The Granular Synthesis Blog: A guide with video examples

New to crusher-X? This tutorial explains the Formant mode of the grain filter. Every grain in crusher-X has its own filter; in the Formant mode that filter forms a vowel, and Filter-Cut no longer sets a frequency but selects the vowel - a, e, i, o, u.

You hear it built step by step on the plainest of sources, two sawtooth waves and noise: one vowel, then Filter-Cut by hand from vowel to vowel with a stop on each, then a random LFO that jumps to a new vowel again and again - the sound begins to talk. With Phase every generator gets its own vowel and one voice becomes a choir; the arpeggiator lets it sing notes of a scale; and with Speed far below 1 the choir becomes a monster. At the end Filter-Q breathes on a slow LFO of its own: the vowels grow purer and softer again.

What you will learn:

• the filter mode Formant: Filter-Cut selects a vowel, Filter-Q makes it clearer
• the vowels along the Filter-Cut slider
• a sample and hold LFO on Filter-Cut: talking
• Phase: every generator its own vowel - a choir
• Speed on the Scale Arp: the choir sings; far below 1: a monster
• a slow LFO and a global modulator on Filter-Q, and a second one for the place and a slow shift of the vowels

All crusher-X Tutorials - and the free demo for Windows and macOS (VST, VST3, AU, AAX) to follow every step.

New to crusher-X? This tutorial explains how a granular cloud gets its place between the speakers - and how the grains can move while they sound. The Panner places every grain at its start; the In-Grain Panner pans the grain itself during its runtime, from one side to the other, or from the centre out, across and back.

You hear it built step by step on a mono chime: the Panner by hand, then on a random line, then long grains and the two In-Grain Panner modes Pan and Center Pan. At the end a global modulator stretches and shrinks the grains: points in space become flights and points again. Best heard on headphones.

What you will learn:

• the Panner modulation: a place for every grain
• an LFO on the Panner, on a random line
• why a grain has to last to be heard moving
• the In-Grain Panner: Pan and Center Pan
• the Panner value as the depth of the grain's path
• the grain length on a global modulator

All crusher-X Tutorials - and the free demo for Windows and macOS (VST, VST3, AU, AAX) to follow every step.

New to crusher-X? This tutorial builds a reverb out of nothing but grains. There is no reverb effect in it: every generator reads the grain buffer at its own delay, and Feed sends the grains back into the buffer, so that the echoes multiply and blur into a tail.

You hear it built step by step on short, dry taps: a fixed delay gives one echo, Phase turns it into twelve echoes in even steps, and Process bends that row until no two distances are the same - the difference between a pattern and a room. Feed, close to the top, makes the echoes a long tail. Then the arpeggiator lets the grains climb to higher notes of a scale each time they go round - the tail begins to shimmer -, Diffuse smooths it, and a global modulator lets the tail open and close.

What you will learn:

• the Delay modulation with the mode On: a fixed delay
• Phase: every generator its own delay time
• Process: unequal distances between the delay times
• Feed: the grains go back into the buffer
• Speed on the Scale Arp: a tail that climbs (shimmer)
• Diffuse for a smoother tail
• Diffuse and Filter-Cut on a global modulator

All crusher-X Tutorials - and the free demo for Windows and macOS (VST, VST3, AU, AAX) to follow every step.

New to crusher-X? This tutorial explains the GCO, the grain controlled oscillator: an oscillator that is printed into every grain and only sounds while that grain sounds. It is not a second layer beside the granular cloud - it is part of the grains, so everything that shapes a grain shapes the oscillator too.

You hear it built step by step on a guitar texture in long grains: GCO-Mix blends the oscillator in, GCO-Pitch tunes it, a random line lets eight oscillators glide on their own paths. Then the three modes: Clean adds the oscillator, Ring multiplies it with the grain (ring modulation), FM lets it bend the grain. At the end the first global modulator fades the oscillator in and out - the sound moves from the sample to the oscillator and back.

What you will learn:

• what the GCO is: an oscillator inside every grain
• GCO-Mix: from the sample to the oscillator
• GCO-Pitch and the waveforms: triangle, saw, rectangle, sine
• a random line with Phase on GCO-Pitch: every generator's oscillator on its own path
• the modes Clean, Ring and FM
• GCO-Mix on a global modulator: the oscillator fades in while the filter opens

All crusher-X Tutorials - and the free demo for Windows and macOS (VST, VST3, AU, AAX) to follow every step.

New to crusher-X? In four minutes this tutorial explains the two global modulators. A global modulator is one LFO with four slots: each slot sends it to one grain modulation, so that pitch, brightness, density and volume of a granular cloud move together - one gesture instead of four separate modulations.

You hear it built step by step on a cloud of chimes: Speed in the first slot, then Filter-Cut, Birth with Invert, and Volume. The Depth slider sets how far all four go, Process bends a slow LFO into a long calm with a short peak, and Phase lets the gesture run through the generators as a wave. The second global modulator adds a faster movement for the surface.

What you will learn:

• where the two global modulators are, and what a slot is
• four slots: Speed, Filter-Cut, Birth (inverted) and Volume on one LFO
• Invert: a slot that runs the other way
• Depth: one slider for all four slots
• Freq and Process: a slow gesture with a long calm and a short peak
• Phase: the gesture shifted from generator to generator (vector modulation)
• the second global modulator for Panner, Volume, Length and Feed

All crusher-X Tutorials - and the free demo for Windows and macOS (VST, VST3, AU, AAX) to follow every step.

New to crusher-X? In four minutes this tutorial explains how a granular cloud gets its pitches. In crusher-X the pitch belongs to the grain: Speed says how fast each grain is played, Sweep bends the pitch while the grain sounds, and the arpeggiator keeps every grain on the notes of a scale.

You hear it first on a plucked melody: at Speed 2 every grain plays an octave higher, at 0.5 an octave lower, below zero backwards - and the melody keeps its tempo every time. Then one tone is cut out of the melody, and an LFO, the Scale Arp and the mode Random Grain turn it into a cloud of notes.

What you will learn:

• Speed: the pitch of a grain - 2 is an octave up, 0.5 an octave down, the tempo stays
• below zero a grain plays backwards
• one tone as the input sound, cut out of a melody with the DCO's two markers
• Sweep: the pitch rises or falls inside every grain
• an LFO on Speed, with Mod and Freq
• the arpeggiator on Scale Arp: the Speed value picks a key, only the keys of the scale sound
• Random Grain and eight generators: every grain its own note

All crusher-X Tutorials - and the free demo for Windows and macOS (VST, VST3, AU, AAX) to follow every step.