Granular Synthesis for Sound Design

[nowaysj]

Not in the sig.

Oh, and turn your sigs on!

[test_recordings]

Okay I don't go through ever user's profile to find where there coming either though.

Sigs are off because I read the forum on a phone and most people's sigs are too big for their own good.

Interesting articles from that site anyway

[SunkLo]

To those who can't use Granulator II, there's this plugin currently in beta. Looks like it does similar things.
In order to get good granular sounds, you can't just loop the same grain over and over or else it just sounds like shitty glitch. Granulator has multiple voices that each pick a grain at random from within a range you specify on the source audio. You can set it to stay in the same spot for the duration of that voice's life, or scroll the grain through the audio file at a rate you specify.

Edit for video:



This plugin is actually pretty dope now that I dig in. Multi-part, lots of intuitive modulation. The vector interface is pretty cool and something I've thought about implementing in my own plugs.

My granular attempts are like when you're a kid in art class and you have a vision of an AMAZING NEW COLOUR so you keep mixing and mixing and eventually you end up with a different shade of brown.

All sound design is sort of like this tbh. Sometimes I'll spend forever just to get something that sounds like I spent 2 minutes.

[SunkLo]

Wasn't feeling most of those Amazing Noises Max4Live effects except Mirror Maze.



Thought it was gonna be just a boring grain delay effect and then it went into territory.
Don't have your volume up too loud.

[bouncingfish]

To those who can't use Granulator II, there's this plugin currently in beta. Looks like it does similar things.
In order to get good granular sounds, you can't just loop the same grain over and over or else it just sounds like shitty glitch. Granulator has multiple voices that each pick a grain at random from within a range you specify on the source audio. You can set it to stay in the same spot for the duration of that voice's life, or scroll the grain through the audio file at a rate you specify.

Edit for video:



This plugin is actually pretty dope now that I dig in. Multi-part, lots of intuitive modulation. The vector interface is pretty cool and something I've thought about implementing in my own plugs.

My granular attempts are like when you're a kid in art class and you have a vision of an AMAZING NEW COLOUR so you keep mixing and mixing and eventually you end up with a different shade of brown.

All sound design is sort of like this tbh. Sometimes I'll spend forever just to get something that sounds like I spent 2 minutes.

That looks really neat. I need more granulizing plugins that are usable, all I have is Argotlunar which is weird as fuck. Wish there was an au plugin like fl granulizer sort of? Maybe this is it?

[kaili]

Nice clear intro article.

Also to anyone reading this who's interested Curtis Roads is someone to look up if you want to look at the ideas of granular synthesis in more depth. His book microsound covers a lot on the conceptual side of it but it's really pretty heavy going.

This video from Vice of all people (honestly I'm really surprised) has him talking about the ideas behind microsound composition before talking a little on granular synthesis and then his own compositions using it. http://www.vice.com/motherboard/curtis-roads--2?Article

man i physically cringed so hard and had to turn the vid off when the interviewer asked 'does it sound better on drugs?' and the dude said 'i wouldnt know' and then there was like 5 seconds of super awkward silence

[Koen]

Great article!

Curtis Roads is indeed a great reference. And earlier in history the works of Iannis Xenakis are definitely worth checking out!

At bouncingfish: "I need more granulizing plugins that are usable, all I have is Argotlunar which is weird as fuck. Wish there was an au plugin like fl granulizer sort of? Maybe this is it?"
--> Well, I'm not sure if this is "done" but since you asked: you might be interested in our SaltyGrain plugin: it's a real-time granular effect, also available as AU plugin, and there are lots of presets included as a starting point for your own tweakings (including some by Richard Devine). Feel free to give it a go (there's a demo). Here's a link: http://www.samplesumo.com/product/saltygrain