SPLINE Review
The Wave Warden, makers of the free synth Odin, have released a wavetable synth: Spline. I got to test and demo Spline as it was being built and provided some of the factory presets and wavetables. Spline is three voice wavetable oscillator that allows for drawing vector paths to modulate wavetable and filter controls. Drawing out various paths for the wavetables and filters to follow has some use cases, it allows you to adjust the movement of multiple parameters at once. This isn’t everyone’s preferred system of modulation, so LFOs are of course also included.
Each oscillator has over a dozen morph functions, including a few fun spectral options. Each oscillator also has a simple unison mode. The filters include all the classic filter curves, as well as notch, allpass, comb, and formant. For effects you get two delays, EQ, Reverb, Modulation FX, and a rather sweet compressor. For whatever reason this compressor gave my plucks and keys a nice glued together feel. I can’t quite describe it, but I’d like to try this compressor as a track effect.
Spline also includes a built in arpeggiator and a nifty “enablements’ sequencer. You can use the arp to create custom octave sequences and send a modulation pattern to any control. The enablements sequencer can be used to sequence the active state of any oscillator, filter, effect, or as its own binary modulator. Enablements and Arp sequences can have their own step lengths allowing for some interesting polymetric capabilities. Spline provides four envelopes, four MSEG style LFOs, and two Random modulation sources. You also get an XY pad macro with it’s own Spline mode.
The UI is a little dark, but still has a cool look to it. Spline also provides a simple basic wavetable maker/ editor if you need to make some minor changes or just want to draw your own waves. For me, the fun parts were playing with the enablements sequencer and creating Spline motion for creative textures. Some of the spectral oscillator effects were also a welcome addition. I do hope a bit more gets updated and added in the future, while it’s a solid synth, a lot of alternatives already exist. I’d like to see just a bit more uniqueness, even if it’s simply some novel oscillator modes or some weird/ whacky filters.
You can pick up SPLINE from The Wave Warden’s website here: https://thewavewarden.com/pages/spline-wavetable-synthesizer