# Best Granular VSTs?



## merlinhimself (Feb 2, 2021)

Hey All,

Wondering what you would recommend for some great Granular Sampler/VSTs


----------



## cloudbuster (Feb 2, 2021)

Again, dunno about 'best' but the ones I use most are Padshop2, The Mangle (more or less abandoned), and the sampler in Bitwig (Granular Mode). The granular engine in VPS Avenger is pretty capable as well but then that's just a little part of that synth and maybe not exactly what you're after.


----------



## merlinhimself (Feb 2, 2021)

cloudbuster said:


> Again, dunno about 'best' but the ones I use most are Padshop2, The Mangle (more or less abandoned), and the sampler in Bitwig (Granular Mode). The granular engine in VPS Avenger is pretty capable as well but then that's just a little part of that synth and maybe not exactly what you're after.


the mangle seems like exactly what Im after, why do you say abandoned though?


----------



## A.Heppelmann (Feb 2, 2021)

I really like the granular engine in Arturia's Pigments. No matter what sample I import, I always seem to get awesome textures / sounds.


----------



## companyofquail (Feb 2, 2021)

i really dig straylight and pharlight


----------



## ReleaseCandidate (Feb 2, 2021)

Glitchmachines.
Palindrome
https://glitchmachines.com/products/palindrome/Polygon
https://glitchmachines.com/products/polygon/Fracture XT
https://glitchmachines.com/products/fxt/

Not a VST, but standalone and open source and higly recommended: Emission Control 2








GitHub - EmissionControl2/EmissionControl2: EmissionControl2 (EC2) is a standalone interactive real-time application for granular synthesis and sound file granulation. It is available for OSX, Linux, and Windows.


EmissionControl2 (EC2) is a standalone interactive real-time application for granular synthesis and sound file granulation. It is available for OSX, Linux, and Windows. - GitHub - EmissionControl2/...




github.com


----------



## cloudbuster (Feb 2, 2021)

merlinhimself said:


> the mangle seems like exactly what Im after, why do you say abandoned though?


The Mangle hasn't been updated in quite a few years despite known stability issues here and there - on my systems as well, in reaper and Ableton Live 9 and 10.






Granular Synth Alternative: The Mangle - ReasonTalk.com







forum.reasontalk.com





Anyway, as long as it is working it is one very nice instrument for sure.
Just try the demo and see how it works for you.


----------



## doctoremmet (Feb 2, 2021)

As for granular in synths: *)

- Arturia Pigments 2
- UVI Falcon 2, those marvellous IRCAM oscillators... (and the regular ones too)
- Roli Equator 2

There’s also Audiority GrainSpace for some cool sfx

*) the ones I actually use


----------



## ReleaseCandidate (Feb 2, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> As for granular in synths:
> 
> - Arturia Pigments 2
> - UVI Falcon 2, those marvellous IRCAM oscillators... (and the regular ones too)
> - Roli Equator 2


Parawave's Rapid


----------



## pondinthestream (Feb 2, 2021)

The classic super poweerful granular is CrusherX, takes a bit to learn. Another is Ribs from hvoya, and free!


----------



## JEPA (Feb 2, 2021)

I lastly beta tested this one and it gets you to very creative results! 





Stream 1.3.1 (Updated Nov 5 2022) – Delta Sound Labs®







www.deltasoundlabs.com





In combination with the new FOLD is a killer pair:





Fold 1.1 (Update – August 2021) – Delta Sound Labs®







www.deltasoundlabs.com


----------



## José Herring (Feb 2, 2021)

Reason Studio's Grain. 

Steinberg's PadShop Pro.


----------



## pondinthestream (Feb 2, 2021)

JEPA said:


> I lastly beta tested this one and it gets you to very creative results!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Stream looks nice, shame grain size is a bit limited, but the parameter choices and interface should make it very easy to get nice results


----------



## Kuusniemi (Feb 2, 2021)

I am partial to Audio Damage's Quanta. That little sucker gives out unexpectedly musical things from places you would not expect.

Also the granular in Omnisphere is quite good as well.


----------



## spice3d (Feb 2, 2021)

JEPA said:


> I lastly beta tested this one and it gets you to very creative results!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, I like Stream as well. Simple and nice UI. Haven’t really gotten into it, but hope to use in my next project.


----------



## ControlCentral (Feb 11, 2021)

Name your price for this promising looking granular synth:








Ribs by hvoya audio


granular sound design tool for Win and OS




hvoyaaudio.itch.io




Also as a freebie at plugin Boutique if you'd rather donate later.


----------



## freecham (Feb 11, 2021)

You can try Granulizer 2 from Inertia Sound Systems. Heavy CPU but really great sound :
https://www.inertiasoundsystems.com/store/products/granulizer-2/


----------



## Solarsentinel (Feb 11, 2021)

Max for live Granulator II is awesome.
I don't try straylight from NI, but heard is good.


----------



## InLight-Tone (Feb 11, 2021)

If you want to Granulate more than one sample try Falcon...


----------



## Brian2112 (Feb 11, 2021)

Spacecraft has a weird name and look but is fantastic.
Padshop Pro is still my go to but don't forget Halion.
Falcon
Vengeance Avenger and Rapid have also added very good granular capabilities.


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Feb 11, 2021)

*NI Reaktor* has had granular synthesis for a while and there are quite a few free and paid instruments that use its capabilities:


GRIP Grain Cloud Synth:





ENTRY







www.native-instruments.com





This is a pretty cool granular instrument for Reaktor I picked up last year - Cataliz








CATALIZ° - BLINKSONIC°


[vc_single_image image="3675" img_size="repeat" css=".vc_custom_1500407359288{border-top-width: px !important;border-right-width: px !important;border-bottom-width: px !important;border-left-width: px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px...




www.blinksonic.com





*NI Kontakt* does it, too. There are a few ready-made granular instruments by various developers, such as Fracture Sounds' Granulate:








Granulate 2 | Fracture Sounds


Granulate is a powerful granular manipulation engine for transforming any audio file into a range of pads, drones, textures and rhythmic sounds. Choose from over 80 inspiring presets, or import your own audio for limitless possibilities. Runs in Kontakt 5.1 or above.




fracturesounds.com





Realtime granular effects have become quite mainstream now. I used to use Ross Bencina's Audiomulch for live granular mangling. I'd like to try Portal from Output. Anyone using that one?


----------



## Dirtgrain (Feb 11, 2021)

I have a bunch (a sucker I am), and I like Spacecraft right now. I did not like it at first, but after using it some, it is neat and because of its design, it gets me places I wouldn't go otherwise.

The granular engine in Pigments is great (better than my experiences with Rapid--maybe better than Falcon).

Biotek is cool in concept, but I always have felt it should have more controls--same with the Glitchmachines stuff (which I've never gotten good results with--except for . . . glitchy stuff).

Sometimes I use Granulizer. I like switching out the samples for some of the presets, trying out different samples, with the presets as a starting point often (I do the same thing with NI Form sometimes).

S + A Cycles has my interest, but it's so pricey.


----------



## Pier (Feb 11, 2021)

rhizomusicosmos said:


> I'd like to try Portal from Output. Anyone using that one?


I'm curious too. Seems like the best granular fx on the market, but quite expensive for a one trick pony like Movement.

In a similar vein there's Remnant:








Creative Intent - Shop Audio Plugins


Creative Intent creates experimental audio plugins and audio effects used by mixing engineers, musicians, producers, sound designers. Elevate your audio productions with our creative tools, including distortions and grain delays.




www.creativeintent.co





It's currently on sale for $29 at Plugin Boutique.


----------



## Macrawn (Feb 11, 2021)

Falcon 2
Straylight


----------



## pondinthestream (Feb 11, 2021)

I also like Soundmorph Dust. Much more powerful than appears at first sight. The spatial particle thing it does can have a huge effect on the sound


----------



## Brian2112 (Feb 11, 2021)

Dirtgrain said:


> I have a bunch (a sucker I am), and I like Spacecraft right now. I did not like it at first, but after using it some, it is neat and because of its design, it gets me places I wouldn't go otherwise.
> 
> The granular engine in Pigments is great (better than my experiences with Rapid--maybe better than Falcon).
> 
> ...


