Overview
Wavetable is an instrument built into Ableton Live. It has two wavetable oscillators and a sub oscillator, two analog-modeled filters, and a modulation section. Each oscillator picks a table from two choosers (category, then table), and the Wave Position control moves through it. Ableton says the raw oscillator output is band-limited and won’t alias at any pitch as long as no modulation is applied.
Each oscillator also has an effect that reshapes the waveform. FM adds frequency modulation from a hidden oscillator. Classic offers pulse width, which works on any table, and sync. Modern offers Warp and Fold. The oscillator display shows the table as a stack of waves, either in a linear view or a polar view where each wave is drawn as a loop.
Ableton’s help article on user wavetables covers Live 10.1 and later and uses its own terms. In the article, a “wavetable” is a single 1024-sample cycle, and a file holding several of them is a “sprite”. On this page, a frame is one 1024-sample cycle and a table is the whole file.
Wavetables on the Ableton Wavetable
Wavetable treats any WAV or AIFF as a series of 1024-sample frames. It reads up to 256 frames from the start of the file, mixes it down to mono, and makes sure there are at least two frames so Wave Position has something to move between. Nothing in the file tells Live the frame size, with one exception: if the file was made by Serum, Live downsamples its 2048-sample frames to 1024. Ableton only describes that for Serum files, so WaveStack always exports at 1024 rather than relying on it.
Unless the oscillator’s Raw switch is on, Wavetable also processes the file: it skips leading and trailing silence, fades the edges of each frame to zero to avoid clicks, reduces phase differences between neighboring frames, and normalizes them. That helps with rough audio but changes a table that was already prepared. Ableton recommends Raw mode for files made specifically as wavetables. Live also doesn’t watch a wavetable folder for changes; Ableton’s workaround after adding files is to delete the device and undo, which makes Live read the folder again. Note that skipping leading silence can shift where frames start, so a table that begins with a silent frame needs Raw on to slice correctly.
WaveStack’s Ableton Wavetable target writes a mono WAV at 1024 samples per frame, between 2 and 256 frames. Tables at other frame sizes are resampled to 1024, longer tables have frames picked evenly, and a 2D grid or 3D volume is flattened to one row, with a warning in Export. Because the frame size is 1024, very low notes have fewer harmonics available than in a 2048-sample synth; see frame size.
Specifications
| Samples per frame | 1024 |
|---|---|
| Frames | 2–256 |
| File types | WAV, AIFF |
| Frame size detection | None (fixed at 1024); Serum files are downsampled from 2048 |
| Channels | Mixed down to mono |
| Processing | Silence trim, edge fades, phase alignment and normalizing, unless Raw is on |
| Live versions | 10.1 and later |
From WaveStack to the Ableton Wavetable
- Build or open a table in WaveStack.
- Press ⌘E and choose Ableton Wavetable as what the table is for.
- Under Save to, choose a location or link a folder.
- Export. WaveStack writes a mono WAV with 1024-sample frames.
- In Live, drag the file from the browser, Finder or Explorer onto Wavetable’s oscillator display. Drop it on the display itself: dropping it elsewhere on the device replaces Wavetable with Simpler.
- Turn on Raw so Live plays the frames exactly as exported.
- Move Wave Position to scan the table. The oscillator’s arrows now step through other files in the same folder.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add custom wavetables to Ableton Wavetable?
Drag an audio file onto the oscillator’s wavetable display. It can come from Live’s browser, a clip slot, or Finder or Explorer. Live then treats the file’s folder as the current category, so the arrows step through the other files there. Drop the file on the display itself, since dropping it elsewhere on the device replaces Wavetable with Simpler. For tables exported from WaveStack, switch on Raw so Live doesn’t reprocess the frames.
What frame size does Ableton Wavetable use?
1024 samples per frame, with up to 256 frames per file. Live reads any WAV or AIFF that way and mixes it to mono. Ableton says files made by Serum, which use 2048-sample frames, are downsampled to 1024, but it doesn’t describe that for other tools. WaveStack’s Ableton Wavetable target exports at 1024 directly, so nothing depends on Live recognizing the file.
What does Raw mode do in Ableton Wavetable?
Raw turns off the processing Live applies to imported files. Without it, Live ignores leading and trailing silence, fades each frame’s edges to zero, reduces phase differences between neighboring frames, and normalizes them. That cleans up arbitrary audio, but on a table that was built frame by frame it changes the sound and can shift where frames start. Ableton recommends Raw for files prepared as wavetables, which includes anything exported from WaveStack.
Why does my wavetable sound wrong in Ableton Wavetable?
Usually a frame size mismatch. Live slices at 1024 samples, so a table made at 2048 by a tool other than Serum gets half a cycle per frame, and one made at 256 gets four cycles per frame. The other common cause is leaving Raw off, which trims silence and re-fades frames. Stereo tables are also mixed to mono, which can cancel parts that differ between channels. Exporting with WaveStack’s Ableton target and turning on Raw avoids all of these.