Finnish synth engineer Pauli Pölkki releases Wave Manuel, FREE for macOS and Windows.
Wave Manuel is a free waveshaping synth that aims to surpass the expected.
At first glance, Wave Manuel appears to offer more than many other synth freebies. The heart of the plugin is its morphing oscillator, which has three shaping parameters: Symmetry, Saturation, and Shaping.
Each of the oscillator parameters has a dedicated envelope (Attack, Decay, and Release) and LFO.
As sound shaping and modulation go, the envelope with curve control and the LFO provides plenty of options. To make things a little more interesting, you can use the LFO in stereo with 180 degrees phase offset. So, you can create some nice movement in your sound, and get ultra-wide, too.
The variable shape oscillator generates the classic analog-style waveforms, including Triangle, Saw, and Pulse. The nature of the morphing oscillator allows you to go anywhere in between the typical shapes or push beyond them.
Moving past the oscillator parameters, we come to the FM, Filter, and Amp sections.
The FM and Filter sections have dedicated envelopes and LFOs, while the Amp has a dedicated envelope and Drive.
If we jump back to the top of the GUI now, you’ll see we also get Pitch, Vibrato, and Velocity controls, along with a Reverb processor with Decay, Pre-Delay, Damping, and Color.
Rounding off the GUI, the top-right corner will display the current shape of the waveform and how it’s morphing.
The GUI might gain some mixed reactions, but Wave Manuel is in the early stages of its existence and comes from a new developer, so I’d expect tweaks and enhancements in the future versions (currently 1.0.0).
For now, it seems like an interesting synth from an interesting developer, and it’s free.
If you want something a little different, you could check out Explorer from Fabric 70; a free synth plugin we covered earlier in July 2022.
Wave Manuel is available in AU and VST formats for macOS and Windows.
Download: Wave Manuel
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5 Comments
L C
onUnfortunately, this freezes up Studio One on my PC. It states that AVX2 processing is required, yet I have this and still have issues. Hopefully, this can be fixed soon, as its otherwise a nice-sounding plugin, with a good interface.
MRG
onYou might want to check if your BIOS has AVX/AVX2 enabled.
Numanoid
onThat is interesting, during the last 15 years I have been using VSTs I have never had to go into BIOS to turn on/off something to be able to make a VST run.
MRG
onIt’s a good idea to know what’s in your BIOS, you might find interesting things. Maybe even money! :D Srsly tho, some BIOSes have made bad decisions in their youth, it’s your responsability to show them the right path.
MRG
onThis thing is real cute. The GUI speaks to me, the visual feedback is great. Hovering on a control gives you a simple text description. Stereo LFOs. So, yeah, only one oscillator, perhaps, but it’s not illegal to stack plugins… yet?