A table in WaveStack is one of three shapes:
- A row (1D): frames in a line, scanned from first to last. This is what most synths read.
- A grid (2D): columns × rows, scanned on two axes, X across and Y down.
- A volume (3D): a stack of grids, scanned on three axes. Z moves through the layers. Volumes are part of WaveStack Pro, though opening and playing them is always free.
The wavetable guide explains why you’d want more than one axis.
The table panel
The header of the table panel shows the table’s name (click to rename it) and its size: “64 frames”, “8 × 8” or “8 × 8 × 4”. Hover the size to see the frame size too.
Rows
A single row always shows as a 3D view of every frame, one line per frame, with the frame strip below it. The strip has a tile for each frame with its number, a thumbnail and a ◆ for marking keyframes (see Keyframes).
The header has tools for the current frame: Duplicate frame (⌘D), Move frame left, Move frame right and Delete frame (⌫).
Grids and volumes
Grids and volumes have a view switch in the header:
- Grid: a flat grid of frames. Click a cell to select it, double-click to toggle it as a keyframe, and drag across the grid to move the playing position like an X/Y pad.
- 3D: every row of the grid in 3D, columns left to right and rows receding (row 1 at the back). For a volume, it shows one layer.
- Cube (volumes only): the whole volume at once, every layer stacked upward.
A volume is edited one layer at a time. Step through layers with the [ and ] keys or the arrows and Layer menu in the header. A Z tag in the corner shows which layer you’re on.
Moving around in 3D
- Drag to turn the table. Hold Shift for fine movement.
- Scroll or pinch on a trackpad to zoom, toward the pointer.
- Double-click to reset the view.
- Click a frame’s line to select it. Right-click for the frame menu.
If dragging feels backward, turn on Invert horizontal drag or Invert vertical drag in Settings.
The paintbrush button in the header colors the lines by level, positive and negative in different colors. It’s the same as Color lines by level in Settings.
The view navigator
The ball in the corner of the 3D view shows the axes: for a row, X (frames), φ (phase) and L (level); for a grid, X, Y and L; in Cube view, X, Y and Z.
- Click an axis dot to swing round and face it: front, back, side, other side, top or bottom.
- Click the center to go back to the default angle.
- Drag the ball to turn the view.
The angle is shared by all 3D views and remembered between launches. The readout under the ball shows the angle, and the zoom when you’ve zoomed in.
Selecting frames
Edits apply to the selected frames, so selecting is how you work on more than one at a time.
| To select | Do this |
|---|---|
| One frame | Click it in the strip, the grid or the 3D view |
| A range | Shift-click another frame |
| Add or remove one frame | ⌘-click (Ctrl-click) |
| Every frame | ⌘A, or All in the header |
| Back to just the current frame | Esc |
| A whole row or column (grids) | Click its number at the edge of the grid, or use Row and Column in the header. Shift extends, ⌘ adds or removes. The corner selects all. |
| A whole layer (volumes) | Layer in the header |
Move between frames with the arrow keys. In a grid, up and down move between rows.
Drawing, shapes, processing, Filter & phase, curves, harmonics and limits all apply to every selected frame. The Edit tab says what an action will touch: “Applies to this frame”, “Applies to the 12 selected frames” or “Applies to every frame”.
Changing the size
Edit › Table › Size opens the size picker:
- Row: pick a frame count from 2 to 1024.
- Grid: pick columns × rows (up to 32 × 32) from the dropdowns, or hover the matrix and click.
- Volume: columns × rows × layers, up to 16 per side and 16 layers.
The table changes as soon as you pick, so you can hear each size. Trying several sizes doesn’t stack up resampling: each pick starts from the original. Done keeps the new size and Cancel (or Esc) puts the original back. Undo works afterward too.
The note in the picker says what happened to your frames:
- Changing between shapes with the same frame count just rewraps the frames in order. Nothing is recalculated.
- Changing the count spreads your frames (or your keyframes, if you’ve marked at least two) over the new size and morphs the gaps.
- Resizing a grid or volume resizes each layer as a grid, then resamples through the layers.
The morph uses the Spectral or Crossfade style set in the Edit tab’s Keyframes section. Spectral is the default.
Frame size
Edit › Table › Samples per frame sets how many samples each frame has: 256, 512, 1024, 2048 or 4096. Changing it resamples the whole table. 2048 suits most software synths; see frame size for why it matters. Export converts to whatever a target needs, so you rarely have to change this by hand.
Reverse frame order (rows only) flips the table end to end so it scans the other way.