TheWaveWarden Spline, spectral morphing wavetable Synthesizer plugin (mac, linux, win)

TheWaveWarden Spline is a new wavetable Synthesizer for macOS, Linux, and Windows with spectral morphing oscillators.

Music producers who work with a lot of freeware will certainly know TheWaveWarden Odin 2, an open-source Synthesizer that is very similar to Reason Studio’s Thor. The developers have now continued the project and brought it to a higher quality level for modern music producers.

The successor to TheWaveWarden Odin 2 is called Spline and features numerous new features not available in its predecessor. Unfortunately, it’s now a full commercial product and is no longer open-source and free. 

TheWaveWarden Spline

Spline is an entirely new development, offering a lot to explore. It’s immediately noticeable that TheWaveWarden has replaced the Reason Thor-like look with a new, unique design in Spline. A bit too dark for my taste, but I could be wrong.

The core consists of three oscillators, each with a “state-of-the-art” wavetable oscillator powered by a spectral morphing engine. Indeed, this is a distinct X/Y morphing approach to wavetable synthesis compared to Serum 2, Pigments 6, or other popular modern synths.

Don’t worry, it’s easy to use. You place a wavetable, factory library, or user import on the X axis. Next, you set one of many selectable modifier algorithms, including various spectral tools, FM, sync, and more, on the Y axis. Once assigned, you can use the X/Y pad to morph and shape the wavetable in real-time.

The output is visualized in the center. These morphs can be done manually or animated with a modulator. There is also a fun spline mode with which you can craft paths that can be driven through with a mapped modulator. The Spline synth also features a built-in waveform/wavetable editor for those who want to delve deeper.

This morphing function opens the door to highly animated wavetable oscillator sounds that are in full motion. You have this wavetable playroom not once but in all three oscillators to the same extent.

Filtering & Effects

Then it continues very familiar. From there, it goes into a dual filter, again implemented with XY pads. In this case, the cutoff and resonance are fixed on the pads. It’s familiar because the filter algorithms in the Spline synth were adopted from TheWaveWarden Odin 2 plugin.

It ships with classic filters, including low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, and notch, in all possible flavors. It also has some new variants not available in Odin 2. As with the wavetable X/Y pads, there is also a lovely spline mode that allows you to generate morph paths for automated filter morphings.

Each filter also features flexible oscillator routing, a built-in overdrive for added spice, and other handy features such as pan and keytrack.

At the end of the signal path, you can refine your sounds with a multi-FX processor consisting of various effects: delay, reverb, distortion, chorus, and more. The signal chain is fully customizable, and each effect offers numerous parameters for tweaking. The way the effects processor is visualized reminds me a lot of Xfer Records Serum 2.

Deep Modulation & Glitchy Sequencing

The modulation engine is very comprehensive. It’s a true stereo modulation, offering four AHDSR envelopes and four drawable LFOs that can be mapped to parameters via drag-and-drop. On the other hand, there are two slots with sample & hold and noise generator, two random generators, and an assignable X/Y macro controller.

All this manages a comprehensive modulation matrix on a dedicated page.

That’s not all. TheWaveWarden Spline has another special modulator. The “Enablements” is a sequencer that allows you to turn individual sections of the engine on and off. This will enable you to create exhilarating glitchy-like sequences. For example, you can swap the oscillator mid-melody or sequence drastic sound changes very easily.

Arpeggiator 

Spline does not have a built-in note sequencer, but it does have a very versatile arpeggiator with its patterns. You can create patterns up to 32 steps, apply step-based probability, and up to 8 patterns can be recalled on the fly while playing.

Not to be forgotten is that the arpeggiator also has four modulation lanes that can be mapped to parameters. This allows you to play arpeggiator patterns that also animate parameters simultaneously.

That sounds like a lot of sound design possibilities. If that’s too much for you at first, there are also built-in presets that showcase the sonic range of the synth.

Several well-known sound designers contributed to The WaveWarden Spline factory library, including Dash Glitch, Venus Theory, DATABROTH, and others.

First Impression

At first glance, Spline appears to be an exciting new wavetable Synthesizer with its unique concept. I particularly like the high degree of modulation that can be achieved here. The Enablements sequencer is very fun to use, adding glitchy, broken movements to the sound. 

I’ve just noticed that the macOS VST3 demo version is still buggy and occasionally crashes (as of May 31). I hope this gets fixed soon.

TheWaveWarden Spline is available now for an introductory price of 69€ instead of 99€ (30% OFF). It runs as a VST3 and AU plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel), Linux, and Windows.

More information here: TheWaveWarden 

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