Overview
Pigments is Arturia’s flagship software synth. It has several synthesis engines (Analog, Sample, Wavetable, Harmonic and Modal), and you can run two of them at once alongside a Utility engine that adds a sub oscillator, noise and external input. This page is about the Wavetable engine.
Arturia’s manual describes the Wavetable engine as holding up to 256 waveforms per table, which it calls positions, each 2,048 samples long. The Position control picks a waveform, and any modulation source can move it, including synced LFOs. The Morph button decides how Position moves: with Morph on, it blends smoothly between neighboring positions, and with Morph off it jumps from one to the next.
The engine adds frequency and phase modulation, and a set of wave-shaping options that bend the waveform, all shown in a visualizer that switches between a 2D view of the current wave and a 3D view of the whole table.
Wavetables on the Pigments
Pigments doesn’t look for a frame-size tag. Arturia’s manual says it parses a WAV by placing the first 2,048 samples in position 1, the next 2,048 in position 2, and so on, until it reaches 256 positions. Only the first 524,288 samples (256 × 2,048) are used. A shorter file gets as many positions as it fills: 16,384 samples become eight positions. Arturia recommends keeping the total length a whole multiple of 2,048 for the best results.
Since the slicing always starts at sample zero and always uses 2,048, a table made at another frame size loads with the wrong cycle length, and a table with a few samples of padding at the start has every frame shifted. Arturia doesn’t say whether Pigments reads a Serum clm chunk, and it doesn’t need one. For building tables by hand, the manual suggests an editor that shows exact sample counts, such as Audacity, to place sections end to end. WaveStack’s Export takes care of that count, since every frame it writes for Pigments is exactly 2,048 samples.
WaveStack’s Pigments target writes a mono WAV with frames of exactly 2,048 samples and nothing before the first frame. Tables at other frame sizes are resampled to 2,048, tables with more than 256 frames have frames picked evenly down to 256, and a 2D grid or 3D volume is flattened to one row, with a warning in Export.
To use your own tables, open the Wavetable browser, choose Folders and click Add Folder. The folder then shows up at the bottom of the bank list. You can also load a single file with Load Wavetable, which only appears once you select a non-factory bank, or drag a file onto the engine. Arturia notes that dragged files don’t appear in the browser, so adding the folder is the tidier route.
Specifications
| Samples per frame (position) | 2,048 |
|---|---|
| Maximum frames | 256 |
| Samples read | First 524,288 only |
| File type | WAV |
| Frame size detection | None: sliced every 2,048 samples from the start |
| User wavetables | Folders added with Add Folder in the Wavetable browser |
From WaveStack to the Pigments
- Build or open a table in WaveStack.
- Press ⌘E and choose Pigments as what the table is for.
- Under Save to, link a folder you’ll keep for Pigments tables.
- Export. WaveStack writes a mono WAV of 2,048-sample frames, up to 256.
- In Pigments, set an engine to Wavetable, click the wavetable name to open the browser, choose Folders and click Add Folder, then select the WaveStack folder.
- Pick the table from the new bank, then turn Position or modulate it. Turn Morph on for smooth blends between frames.
Frequently asked questions
How do I import custom wavetables into Pigments?
Open the Wavetable engine’s browser, select Folders and click Add Folder, then choose the folder holding your tables. It appears at the bottom of the bank list. For a single file, select a non-factory bank and use Load Wavetable, or drag the file onto the engine, though dragged files don’t show up in the browser. If you link the same folder in WaveStack’s Export, new tables appear in that bank.
What frame size does Pigments use?
2,048 samples per position, with up to 256 positions. Pigments slices any WAV into 2,048-sample pieces from the very first sample, and reads no more than 524,288 samples. A file shorter than that gets fewer positions, so 16,384 samples give you eight. Arturia recommends keeping the total length a whole multiple of 2,048. WaveStack’s Pigments target always writes 2,048-sample frames with nothing before the first one.
Why does my wavetable sound wrong in Pigments?
Pigments always slices at 2,048 samples starting from sample zero. A table made at 1,024 samples per frame gets two cycles in each position, which sounds an octave up. A table with silence or a partial cycle at the start has every frame offset, which sounds buzzy. Anything after the first 524,288 samples is ignored. Exporting from WaveStack with the Pigments target resamples to 2,048 and lines the frames up from the first sample.
Can I use Serum wavetables in Pigments?
Generally yes. Serum tables use 2,048-sample frames and up to 256 of them, which matches how Pigments slices a WAV. Pigments doesn’t need Serum’s clm chunk, since it slices at a fixed size anyway. If a Serum-style table came from a tool that used a different frame size, import it into WaveStack, which reads Serum-style WAVs, and export it with the Pigments target to get 2,048-sample frames.
Can Pigments load 2D wavetables?
No. The Wavetable engine has one Position control along a line of up to 256 waveforms. WaveStack flattens a 2D grid or 3D volume to one row for the Pigments target and warns you in Export. Because Pigments runs two engines at once, you can put two rows of a grid in two Wavetable engines and crossfade between them for part of the effect. A WaveStack & Strata export keeps the full grid in a wt3d chunk.