Nave: Wavetable Synth Plugin by Waldorf

Rated 4.8/5 on Plugin Boutique (5 ratings)

Nave is a wavetable synthesizer plugin by Waldorf, brought to desktop DAWs from the Nave iOS instrument. It offers two wavetable oscillators, multimode filtering and a 32-voice engine.

VST3VST2AUAAXWindowsmacOS64-bit

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01Overview

Nave is a software synthesizer from Waldorf that brings the sound engine of the Nave iOS instrument to desktop DAWs. Its core is two independent wavetable oscillators, with an 8-oscillator Überwave mode that adds saw, triangle, PWM and noise waveforms. The interface uses a keyboard and mouse rather than touch input, and the developer describes the sound engine as capable of sounds that are hard to get from other synthesizers. Nave runs in VST3, VST2, AU and AAX formats.

Best for

Wavetable bass design
Evolving pad textures
Vivid lead sounds
Speech-style synth effects
Chord and scale performance
Experimental sound design

Developer: Waldorf
Category: Synths
Store: Plugin Boutique

02Key features

What you get

Two independent advanced wavetable oscillators
Überwave mode with up to 8 oscillators
Multimode filter with LP, BP and HP, 12 dB and 24 dB
Three envelopes and two LFOs with 10 Modulation Matrix entries
Blades with musical scales and optional chord mode
Up to three X/Y control pads and polyphonic aftertouch
Wavetable generation from external audio files
32-voice polyphony with polyphonic unison

03In depth

Wavetable Oscillators and Sound Design Tools

Nave's two wavetable oscillators can be shaped with Überwave, which stacks up to eight oscillators with saw, triangle, PWM, white and pink noise sources. Two ring modulators add metallic and inharmonic tones.

The filter is multimode, offering low-pass, band-pass and high-pass responses in 12 dB and 24 dB slopes. Three envelopes and two LFOs feed a 10-entry Modulation Matrix, and a drive stage has an adjustable curve, depth and position.

Wavetables can be generated from external audio files and edited in 3D, and a speech synthesizer for wavetables is included.

Workflow, Performance and Effects

Waldorf's layout keeps sound shaping modules directly accessible, and the arpeggiator, envelopes, effects and Modulation Matrix are each one click away.

Performance features include polyphonic aftertouch, up to three X/Y control pads, polyphonic unison and Blades, which offer musical scales and an optional chord mode for controlling the sound in different ways.

The effects section includes a modulation effect (Chorus, Flanger or Phaser), reverb, modulation delay, a three-band parametric equalizer and a compressor. Patches are organized with user banks and categories, and patches can be exchanged with the Nave iPad version.

04Specs

Will it run?

Formats, systems and requirements as listed by Plugin Boutique. Missing details are left out, not guessed.

Developer	Waldorf
Type	Plugin
Category	Synth
Formats	VST3, VST2, AU, AAX
Operating systems	Windows, macOS
Architecture	64-bit

05FAQ

Questions, answered

What formats does Nave support?

Nave is available in VST3, VST2, AU and AAX formats. It runs as a 64-bit plugin and supports 32-bit and 64-bit VST, VST3 and AudioUnit hosts.

Which operating systems can run Nave?

Nave runs on Windows and macOS. Windows 7, 10 and 11 are supported on 64-bit Intel or AMD PCs, and macOS 10.12 or higher is supported on 64-bit Intel Macs.

Does Nave work with Pro Tools?

Nave supports AAX64 natively. The system requirements note that Pro Tools 2023.9 is currently unsupported, and on macOS the AAX version is noted to run in Rosetta mode with Pro Tools 2023.3.