Wavetable is Ableton’s flagship modern synthesiser, introduced in Live 10. Each of its two main oscillators reads through a wavetable: a series of single-cycle waveforms that you can scan through smoothly.

Tension is a string synthesiser built with Applied Acoustics Systems using physical modelling. Instead of starting with a waveform, it simulates the parts of a real stringed instrument and how they interact.

Analog is a virtual analogue synthesiser built with Applied Acoustics Systems. It doesn’t copy one vintage machine. Instead it combines the best-loved features of classic hardware into a single modern instrument.

Operator is Ableton’s first and most fundamental synthesiser. Robert Henke created it in 2004, and it has stayed a core instrument ever since. Plain as it looks, it’s a very powerful tool. It’s built around four oscillators and a set of algorithms that decide how they connect.