4ms Company Spherical Wavetable Navigator User manual

Spherical Wavetable Navigator
4ms Company
User Manual 1.0 – May 3, 2019
The Spherical Wavetable Navigator (SWN) is a six-channel synthesizer that makes it easy to create slowly
morphing drones, polyphonic melodies, evolving sequences, and rich textures. The SWN features six wavetable
oscillators with independent pitch, level, and waveform controls. Six LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators) can be
used as modulation sources and/or envelopes, making it easy to add dynamic motion to your patch. Each channel
is a full voice and can be played using the top row of buttons, the internal LFOs, or note-change detection on the
1V/oct jacks. The SWN ships with 12 three-dimensional (Spherical) wavetables and an easy interface which
allows you to record and edit custom wavetables from live audio. Open-source software for Mac, Windows, and
Linux called SphereEdit can be freely downloaded and allows you to create, edit, and convert .wav files into
Spherical wavetables to transfer into the SWN with an audio cable.
• Six VCOs (Voltage Controlled Oscillators), each with independent 1V/oct pitch CV and waveform selection.
• Twelve spherical wavetables, plus space for up 108 user-created wavetables.
• Quickly record, apply effects, and save your own custom wavetables from live audio (or by using free
SphereEdit software on a computer).
• Six LFOs/envelopes, each with its own output jack and controls for speed, amplitude, phase, and shape.
• Stereo audio outputs.
• Option to quantize each channel to a scale (major, minor harmonic, semitones).
• Entire state of the SWN can be saved into one of 108 Presets and recalled at a later time.
• Temperature-stable, high-quality pitch tracking circuitry is easy to re-calibrate and keep in tune with any
sequencer, DAW interface, or keyboard.
Waveform
In
Browse
FX
Octave
Fine
LFO OUTS
Save Preset
Gain Phase
Dispersion Dispersion Pat. WT Spread
Spread CV
Spread
Scale
Sphere

Table of Contents
SECTION I: BASICS 3
Plugging in your Spherical Wavetable Navigator 3................................................................
Tutorial 1: Making a Drone 3..................................................................................................
Tutorial 2: Making a Melody 4................................................................................................
Global vs. Local: Controlling One Channel at a Time 4.........................................................
Turning vs. Push+Turning 5...................................................................................................
Fine button 5..........................................................................................................................
Tutorial 3: Drones Revisited 6................................................................................................
Tutorial 4: Saving your Work with Presets 7..........................................................................
What’s a Spherical Wavetable? 8..........................................................................................
Tutorial 5: Creating Your Own Spherical Wavetables 9.........................................................
Creating Spheres with SphereEdit on a Computer 10...........................................................
SECTION II: REFERENCE 11
The Geometry of a “Sphere” 11.............................................................................................
Sphere Navigation – Depth, Latitude, Longitude, Browse, Dispersion 12.............................
Sphere Selection and Wavetable Spread 13.........................................................................
Resetting Navigation and Sphere Selection 13.....................................................................
Presets 14..............................................................................................................................
LFOs Overview 15.................................................................................................................
LFO Speed 15........................................................................................................................
LFO CV jack 15......................................................................................................................
Audio Rate LFOs 16..............................................................................................................
LFO Shapes 16......................................................................................................................
LFO Phase 16........................................................................................................................
LFO Gain 17..........................................................................................................................
Clock In 17.............................................................................................................................
LFO->VCA 17.........................................................................................................................
LFO Type (Shape/Gate/Trigger) 17......................................................................................
Note Mode and Keyboard Mode 18.......................................................................................
Resetting and Re-syncing LFOs 19.......................................................................................
Pitch Overview 20..................................................................................................................
Transpose Knob 20................................................................................................................
Transpose CV Jack 21...........................................................................................................
Spread 21..............................................................................................................................
Octave 21...............................................................................................................................
Fine Tuning (Detuning) 22.....................................................................................................
Spread Detuning 22...............................................................................................................
Resetting Pitch 22..................................................................................................................
Scale 23.................................................................................................................................
