Single-cycle waveform

A single-cycle waveform is one complete period of a periodic signal, stored as a fixed number of samples and looped by an oscillator to produce a steady pitch.

Because the loop repeats exactly, the waveform defines a static harmonic spectrum: its shape fixes which partials are present and at what amplitudes and phases. Every frame in a wavetable is a single-cycle waveform, so shaping that cycle — its harmonics and their phase — is the raw material of wavetable design.