WaveBoy Manual

WaveBoy is an 8HP Eurorack module that implements the behavior of the wave channel on the Nintendo GameBoy, specifically the behavior found in the LSDJ (one of the GameBoy music trackers).

Additionally, it has a noise and sampler modes as well as a step sequencer and internal VCA with more features being continually added as the firmware matures.

WaveBoy is finally available for purchase! If you want to buy one, you can do so here. Doing so supports the project and helps fund future modules and things.

In wave mode, each patch contains 16 waves ("frames") with each wave being a 4-bit / 32-step cyclic waveform. You can thus think of Wave mode as a very basic wavetable module.

What makes WaveBoy a bit unique is that it does not use a fixed sampling rate for the DAC. Instead it adopts the GameBoy's solution of clocking the DAC at the desired pitch. In wave mode, the resulting frequency is the desired pitch multiplied by 32, since the waveform has 32 steps. In noise mode, it is the speed that the noise value is updated at. In sampler mode, it is the pitch plus the coarse tune value (for using the sampler without needing V/Oct). There is no anti-aliasing (by design).

For inputs, WaveBoy has V/Oct of course, as well as additional CV and gate inputs. The gate is used to advance the step sequencer in both Wave and Noise modes, handles looping (if enabled) for the sampler; and is used for the volume envelopes.

The CV is for selecting the wave-frame in wave mode; for modulating the noise algorithms (depending on which one is used); and for optionally selecting samples in sampler mode.

There are two DC-coupled outputs. The main out is for audio. The second output is for the step sequencer. In the future it may also be used for outputting another wave (e.g. for detune or for a sub-osc, etc.), envelopes, etc.

The WaveBoy firmware is open source. The project is hosted on Gitlab here.