Channel Jacks: 1V/oct and VCA 23.......................................................................................
Calibrating 1V/oct and Transpose Jacks 24...........................................................................
Sphere Recording Mode: Overview 25..................................................................................
Sphere Recording Mode Controls 25.....................................................................................
Recording Technical Details 26..............................................................................................
Timing Pulses and Ramps 26................................................................................................
Waveform Spread, Stretch, and Shift 27................................................................................
Waveform Effects 28..............................................................................................................
Saving a User Sphere 29.......................................................................................................
SphereEdit software (Mac/Windows/Linux) 29......................................................................
Checking the Firmware Version 29........................................................................................
Factory Reset 30....................................................................................................................
Updating Firmware (bootloader) 30.......................................................................................
Electrical and Mechanical Specifications 31..........................................................................
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SECTION I: BASICS
Plugging in your Spherical Wavetable Navigator
1. Power off your Eurorack system.
2. Connect the free end of the included power cable to a 16-pin Eurorack power header
on your power supply distribution system. The red stripe should match the white line
or -12V marking on the power distribution board. The other end of the power cable is
a 16-pin connector which should already be connected to the Spherical Wavetable
Navigator with the red stripe on the power cable orientated towards the bottom of
the module.
3. Using the included screws, securely attach the Spherical Wavetable Navigator to
the rails of your case.
4. Power on your Eurorack system.
Tutorial 1: Making a Drone
If you’ve already been playing with the SWN and want to get back to a blank slate so you can follow the tutorial,
turn the power off and back on again. Or, load a blank preset by double-tapping the Load Preset knob.
Making a drone is an easy way to learn about the SWN.
1) Patch Audio OUT jacks to your mixer or speakers. If you have stereo speakers/
headphones, use both jacks. If you’re working in mono, just use the right OUT jack.
Stereo is better if you are able to use it!
2) Make sure all six sliders are pushed up to around 75%.
3) Turn the big center knob slowly and listen to the different sounds (timbres). This knob is
called Browse because it browses the waveshapes in the Sphere. (We’ll talk more about
waveshapes and Spheres later).
4) Find the Transpose knob in the upper right corner. Turn this knob to the left and right a
bit. Hear how the pitch transposes up and down? Notice a light on the light ring moves
around when you change the pitch.
5) Now let’s make a chord. Press down on the Transpose knob and while still pressing it
down, turn it a few clicks. This is called Spread. Each time you turn another click while
pressing down on the knob, the notes of the channels will spread out in a different chord.
Watch the light ring to visualize how the pitches spread out. Each channel has a different
color associated with it – the button above each slider shows the channel’s color, and the
same color is shown on the light ring.
6) Keep adjusting the sliders, Transpose/Spread and Browse knobs to play with your
drone!
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Note:!The Spherical Wavetable Navigator is reverse-polarity
protected, but incorrectly connecting any module can
damage any other module on the power bus.
Browse
Sphere
Spread

Tutorial 2: Making a Melody
We’re going to turn the drone from the last tutorial into a melodic sequence.
1) Start with the drone from Tutorial 1.
2) Find the LFO->VCA button (the top small button on the left side of the module) and tap it.
The notes should start playing one after another (rather than all notes playing constantly).
Each slider will flash when its channel plays its assigned note.
3) Change just one note in the sequence. Hold down any of the buttons on the top row while
you turn the Transpose knob. Can you hear how just one of the notes goes up or down in
pitch? If you watch the light ring you’ll see just one of the lights move up and down (the
light has the same color as the button you’re pressing). Try transposing another channel.
You can tune all six channels this way to make any melody you want! Note: The
Transpose feature defaults to 12-notes per octave quantization. If you hold down the Fine
button while turning Transpose you can adjust the pitch by micro-tonal amounts.
4) Just as you can tune one channel, you
also can change the waveshape of only
one channel. Hold down one of the
buttons on the top row and turn the
Browse knob. Do this for each channel,
finding a timbre you like.
5) Let’s adjust the tempo. Turn the LFO
Speed knob one or two clicks in either
direction. See how the melody goes
faster or slower?