Yea. Forgot Cycles. Probably my favorite. Just eats my cpu but worth it.


----------



## CATDAD (Feb 12, 2021)

I'll put in another vote for Pigments! It's just really fast and easy to use, can be layered with some conventional sounds to "ground" it, lots of modulation, solid FX tools, can use it alongside the sequencer for some pseudo-generative stuff. 

Actually I initially regretted purchasing Pigments, not because it was bad, but because I already had similar tools. But when they added the granular engine it fell right in to place in my toolbox! It's not too often you get such a sweeping refund on buyer's remorse!


----------



## fourier (Feb 12, 2021)

Pigments here too, I'm biased (having the keylab88 mkii helps) but I've never come across a softsynth with such an easy interface, combined with such freedom to tweak the sounds.


----------



## gzapper (Feb 12, 2021)

Kuusniemi said:


> I am partial to Audio Damage's Quanta. That little sucker gives out unexpectedly musical things from places you would not expect.
> 
> Also the granular in Omnisphere is quite good as well.


Quanta, Mangle and Pigment are the best three I've played with that are out now.
Thinking about output's Portal but its pricy.
The most musically useful one that I've used was Audioease's Rivverrun, had really nice simple controls that got great sounds. But the abandoned that one, so its yet another one that's off my machine.


----------



## Jiffster (Feb 13, 2021)

Another thumbs up for Quanta from Audio Damage. Not a granular synth but, their Phase three plug is also incredible!


----------



## Damarus (Feb 13, 2021)

Okay I'm surprised no one mentioned @slateandash Cycles. I've used most of the ones mentioned and Cycles takes it to the next level.

Otherwise I will usually reach for Granulartor II, or Omnisphere for a typical granular engine

Edit: jk it was mentioned a few times, just didnt read well enough


----------



## Pier (Feb 13, 2021)

I think nobody has mentioned Equator 2 by Roli:


----------



## doctoremmet (Feb 13, 2021)

Pier said:


> I think nobody has mentioned Equator 2 by Roli:



Great synth indeed


----------



## mrwhites (Feb 22, 2021)

I like MGranularMB by Melda








MGranularMB


Boost your creativity with an extreme granular resynthesizer



www.meldaproduction.com


----------



## timprebble (Feb 22, 2021)

Its not new or recent but GRM Freeze is an excellent granular plugin... very high quality, and I really like being able to save settings and then do moves (manually or auto timed) between settings. It seems very good at retaining quality & not just becoming mush... Also capable of great manipulated buffer type processing. Its part of the GRM Classic bundle:






Grm







inagrm.com





The two deepest granular software I have seen would be Crusher X and Sound Particles - does anyone have experience with either? Far more the cheapest but capable of incredible results:

Crusher X





Granular Synthesis with crusher-X


All about granular synthesis




www.accsone.com





Sound Particles








Sound Particles


A CGI-like software for Sound Design, capable of using particle systems to generate thousands of sounds in a virtual 3D world




soundparticles.com


----------



## pondinthestream (Feb 22, 2021)

timprebble said:


> Its not new or recent but GRM Freeze is an excellent granular plugin... very high quality, and I really like being able to save settings and then do moves (manually or auto timed) between settings. It seems very good at retaining quality & not just becoming mush... Also capable of great manipulated buffer type processing. Its part of the GRM Classic bundle:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I use crusherX, not sure it is worth the complexity but can't deny the power of it. I am thinking of Sound Particles next sale. Soundmorph Dust is a very nice product between crusherX and sound particles.


----------



## Wally Garten (Feb 23, 2021)

pondinthestream said:


> I also like Soundmorph Dust. Much more powerful than appears at first sight. The spatial particle thing it does can have a huge effect on the sound


It's very cool, but it consistently crashed Logic for me -- Soundmorph was never able to figure out what the problem was.


----------



## pondinthestream (Feb 23, 2021)

Wally Garten said:


> It's very cool, but it consistently crashed Logic for me -- Soundmorph was never able to figure out what the problem was.


They've done a few updates over the last couple of years or so and stability improved a lot after one of them. Might be worth another demo if you haven't tried it for a couple of years


----------



## HeliaVox (Feb 24, 2021)

I have the most current version of Dust, and it's just not working in Catalina/Logic/Bitwig. 
Don't waste your time, there are many other apps out there that work.


----------



## pondinthestream (Feb 24, 2021)

HeliaVox said:


> I have the most current version of Dust, and it's just not working in Catalina/Logic/Bitwig.
> Don't waste your time, there are many other apps out there that work.


Works in Bitwig, Studio One and Reaper here using win10. I'd suggest demoing


----------



## HeliaVox (Feb 25, 2021)

Why would I demo, if I own it? Even on the Soundmorph website, there is an error in the download links, so I couldn't even reinstall it if I wanted to. 
Also, the world of Mac is much different than the world of Windows. 
I'm glad you're able to get it to work. 
It does not on my system.


----------



## from_theashes (Jul 6, 2021)

A.Heppelmann said:


> I really like the granular engine in Arturia's Pigments. No matter what sample I import, I always seem to get awesome textures / sounds.


THIS! Pigments is so awesome and easy to use.


----------



## Databroth (Jul 30, 2021)

I'm a huge fan of granular, I've done some side by side testing of a few granular synths and effects and I'm sorry to say I do not recommend Quanta, it has a somewhat "bit reduced" lo fi quality to it that takes a way from its sonic capabilities. if you like lo-fi, you can alway bitreduce your sample or add a lofi effect after in the chain

my favorite granular synth has been Pigments, they really give you a lot of options, even allowing you to FM the grains, and other unique controls
mangle is good too, but don't ever expect support or updates
Rapid is another favorite, it doesn't have quite as good of a grain engine as pigments, but rapid allows you to stack significantly more voices, and has much better factory content

I'm a huge fan of granular effects as well, just picked up mgranularmb, so I can't say much on it
but Portal is incredible, portal has opened up new sound design dimensions for me
as well Silo is worth digging into, it is a bit different than portal, but also has allowed me to explore new sonic territories

I'm planning on exploring more granular tools myself, and these aren't the only ones I've used, just my favorites from my collection


----------



## Crowe (Jul 31, 2021)

Huh. I find it odd I haven't sung the praises of Padshop 2 here yet. If you use Cubase, that's the only one you need.

Other than that, Ribs is very free.


----------



## dunamisstudio (Jul 31, 2021)

Arturia Pigments


----------



## Databroth (Jul 31, 2021)

Crowe said:


> Huh. I find it odd I haven't sung the praises of Padshop 2 here yet. If you use Cubase, that's the only one you need.
> 
> Other than that, Ribs is very free.


I'd love to try padshop, I've heard great things about it

I was not really a fan of ribs, it may be free, but every time I've used it I found it entirely too cumbersome for the sounds it was capable of. I'll give it one more shot though


----------



## doctoremmet (Jul 31, 2021)

Check out some of the patches Simon Stockhausen did for Padshop. Fantastic synth. I am reminded now to actually play with it more.


----------



## hoxclab (Aug 2, 2021)

Granulator 2, Fruity Granulator, Omnisphere and Pigments.


----------



## jz3ro (Sep 1, 2021)

Since evey other Granular thing has already been championed... I like "Granite" by New Sonic Arts. The UI is deceptively simple. Actually, each knob in the interface can be modulated using internal recorded automation. Its very quick to get interesting weird granular sounds.






The FX are limited, but that's why I like to combine it with...

BYOME!
(Build your own multi-effects)
This has granular delay options, many different reverbs, distortions, comb filters, flangers, envelopes, sequencers, LFOs, whatever you need. Since its fully modular, you can add as many things as you want all modulating as many controls of any/every effect you want. It ]costs a few hundred bucks but if you join Plugin Alliance there are sales several times a year where it's less than $50.


----------



## Tren (Sep 2, 2021)

Crowe said:


> Huh. I find it odd I haven't sung the praises of Padshop 2 here yet. If you use Cubase, that's the only one you need.
> 
> Other than that, Ribs is very free.


