wavetable

hardware, music A type of sound generator often built in a

sound card. A wavetable contains digitised samples of real

instrument sounds or effect (FX) sounds. A wavetable chip

often also contains a drum kit sound to faciliate rhythm

accompaniment.

A recorded wavetable sound may be edited and enhanced by

various effects (reverb, chorus) and layered with other

waveforms before writing it to ROM or RAM. The latter

type serves as user sound memory.

A wavetable generator is typically controlled by MIDI input.

When a MIDI note-on signal is detected, the output part of a

wavetable generator generates a sound with definitive pitch,

typically a musical note.

Wavetable sounds are used in games and music. The more

realistic wavetable sounds have all but replaced the earlier

synthetic FM (frequency modulation) sound generation in sound

cards but to ensure compatibility with older games etc., an FM

part is usually included.

The best known wavetable sound generators includes the E-mu8000 chip, used in Creative Labs' Sound Blaster AWE-32

card family and in E-mu keyboards. Other wavetable cards are

Gravis Ultra-Sound (GUS), ESS Cards, Opti, Zoltrix and many

Roland cards.

E-Mu .

AWE-32.

Creative Labs .

(1997-11-04)