6) Now try changing the envelope shape by
turning the LFO Shape knob one or two
clicks clockwise. The notes should get
less “drawn out,” with a faster decay.
7) If you’re feeling confident, try adjusting
the LFO Speed or Shape of just one
channel at at time!
If you want to learn more about LFO->VCA, read the section on
LFOs (page 15).
Global vs. Local: Controlling One Channel at a Time
In the last tutorial, we held down a Channel button while turning a knob
(Transpose and Browse) to change the pitch and waveshape of one channel at
a time.
This technique works across almost every feature of the SWN. For example, try
holding down a Channel button while turning the Octave knob — just that
channel will go up or down by octaves. If you just turn the Octave knob by itself,
all of the channels will go up or down in octaves.
In Tutorial 2, we pressed the LFO->VCA button to make the channels fade on
and off instead of being constantly on. If you hold down a Channel Button while
tapping the LFO->VCA button, just that channel will change.
Keep this technique in mind as you play with the SWN.
Page of 4 32
Spread
+
What’s an LFO?… and a VCA?
An LFO is an oscillator that goes up and
down repeatedly at a relatively slow tempo.
You can visualize the LFOs on the SWN by
watching the row of six lights in the center
of the module; they get brighter and
dimmer as the LFOs go up and down.
Usually an LFO is set up to make some
quality of the sound go up and down
(besides just a light)! In our tutorial we’re
using the LFOs to make the volume of each
channel go up and down: this makes each
channel sound like it’s playing a note. "
A VCA (Voltage-Controlled Amplifier)
connects the LFO’s up and down motion to
the loudness (or amplitude) of the sound
produced.
= Adjust all
channels
+
= Adjust one
channel
Browse
+

Turning vs. Push+Turning
You may have noticed that sometimes you simply turn a knob, and sometimes you press down on it while turning
it. Different things happen with each type of turn. You may also have noticed that on the faceplate each knob has
two names: one is plain and one is on a gold background. Turning the knob (without pushing it down) does
whatever is written on the plain background. Turning the knob while pushing it down does whatever is written on
the gold background.
For example, look at the Transpose knob. The word “Transpose” is written
above the knob, and the word “Spread” is written below the knob on a gold
background. If you simply turn the Transpose knob, you’ll transpose the pitches
of the channels. If you push down on the Transpose knob while turning it, you’ll
spread the channel pitches, creating chords.
Let’s look at another example (a very important one): The knob in the center of
the light ring is called Browse. Below it (outside of the light ring) the word
“Sphere” is written. If you push and turn the center knob, you can select a
different Sphere for any or all of the channels. This can completely change the
sound and lets you explore all of the basic waveshapes the SWN has built-in.
Play with it now!
Note: The main exception to the Gold = Push+Turn rule is the Preset knob. See
the Presets Tutorial to learn how to use this knob.
Fine button
You may have noticed the small button at the top-center of the module named Fine. When you hold down the
Fine button you can turn another knob to adjust by small amounts. Most knobs on the SWN work with the Fine
button.Here are some examples:
!
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Turn knob to
Transpose
Press and turn
to Spread
Spread
Turn knob to
Browse
Press and
turn to
change
Spheres
Browse
Sphere
Spread
Fine
+
Fine + Transpose
= Fine-tune pitch by
micro-tonal steps
Spread
Fine
+
Fine + Spread (push+turn)
= Detune Spread: all
channels detune by different
amounts
Fine
+
Fine + LFO Speed
= Fine-tune LFO Speeds#
(by non-integer div/mult)
Gain
Fine
+
Fine + LFO Gain (push+turn)
= Fine-adjust LFO amplitude
Fine
Fine + LFO Phase (push+turn)
= Fine-adjust LFO Phase
Phase
+
Fine
Fine + Latitude/Long/Depth
= Navigate the sphere by small amounts
+
Dispersion
Fine
Fine + Dispersion
= Channels disperse (move within sphere in
different directions) in tiny steps
+
Browse
Fine
Fine + Browse
= Browse the sphere by small amounts
+

Tutorial 3: Drones Revisited
Now we’re going to go back to making a drone in order to show off more of the SWN’s features. You'll be detuning
your oscillators and using an LFO to slowly browse through the wavetable.