Agree. Also, HALion 6 and Falcon 2 are pretty good. If you own either of them, I'd learn to use them. Can save you a lot of money buying other "pre-packaged" synths.

Komplete also has some Granular Stuff in it. Maybe REAKTOR can do that, as well?


----------



## Bman70 (Sep 2, 2021)

Output's Portal is on sale now at PluginBoutique, although still over $100.


----------



## Databroth (Oct 14, 2021)

I wanted to follow up on this thread, I've finally got my hands on Falcon
and I have to say it really surpasses Pigments in granular capabilities
full range, lots of control

it is objectively a better "grain" engine

that said, pigments still has some features that are exceptional
the round robin samples and window shape are really good in pigments
aslo
FM on the grain engine is still really unique and powerful

I found out Krotos concept has FM for the grain engine as well, I'll have to compare its granular against everything also

but by far when it comes to just grain, Falcon kills it


I'm thinking I'll do a full technical comparison soon, I need to get my website up and running for this sort of stuff


----------



## mscp (Oct 14, 2021)

merlinhimself said:


> Hey All,
> 
> Wondering what you would recommend for some great Granular Sampler/VSTs


does it have to be software?


----------



## Wally Garten (Oct 14, 2021)

mscp said:


> does it have to be software?


Not to hijack too much, but do you have a granular hardware synth you like?

I have the Bastl Microgranny, which is a cool granular sampler, albeit leaning more toward noise and glitch. Curious about what else is out there, though.


----------



## Jeremy Morgan (Oct 14, 2021)

Pier said:


> I'm curious too. Seems like the best granular fx on the market, but quite expensive for a one trick pony like Movement.
> 
> In a similar vein there's Remnant:
> 
> ...




Remnant is hard to get into to find whether it's worth using. I have Output and I open that every single time over Remnant, I just don't even use it because Portal is overall more powerful, user friendly more obvious. I'm sure if I only had remnant I would use it.

I also treat portal as a 'granular effect' and less as a vst instrument ...for me it's always complimenting what's underneath vs sound designing from scratch.


----------



## Databroth (Oct 14, 2021)

well portal IS an effect and not an instrument, so that makes sense

microgranny is cool, I had one at one point, pretty damn lofi though
I'd put it in a category I like to call "buffer loopers" I don't quite count those as "granular" personally, they technically are. But to me I'd consider something granular when it spits out multiple grain voices, seeing as they are both "technically" granular, I'd like to call these types "cloud" granulars (or maybe array granular?)

the types of sounds you'd make with each are pretty different, that typical swarm grain cloud sound is only really possible with cloud granulars. and buffer style is more glitch oriented

for example-
Buffer granulars: Palindrome
Fracture

any sampler with a loop mode

Cloud/array granulars: Pigments
Falcon
Portal
Silo
Clouds


----------



## TomislavEP (Oct 14, 2021)

Although not a dedicated plugin but rather a Kontakt library, my personal choice is "Granulate 2" by Fracture Sounds:









Granulate 2 | Fracture Sounds


Granulate is a powerful granular manipulation engine for transforming any audio file into a range of pads, drones, textures and rhythmic sounds. Choose from over 80 inspiring presets, or import your own audio for limitless possibilities. Runs in Kontakt 5.1 or above.




fracturesounds.com





It has a ton of options and it also comes with quite a library of included sounds and presets, so good that I didn't feel the need so far for loading custom samples.

Speaking of Kontakt, there is also "Granularis" by Sound Aesthetic Sampling that you can get for free at Loot Audio:

https://www.lootaudio.com/category/kontakt-instruments/sound-aesthetics-sampling/Granularis
AFAIK, the latter doesn't include any samples and both require a full version of Kontakt 5 or 6.


----------



## Wally Garten (Oct 14, 2021)

Databroth said:


> Buffer granulars: Palindrome


Oh yeah -- that's another great one!

Apparently I am just on the glitchy end of things.  

But I'm interested in your distinction between buffer and cloud granular. Might have to check out something like Pigments.


----------



## Databroth (Oct 14, 2021)

Wally Garten said:


> Oh yeah -- that's another great one!
> 
> Apparently I am just on the glitchy end of things.
> 
> But I'm interested in your distinction between buffer and cloud granular. Might have to check out something like Pigments.


yeah, I feel the need to make the distinction because a lot of people I think assume all granular is "cloud" style.

it's kinda like multitap delay vs standard delay, they are both delays, but you can't do multitap with all delays

I make the distinction of "buffer" granular because it's not the assumed "typical" granular style

also another aspect of buffer granulars is they don't have window shapes and instead just loop within the window, with the grain rate being tied to the window size. Where a cloud granular, even though it can recreate buffer style, will often have a window size that can be independent of the grain rate

so they kind of end up being 2 different types of tools


----------



## hoxclab (Oct 14, 2021)

I like FL's Granulizer, Omnisphere and if I am feeling like living life on the edge, Quanta (I say this because it's prone to crashing). I don't mind the Live device in M4L but I do not use Live anymore.


----------



## mscp (Oct 14, 2021)

Wally Garten said:


> Not to hijack too much, but do you have a granular hardware synth you like?
> 
> I have the Bastl Microgranny, which is a cool granular sampler, albeit leaning more toward noise and glitch. Curious about what else is out there, though.


Tasty Chips GR-1


----------



## gzapper (Oct 15, 2021)

I still miss audioease's Riverrun.
That one was dead simple to use and sounded great.
Can't believe they didn't upgrade it and left it to die.


----------



## Crowe (Nov 10, 2021)

Hm. I'm specifically looking for a Granular sampling tool that can crossfade its granules. Google directs me to MaxForLive which I currently can't use.

Anyone know about something that isn't MaxForLive?


----------



## Pier (Nov 10, 2021)

Crowe said:


> Hm. I'm specifically looking for a Granular sampling tool that can crossfade its granules. Google directs me to MaxForLive which I currently can't use.
> 
> Anyone know about something that isn't MaxForLive?


What do you mean with crossfading grains?


----------



## Crowe (Nov 10, 2021)

Pier said:


> What do you mean with crossfading grains?


Alright, so, in the tools I use, if you use larger grains stuff sounds pretty bad. I actually want to use large grains but have them cross-fade into each other.


----------



## freecham (Nov 10, 2021)

Crowe said:


> Alright, so, in the tools I use, if you use larger grains stuff sounds pretty bad. I actually want to use large grains but have them cross-fade into each other.


Did you try Emergence ?






https://www.kvraudio.com/product/emergence-by-daniel-gergely


----------



## Crowe (Nov 10, 2021)

freecham said:


> Did you try Emergence ?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have not, but am definitely going to!


----------



## b_elliott (Nov 10, 2021)

Yesterday I ran across SonicScoop's interview with Richard Devine on all things granular. In the 2nd video Devine demos Unfiltered Audio's Silo (granular reverb). That opened my ears to say the least.


----------



## doctoremmet (Nov 10, 2021)

b_elliott said:


> Yesterday I ran across SonicScoop's interview with Richard Devine on all things granular. In the 2nd video Devine demos Unfiltered Audio's Silo (granular reverb). That opened my ears to say the least.


SILO is indeed one of UA’s finest


----------



## b_elliott (Nov 10, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> SILO is indeed one of UA’s finest


I noticed just now from other vi posts of yours you have a number of UA vsts.
And, I see that Devine is big on its SpecOps plugin.

I am curious to know if you landed on your UAs as a bundle, individual PA sales, or, or, or. In other words, what is the slickest purchase route you found for a gaggle of these UAs? I'm not in any rush, thus would be good to know if PA does wonker-bonker discounts on UA from time to time.


----------



## Crowe (Nov 10, 2021)

b_elliott said:


> I noticed just now from other vi posts of yours you have a number of UA vsts.
> And, I see that Devine is big on its SpecOps plugin.
> 
> I am curious to know if you landed on your UAs as a bundle, individual PA sales, or, or, or. In other words, what is the slickest purchase route you found for a gaggle of these UAs? I'm not in any rush, thus would be good to know if PA does wonker-bonker discounts on UA from time to time.


