Hear how different classic synthesizer wave forms sound in this wave comparator. Clicking your mouse on the onscreen keyboard plays the note. Alternatively, you can use your computer keyboard to play notes too.
It is designed for quick A/B comparisons, allowing you to hold down a key and flip between tones immediately. As it appears on screen, the keyboard is mapped across the centre row of your computer keyboard. Pressing the ‘A’ key plays the note ‘A’, continuing through to the ‘J’ key. In fact, as you might expect, the white notes play a typical C major scale. Each of the black keys corresponds with the key directly above it; W plays the sharp version of that key. The same applies to the remaining black keys: E, T, Y, and U. This arrangement places your hands in a natural place from which you can further explore the sound.
How to Use the Wave Comparator
The row of waveform cards at the top contains different tone generators. You just need to click on each card to change current wave shape. You then hear that sound. The selected waveform is highlighted to let you know which one is being played. If you want to hear your last selection again with the A/B flip button, you just click there too to make an easy comparison. It’s all about spotting the slight changes in texture and brightness.
Another thing about the pulse wave card is that it has a duty cycle slider. The duty cycle will adjust the width of the pulse, greatly changing the harmonics. Narrowing down the duty cycle makes the sound more nasal and thin. If we get all the way to 50%, then the pulse wave will be exactly like a square wave. That’s a cool way of seeing just what the relationship between these two forms is.
You can crossfade between two waveforms using Morph mode. You can choose your starting and ending waves from the pick list and turn on the morph toggle. Then use the slider to transition gradually from first sound to the second. It’s really great for listening to what happens as you morph from a smooth sine wave into something brighter like a sawtooth, or vice versa.
Finally, there is the filter section that adds a low-pass filter to the mix. When you turn this on you add a resonance and cutoff frequency. By using the slider you can control the cutoff manually to reduce higher frequencies. If you want something a little more dynamic then hit the auto sweep button. This will cause it to automatically sweep from low to high and back again. You will hear how the brightness of the sound changes as a result.
What about the blip and sustain buttons? These alter how notes play. Blip mode plays each key press as a short, percussive note with a quick fade-out. Sustain mode holds each note while your finger remains on the key. Perfect if you want to tap out a riff or rhythm pattern without having any notes overlapping.
There are options for tuning your sound, including volume and the pitch controls. These allow you to adjust the sound to your liking. The volume slider allows for a change in overall output volume. Similarly, the pitch range slider alters base note of the keyboard. If a certain tune is sounding higher or lower than you would like in this setting, then press on the up/down octave buttons to move the whole range of keys.
It has a test your ear option too: this plays a single note from a mystery waveform each time you play a round. From these rounds you need to click on the waveform button that matches what you’ve just listened to and get it right. The quiz explains and gives feedback. For example, it helps you hear how certain timbres has even harmonics or how they roll off.
For example, hold down more than one key at once and try to play some chords. Polyphony is supported by this widget, which means that you can listen to combinations of different waveforms played harmonically. Hold a chord down and experiment with the filter sweep: notice how it changes brightness of the sound. Alternatively, use the computer keyboard to play longer phrases more easily.
A detailed breakdown of what each wave form represents can be found in the help panel. If you’re curious as to the characteristics of each sound (what you hear), and its mathematical properties (why those specific harmonics are there or not) click on the help button to access a helpful guide that breaks this down for all five wave forms: sine, triangle, square, sawtooth, and pulse.
Go full-screen for an even better experience. Why? Because it removes all distractions, so you can focus on the keyboard and waveforms. Great when you’re sharing your screen or using a smaller device. Fullscreen mode doesn’t take anything away from the interface. Clicking on the reset button will return the settings back to default. This is useful if you’ve been tinkering with lots of controls and need to clear them out so you can start from scratch again (or show someone else how it works).
To begin, click on a couple of the waveform cards and listen to the different sound of each. The sawtooth sounds buzzy and rich, whereas the sine wave is purer and smoother. You can then flip between the two using the A/B button and listen to them side-by-side. When you’re feeling confident, experiment with morphing two waves together, listening as they change from one to another in real time.
You should of tried it for yourself. It is naturaly a great experience. The moddern sounds are luxurius. Dissapears all your worries when you play.