1) Start where you left off at the end of Tutorial 2 (page 4).
2) Remember how you changed from a drone to a melody by pressing the LFO->VCA
button? Press the button again to turn off the VCA and make the channels go back to
making sound constantly. If you played with turning LFO->VCA on or off for individual
channels, then you may need to turn it off for whichever channels are still on.
3) Now add some depth to the sound. Hold down the Fine button with one hand and push
and turn the Transpose/Spread knob up a few clicks with the other hand. You should see
a pattern of flashing red and blue lights at the bottom. If not, make sure you’re pushing
down on the Transpose/Spread knob while turning it. This is called “Detuning Spread”,
meaning that each of the six channels is detuned by a different amount. You should hear
some subtle beating or phasing sounds.
4) Patch channel C’s LFO to the Browse jack (patch the third LFO OUT jack to the jack
below it: see above). Depending on how much you played with the LFO Shape and LFO
Speed in the last tutorial, you may be hearing anything from a slow sweeping sound to an
occasional blip.
5) Let’s set the LFO shape to something smooth so there aren’t any sudden movements in
the drone. Turn the LFO Shape knob until the light above the LFO OUT jacks are yellow
(or at least channel C’s LFO light is yellow). This selects a sine wave for the LFO shape.
Peek ahead to the color chart of LFO shapes if you want to see all possible shapes.
6) Now let’s slow down the speed of the LFO so the drone is morphing very slowly. Turn the
LFO Speed knob down until you see the light above the LFO OUT channel C jack fading
very slowly, perhaps taking 5 –10 (or more) seconds to fade from off to on again. You
should be hearing a slowly morphing drone.
7) Let’s go back to working on the timbre. Just like in the Turning vs Push+Turning
discussion (page 5), push down on the Browse knob while turning it to change your
Sphere. The sound should change drastically as you select different sets of waveforms
(which we call a Sphere). Keep turning while pushing until you find your favorite drone!
8) Want to take it a step further? Here are some ideas:
• Patch one of the other other LFOs to another jack on the SWN.
• Turn on LFO->VCA for some of the channels and makes sure their LFO speeds are
very slow. Drones tend to sound good when sounds slowly go in and out.
• Set each channel to a different Sphere. See the Global vs. Local section (page 4) to
see how to do this.
• Use the Transpose feature to tune two channels to the same pitch, and then press
Fine button while turning Transpose to detune them slightly. If they have the same or
a similar waveform, the beat frequencies will add another dimension to your drone.
Page of 6 32
Waveform
In
Browse
FX
Octave
Fine
LFO OUTS
Save Preset
Gain Phase
Dispersion Dispersion Pat. WT Spread
Spread CV
Spread
Scale
Sphere
Fine
Push
and
Turn
Hold
Spread
+
Browse
Sphere
Push+Turn

Tutorial 4: Saving your Work with Presets
If you like what you've created on the SWN, you can save the state of the module in a preset and
recall it later. Almost everything will be saved: the tuning and wave-shape of each oscillator, which
sphere is assigned to each channel, mutes, LFO settings, Note Mode, etc. The only things not saved
are the positions of the Level sliders and the VCA | 1V/oct switch (and any other modules you have
patched in).
Let’s walk through saving and loading presets. First, play around until you get a sound you like from the SWN.
Perhaps go back to Tutorial 1 or 2 to make a drone or a melody.
When you like what you hear, you can save it.
Saving a Preset:
1) Turn the Load/Save Preset knob to select a slot. A bright yellow light will
move around the outer light ring as you turn the knob. Each light represents a
slot where you can save a preset. If the light is off, the slot is empty.
2) Press and hold the knob down until the slot starts flashing red, then let go.
3) Tap the knob again (while the red light is still flashing) to confirm the save;
you’ll see an animation of red lights while it's saving. (If you change your
mind and don’t want to save the preset, just do nothing and the light will stop
blinking after a couple seconds.)