Apparently (The good doctor mentioned this in another thread) Plugin Alliance likes giving out vouchers which you can use on top of sales prices. So that's what I'm now waiting for.


----------



## José Herring (Nov 10, 2021)

Crowe said:


> Alright, so, in the tools I use, if you use larger grains stuff sounds pretty bad. I actually want to use large grains but have them cross-fade into each other.


Reason's Grain can do that rather well.


----------



## doctoremmet (Nov 10, 2021)

Crowe said:


> Apparently (The good doctor mentioned this in another thread) Plugin Alliance likes giving out vouchers which you can use on top of sales prices. So that's what I'm now waiting for.


Correct. I have been able to grab all of UA’s stuff. Some of the cheaper ones were really cheap (literally a few bucks) on KVR and I was able to pay the transfer fees with a free voucher. So Sandman Pro, Dent, Indent, G8 - which are all great.

Then I decided I wanted the BYOME effect, and got that on a $39.99 sale (“weekend warrior”) with a 25 voucher. Hearing its awesomeness I wanted LION which basically is a highly modular digital sounding synth with unique oscillators and BYOME as built in fx. And from there onwards, I got Bass-Mint, TRIAD (multi band BYOME), and the rest. All of which are great. There’s a reason why true sound design guru’s like @Empty Vessel made presets for BYOME and LION. And why Richard Devine talks about their stuff 

I’ve never seen them bundled. Again, Buy/Sell fora, KnobCloud and sales (which are frequent) and some patience is all one needs. I usually wait for the price to drop to $39.99 and use a $25 voucher (which they start sending on a monthly basis once you’re a regular spender hehe).


----------



## Brian2112 (Nov 10, 2021)

I don’t know if this helps. I am probably misunderstanding you but this is a cool tool anyways. It allows you to import 4 of your own samples and crossfade via joystick through all four that are being played back in a granular engine. Very underrated if you ask me. 








Granulate 2 | Fracture Sounds


Granulate is a powerful granular manipulation engine for transforming any audio file into a range of pads, drones, textures and rhythmic sounds. Choose from over 80 inspiring presets, or import your own audio for limitless possibilities. Runs in Kontakt 5.1 or above.




fracturesounds.com


----------



## fakemaxwell (Dec 1, 2021)

After picking up Omnisphere, I thought its granular engine was kind of boring and dumb until I realized that you can modulate every parameter...don't be like me! Seems like if you put the time in it's the most full featured granular synth I've tried so far.


----------



## Mark III (Dec 2, 2021)

Pier said:


> What do you mean with crossfading grains?


I think he means the attack and release phase of each grain (not the AMP env) to make smoother sustain transitions while scrolling through the sample, It's why I use the Mangle for this type of thing..don't know anything else that has those parameters.

Cheers.


----------



## Mark III (Jan 7, 2022)

I got Pigments over Christmas, I must say it's easily the best granular engine I've ever tried, so easy to get great results, yeah the cpu can get wild at times, but for what it gives back...man its amazing! - Between Absynth, Mangle, Pigments and Paul stretch---Definitely don't need anything else!

Cheers.


----------



## timprebble (Feb 6, 2022)

Its not a VST, its a bright yellow box!
Perfect Circuit just shipped me one, will share some first impressions once it arrives






nanobox | lemondrop - Polyphonic Granular Mini Synth - 1010music LLC


Explore a freshly squeezed approach to granular synthesis with nanobox | lemondrop, a tabletop polyphonic mini synthesizer with intuitive touchscreen control.




1010music.com


----------



## timprebble (Feb 10, 2022)

Well it IS tiny!
bass player fingers for scale...

So far so good, very intuitive
Next will load up SD card with my own sounds...

Would be nifty if this exact same device (with touchscreen, 2 knobs, 4 buttons) could be switched to 'controller mode' to remote control any plugin!


----------



## Crowe (Feb 10, 2022)

timprebble said:


> Well it IS tiny!
> bass player fingers for scale...
> 
> So far so good, very intuitive
> ...


... I honestly wish it was larger XD.


----------



## CATDAD (Feb 10, 2022)

timprebble said:


> Well it IS tiny!
> bass player fingers for scale...
> 
> So far so good, very intuitive
> ...


I know the whole point is for it to be powerful and tiny, but damn that’s a small touch screen! Does it generally navigate well?


----------



## timprebble (Feb 10, 2022)

CATDAD said:


> I know the whole point is for it to be powerful and tiny, but damn that’s a small touch screen! Does it generally navigate well?


It seems ok - I didn't notice any ui misfires with my giant fingers (and I really loathe the qwerty keyboard on my XL iPhone). Will comment more after a weekend of play! I haven't read the manual yet but also haven't needed to, it seems quite intuitive.... but presume it does MIDI over USB (it also came w a mini jack to MIDI cable) but don't think it does audio over USB. Would be nifty if it had a control plugin for automation!


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Feb 17, 2022)

Puremagnetik have released Lore - Experimental Sound Console. It incorporates spectral delay and granular processing.

You can access compiled versions via their Lore subscription (paid) or build it yourself using the Cabbage Audio Csound IDE and the code which is available on GitHub (free). Looks like ongoing updates to functionality are planned.








Lore | Experimental Sound Console


Inspired by musique concrète pioneers of the past several decades Ember harnesses modern digital algorithms with classic splicing techniques to create dense and evolving textural soundscapes.




puremagnetik.com


----------



## antret (Feb 17, 2022)

rhizomusicosmos said:


> Puremagnetik have released Lore - Experimental Sound Console. It incorporates spectral delay and granular processing.
> 
> You can access compiled versions via their Lore subscription (paid) or build it yourself using the Cabbage Audio Csound IDE and the code which is available on GitHub (free). Looks like ongoing updates to functionality are planned.
> 
> ...



I love all things Puremagnetik! It seems this is stand alone? No vst?


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Feb 17, 2022)

antret said:


> I love all things Puremagnetik! It seems this is stand alone? No vst?


Audio Units or VST. But you need to load samples into the plugin, so no live audio input processing unfortunately.


----------



## antret (Feb 17, 2022)

rhizomusicosmos said:


> Audio Units or VST. But you need to load samples into the plugin, so no live audio input processing unfortunately.


Ahhh…. I watched the vid early this AM (too early at suppose). I saw Ableton Live open in the background, but missed the vst thing. I saw him have to ‘render out loaded audio’ so assumed stand alone. Good to know , thanks!


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Feb 17, 2022)

antret said:


> Ahhh…. I watched the vid early this AM (too early at suppose). I saw Ableton Live open in the background, but missed the vst thing. I saw him have to ‘render out loaded audio’ so assumed stand alone. Good to know , thanks!


Well the truth is that I can't see if it syncs with the host sequencer or responds to external MIDI. It may effectively be standalone even though it works within a host. I'll try to have a play with it tomorrow and report back.


----------



## Dirtgrain (Feb 17, 2022)

Lore is only a rental? I don't see a purchase to own option.


----------



## doctoremmet (Feb 17, 2022)

The new releases usually are only part of the subscription for a week or two before us mere mortals can normally purchase them


----------



## Bee_Abney (Feb 18, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> The new releases usually are only part of the subscription for a week or two before us mere mortals can normally purchase them



And so patience is needed.

I like the delay, it gives me time to get over the initial excitement and to think about whether I really want it.

So far, I always end up really wanting it. For any and all "it"s.


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Feb 18, 2022)

OK, I've had quite a bit of fun with Lore this morning. It is quirky and there are some usability issues to be ironed out, but it can be very beautiful, even ethereal, when tweaked correctly. The combination of spectral delay with granular processing is great.

It doesn't sync with the host but if you set up some hardware faders to manipulate parameters it is easy to get live manipulation happening. My Korg nanoKontrol has been useful for this.

I'd keep an eye on this one.


----------



## Databroth (Mar 1, 2022)

I need to just subscribe to lore and cover it, spectral stuff is always exciting to me, and I'm a bit too lame with computers to compile stuff myself

on the topic of granular stuff, the new arturia granular effect is worth checking out


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Mar 2, 2022)

Databroth said:


> I need to just subscribe to lore and cover it, spectral stuff is always exciting to me, and I'm a bit too lame with computers to compile stuff myself
> 
> on the topic of granular stuff, the new arturia granular effect is worth checking out


The Cabbage Audio IDE doesn't really "compile" a VST plugin. It appears to create a VST interpreter that loads the Csound script and associated graphic elements which are still separate files. So it's a bit simpler than compiling a standalone program.


