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Fractured Wavetable Generator

Fractured Wavetable Generator (FWG) is a browser-native instrument and sound-design workspace for oscillator waves, morphing sounds, wavetable material, drones, pads, hits, transitions, digital damage, and raw audio for further processing.

It is also an exploration instrument. The documented recipes and workflows are stable starting points, not a list of the only sensible things to do: combine sources in ways the examples do not anticipate, feed rendered audio back into Drawn, let Explorer vary only the dimensions you care about, or use one discovered sound as raw material for another. FWG is intended for designing and crafting sounds, but also for discovering sounds and new ways of making sounds.

You can use FWG without first learning its internal architecture. The wiki is organised the same way: start with the instrument, then follow the technical detail as far as you need it.

If this is your first visit

Start with Start Here. It builds one Playground endpoint, copies it into Morph, and introduces the START / END / MORPH relationship by ear.

If you already know what you want to do, use the table below.

Start with a goal

I want to…	Read…
Hear a sound immediately	Start Here
Decide which FWG tab fits the job	Choosing a Workspace
Design one sound	Single Engine / Playground
Design a changing START→END sound	START→END Morph
Search broadly for unrelated ideas	Bulk Random
Define controlled or broad custom random-patch recipes around a known state	Bulk Explorer
Create a wavetable for another synth	Creating Wavetables
Make drones, hits, transitions, or multisamples	Creating Samples, Drones, Hits, Transitions, and Multisamples
Make MPC-ready wavetable folders	MPC Wavetable Mode
Plan frequency, cycles, samples, or duration	Calculators
Understand the 512-sample internal cycle	Meditations on the 512-Sample Core
Reload or refine an exported result	Saving, Loading, and JSON Sidecars
Turn audio—including an FWG render—into a new editable waveform or low-frequency oscillator (LFO)	Drawn Waveform
Build classic, near-classic, clipped, harmonic, or transformed wave-shapes from a few Drawn values	Drawn Wave-Shape Recipes
Repeat a random search	Randomisation and Seeds
Build or import a custom Scanning trajectory	Scanning Recipes
Understand a warning or unexpected result	Troubleshooting

Reading the mixed pages

Most pages simply use the voice that suits the subject. On pages that cross audiences, three small markers help you scan past material you do not need:

• 🎹 Musician — what a control does by ear, when to use it, and practical sound-design guidance.
• 🔧 Technical — exact behaviour, formulas, schemas, implementation, compatibility, and invariants.
• ⚠️ Caution — a real limitation, trap, or surprising behaviour worth noticing before you continue.

The markers are routing signs, not decoration. If a page is already obviously musician-facing or technical, it usually does not need them.

The six application tabs

1. Single Engine / Playground — build and audition one endpoint patch.
2. START→END Morph — combine two endpoint patches and render movement between them.
3. Bulk Random — generate many unrelated random START/END candidates.
4. Bulk Explorer — define your own repeatable randomisation recipe around a known state, from tiny variations to broad exploration.
5. Calculators — plan frequency, output PCM samples, nominal root cycles, duration, tempo, pitch, and multisample geometry.
6. Notes — concise in-application shortcuts, limits, compatibility guidance, and warnings.

A few FWG-specific ideas

These names recur throughout the application:

• Generator family — the algorithm that creates the primary waveform material.
• Taps A–D — family-specific source outputs that can be routed into Input 1/Input 2.
• Wavetable Type — how those routed inputs are combined or selected.
• START / END — the two complete endpoint patches used by Morph, Bulk, and Explorer.
• Drawn — an editable/importable 512-internal-cycle-sample waveform/control source that can be audio, a Scanning LFO, modulation material, or exploratory raw material; Morph START and END can carry different Drawn states.
• Scanning — a low-frequency-oscillator (LFO) driven trajectory through the three controls of an ordinary generator.
• Phase-Coherent Mode — optional best-effort phase registration of completed wavetables before downstream Morph/modulation/render processing.

The Glossary defines FWG-specific terminology when you meet something unfamiliar.

Files worth keeping

FWG normally exports WAV audio with matching JSON sidecars. If you may want to reconstruct, inspect, or refine a result, keep its .json.gz beside the WAV or in a parallel archive.

See Saving, Loading, and JSON Sidecars.

Browser target

The primary tested target is a current desktop Brave/Chromium-family browser. See Browser Requirements and Performance for limits and practical performance guidance.