Grain Sample Manipulator Introduction The Grain Sample Manipulator is a very advanced sampler and granular synthesizer, which offers sonic possibilities far beyond the ordinary. Despite its vast sonic capabilities, Grain has a straight-forward user interface, designed for experimentation. Grain uses samples as base for sound generation. You could either load a sample from your computer or sample straight into Grain. You can then select various types of sample playback modes and algorithms to manipulate and process the audio. You could also use Grain as a traditional sampler and just play back samples in a regular fashion. A number of filter and modifier algorithms make it possible to modulate and control the audio further. The extensive Envelopes section and Modulation Bus section allow for detailed and flexible modulation and control. Grain also features a flexible and great-sounding multi-effect to spice up your sounds even more. Don’t forget to check out the Grain videos here! A few words about granular synthesis Grain utilizes “granular synthesis” to generate sounds. This synthesis method results in playback of a series of snippets of audio data - grains - “extracted” from an audio sample. The grains could be of a selectable length and spacing, and could be from anywhere in the original sample. The grains could also be played back in a number different ways - with or without crossfades between the grains. The picture below shows the basic principle of granular synthesis: An example of a signal generated from 5 grains of a sample. Here is what happens in the example above: • The original sample at the top is used as base for the granular synthesis. • 5 grains (of the same lengths and the same distances between them) are “extracted” from the original sample. The distance between the grains is determined by the current sample playback speed. The grains could contain common audio data in some parts (like in the beginnings and ends in the example above). • The 5 grains are then placed after one another, partly overlapping each other. The distance between the grains is determined by the playback rate. • When the grains are played back, big parts of the grains are played back together (since they are overlapping). In the example above, there are also crossfades between the grains to make the overlaps smoother. Note that the picture above only describes one basic example of granular synthesis - the “Long Grains” playback algorithm in Grain. Grain uses a number of different granular synthesis and spectral synthesis techniques, with different functionality and characteristics.