Now let’s learn how to load a preset. Turn some knobs on the SWN so it sounds different. Then we’ll load the
preset you just saved:
Loading a Preset:
1) Turn the Load/Save Preset knob to select the slot where you saved the
preset. (Slots that have a preset saved in them will glow a dim yellow.)
2) Press and release the knob quickly and the slot will flash green.
3) Tap the knob again (while the green light is still flashing) to confirm the load:
you'll see an animation of green lights while it's loading and the sound will
change. (If you change your mind and don’t want to load the preset, just do
nothing and the light will stop flashing after a couple seconds.)
What if you saved a preset and don’t want it anymore? You can clear preset slots like this:
Clearing a Preset:
1) Turn the Load/Save Preset knob to select a slot.
2) Press the knob for 6 seconds until the light flashes multi-colored, then let go.
3) Tap the knob again (while the light is still flashing) to confirm the clear. (If you
change your mind and don’t want to delete the preset, just do nothing and the
light will stop flashing after a couple seconds.)
What if you accidentally saved over a preset you wanted to keep? You can undo it! Press
the Fine button and the Preset knob at the same time. When you release, you’ll see an
animation on the outer light ring. You can undo a save, load, clear, or even an undo
(which makes it a “redo").
There are 108 preset slots. If you want to learn more about presets, including how to copy/paste presets, undo
and redo, and tips on using presets in a live performance, see the Presets section (page 14).!
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Save Preset
Save Preset
Turn to choose slot
Press 2 sec.
Tap to confirm
Saving a Preset:
Save Preset
Turn to choose slot
Tap knob
Tap again to confirm
Loading a Preset:
Save Preset
Turn to choose slot
Press 6 sec.
Tap again to confirm
Clearing a Preset:
Fine
+
Save Preset
Press Fine and Preset
Undo/Redo:

What’s a Spherical Wavetable?
A Spherical wavetable (or “Sphere” for short) is a group of waveforms. Think of a
waveform as a timbre, or how an instrument “sounds”. A Sphere is a collection of 27
waveforms. As you turn any of the navigation knobs on the SWN (Latitude, Longitude,
Depth, or Browse) you select which of the 27 waveforms to play. The SWN smoothly
morphs between waveforms as you navigate, thus creating new waveforms on the fly. A
Sphere is so-named because you move between the waveforms in three dimensions (Latitude, Longitude, and
Depth), and each dimension wraps around to the beginning when you reach the end. (The analogy to a sphere is
not perfect, see the Mathematical Note page 11 if you’re curious about the true geometry of the SWN.)
#
"
Page of 8 32
A waveform
SWN’s wavetables visualized as a 3 x 3 x 3 matrix
SWN’s wavetables visualized as concentric spheres

Tutorial 5: Creating Your Own Spherical Wavetables
A powerful feature of the SWN is its ability to create wavetables from any audio
source. The SWN can record 2.5 seconds of audio and splice that up into the 27
waveforms needed to create a Sphere. You can add effects, change where the
waveforms are spliced, normalize, smooth the seams, and save your custom
sphere. Up to 108 custom spheres can be saved!
1. Press the Depth, Latitude, and Longitude knobs at the same time to enter
Sphere Recording Mode. When you're in this mode, the knobs you just pressed
will glow orange.
2. Patch an audio source into the Waveform In jack. You’ll get better results with
something dynamic and recognizable such as a sample of a human voice, or a
percussive patch you've made. Make sure the Audio OUT jacks are patched
into speakers or a mixer, so you can hear the SWN.
3. When your audio source is playing and you're ready to record it, press the small
red button that's flashing (it’s normally the LFO->VCA button). The SWN will
record for about 2.5 seconds. You should hear the audio play out the OUT jacks
and see an animation of red lights on the light ring.
