Cristian Vogel Explores the Art of Wavetables

For over three decades, Cristian Vogel has searched for fresh textures and new forms in music. This pursuit is evident throughout his discography, which began at the forefront of '90s techno and experimental sound for labels like Tresor and Mille Plateaux, and he continues to innovate across genres and media. For instance, he founded a studio called NeverEngineLabs for his sound- and instrument-design projects, including sound packages for Bitwig Studio: First Bitwig Lab, and now The Art of Wavetables.

This latest package features 128 custom wavetables designed for seamless use in Bitwig Studio as timbrally rich oscillators or unusual modulation sources via the Wavetable LFO modulator. In this interview, Cristian shares insight into his approach to the art of making and using his wavetables, and he offers tips for using the package to create boundary-pushing sounds. He also describes his sound-design process and shares his thoughts on what it means to live a life with music.

You've been working with music and sound for about 30 years. Can sound still surprise you after all this time?

Yeah, I'm surprised by music quite often. One of the qualities of a music life that I've really enjoyed is that it's full of discovery. You're always discovering a new or old recording, or some artist that you didn't know about, or a musical style. That goes hand-in-hand with innovation, because it might inspire you to try and create something. I still often get really excited about something new, a new sound. I feel like I've invented something.

Do you see yourself more as a music-maker or a sound designer these days?

In my case it's probably not such a useful distinction, because I don't make music in the conventional sense. Sometimes people ask me what instrument I play. Well, the instrument isn't really in the picture anymore. It's a whole set of possibilities, connected together — that's the instrument. Some people who have gone deep with my music have said that it's “sound design-based musical form.” I'm often working with the computer or modular to design a sound first, and then trying to turn that into a larger piece of music.

I also have an outlet that has grown in the last 10-15 years, which is primarily about sound design, where I don't finish the work into a piece of music. Like this sound package — it's ingredients. But they've been well-harvested, I guess, by me. So I'm both a music producer or creator and an ingredients-maker.

Why did you start NeverEngineLabs?

It emerged in 2013. I ran a couple of record labels — Mosquito, Rise Robots Rise, and others. I also have a label now called Endless Process. There was a point where it didn't really make sense to be curating a label anymore. But I still wanted to have output, and something that wasn't so constrained by my artist name and the expectations that people have. NeverEngineLabs became a place where I could release components or tools or designs where, once they're out there, I'm not in control of what's going to be made with them. Originally It was for Kyma, the system that I use primarily. Recently, I've branched out into doing some VST plug-ins and code. I also do sound design for television.

You've made sound packages for Bitwig in the past. What made you decide to focus on wavetables this time?

I had explored wavetables with NeverEngineLabs in Kyma around 2014, 2015. I was using them to create oscillators and explore timbre. I'd been exploring continuously changing cycles. This is something that the composer Iannis Xenakis was into: break points that move at sample rate and continually change the cycle of the wave. But this isn't a wavetable as such, because it's dynamic, sharp and crazy and difficult to control. But I'd studied some of that work and implemented some of it. Through that I came to realize that actually, keeping the cycle static was musically more useful.

With a wavetable, you can morph between one waveform and another, so that makes a continuum between an A and a B. And you get a whole rich set of timbres that are unpredictable, because they’re in this space in between the waves, but actually quite controllable. In the transition from a sine wave to a square wave there’s somewhere in the middle, right?

Then Bitwig introduced their wavetable synthesizer, Polymer. What a great-sounding synth! And it reminded me of all of that work that I'd done. So for this package, I thought, “I've got all these wavetables that I spent, like, a year making by hand. So let's start there.”

I also got really into exploring Bitwig’s Wavetable LFO modulator, which allows you to do that same morphing, but slow it right down so that it becomes a control signal. You get surprising modulation and control possibilities with shapes that are difficult to make with conventional signals.

How did you make the wavetables?

