Tonnau WT-3 — free wavetable synth for Mac with Era (AU, VST3, Standalone)

Q: Can I import my own wavetables?

Yes. Tonnau has three loaded-table slots, one per oscillator, each up to 256 frames of 2,048 samples, alongside 39 factory wavetables.

The story

Giddy with the success of Mellt and Tant, we embarked on Tonnau.

Our most ambitious project to date.

Tonnau is a wavetable synth drawing its inspiration from the early digital polysynths of the early 1980s.

Tonnau does all the things you'd want a wavetable synth to do. You can import wavetables you have created yourself or purchased from a specialist. Its dizzying assortment of 23 modulation sources can be patched to a total of 93 modulation destinations.

And you can drag the oscillator through the loaded table with your mouse, right there in the on-screen visualisation. Finding the part of a table you want becomes intuitive and fun.

Then there's Era. Every digital technique in Tonnau has a history, and Era lets you scroll back through it.

Listen

Three sounds, thirty seconds each.

One patch, four erasThe same sound with Era dialled back decade by decade. Audio coming soon.

WarpsSync, Bend, Mirror and FM on a single table. Audio coming soon.

Oscillator as LFOOsc 3 in Lo range driving the matrix. Audio coming soon.

Things you didn't expect

Not your usual wavetable synth.

Era: scroll back through the past

Digital technology has evolved over the whole life of digital synthesis. Era starts at today's technology and dials back through earlier eras. Each oscillator has its own Era, there's a global Era Offset, and the filters have Filter Era. Dial in a sound, then dial in the era whose version of it you like best.

Any oscillator can be an LFO

Switch an oscillator to Lo range and it runs from 0.02 to 50 Hz and appears in the matrix as a source. A wavetable as an LFO shape: 256 frames of them, if you like.

There are no LFOs

Not by name. Envelopes 2 to 4 default to looping trapezoids, Free-running, with every phase syncable to tempo. Between those and the Lo-range oscillators, you won't miss them.

Four warps per oscillator

Sync, Bend, Mirror and FM, each a matrix destination. Three oscillators with up to 8 unison copies each, plus voice unison of 1 to 8 on top.

Two pin sets, morphed

Two complete matrices, A and B, crossfaded by Matrix Morph, which is itself a destination. 3,702 depth values, swept by a macro, a follower, or your DAW.

Look-ahead, and a LIVE switch

The limiter, flanger, delay and reverb all look ahead, which makes effects possible that analog can't do. Look-ahead adds a little latency, so LIVE mode removes it while you play. Switch it off once the take is down and Tonnau reports its delay to your DAW, so everything lines up at playback.

Four warps

Sync, Bend, Mirror, FM.

Each oscillator has a Warp menu and a Warp Amount from −100% to +100%. The amount is a matrix destination, so an envelope, a follower or the joystick can move it per note. The corners a warp creates are band-limited where they happen, and a warped oscillator runs at twice the sample rate, until you turn Era back far enough that the aliasing is the point.

Sync	A sync window. Each cycle reads the table from 1 to 16 times, restarting with the cycle. Classic hard-sync sweeps, on a wavetable.
Bend	The phase bends towards the end of the cycle or its start. The fundamental stays put; the shape, and the harmonics, lean.
Mirror	Blends in the cycle played forward at twice the speed and then back again, a symmetric fold of the shape.
FM	Phase modulation from another oscillator, or from itself for feedback. Osc 1 defaults to taking FM from Osc 2, Osc 2 from Osc 3, Osc 3 from Osc 1.

The FM warp is the one to notice. Because any oscillator can modulate any other, Tonnau does two- and three-operator FM on wavetables, not just on sines, with Era on each operator.

Tonnau WT-3 oscillator section: wavetable display, red Era knob, Position, Coarse, Fine, Level, Warp menu and FM From menu — One oscillator: the table, the Era knob, and the Warp and FM From menus underneath.

Specifications

The numbers.

Everything on the panel, in one table.

Synthesis	Wavetable. 3 oscillators and a noise generator per voice. Frames are 2,048 samples a cycle
Warps	Off / Sync / Bend / Mirror / FM. Era per oscillator and a global Era Offset. Lo range turns an oscillator into an LFO-rate source, 0.02 to 50 Hz
Wavetables	39 factory tables (shared with Mellt). Import: 3 loaded-table slots, one per oscillator, up to 256 frames each
Polyphony	16 voices, plus 16 spares for click-free voice stealing
Unison	Up to 8 copies per oscillator, and voice unison 1 to 8
Output	Stereo, with an output limiter
Filters	2 per voice, in series or parallel. Four types (Ladder LP, State Variable, Comb, Formant) plus Off, each with Morph. Character and Filter Era
Envelopes	4, with six modes (AD, ASR, ADSR, AHDSR, DADSR, Trapezoid), Key or Free trigger, tempo sync. Env 1 defaults to ADSR, Env 2 to 4 to looping trapezoids
LFOs	None as such. Looping Trapezoid envelopes, and any oscillator in Lo range as a matrix source
Envelope followers	3, fed from the Input and Sidechain buses
Other modulators	Ext In, joystick X/Y with motion recorder, 4 macros, mod wheel, aftertouch, keytrack, slide, noise
Effects	6 slots, one fixed effect each, reorderable: Harmonic Tremolo, Tremolo, Chorus, Flanger, Delay, Reverb. Look-ahead in the flanger, delay, reverb and limiter, with a LIVE mode
Voice modes	Poly / Mono / Legato, glide, re-strike, pitch bend range. Vibrato
MPE	Yes. Note bend range 12, 24, 48 or 96 semitones
Buses	Stereo output. Two stereo inputs, Input and Sidechain, feeding the envelope followers and Ext In
MIDI	MIDI Learn, so your existing controllers give hands-on control
Presets	27 factory presets
Formats	AU, VST3 and Standalone. macOS

The matrix

23 sources. 93 destinations. The biggest one yet.