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Mar 18, 2022)

Puremagnetik's Lore has had an update which adds input audio processing and serial routing between granular and spectral delay modules.


----------



## el-bo (Mar 18, 2022)

rhizomusicosmos said:


> Puremagnetik's Lore has had an update which adds input audio processing and serial routing between granular and spectral delay modules.



Sounds great! Will definitely have to give it a try for a few month, at some point


----------



## Jeremy Morgan (Mar 18, 2022)

el-bo said:


> Sounds great! Will definitely have to give it a try for a few month, at some point


I'm getting there for sure too


----------



## Databroth (Mar 18, 2022)

played around with lore a bit, it can do some neat things, though when compared to specops and silo it leaves a lot to be desired
but for a free plugin, I can't complain, I'm sure I'll find an application for it here and there


----------



## Jeremy Morgan (Mar 18, 2022)

Databroth said:


> played around with lore a bit, it can do some neat things, though when compared to specops and silo it leaves a lot to be desired
> but for a free plugin, I can't complain, I'm sure I'll find an application for it here and there


I think that's a for now thing they way they promise to evolve it month over month


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Mar 18, 2022)

Databroth said:


> played around with lore a bit, it can do some neat things, though when compared to specops and silo it leaves a lot to be desired
> but for a free plugin, I can't complain, I'm sure I'll find an application for it here and there


I agree. It feels like a work-in-progress. Compared to some of the other granular processors I have, it appears to have less aptitude for aural mayhem. Hopefully it will mature into something unique.


----------



## sostenuto (Mar 18, 2022)

Jeremy Morgan said:


> I think that's a for now thing they way they promise to evolve it month over month


May be _ not subscription oriented. Site is a bit perplexing.

Silo and SpecOps _ at periodic PA promos _ preferable now, as Puremagnetik 'evolves' 
_ or perhaps Arturia - eFX FRAGMENTS.


----------



## Jeremy Morgan (Mar 18, 2022)

sostenuto said:


> May be _ not subscription oriented. Site is a bit perplexing.
> 
> Silo and SpecOps _ at periodic PA promos _ preferable now, as Puremagnetik 'evolves'.


Perplexing maybe or possibly just unique. Puremagnetik seems to be doing things in a unique way they want and it's somewhat novel. it peeks my interest in general to see where they go with whatever they have but they carry a bit of 'fun' for me in them. I don't even have a ton of stuff from them but they are always something I peak into to see what's going on and this is one of those things for me for sure.


----------



## rhizomusicosmos (Mar 18, 2022)

Perhaps stating the obvious, but each granular effect I have does things differently. I can't really create the same sound with Silo as with MGranularMB, Emergence, Audiomulch, Lore, etc.


----------



## el-bo (Mar 18, 2022)

Jeremy Morgan said:


> I'm getting there for sure too


Interested to hear feedback (like, literally  )


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Mar 18, 2022)

Perhaps it's due to user error, but... I'm finding I keep uninstalling demos of granular products and not purchasing any (and I sold Pigments 3 and uninstalled Omnisphere). Hmm. Despite granular being one of the few "holes" in my toolbox, I seem to not be eager to fill it.


----------



## el-bo (Mar 18, 2022)

rhizomusicosmos said:


> Compared to some of the other granular processors I have, it appears to have less aptitude for aural mayhem.


That actually makes me happy. Not saying that it should be limited in any way, and not be able to recreate mayhem. But personally I often find it hard to get good results from these types of plugins. I'd definitely put much of that down to user-error. However, my interest in this is buoyed by some of the examples I've heard in videos, which seem more, erm…straight, and easier for my brain to grab onto.

Of course, one of the benefits of the subscription model is that if I just end up with nothing but the (my) normal squeaks, bleeps and farts, I'll only be down a few dollars


----------



## Databroth (Mar 20, 2022)

Jeremy Morgan said:


> I think that's a for now thing they way they promise to evolve it month over month


yeah they have a roadmap for it, even with that, it's not TOOO exciting, but free is free, and this got me into csound, so it was worth my time none the less


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo (Apr 1, 2022)

Ummm, is Ni Form or Melda still an idea, for ambient processing?


----------



## doctoremmet (Apr 1, 2022)

Meldaproduction works great, so from my perspective: yes absolutely. I wish MSF will get granular oscillators in a future update as well.


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo (Apr 3, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> Meldaproduction works great, so from my perspective: yes absolutely. I wish MSF will get granular oscillators in a future update as well.


Thanks, will try the demo.


----------



## doctoremmet (Apr 3, 2022)




----------



## Snoobydoobydoo (Apr 3, 2022)

Yea seen it. Just thought if Falcon2 could open up on me. Need a bit more versatility without getting too modular for generative paddish stuff.
I used Uhbik-G, but still wait for version 2.


----------



## Bee_Abney (Apr 3, 2022)

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> Yea seen it. Just thought if Falcon2 could open up on me. Need a bit more versatility without getting too modular for generative paddish stuff.
> I used Uhbik-G, but still wait for version 2.


Perhaps Pigments would be a good option for you. I actually find Falcon easier to use in all respects except for modulation, which is really easy in Pigments.


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo (Apr 3, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> Perhaps Pigments would be a good option for you. I actually find Falcon easier to use in all respects except for modulation, which is really easy in Pigments.


Yea tried it, liked it. But Arturia has been as hassle. Installation and Account logins failed, and
the hardware I had was horribly manufactured. Trying to avoid them.
Mayyybe when its on a good sale...

Thought of using something modular for that purpose (have Softube Modular ie.),
to just insert something granulizing an input.


----------



## Bee_Abney (Apr 3, 2022)

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> Yea tried it, liked it. But Arturia has been as hassle. Installation and Account logins failed, and
> the hardware I had was horribly manufactured. Trying to avoid them.
> Mayyybe when its on a good sale...
> 
> ...


That's a good approach. I use Voltage Modular, but mainly to use its effects modules on other instruments. I periodically try to wire up a good patch just using Voltage Modular, and somehow end up with some version of a monophonic noise going through effects every time.

Maybe doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results isn't the soundest methodology. Or maybe I just haven't tried it enough.


----------



## doctoremmet (Apr 3, 2022)

Or MSoundFactory? It is fully modular and DEEP, but can also properly function as a “mere” synthesizer without building entire series of macros and stuff. And a lot of the kind of tedious “wiring” that comes with Voltage Modular and the like can be avoided. But, granular approaches are going to be restricted to the fx layer, not available on osc level.


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo (Apr 3, 2022)

Mhhh, compared uhbik-g alpha with melda now, found im happy with uhe for that sole purpose. Maybe its about the self generative journey. Not sure how much wiring could be avoided


----------



## doctoremmet (Apr 14, 2022)

IRCAM MuBu:








MuBu | Ircam Forum







forum.ircam.fr


----------



## Bee_Abney (Apr 14, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> IRCAM MuBu:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




All the cool tools require actual understanding and take effort. Life's hard.


----------



## doctoremmet (Apr 14, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> All the cool tools require actual understanding and take effort. Life's hard.


This one is on the Easter therapy session schedule!


----------



## Bee_Abney (Apr 14, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> This one is on the Easter therapy session schedule!



Sweeter than chocolate!