4. The SWN will pull 27 waveforms from the recorded audio and create a Sphere.
You should hear the first waveform in the Sphere. Turn the Browse knob slightly
until you hear the SWN jump to the next waveform in your Sphere. (In Sphere
Recording Mode, browsing jumps immediately to the next waveform instead of
morphing; this allows you to hear the distinct waveforms.) If you want to hear
morphing, just hold down the Fine button while you turn the Browse knob. Keep
turning Browse to hear all the waveforms. Tip: The inner ring of lights shows
your position in the Sphere. You can always find the first waveform because
inner ring lights will glow dim gray.
5. Now, add some effects (FX). Each of the buttons at the top of the SWN is an FX.
For example, channel A’s button is a wavefolding effect. See diagram below for
all the FX. Hold down one of the FX buttons while you turn the Browse knob.
You should hear the sound change as the FX is added, and you should see the
light ring display how much is being applied. By turning Browse while holding
down the FX button, the effect will only be applied to the current waveform.
6. To apply FX to all 27 waveforms in the Sphere, push down on the Browse knob
while you turn it (still holding down the FX button). Keep browsing through your
Sphere and apply effects to waveforms as you wish.
7. Once you like all of the waveforms, you can save your work. Turn the Load/
Save Preset knob and watch how a light goes around the ring. Each spot has a
slightly different color. Pick any spot and then hold down the knob until the light
starts flashing. Release it, and then press it again to confirm. When you save a
Sphere, the SWN will immediately exit Sphere Recording Mode and start using
the new Sphere. Remember that pushing and turning the Browse knob will
select which Sphere is active, so you can always come back to the Sphere you
just created.
There are many more features in Sphere Recording Mode! For instance, you can spread the waveforms
throughout the recorded audio, stretch them, and move them around. Read the Sphere Recording Mode section
(page 25) for more details.
Page of 9 32
+
+
Push all three knobs to enter
Sphere Recording Mode
Browse
Sphere
Color of inner
lights show
position in
Sphere
Low Pass
Filter
Wavefolding
Bit
Decimation
Metalizer
Gain/
Normalization
Seam
Smoothing
FX
+
Wavefolding
Waveform
In
Audio
Source
Push to
Record
Available
Effects:
Save Preset
Turn to select Sphere slot
Press+hold to save
Tap to confirm

Creating Spheres with SphereEdit on a Computer
SphereEdit is free, open source software compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux. SphereEdit allows you to
create, edit, import and export waveforms and Spheres and then load them into the SWN using an audio cable.
You can download SphereEdit from the 4ms Company website: https://4mscompany.com/SWN.
SphereEdit is heavily based on Synthesis Technology’s WaveEdit open-source software written by Andrew Belt.
More information about WaveEdit can be found here: http://synthtech.com/waveedit/.
Synthesis Technology: http://www.synthtech.com/.
The Quick Start section from the SphereEdit User Manual is below (please read the entire SphereEdit manual if
you want to learn more):
Creating a Sphere with SphereEdit
1. Create a new Sphere by selecting New Sphere from the File menu, or load a previously saved Sphere.
2. Create 27 waveforms using the SphereEdit tools:
•Draw and edit waveforms with the Pencil, Brush, Grab, Line, and Eraser tools.
•Draw and edit harmonics (using the same tools).
•Import existing .wav files.
•Load primitives from the Digital/Analog/FM/Glitch categories.
•Apply Effects to waveforms, individually or spread across multiple waveforms.
3. Save your work by selecting Save Sphere from the File menu.
Loading a Sphere into the SWN
1. Plug your computer’s audio/headphone output jack into the SWN’s Waveform In jack. Use a mono
1/8” (3.5mm) cable to plug into the SWN.
2. Enter Sphere Recording Mode on the SWN and press the record button. The SWN will start recording when it
detects a signal. See Tutorial 5: Creating Your Own Spherical Wavetables (page 9).
3. Click the Play into SWN button in SphereEdit. The computer will play your Sphere and the light ring on the
SWN will fill up with red lights to show the progress. It should stop playing after 2.5 seconds.
4. When it’s done, turn the Browse knob to hear your new Sphere.
5. Save the Sphere on the SWN if you want to keep it. See Tutorial 5: Creating Your Own Spherical Wavetables
(page 9).
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