Source Taps and Routing

Source Taps and Routing

FWG generators can expose several related versions of their internal waveform as taps A, B, C, and D. A patch routes Input 1 and Input 2 from those taps or from the shared Drawn waveform, then gives the two routed inputs to a Wavetable Type.

In Playground or a Morph endpoint, these choices live together in Generator Taps / Wavetable Inputs. Think of the taps as available source outputs and Input 1/Input 2 as two patch cables feeding the next stage.

The basic routing picture

Generator
   ├─ Tap A ─┐
   ├─ Tap B ─┤
   ├─ Tap C ─┤── choose Input 1 ─┐
   └─ Tap D ─┤                   │
             │                   ├─ Wavetable Type ─ further processing
Drawn ───────┘── choose Input 2 ─┘

Both inputs independently choose from A, B, C, D, or Drawn. Input 1 and Input 2 are routing positions; they are not synonyms for tap A and tap B.

What A, B, C, and D mean

There is no universal “A is clean, D is extreme” rule. Tap character belongs to the selected Generator Family.

The quickest way to learn a family is:

1. choose one generator and variant;
2. hold its three controls steady;
3. set Wavetable Type = 0 – Input 1;
4. switch Input 1 through A, B, C, and D;
5. listen and watch the visualiser;
6. repeat at a few different generator-control positions.

That isolates the taps before two-input interaction complicates the picture.

A and B

A and B are the two primary source taps. Depending on the family, they may be related shapes, differently parameterised voices, complementary spectra, or deliberately contrasting constructions.

Many Wavetable Types are designed around interaction between two sources, so A and B are natural starting points. Do not assume A is always the “main” or better source.

C and D

C and D expose additional family-specific voices. They may derive from A/B or use separate family logic.

Treat them as extra voices to audition, not as fixed processing stages. Some are intentionally harder, more derivative-like, more quantised, or otherwise less similar to A/B. Cross-tap similarity is not an FWG requirement.

Drawn as a routed source

Drawn is the shared editable/importable 512-internal-cycle-sample waveform described in Drawn Waveform.

Useful combinations include:

• Drawn + A for a custom/generated hybrid;
• Drawn + D for a custom waveform against a more extreme generator tap;
• Drawn + Drawn when you want Wavetable Type/windows to process the custom waveform without an audible generated source.

Input 1 and Input 2 are not always symmetrical

Some Wavetable Types treat the two inputs symmetrically. Others give them different roles.

Examples:

• 0 – Input 1 / 1 – Input 2 — direct pass-through;
• I1→I2 / I2→I1 splice-style operations — order matters;
• division, gating, polarity, and threshold modes — one input controls how the other is heard;
• dynamic interaction modes — one input's level or polarity can open/select the other.

If swapping Input 1 and Input 2 changes the sound dramatically, that may be exactly what the selected Wavetable Type is designed to do.

A practical learning sequence

When a patch becomes hard to understand, reduce it:

1. choose 0 – Input 1 and audition one tap at a time;
2. choose 1 – Input 2 and audition the second route;
3. switch to Sum or another simple two-input type;
4. only then try harder collision, gating, or folding modes;
5. add windows, modulation, filtering, or Morph movement afterward.

This usually reveals whether the interesting part comes from the generator, the tap choice, or the two-input interaction.

Routing and Scanning generators

A Scanning generator is still a wrapper around an ordinary base generator. Its changing coordinates alter that generator; the resulting A/B/C/D taps then follow the same routing rules as any other family.

The Scanning recipe does not define separate tap DSP. See Scanning Recipes.

Technical note: FWG only constructs what the audible route needs

🔧 FWG avoids unnecessary source work where practical:

• A and B are the generator's direct source arrays;
• C and D are constructed when an audible route requires them;
• Wavetable Type Input 1 does not require an unused Input 2;
• Wavetable Type Input 2 does not require an unused Input 1;
• a direct Drawn-only route can bypass generator construction;
• a Drawn/Drawn route can bypass generator construction while still applying the selected Wavetable Type and windows.

This is an implementation/performance detail, not a different routing rule. If an audible tap internally depends on another tap, FWG constructs that prerequisite as needed.

Related pages

• Generator Families
• Wavetable Types
• Drawn Waveform
• Source and Result Windows
• Signal Path and Core Concepts