----------



## poly6 (Apr 14, 2022)

FYI, Puremagnetik is having a 50% off sale through to this Saturday:



*FLASH FRIDAY - 50% OFF EVERYTHING*

*It's time! Once every spring we do our annual Flash Friday sale. Through Saturday save 50% on everything* from Puremagnetik.
50% OFF ALL PLUGINS*
Puremagnetik's collection of plugins have been described by AudioNewsRoom as _"some of the most musically inspiring tools you can find on the market"_. Among them, you can find granular processors, spectral morphing tools, harmonic delay machines and more. Use Code *FLASH2022 *at checkout*.*
GET PLUGINS

*50% OFF ALL BUNDLES*
Now is great time to get a collection of Puremagnetik Packs as a bundle. Save 50% on the Century, classic keyboards, retro drum machines, cinematic film scoring bundles and more.
The Century (normally $399, now only $199) includes _everything_ in the Puremagnetik Collection - over 20 GB of sounds, over 90 Packs, every single plugin and all monthly Spark releases for the next 100 years. Use Code *FLASH2022* at checkout.
GET BUNDLES

*50% OFF ALL SOUND PACKS*
Recharge your production library this spring with a fresh dose of vintage synths, loop libraries, toy instruments and more. Puremagnetik's Sound Pack catalog spans over 11 years of development and 20GB of high quality, multisampled sounds for Ableton Live, Kontakt and Logic. Use Code *FLASH2022* at checkout.
GET PACKS


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo (Apr 15, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> All the cool tools require actual understanding and take effort. Life's hard.


Looks easy, but ugly as a typewrited 80s manual for a toaster. Pretty things are easier to to learn, so its a draw.


----------



## Bee_Abney (Apr 15, 2022)

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> Looks easy, but ugly as a typewrited 80s manual for a toaster. Pretty things are easier to to learn, so its a draw.



If the GUI isn't straining my graphics card and skyrocketing the CPU, how will I know that the plugin is any good?

Listen to it?!!


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo (Apr 15, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> If the GUI isn't straining my graphics card and skyrocketing the CPU, how will I know that the plugin is any good?
> 
> Listen to it?!!


Listening comes last, because light is faster than sound and your first reaction triggers your senses to the ultimate goal. Its cool if you can handle it with eyes closed though, but thats for the hardware people. I like the FLSudio visual settings description of „entertain me“. Its so inspiring with its cute animations.


----------



## sostenuto (May 24, 2022)

🪦 digging up older stuff _ _again __🤷🏻‍♂️ _
Just noted String Audio - EDGE Intro announcement. Always tracking refining needs and new tools. HALion is very interesting and $89. not too scary. 
Very interested in reactions here ! 









EDGE


ALL FORMATS SUPPORTED: VST3 - VST2 - AU - AAXAvailable for both MAC and PC. EDGE comes loaded with hundreds of pre-programmed top-notch presets but, thanks to its extremely powerful layout and randomized functions, is also an incredible tool to creat...




stringaudio.com


----------



## Bee_Abney (May 24, 2022)

sostenuto said:


> 🪦 digging up older stuff _ _again __🤷🏻‍♂️ _
> Just noted String Audio - EDGE Intro announcement. Always tracking refining needs and new tools. HALion is very interesting and $89. not too scary.
> Very interested in reactions here !
> 
> ...


It certainly sounds good; which is far from unusual when Halion is involved! I don't know if it sounds better than Flintpope's Reaktor instruments; but it does sound different. It's metallic, but not in the same way that Reaktor is metallic.

The engine may be particularly good, but there are a lot of good granular effects out there that you can do all sorts of things with. So, I think this really needs to have something special in the samples and user experience to be worth considering.


----------



## sostenuto (May 24, 2022)

Have String Audio - Omni2 content, but have never warmed to their most popular offerings' GUI. 
Will watch Intro discount time period, and hoping there will be helpful follow-up posts placing EDGE in perspective with most revered Granular products.


----------



## Sample Fuel (May 24, 2022)

Glad to see some more love for the very capable and excellent HALion engine.

FYI...Sample Fuel is having a Memorial Day Sale that you can see below. The 2 PAD MOTION instruments contain both GRANULAR and SAMPLE engines and have a very large amount of sampled sources.







50% OFF HYBRID BUNDLE
$40 (Normally $80)

50% OFF PAD MOTION
$75(Normally $150)

50% OFF REVOLUTION-CRE8
$75(Normally $150)​







​Get Sample Fuel's HYBRID BUNDLE in at a heavily discounted price of $40.
This bundle includes:
Poly-CRE8 - Analog Modeled Synth
Wave-CRE8 - Wavetable Synth​
*Learn More*









​Get Sample Fuel's flagship product, PAD MOTION, during the Memorial Day sale for just $75.
Pad Motion consists of 4 engines: Sample, Grain, Wavetable, and Analog Modeled.
With its 'Drag N' Drop' feature, the user can use their own samples in the Sample or Granular engine.​
*Learn More*











​



REVOLUTION-CRE8 is one of Sample Fuel's most unique instruments offering a highly flexible sample reversing engine.
Get Revolution-CRE8 for $75​
*Learn More*


----------



## Bee_Abney (May 24, 2022)

Sample Fuel said:


> Glad to see some more love for the very capable and excellent HALion engine.
> 
> FYI...Sample Fuel is having a Memorial Day Sale that you can see below. The 2 PAD MOTION instruments contain both GRANULAR and SAMPLE engines and have a very large amount of sampled sources.
> 
> ...


Great, thanks! A lot of people speak very highly of your instruments, so I'll take a proper look.


----------



## sostenuto (May 24, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> Great, thanks! A lot of people speak very highly of your instruments, so I'll take a proper look.


Ha ! Big Sample Fuel fan. Hope you enjoy several _ especially at these prices.


----------



## doctoremmet (May 25, 2022)

Hey @Sample Fuel - nice to see you around these parts. Just chiming in with the choir: I got Halion 6 late last year including some of your excellent synths. I may be a late convert but imho Halion is one of the best sounding synthesizers in the market. And your instruments in particular make the platform shine.


----------



## Sample Fuel (May 25, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> Hey @Sample Fuel - nice to see you around these parts. Just chiming in with the choir: I got Halion 6 late last year including some of your excellent synths. I may be a late convert but imho Halion is one of the best sounding synthesizers in the market. And your instruments in particular make the platform shine.


Thanks for the kind words. Yes it is a great platform that I hope continues to grow as that would encourage Steinberg to keep a focus on it.


----------



## sostenuto (May 25, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> It certainly sounds good; which is far from unusual when Halion is involved! I don't know if it sounds better than Flintpope's Reaktor instruments; but it does sound different. It's metallic, but not in the same way that Reaktor is metallic.
> 
> The engine may be particularly good, but there are a lot of good granular effects out there that you can do all sorts of things with. So, I think this really needs to have something special in the samples and user experience to be worth considering.


Was expecting helpful tutoring from Dr Granular, given HALion involvement. Here is brief, intriguing quote from EDGE descriptive info _
---------------------------------------------
EDGE comes loaded with hundreds of pre-programmed top-notch presets but, thanks to its extremely powerful layout and randomized functions, is also an incredible tool to create your own sounds and presets.

EDGE is divided into two Engines: GRAIN and SAMPLE
The Grain Engine is based on the extremely powerful Granular Synthesis capabilities of HALion. A vast array of controls is provided in the user interface to deeply control all the granular synth functions.
The Sample Engine is powered by the high-quality and rock-solid HALion sample engine capacities.

Each Engine has 2 powerful LFOs, ADSR, Level-Pan-Pitch controls, Bit Crusher and Delay FXs, and a Reverb and powerful Filter controlled by an XY interface.
In the Reverb, the X-axis controls the Reverb Time the Y-axis controls the Reverb Mix. In the Filter, the X-axis controls the Cutoff and the Y-axis controls the Resonance.
The Sample Engine also features powerful Audio Warp controls, an Amp Simulator, and a Flanger.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Likely pushing aside other short-list choices to give EDGE a try. Darn ! _ prefer any type of trial /demo !
No fun putting ~$90. into something with no true sense of how it will fit in routine workflow.


----------



## c0nsilience (May 25, 2022)

New Sonic Arts Granite is pretty cool:

Granite - Granular Synth (VST, AU, Standalone)


----------



## Bee_Abney (May 25, 2022)

c0nsilience said:


> New Sonic Arts Granite is pretty cool:
> 
> Granite - Granular Synth (VST, AU, Standalone)


The audio demos on their site sound fantastic. Does it sound so clear and intense out of the box without post-processing?


----------



## c0nsilience (May 25, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> The audio demos on their site sound fantastic. Does it sound so clear and intense out of the box without post-processing?