I got some of them with code and some with maths. I didn't sample oscillators, because it's not really the same as taking a snapshot of your favorite oscillator. You get a fraction of a moment in time — one cycle of the oscillator, or what you decide is a cycle. You could label it JX-3P Sawtooth, but really, it's just a discrete signal that you've managed to isolate.

Once I’ve crafted the wavetable, often the timbre is a surprise. You know, “This is a bit like a cello and a bit like a voice, and in between there's some raspiness.” With a wavetable you can explore these territories and also be quite precise about the timbre. I think that's why they're really useful basic ingredients.

When you were designing the wavetables, how did you know if one was working?

Level is important. If the wavetable is small, it's going to have a low volume. But if it's too high it can clip in an undesirable way. Also the musical quality of them, because wavetables can get quite harsh. It's difficult to say what makes a good wavetable, though, because it depends what you're doing. I'm working on a short film right now — it's an AI-generated thing. The scenography is something that I've never seen before; it melts in front of your eyes. So how do you soundtrack this? Really raw, broken wavetables are great for doing noisier stuff like this.

Also, with the Wavetable LFO, you can explore noisy wavetables in the low frequency domain. I've put some wavetables in my pack called “Noise Terrains” — they're not exactly random, because they're repetitive, right? It's like a little patch of repeatable roughness.

Do you have tips on how users should use the wavetables in the package? The obvious thing would be to explore the timbral possibilities of using the wavetables as oscillators.

Once you've explored the oscillator domain, go down to the low frequency domain and use a wavetable to modulate the synthesizer that is playing the oscillator. Polymer is perfect for this. You can take the same wavetable being used as an oscillator, and use it to apply much slower modulation with Wavetable LFO — perhaps controlling the index of the wavetable. Then they're fractally related, because it’s the same wavetable. Perhaps you see some relationships there. So that's one thing to explore.

A bit more advanced would be to build something with Wavetable LFO in The Grid. You can put a threshold on the output — so if a wavetable goes above this threshold momentarily, it can trigger something: a kick drum, a snare. Once you've got this tuned, you're going to get a sort of sequencer out of the wavetable, a groove-morphing device which can be unpredictable and pretty cool.

The presets you made for Polymer showcase what the wavetables can do. How did you make those?

I was initially using Polymer [while making the package] as the best way to demonstrate an end result. But Bitwig is so great for sound design – you can color things, add reverb, and pack it all into the same preset. So some of the presets ended up being fully-fledged sounds, and I've made pieces of music out of presets that I made for this package. Which is why the package took so long to make — because I would hear a preset and think, “Oh, this is the start of something…” and end up making some music.

You mentioned that you use Kyma. What’s the difference between a visual programming language like that and a DAW like Bitwig?

Kyma lets you create the instructions that create the sound. Which you can then record when you need to, and go into timeline stuff. But often you want to go back to the program that was creating the sound and adjust some parameters so that it ends up being better. Systems like Kyma allow you to do that — to redo the design to fit the end goal better. The only other system I use is Bitwig, actually. It’s the perfect companion to Kyma, and even my modular synth — it's really well-integrated with that.

Does Bitwig come into play when you’re finalizing a project, mixing and so on?

Yes. Bitwig is always ready to flex here and there and add a bit of unpredictability. I also find it really fast for editing. And it's really reliable as well. I haven't played live with it yet, but I wouldn’t be afraid of doing it.

What drives you to keep working with sound after so many years?

I'm a sound thinker now, a sound person. I put quality of sound and awareness of sound very highly in my daily existence. I'm always walking around with those really expensive Sony headphones round my neck. I wear them like jewelry, you know.

At that point, when you've got so much experience, it's difficult not to reap the benefits of that. They’re not economic or financial! There was a period when I was making a living out of music, too. But when that died down, I still did sound and music every day as a practice. I don't have doubts about it anymore. There was a period where I wasn't sure if music was what I was supposed to be doing. But I know that it has been my contribution: to put so much work out there.

Photos by Razvan Paisa.