Groove Synthesis release 3rd Wave Terminal

Synth gains free editor & librarian application

Back at Superbooth 2026, Groove Synthesis gave us a sneak preview of a desktop software application that offered remote editing and preset organisation for their ever-popular 3rd Wave synth. The software has now appeared in finished form as 3rd Wave Terminal, allowing users to organise their program libraries, edit every parameter in expanded detail and build wavetables and multi-samples directly from audio files, including MP3s.

3rd Wave Terminal began life as personal project of Pedro Macedo Camacho, a composer whose credits include Star Citizen, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and 7. An avid user of the 3rd Wave, Pedro set about creating the software as he needed faster, more integrated way to work with the instrument. The project managed to catch the attention of Groove Synthesis co-founder Bob Coover, who then got in touch with Pedro and offered some official support.

I needed this tool for a long time, so I started doing it myself. It was a huge labour of love and dedication to a beautiful synthesizer that needs to be praised. - Pedro Macedo Camacho

Key Features Here's a quick look at the headline features of 3rd Wave Terminal:

Librarian - Organise Your Patches Two side-by-side windows show any bank from either the connected 3rd Wave, a local copy of the factory presets, or the owners own local banks. The local banks can include purchased program libraries, your own creations, favourites or the 3rd Wave sample libraries. Moving a program onto the synth or swapping two slots is a simple drag and drop, and every change stays on the 3rd Wave after the computer is disconnected. A rescan keeps local libraries and hardware in sync, and the read-only factory bank keeps the original presets one drag away. Programs can be previewed in real time without first saving them to the instrument, and banks for a show or session can be prepared offline, away from the hardware synth.

Programs - Edit Your Patches The Program editor mirrors the instruments own controls and lets each section expand to show all controls in that section at once: all three oscillators, all four LFOs, every envelope and all three wave envelopes, including how each one scans through its wavetable. Each oscillator browses factory wavetables, user wavetables, analog waveforms and samples directly, with its modulation shown alongside. Effect parameters normally reached through the Extras button - such as Shimmer Reverbs bloom speed, damping, pre-delay and feedback - appear right in the effect panel.

Modulation can be shown and routed in three different ways: a Mod Table that follows the hardwares source, destination and amount layout; a Mod Matrix grid with sources on rows and destinations on columns; and a visual patching view where you route signals by dragging virtual cables.

For the built-in pattern sequencer, you now have a piano roll editor, laid out like the ones found in most DAWs. This lets owners create and edit sequences for the 3rd Waves internal sequencer note by note.

Wavetable - Make Your Own Wavetables The Wavetable section edits the 3rd Waves 64 user wavetable locations and builds on the Pitch On, Pitch Off and Spectral modes already available in the instruments Make Waves tool. Now you can drop in a WAV, AIFF, MP3, MP4 or other common audio file instead of having to use a 96kHz WAV file on the 3rd Wave hardware. You can then select the part of the file to use, and build a table by pitch detection or fixed-length slicing. A voice memo, a field recording or a favourite instrument tone can become a wavetable that carries its harmonic character in just a few moments.

You can also draw waveforms freehand, interpolate or crossfade between any two frames, smooth them into a chosen number of neighbouring waveforms, combine them with static waveforms and normalise them. Like samples, finished wavetables can work either as an audible oscillator source or as a silent modulation source.

Samples - Import and Create Multi-samples The Samples section combines a sample librarian with a multi-sample builder that works the same way the hardware does, but on a larger, visual canvas. It accepts WAV, MP3, M4A, AAC and MP4 files at any bitrate, as well as .bin multi-sample files, with no conversion step.

Up to eight samples can be mapped across the keyboard, each with its own start and end points, loop points, crossfade type, root note, key range, volume and trim. You can store finished multi-samples in a local database and send them to any sample slot on the 3rd Wave, where they appear as a sound source on the oscillators.

When I saw the wavetable editing in addition to the librarian and patch editor, I got very excited about what Pedro's app could add to the workflow. The 3rd Wave does everything without software, and is close to knob per function, but for the four areas that the 3rd Wave Terminal handles, things are enhanced, or additional abilities are unlocked. - Bob Coover, Groove Synthesis

We've already tried out the new software, and a full review will be appearing in the next issue.

Availability 3rd Wave Terminal is available now, and is free for all registered 3rd Wave owners.

groovesynthesis.com/support

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