Start Here

Start Here

This short exercise teaches FWG by ear. It assumes basic synthesis ideas such as oscillators, waveforms, filters, and modulation, but no prior FWG knowledge.

The working model is simple:

one endpoint patch in Playground → two endpoint patches in Morph → a relationship between them.

Before you start

Use a current desktop Brave/Chromium-family browser. Other current desktop browsers may work, but the release is primarily qualified against the Chromium family.

⚠️ Start with your monitoring volume low. FWG can produce abrupt, bright, full-scale, or heavily aliased digital sounds.

ESC is the useful stop/panic key. If no dialog or batch render owns it, ESC stops the current audition.

1. Play in Single Engine / Playground

Open Single Engine / Playground and press Drone.

A fresh patch starts with a deliberately simple signal path:

• Classic Waveforms Smooth;
• Input 1 = A;
• Wavetable Type = 0 – Input 1;
• Classic Waveforms controls at 2048 / 2048 / 2048, the centred triangle landmark.

For a few minutes, treat Playground as a synthesizer rather than a checklist. Change:

• Generator Family;
• Smooth and Crunchy;
• the three Core Generator controls;
• Input 1 between taps A, B, C, and D;
• Wavetable Type.

Listen first. Watch the Visualiser while you move controls, but do not worry about learning every option yet.

Playground is one complete endpoint patch. It is the simplest place to learn how FWG assembles a sound before START and END enter the picture.

Press ESC to stop the drone.

2. Make one simple endpoint deliberately

Return to a known state and make a sine.

1. Press Reset. Reset restores the fresh Playground patch above and starts auditioning it.
2. In Core Generator, confirm Classic Waveforms / Smooth.
3. Confirm Input 1 = A and Wavetable Type = 0 – Input 1.
4. Change Topology from 2048 to 0. Leave Symmetry / Width = 2048 and Character = 2048.
5. In Pitch, adjust Root Frequency if needed. The fresh default is 110 Hz; use a pitch that is comfortable for your monitoring and hearing.

You should hear a clean sine from tap A.

The routing is worth noticing once: Input 1 = A chooses generator tap A, and Wavetable Type 0 – Input 1 passes that routed source directly instead of combining Input 1 and Input 2.

Move Topology slowly upward. Classic Waveforms makes this an easy first example of a single endpoint moving continuously from sine toward other familiar shapes.

Return Topology to 0 before continuing.

Shortcut: The lower patch-memory/copy area includes Classic waveform preset buttons such as Sine, Triangle, Saw, and Square 50%. This exercise used the controls directly so you could see the signal path once before using the shortcuts.

3. Copy the endpoint into Morph

Scroll to the copy buttons and press Copy → Both.

FWG immediately:

• copies the Playground patch to START;
• copies the same patch to END;
• opens START→END Morph;
• starts droning START.

START and END are now identical. That is useful: change one endpoint and you can hear exactly what the relationship between them contributes.

4. Learn the Morph workspace before changing the sound

Morph has three columns:

• START
• END
• MORPH / EXPORT

Before changing any sound controls, press 1, 2, and 3.

• 1 collapses/reopens START.
• 2 collapses/reopens END.
• 3 collapses/reopens MORPH / EXPORT.

A narrow labelled rail remains when a column is collapsed; clicking the rail reopens it. These shortcuts change only the workspace layout.

Leave all three columns open for the rest of the exercise.

5. Give the first Morph enough time to hear

In MORPH / EXPORT, open Render / File Settings if necessary and find Render Unit / Length.

Set:

• Render Unit = Seconds;
• Length = 2–5 seconds.

3 seconds is a good starting point. Cycles and Samples become useful later, when their exact geometry matters.

6. Turn END into a different endpoint

START and END are still copies of the sine patch.

In the END column, change only:

Topology: 0 → 4095

With the other Classic Waveforms settings unchanged, END becomes a centred square-wave endpoint while START remains the sine.

Editing END auto-auditions END. Compare the endpoints deliberately:

• press START Drone, or S;
• press END Drone, or E;
• switch between S and E a few times;
• press ESC whenever you want to stop.

7. Hear your first Morph

In MORPH / EXPORT, open Morph / Sound Design if necessary and choose Wavetable Morph (Blends Tables Before Audio) as Morph Render Mode.

Changing Morph Render Mode auto-auditions the Morph. Listen to the first pass. One oscillator path evolves from the START wavetable toward the END wavetable over the duration you set above. With a sine at START and a square at END, the relationship is easy to hear.

Press ESC, then press Play Forward Morph or F to replay Forward on command. Press Play Reverse or R to hear the relationship in the opposite direction.

Now choose Crossfade (Favours Analogue Warmth). The endpoints have not changed; FWG now fades two complete endpoint sounds instead of blending their wavetable material before one oscillator path. That is the essential reason Morph Render Mode matters.

Leave the advanced Morph options alone for now. Phase-Coherent Mode, Cycle-stepped transition, FFT modes, START-mod-END modes, cleanup, and exact export geometry make more sense after the basic START/END model is familiar.

What you just learned

• Playground edits one complete endpoint patch.
• The fresh/reset Playground state is intentionally simple: Classic Waveforms, Input 1 = A, Wavetable Type 0.
• Root Frequency sets the shared audition/render pitch.
• Copy → Both duplicates the Playground endpoint into START and END, opens Morph, and auditions START.
• 1, 2, and 3 show/hide START, END, and MORPH / EXPORT.
• START and END are complete patches.
• S and E audition the endpoints; F and R audition Forward and Reverse Morph; ESC stops the current audition.
• Render Unit / Length controls how much audio a Morph renders.
• MORPH / EXPORT defines the relationship between START and END and the output made from that relationship.

That one-endpoint → two-endpoint → relationship model is the foundation for most of FWG.

Where to go next

Continue with Single Engine / Playground to learn endpoint controls in more detail, or START→END Morph to continue from the exercise above.

Then choose Creating Wavetables, Bulk Random, Bulk Explorer, or Drawn Waveform according to what you want to make.

For generator/routing detail, see Generator Families, Source Taps and Routing, and Wavetable Types.