Prophet VS Capabilities on 3rd Wave
Examining the latest 1.7 firmware for 3rd Wave, with Prophet VS wavetables
With the latest v1.7 firmware release on the 3rd Wave, Groove Synthesis has added the ability to import PPG style wavetables into the 'P' wave slots, and has included two new wavetable imports which incorporate all of the classic Prophet VS waves. The sound engine that is used for the P wave slots recreates the same sort of nuances that the original Prophet VS had... leading to some great 80s style VS character in the 3rd Wave.
The classic Prophet VS featured 128 "single cycle waves" that could be set up in positions A,B,C,D and crossfaded with the two axis joystick.
A single cycle wave is like a saw, square, tri -- but with a more complex shape and harmonic signature... a wavetable just consists of a bunch of single cycle wave frames. Sometimes a large wavetable with 64 frames may be composed of just two real "keyframes", and all the 62 in between frames will be a gradual interpolation/morph between the keyframes. Other times a wavetable with 64 frames might have 16 unique keyframes spread through the table, and there would be 4 interpolation frames between each for smooth transitions every four steps. In the case of the Prophet VS, you could say the VS has one wavetable of 128 frames, where every frame is a keyframe with a pretty unique cycle, and no interpolation frames. The VS isn't so much of a "wavetable morphing synth" as a "single cycle wave mixing synth", with four single cycle waves that are volume mixed.
The two new wavetables that can be imported into 3rd Wave in v1.7 firmware have 64 of these single cycle waves in each, for a total of 128 between the two wavetable positions. (P34, P35). The wave mixing paradigm is going to be different of course, as the 3rd Wave doesn't have the joystick... but the sound engine and character/tone is very accurate.
Single Cycle VS Waves for Subtractive Synthesis
On 3rd Wave, the first thing that is useful is to just load a given VS wave (P34-Offset X) into oscillators and use them as single cycle waves, with their unique character/harmonics, which you can then apply standard subtractive filtering and sound design to. (lots of interesting timbres with VS character in there to achieve new/unique sounds)
Prophet VS Morphing with 3rd Wave's Wavetable Tools
You can also morph through the waves using the wavetable engine, which provides some interesting capabilities... either just morphing between a couple consecutive waves (by modulating Osc Wave Offset by a small value of 1 or 2), or rapidly warping through them with larger modulations.
Prophet VS Morphing with Mod Matrix Routings and Volume Mixing
Alternatively, through creative usage of the mod matrix, routing mod wheel or aftertouch, you can strategically load certain single cycle waves to the three oscillators, and then adjust the mix of them (osc volume), to achieve similar wave mixing like on VS... ie: set up the first oscillator with a chosen wave and 100 volume, and in the second slot choose another wave, but set it to 0 volume... then route mod wheel to simultaneously go -100 volume on the first and +100 volume on second oscillator, and then you have one axis of the VS joystick... note, there may be a small difference in the volume curve/balance... but I've tried it and it sounds good. (and you can then add in a third oscillator, and either include it in mod wheel action, or map it to aftertouch, or another parameter. )
Note: another interesting possibility is to defeat the normal Pitch wheel modulation, by setting it 0 semitones in MISC menu, and then you could map some wave morphing via pitch wheel in matrix. In that case, you have two axis morphing via the pitch/mod wheels... different than the joystick obviously, but could provide some interesting VS style live performance changes.
Also Note: Of course there are four parts as well, which you can stack, therefore giving you access to 12 oscillators at once, which could be loaded with various VS waves, and through creative mod matrix usage, you could develop some really advanced morphing between multiple waves, controlled by envelopes, mod wheel, aftertouch, etc...