Overview
The Argon8 is Modal Electronics’ eight-voice polyphonic wavetable synthesizer. Modal describes four digital oscillators per voice, 32 in total, split into two controllable wavetables, Wave 1 and Wave 2. A Mix control balances the two, and Spread adds oscillators for unison, stacked octaves, and intervals.
Modal lists 180 wavetables split into 36 banks of 5 morphable waveform sets. The manual counts 40 banks in total: Wave 1 uses the first 36, and Wave 2 can also pick from four more. The Wave 1 and Wave 2 encoders sweep continuously through the selected table.
Two layers of processing sit on top. Each wavetable can take one of 32 static wavetable modifiers, which redraw the table offline with effects like de-rez, bit crushing, wave folding, waveshaping, phase shaping, and rectification. Then one modulatable oscillator modifier per patch, from eight types including Phase Mod, Ring Mod, Amp Mod, Hard Sync, and Windowed Sync, sets how Wave 1 and Wave 2 interact. After the oscillators, Modal lists multimode filters and three envelope generators, for amp, mod, and filter, that you can edit one at a time or all together.
Wavetables on the Argon8
The Argon8 doesn’t load user wavetables. The version 3 manual and Modal’s product page describe the factory banks and the 32 modifiers that redraw them, and nothing for adding your own tables. MODALapp, Modal’s free editor for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android (also available as VST3 and AU), handles patches and firmware updates, not wave import. Some press coverage of the 2.6 firmware, which added new banks, noted that loading your own wavetables still wasn’t possible; that’s second-hand, but the current manual agrees.
WaveStack tables can’t be loaded into an Argon8, and WaveStack has no Argon8 target. You still get a lot of variety from the factory set: the static modifiers turn each of the 180 tables into many variants, and the oscillator modifiers combine two tables in ways a single table can’t.
If you want a hardware polysynth that reads your own tables, the Waldorf Iridium and Korg modwave both import them, and WaveStack exports to each. For something smaller, the MicroFreak takes user wavetables through Arturia’s MIDI Control Center.
WaveStack can still be useful to an Argon8 owner as a place to sketch. The static modifiers (folding, phase shaping, rectifying) are close to the kinds of edits WaveStack applies to frames, so you can try an idea on your own source material in WaveStack and then play it on a synth that imports tables. The Argon8’s factory set stays as it is, and the two don’t share files.
Specifications
| Oscillators | 4 per voice, 32 total, as two wavetables |
|---|---|
| Factory wavetables | 180 (36 banks of 5) |
| Wavetable modifiers | 32 static |
| Oscillator modifiers | 8 types |
| User wavetable import | None |
Frequently asked questions
Can you load custom wavetables into the Modal Argon8?
No. The Argon8 plays its 180 factory wavetables, arranged as 36 banks of 5 morphable sets, and Modal’s version 3 manual describes no way to add your own. What you can change is how each table sounds: 32 static wavetable modifiers redraw a table with folding, shaping, crushing, and similar effects, and eight oscillator modifiers combine the two wavetables with FM, ring mod, sync, and more.
Does MODALapp let you import wavetables to the Argon8?
Not according to Modal’s documentation. MODALapp is a free editor and librarian for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android, with VST3 and AU versions for use in a DAW. It handles patches and firmware updates for the Argon8. Neither the app’s description nor the version 3 manual mentions loading user wavetables, so tables from WaveStack or any other editor can’t be sent to the synth.
How many wavetables does the Argon8 have?
Modal lists 180 wavetables, split into 36 banks of 5 morphable waveform sets. The manual counts 40 banks in total: Wave 1 uses the first 36, and Wave 2 can also pick from four more banks. Each wavetable can then be redrawn by one of 32 static modifiers, so the playable variety is a good deal larger than 180. None of these banks can be replaced with your own tables.
What are the Argon8’s wavetable modifiers?
They’re 32 offline processes that redraw a wavetable before it plays. Modal’s manual lists sample rate reduction (Derez), bit crushing, simplifying to remove high partials, several phase shapers, wave folders, waveshapers, rectification, and sync-style effects. Each of the two wavetables in a patch gets one. They change the factory tables but don’t let you load new ones. Because they’re static, they set the table’s shape for the patch rather than moving over time; the oscillator modifiers are the modulatable part.
Which synth should I use if I want my own wavetables in hardware?
WaveStack exports directly to the Waldorf Iridium, the Korg modwave, the Arturia MicroFreak, the Synthstrom Deluge, the 1010music nanobox fireball, and the Polyend Tracker, among others. Each has its own frame size and frame count rules, and WaveStack writes the file each one expects. The Iridium and modwave are the closest to the Argon8 as polyphonic wavetable keyboards or desktop units with their own filters and modulation.