Oh yeah! It sounds so good, that a majority of the time, I'm using it as a Standalone instrument just to be creative without going into the DAW and setting everything up. It will be more appealing to players rather than anyone that is used to using granular as an effect or via a gate, though.

Their demo is thorough, so I'd recommend checking it out (they even let you demo their expansions).


----------



## Bee_Abney (May 25, 2022)

c0nsilience said:


> Oh yeah! It sounds so good, that a majority of the time, I'm using it as a Standalone instrument just to be creative without going into the DAW and setting everything up. It will be more appealing to players rather than anyone that is used to using granular as an effect or via a gate, though.


Great, thanks. I'm mostly interested in using it in sound design, to create samples for use elsewhere. But it depends on the CPU hit (my computer doesn't like granular much!).


----------



## sostenuto (May 25, 2022)

c0nsilience said:


> Oh yeah! It sounds so good, that a majority of the time, I'm using it as a Standalone instrument just to be creative without going into the DAW and setting everything up. It will be more appealing to players rather than anyone that is used to using granular as an effect or via a gate, though.
> 
> Their demo is thorough, so I'd recommend checking it out (they even let you demo their expansions).


Cannot comment when so ignorant of many aspects of granular product offerings.😳_ yet anxious to
learn much more. How to sort key differences between Granular Synth (Granite) and other granular products such as String Audio -EDGE. Tweakability would seem clear, yet EDGE (HALion) Randomize causes uncertainty _ and will surely delay purchase decision, until sorted. 
Not expecting 'sure' answer, but can't really learn until more product usage. Have all Sample Fuel offerings. Perhaps needing to revisiit ranther than add new ?? 🤷🏻‍♂️


----------



## c0nsilience (May 25, 2022)

@Bee_Abney Gotcha! FWIW, it hits my CPU around the same as Pigments. Less than Massive/Omnisphere...but a bit more than CUBE/Soundpaint.
It has an extremely fast workflow for sound design...drag and drop, all of the controls are mappable, etc. I've twisted up some great stuff from Metasynth in it! 🙂


----------



## c0nsilience (May 25, 2022)

sostenuto said:


> Cannot comment when so ignorant of many aspects of granular product offerings.😳_ yet anxious to
> learn much more. How to sort key differences between Granular Synth (Granite) and other granular products such as String Audio -EDGE. Tweakability would seem clear, yet EDGE (HALion) Randomize causes uncertainty _ and will surely delay purchase decision, until sorted.


I'm with you. For example, I really want to get into the Blinksonic offerings, but I've found Cataliz, for example, to be a little uncontrollable. Without demos to check out, it's a bit $$$ to take a flier on. Beautiful design though.


----------



## c0nsilience (May 25, 2022)

Here’s an example. I used one sample for the entire piece + a separate kick at the end. This is almost all Granite:

c0nsilience - Metapop

P.S. There is some Metasynth in there as well and it's not a great piece!


----------



## c0nsilience (May 26, 2022)

Tried Soundmorph’s Dust. Not a huge fan, fwiw.


----------



## gzapper (May 28, 2022)

I still miss Audioease's Riverrun.
That was the best sounding sound design granular plugin. Simple, fast to work with and sounded great. 
I've spent hundreds since it was discontinued and still haven't found one nearly as good.


----------



## c0nsilience (May 28, 2022)

Check out GRM Tools Freeze:


----------



## doctoremmet (May 29, 2022)

I also just stumbled across this new plugin by NUsofting, the developer behind two of my favourite synths (Sinmad and IMOXplus’ Respiro). Intro sale: €9.









Echobis : Polyrhythmic Creative Delay : Audio Effect — NUSofting


Echobis - Polyrhythmic Creative Delay (Audio Effect - AU and VST 64-bit Mac/Windows, native M1 on Mac) Note: minimum supported versions for Apple DAWs Garageband and Logic is 10.




nusofting.com









Demo available.


----------



## LA68 (May 29, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> I also just stumbled across this new plugin by NUsofting, the developer behind two of my favourite synths (Sinmad and IMOXplus’ Respiro). Intro sale: €9.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



NUSofting is the kind of dev that deserves all the support in the world IMO. No BS copy protection scheme, genuinely interesting, unusual products and very moderate pricing.


----------



## sostenuto (May 29, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> I also just stumbled across this new plugin by NUsofting, the developer behind two of my favourite synths (Sinmad and IMOXplus’ Respiro). Intro sale: €9.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



THX ! Got Demo, likely quick purchase. 

Disappointed with such little discussion of new String Audio -EDGE _ to place in perspective with respected granular VST plugins. HALion implementation remains of interest.


----------



## Dirtgrain (May 29, 2022)

sostenuto said:


> Disappointed with such little discussion of new String Audio -EDGE _ to place in perspective with respected granular VST plugins. HALion implementation remains of interest.


Same. Just one video on Youtube about it, but no walkthroughs yet. Maybe indicating it's not worth it?


----------



## turnerofwheels (Jun 2, 2022)

This dev I follow who usually makes M4L plugins released a granular FX plugin today as a VST3. Looks simple, nicely layed out and you can edit the envelopes for the granules

Not sure I need another plugin but sharing anyway!


----------



## Bee_Abney (Jun 2, 2022)

turnerofwheels said:


> This dev I follow who usually makes M4L plugins released a granular FX plugin today as a VST3. Looks simple, nicely layed out and you can edit the envelopes for the granules
> 
> Not sure I need another plugin but sharing anyway!



Very nice. Some good sounds, a lot parameters and a nice interface. The sound reminds me a bit of Delta Sound Labs’ plugins, and Ina-GRM.









VST3/AU Stranular v.1.0


Powerful Streaming Granular- Mac: 10.11 and newer (Format: AU & VST3) - Win(x64): 10 and newer (Format: VST3)manualhttps://youtu.be/n4tFDIQnyjwPlease join our Discord for feedback, bugs, anythinghttps://discord.gg/Cn5xvCY2N5behind the devhttps://twitter.com/szk_1992




szk-1992.gumroad.com





Priced nicely at $40, too.


----------



## Alchemedia (Jun 2, 2022)

Sample Fuel said:


> Yes it is a great platform that I hope continues to grow as that would encourage Steinberg to keep a focus on it.


Keep focus? It's been ages since a proper update!


----------



## Nico5 (Jun 2, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> I also just stumbled across this new plugin by NUsofting, the developer behind two of my favourite synths (Sinmad and IMOXplus’ Respiro). Intro sale: €9.


Looks really nice, but no VST3 from what I could see?


----------



## sostenuto (Jun 2, 2022)

Alchemedia said:


> Keep focus? It's been ages since a proper update!


Hmmmm .... kinda thought SF post was leaning in that direction ..... albeit subtle in their typical way. 🤷🏻‍♂️


----------



## Pier (Jun 2, 2022)

Alchemedia said:


> Keep focus? It's been ages since a proper update!


Most of the Steinberg stuff needs a proper update.

I got into Cubase 12 recently and good lord it felt like travelling back 10-15 years ago.






Same feeling I get when opening Kontakt though 😂


----------



## sostenuto (Jun 2, 2022)

Pier said:


> Most of the Steinberg stuff needs a proper update.
> 
> I got into Cubase 12 recently and good lord it felt like travelling back 10-15 years ago.
> 
> ...


HALiontact  ??


----------



## Alchemedia (Jun 2, 2022)

Coming soon? I'll believe it when I see it.


----------



## Oly Spart (Jun 23, 2022)

Now we can add Dawesome Novum to the list. 
It's powerful, yet cpu efficient.


----------



## tressie5 (Jun 24, 2022)

@c0nsilience wrote, and I quote, "Tried Soundmorph’s Dust. Not a huge fan, fwiw."

Sacrilege, I tell you! Sacrilege!


----------



## c0nsilience (Jun 24, 2022)

Oly Spart said:


> Now we can add Dawesome Novum to the list.
> It's powerful, yet cpu efficient.


https://www.audiopluginguy.com/review-dawesome-novum/


----------



## Bee_Abney (Jun 24, 2022)

c0nsilience said:


> https://www.audiopluginguy.com/review-dawesome-novum/


The reviewer only gave it 4.8 out of 5.

