Wavetables for Surge XT
Surge Synth TeamSoftware synthVerified
What a Surge XT wavetable import expects, and how a Hyperwave export maps onto it.
The format Surge XT imports
Loads packed mono WAV — 16-bit PCM or 32-bit float — with power-of-two frame sizes from 2 up to 4,096 samples, plus its native .wt format. Its exporter can also write Serum-style 'clm ' metadata.
What Hyperwave exports
Every Hyperwave export is one packed wavetable WAV. Check these facts against the Surge XT format above — where the two disagree, the fix is almost always the frame size or a conversion step, not the sound design.
- Sample format
- 32-bit float by default (values between -1 and +1); 16-bit WAV is a direct export option for targets that load integer banks.
- Channels
- 1 (mono). Every frame is one single-cycle waveform.
- Header sample rate
- 48,000 Hz by default. This is a label in the file header — for wavetable import it doesn't stretch or resample your frames. One exception: VCV Rack's Wavetable VCO reads the sample-rate field as the frame length when it's a power of two, and sample players that fall back to one-shot mode use it for pitch.
- Frame layout
- Frames are packed end-to-end in one data chunk, in wavetable order; the export filename records the shape as name-{samples}x{frames}.wav.
- Resolution
- The live table runs from 8 to 8,192 samples per frame and 8 to 1,024 frames (defaults 2,048 × 256).
- Metadata
- No extra metadata chunks are written — targets that read frame size from metadata have to infer it from the file itself.
Load a Hyperwave table into Surge XT
- Export from Hyperwave as a packed mono WAV — its 32-bit float format (Hyperwave's default) loads directly, no 16-bit conversion needed.
- Drop the WAV into Surge XT's user wavetable folder — open the folder from the wavetable browser's menu — so the table shows up in the browser.
- Or drag the .wav directly onto the oscillator's wavetable display to load it immediately, no file copying needed.
Common issues
- Surge XT documents power-of-two frame sizes from 2 to 4,096 samples; Hyperwave's 8,192-sample frame option is out of range, so export at 4,096 or below.
Design the table once in Hyperwave's node graph, export the packed WAV, and load it into Surge XT with the steps above.
Make a wavetable in Hyperwave