2,139 holes in the grid, 1,851 of them usable pins, and the whole set exists twice, A and B, morphed by Matrix Morph. Pins are per cell with their own amount; one source can drive any number of destinations. Three of the sources are the oscillators themselves.

23sources
93destinations
1,851pins per set
2sets, A and B
3,702depth values

Sources 23

Osc 1
Osc 2
Osc 3
Noise
Ext In
Env 1
Env 2
Env 3
Env 4
Follower 1
Follower 2
Follower 3
Joystick X
Joystick Y
Velocity
Mod Wheel
Aftertouch
Keytrack
Slide (CC 74)
Macro 1
Macro 2
Macro 3
Macro 4

Destinations 93, on four pages

Oscillators · 22

Pitch (all)
Era (all)
Osc 1 to 3: Pitch
Position
Warp
Era
Level
Unison Detune
Noise Level
Noise Colour

Filters & amp · 13

Filter 1 and 2: Cutoff
Resonance
Drive
Morph
Filter Balance
Filter Era
Ext In to Filters
Level
Pan

Modulators · 38

Env 1 to 4: Delay
Attack
Hold / On
Decay
Sustain
Release
Off
Level
Follower 1 to 3: Attack
Release

FX & perform · 20

Glide
Matrix Morph
Harmonic Tremolo: Depth, Rate
Tremolo: Depth, Rate
Chorus: Amount, Mix
Flanger: Depth, Rate, Feedback, Mix
Delay: Feedback, Mix, Transform Amount, Prism
Reverb: Size, Decay, Mix, Shimmer

What it sounds like

Early-eighties digital, and everywhere it went next.

glassy digital pads
evolving textures
hard-sync leads
FM-warped basses
bell tones
noise-driven percussion
the same patch, four decades apart

Twenty-seven factory presets, three table slots for your own, and an Era knob on every oscillator.

The panel

A walk round Tonnau WT-3.

The Vintage panel, as it ships. Click any shot for full size.

Tonnau WT-3, MATRIX, Osc 1 view — **MATRIX, Osc 1.** The oscillator section with the Era knob, and the 23 by 93 matrix on its Oscillators page.

Tonnau WT-3, OSC 3 view — **OSC 3.** Each oscillator has its own wavetable, Era, warp and FM source.

Tonnau WT-3, NOISE view — **NOISE.** The noise generator, with level and colour as matrix destinations.

Tonnau WT-3, ENVELOPES view — **ENVELOPES.** Four envelopes. Envelope 1 is an ADSR; 2 to 4 start life as looping trapezoids.

Tonnau WT-3, EFFECTS view — **EFFECTS.** Six effects in a row. The tremolo has a step editor.

Tonnau WT-3, Matrix, FILTERS & AMP page view — **Matrix, FILTERS & AMP page.** Both filters, Filter Era, level and pan as destinations.

Tonnau WT-3, Matrix, MODULATORS page view — **Matrix, MODULATORS page.** Envelope stages and follower times, patchable like everything else.

Tonnau WT-3, Matrix, FX & PERFORM page view — **Matrix, FX & PERFORM page.** The effects and Matrix Morph in the matrix.

Tonnau WT-3, INPUTS view — **INPUTS.** Ext In and the three followers.

Tonnau WT-3, Preset browser view — **Preset browser.** Twenty-seven factory presets.

Tonnau WT-3, MIDI Learn view — **MIDI Learn.** Map your hardware in two clicks.

Questions

Before you download.

Is Tonnau WT-3 really free?

Yes. Tonnau is a free download. We ask for your email address so we can send you the link and tell you about new instruments.

Does Tonnau run on Windows?

Not yet. Tonnau is macOS only for now, as AU, VST3 and Standalone.

Can I import my own wavetables?

Yes. Three loaded-table slots, one per oscillator, each up to 256 frames of 2,048 samples, alongside the 39 factory tables.

What does Era do?

Era dials back through the history of digital synthesis. It starts at today's technology and lets you scroll to earlier eras, per oscillator and on the filters, so you can dial in a sound and then dial in the era whose version of it you like best.

Where are the LFOs?

There aren't any by name. Envelopes 2 to 4 default to looping trapezoids, which do the job with a shape you can draw, and any oscillator switched to Lo range becomes an LFO-rate source in the matrix.

Does look-ahead add latency?

Only when you want it. Switch LIVE mode on and the look-ahead latency is removed for responsive playing. Switch it off once the take is recorded and Tonnau reports its delay to your DAW, so playback stays in sync.

Free download

Get Tonnau WT-3.

Free for macOS. AU, VST3 and Standalone.

Get Tonnau WT-3 free

The other two

Mellt FM-1FM synth. 7 wavetable operators, 23 voices, 12 algorithms on a pin matrix. Tant KS-2Karplus-Strong string synth. 23 voices, 2 filters per voice, 6 effects.

TonnauWT-3