We must attack.


----------



## tressie5 (Jun 24, 2022)




----------



## doctoremmet (Jun 24, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> The reviewer only gave it 4.8 out of 5.
> 
> We must attack.


----------



## Brian2112 (Jul 2, 2022)

Guess we need to add Novum!


----------



## ryst (Jul 3, 2022)

Brian2112 said:


> Guess we need to add Novum!


Yes. It’s fabulous.


----------



## c0nsilience (Jul 3, 2022)

ryst said:


> Yes. It’s fabulous.


I couldn’t agree more! Novum and Granite are my two favorite granular synths. Form and Cataliz are up there as well. All good stuff!


----------



## ryst (Jul 3, 2022)

I’m still very partial to S&A’s Cycles but yeah, Novum is so cool too.


----------



## Sombreuil (Aug 6, 2022)

What about the one in Omnisphere 2? It seems to be rarely listed.


----------



## Bee_Abney (Aug 6, 2022)

Sombreuil said:


> What about the one in Omnisphere 2? It seems to be rarely listed.


It's very good indeed, isn't it? I've seen people have issues with the workflow, or the limited scope for importing one's own samples; but I think people who know it generally rate the granular engine highly.


----------



## dunamisstudio (Aug 6, 2022)

Sombreuil said:


> What about the one in Omnisphere 2? It seems to be rarely listed.


Because you dont buy Omnisphere for granular alone. Pigments can do that cheaper. But it's pretty good with granular.


----------



## Sombreuil (Aug 6, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> It's very good indeed, isn't it? I've seen people have issues with the workflow, or the limited scope for importing one's own samples; but I think people who know it generally rate the granular engine highly.


I'm also having a hard time importing a sample quite often, I must admit it. 


dunamisstudio said:


> Because you dont buy Omnisphere for granular alone. Pigments can do that cheaper. But it's pretty good with granular.


Yeah sure, but admitting one already owns Omnisphere, which isn't that rare I'd assume, I'm kind of surprised to see its granular synth not being more talked about.


----------



## Bee_Abney (Aug 6, 2022)

Sombreuil said:


> I'm also having a hard time importing a sample quite often, I must admit it.
> 
> Yeah sure, but admitting one already owns Omnisphere, which isn't that rare I'd assume, I'm kind of surprised to see its granular synth not being more talked about.


With any luck, any future Omnisphere 3 will have drag and drop samples and an overall more flexible sampler.


----------



## kgdrum (Aug 6, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> With any luck, any future Omnisphere 3 will have drag and drop samples and an overall more flexible sampler.




Well I think this will certainly have to be after the successor to Stylus RMX finally gets released,hopefully in our lifetime. 👍


----------



## Bee_Abney (Aug 6, 2022)

kgdrum said:


> Well I think this will certainly have to be after the successor to Stylus RMX finally gets released,hopefully in our lifetime. 👍


That'll happen. For sure.


----------



## kgdrum (Aug 6, 2022)

I have kind of a somewhat relevant question………..has anyone here used the Puremagnetik Granular bundle that’s currently on sale for $15? comments regarding usefulness etc…….









Granular Suite | Experimental Sound Toolbox


Granular Suite brings together 5 of Puremagnetik's acclaimed granular processing and resynthesis devices. Disintegrate, warp, meld and bend your audio with this powerful set of sound experimentation tools. Zerone | Audio Particle Splitter. Zerone is an audio particle splitter that uses granular...




puremagnetik.com





Thanks


----------



## Bee_Abney (Aug 6, 2022)

kgdrum said:


> I have kind of a somewhat relevant question………..has anyone here used the Puremagnetik Granular bundle that’s currently on sale for $15? comments regarding usefulness etc…….
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've used a couple of them. If you can wait until tomorrow, I could do a little write up for you, but I can't remember which is which right now.

They are generally good, but tend to be more interesting and textural than melodically useful. Also at least some can be a bit murky, which is neither good and bad in itself.


----------



## dunamisstudio (Aug 6, 2022)

Sombreuil said:


> Yeah sure, but admitting one already owns Omnisphere, which isn't that rare I'd assume, I'm kind of surprised to see its granular synth not being more talked about.


It isn't talked about cause the original question was what's the best granular VST. It's great but not the best. Plus with all the Omnisphere regret posts I've seen on the forum, it's usually not my first recommendation. Mainly price tag what holds people back. If you want synth with wealth of presets to get started, plenty of synthesis capabilities, modulation and effects, hardware synth samples, hardware control, multiple layers. Then yeah, take a look of Omnisphere. But for granular and price, Pigments and Novum are really great too.


----------



## Crowe (Aug 6, 2022)

I wonder how many people actually use omnisphere for its synthesis capabilities. When I think Omnisphere, I think "presets". None of the granular vsts we've been talking about really scream 'presets' to me.


----------



## Tronam (Aug 6, 2022)

Reason Studios Grain is still my favorite, not just for the sound, but for how easy it is to use. In the rack it technically is a VST, but I wish they sold it as a standalone plug-in.


----------



## Bee_Abney (Aug 7, 2022)

kgdrum said:


> I have kind of a somewhat relevant question………..has anyone here used the Puremagnetik Granular bundle that’s currently on sale for $15? comments regarding usefulness etc…….
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have used Partikl, Swam and Vanisher. None of these sound murky, actually, and they all sound very good. Very high quality. They can transform a very dull sample into something vibrant and with motion. So, definitely a good use of $15!


----------



## Bee_Abney (Aug 7, 2022)

kgdrum said:


> I have kind of a somewhat relevant question………..has anyone here used the Puremagnetik Granular bundle that’s currently on sale for $15? comments regarding usefulness etc…….
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Here's a recording of my using each of the plugins from the Granular Suite in turn. They are all effects plugins, except Swarm, which is an instrument into which you can load a sample for processing and can play on the keyboard.

The order is:
The sample only (From Black Octopus's Siren pack, made with the singer Veela).
Vanisher
Zerone
Partikl
PastFabric
Vanisher


----------



## freecham (Aug 8, 2022)

For MacOS only, Oi, Grandad!, an open source granular synth :
https://github.com/publicsamples/Oi-Grandad
https://www.synthanatomy.com/2022/0...-open-source-granular-synthesizer-plugin.html


----------



## Bee_Abney (Aug 8, 2022)

freecham said:


> For MacOS only, Oi, Grandad!, an open source granular synth :
> https://github.com/publicsamples/Oi-Grandad
> https://www.synthanatomy.com/2022/0...-open-source-granular-synthesizer-plugin.html


This is certainly not unappealing. I'm so glad my brother gave me his old MacBook now, as I do nearly all my music on PC!


----------



## freecham (Aug 8, 2022)

Can't try myself ! A little video of Oi, Grandad! in action :


----------



## barrychab (Aug 11, 2022)

in Live... Granulator II, lota, Grain Scanner


----------



## Pier (Aug 16, 2022)

Melda MGranularMB 70% off at 15€









70% off "MGranularMB" by MeldaProduction


MGranularMB is an extremely versatile granular resynthesizer, which can make your lead sound like a pad, make your drums more powerful and much more!




vstbuzz.com


----------



## Bee_Abney (Oct 8, 2022)

The free, open source Oi, Grandad!, a four voice granular synth, appears to now be available for Windows and Linux as well as Mac.









GitHub - publicsamples/Oi-Grandad: 4 Voice Granular Synth


4 Voice Granular Synth. Contribute to publicsamples/Oi-Grandad development by creating an account on GitHub.




github.com


----------



## Databroth (Oct 8, 2022)

I've been meaning to play with that one
then sugarbytes graindad came out and took all my attention


----------



## Databroth (Nov 20, 2022)

for those looking into granular plugins, I've written an article comparing 3 of my favorite granular FX
portal, graindad, and fragments








PORTAL vs FRAGMENTS vs GRAINDAD — DATABROTH


A breakdown between Sugarbytes new Graindaddistortion and Output Portal and Arturia _Efx Fragments Granular shootout




www.databroth.com





I hope this is useful


----------

