Circle Wavetable Generator Guide

1 A guide to creating Circle format

wavetables from your own recordings.
 Circle Wavetable Generator Guide
The Circle Wavetable Generator applet allows you to convert standard wave files into
Circle format wavetables, allowing you to expand the sound design capabilities of
Circle.

In this document, we refer to Circleʼs Wavetable Folder. This is the place on your
computer where the wavetables Circle uses are stored. It is at the following locations:

on the Mac: /Library/Application Support/FAW/Circle/Wavetables

on the PC: Circle Install folder/Wavetables (the default location: c:/Program Files/
FAW/Circle/Wavetables).

How do I use the Circle Wavetable Generator?

First, launch the Wavetable Generator applet, and set the start index that you would
like the newly created wavetables to appear in Circleʼs wavetable oscillators selection
window.

The first 110 locations are reserved for the wavetables that we include with Circle.
User generated wavetables are thus restricted to indexes of 110 or greater.

Next, chose whether you would like to batch convert an entire folder of wave files or
just a single file, using the buttons “Convert Folder” or “Convert File”

Having navigated to the file or folder you would like to use as the source for the
Wavetable Generator, click open. The wavetables will now be automatically
generated. The generated wavetables will be stored in the same location as the file
or folder you selected, identifiable by a prefixed index number appended to the name
of the original source wave file.

The final step is to copy the generated wavetables to Circleʼs Wavetable Folder, the
location of which is described in the note at the top of this page.
Your new wavetables will be available inside Circle the next time you launch!

To experiment with generating your own wavetables, we recommend trying Andrew

Souterʼs Architecture 2 wave files as sources. Andrew designed Circleʼs original
wavetables and the Architecture wave files are preprocessed to the right format for
immediate use with Circleʼs Wavetable Generator

You can download a demo of the Architecture Waveforms from this link:
http://www.galbanum.com/products/architecture-universal/demo/Archi_Uni_Demo.zip
What Kind of Wave Files Should I Use?
You can use any kind wave file, but to get the best result, we recommend to use files
in the following format: mono, 24 bits, 44100 Hz, 2048 samples minimum.

Converting Stereo wave files, results in the left channel being used as the wavetable
source.

How Do I Make Wavetables From Other Synths?

This is recommended for power users who have experience of using spectrum
analysis software, have sample accurate wave editing skills and knowledge of some
more advanced audio terms. If you donʼt understand the process, donʼt worry as we
plan to release additional wavetables for download in the future.

Circles wavetables need to contain a complete single cycle of a waveform.

The length of this cycle needs to be 2048 samples in length and recorded at a
sample rate of 44100 Hz.
From this, the base frequency of the table can be derived as 44100/2048 or
21.533Hz.

To record your other synthesizerʼs oscillators and use them in Circle, first tune the
desired oscillator to 21.53 Hz or as close as possible. This can be done by viewing
your oscillators frequency in real time using a spectrum analysis program and
adjusting the pitch until it matches 21.53Hz.
Metric Haloʼs SpectaFooo, which comes as a fully featured time limited demo, or the
free AudioXplorer can be used for this task.

Once your oscillator is tuned correctly to 21.53Hz, record its sound into your wave
editor of choice. Using your wave editors selection tool, select 2048 samples from the
recording, starting at the zero crossing at the begining of one of the oscillatorʼs cycles
and ending at the zero crossing at the end of the same cycle.
Copy and paste your selection into a new wave file and save it.
Finally, follow the steps on the previous page, using this new wave file as the source
for the Wavetable Generator.