup blocks even when Pitch Offset changes a patch's Nominal Frequency.

Samples per Cycle

A visible FWG geometry term meaning output PCM samples per nominal root cycle: WAV output sample rate divided by Root Frequency. It does not mean the 512 internal cycle samples used by FWG's oscillator/Drawn core. When the distinction matters, the wiki qualifies the term rather than relying on samples per cycle alone.

Resolution

An overloaded word rather than one FWG quantity. Depending on context it can refer to the internal-cycle point count, WAV output sample rate, PCM amplitude precision/bit depth, wavetable-axis detail, parameter step size, spectral-analysis bin spacing, display detail, or something else. FWG documentation should qualify the intended quantity wherever context does not make it unambiguous. See Meditations on the 512-Sample Core.

Seed

An opaque reproducibility token used by deterministic randomisation. Default generated tokens contain 26 lowercase Base32-alphabet characters and select from a 2^130 namespace. Under the browser-RNG and uniform-generation assumptions, they are intended to carry 130 bits of generated uncertainty. That is not a universal 130-bit security claim for a patch or WAV. User-entered seeds may be arbitrary text, receive no automatic entropy claim, and are not Unicode-normalised.

Source tap

A, B, C, D, or Drawn routed into Input 1/2.

START patch

The endpoint patch assigned to START.

Table safety

Context-aware handling of unusable effective oscillator tables. Continuous endpoint edits can retain one bounded previous-valid table; structural replacements clear that live standby. Pointer drawing is continuous, while whole-Drawn Copy/Reset/Clear/Undo/Import actions are structural. Scanning/Morph audition and rendering keep separate bounded START/END/Morph standbys for the current traversal. Public Table-Safety counts report resolved structural substitutions once.

Trace

A diagnostic/audit record of named draws requested by a planner and the mapped result of each draw. Ordinary current sidecars do not need to carry the complete trace when seed/planner identity and the authoritative resolved patch already restore the work. A trace supports explanation and reproduction; it is not an audio fingerprint, entropy certificate, signature, trusted timestamp, or proof of historical execution.

Wavetable Type

The stage that selects, combines, collides, folds, gates, or otherwise transforms the two routed inputs.

Window

An inclusive 1–512 start/end selection applied before or after the Wavetable Type. Start greater than End wraps forward through 512 to 1.

Proof of zero knowledge

A term coined here as a deliberate inversion of “zero-knowledge proof.” A formal zero-knowledge proof establishes possession of hidden knowledge without revealing it. FWG instead reveals and audits a qualifying random-generation recipe to show that specified prior-work material was absent from the audited generator path's disclosed inputs: proof of zero knowledge rather than proof with zero disclosed knowledge. The more precise expanded term is proof of zero prior-work knowledge. It is project-specific wordplay, not a cryptographic claim, algorithm, protocol, formal zero-knowledge proof, signature, timestamp, or complete historical proof. The claim applies to the reproducible FWG computation and the portions of a final output still attributable to that process.

Standby table

One of the three bounded Table Safety states: START output, END output, or Morph output. Each fresh stream begins as the deterministic safety square. A meaningful structural table replaces its own standby; a collapsed structural table uses the previous valid table when one exists, otherwise the square. Live continuous endpoint editing may retain the relevant standby across scalar changes; structural replacements clear it.