What is your favorite granular tool? 🤔 First 100 users get 20% off of SoundGym! ► bit.ly/3TJFq5O ▼▼▼PLUGINS IN THIS VIDEO▼▼▼ Emergence ► bit.ly/3Ux3g6a Oi, Grandad ► bit.ly/3A7IHVH BLEASS Granulizer ► bit.ly/3AbKucq EFX Fragments ► bit.ly/3UPlVK9 Pigments ► bit.ly/3WT6geG
I enjoy using Grain in Reason 12. It is simple, but effective is mutating sounds. I often apply modulations and other effects to really explode things.
As an ambient musician, I'm ALWAYS interested in new tools. I'd LOVE an in-depth analysis/coverage of granular synthesizers! That would totally make my day.
@VenusTheory Normally I view TH-cam videos at 1.5 speed, but since it's a lazy Saturday morning I watched this one at normal speed and I must say - what an absolutely wonderful narrating voice you have! Don't know anything about you, but you should be making millions as a radio DJ or voiceover artist!
Not only I find granular synthesis and effects fascinating by the stuttering glitchy sounds they make. But they can also work well with some ambient/experimental/glitchy live jams or tracks.
And the student asked his teacher how he can make these sounds on his FM8. Then the teacher said that the FM8 couldn't do this because it's an FM synthesizer. The heart of the synthesizer was heavy and it became a sad certainty that he would soon be sorted out or at least could no longer be number one - simply because he is an FM synthesizer. He eventually considered starting drinking, picking fights with other sound generators, paying with ration cards, neglecting his personal hygiene, and hanging out with the Casios...
I use Reason, it came with Grain. This was my gateway drug to granular synthesis. I love feeding it all kinds of weird samples and it's always a surprise! I even used someone's breath to make very interesting sounds. I love granular so much.
Same, Grain was my introduction to granular. It is absolutely one of those types of synthesis that is more fun and interesting because it's just easier to get cool results. I took the vocals from Zedd's Remedy and used Grain and automation assigned to the speed to stretch the end of some of the lines to make the vocals sort of wail out longer. It was definitely a better sounding way to stretch without pitching considering it was Reason. I found a lack of micro control with the parameters in reason and it made it hard to precisely dial in, I feel lucky I even got the results I got.
Not looking to start a lengthy debate here nor waste anyone's time but I'm using Ableton Live for non-genre-specific projects and I was wondering what could Reaper offer me that Ableton doesn't? Are you familiar with both by any chance?
@@HamedEmine Hey, I've used Ableton a bit. It's definitely it's own thing and has some very unique features. I think it's better for live performance and loop based music than Reaper, as Reaper has more of a traditional DAW design. I started off with Reaper years ago as i was having issues with Cubase and latency and someone suggested it, as I could download the full version for free and use it for an unlimited amount of time (of course I eventually bought a license 😉) Certain things in Reaper just make sense to me, for instance: they do away with the arbitrary distinction between 'midi' and 'audio' tracks. A track is a track. You can use it for either/both. Audio, midi, video, images... lots of different media types can occupy the same track. Would you want to do this? Probably not, but it just demonstrates how versatile the program is. Couple this with things like the customizability, the tiny footprint, the routing options, the low price, the frequent updates, the community support etc., it makes for pretty attracttive proposition. Of course it has it's downsides, but so does any DAW... One downside with Ableton was the complete lack of comping support. That was just completely ridiculous if you were tracking vocals. I know that it has now been included in version 10/11 I think.. But that was a deal-breaker. Downsides of Reaper? The deep customizability can be a bit overwhelming for new users I guess, and might lead to a bit of 'floundering'. It might take a bit of time to setup up the way you want it. Another downside/feature is the lack of flashy plugins and instruments/sample banks. This means that the download size of Reaper is something ridiculous, like 17 MB or so... So, you would need to provide your own instrument plugins; but most people who are already using a DAW probably have their own third party plugins anyway. I suppose if you feel that something is lacking with your Ableton experience, you can always give the full version of Reaper a try, completely free. You can check out Reaper.fm for a near exhaustive amount of video tutorials. Sorry if that reply was a bit rambling 😉
I love granular synths too, partly because I'm not musically trained (so music is hard work for me, but at least my ears work!) and I can lose myself in it with tweaks and experimentation until it sounds good (to me). It suits my experimental/abstract/atmospheric leanings, hence a regular viewer of your great videos ;-)
the best thing I got out of this Black Friday, is discovering you channel, man. Love the way you talk about things and explain them, love your recommendations and love your music Your passion to the things that inspire you is contagious Thank you soo much! you rock
Immediately began poking around with Emergence after this, it's so intuitive to produce gorgeous soundscapes with no knowledge of the tool. Very inspiring!!
Nice! I will definitely be checking out Oi, Grandad! Three tools I use along these lines: - SoundHack's Bubbler: has characteristics of delay, granular, and pitch shifting, all in a unique and free little plugin - PaulXStretch: while not specifically granular, the way it can manipulate and blur FFT windows is kind of like huge grains smeared into one another - one of my primary tools the last 6 months, and before that eons of the much simpler paulstretch effect in Audacity - FRMS: an option for Android by the maker's of the excellent DRC VA synth; the granular engine is $12, but very nice.
Harmor was the synth that really blew me away with possibilities, and I just so happen to have bought it today, now that I'm no longer a pirate. There is something about tools that make things you can't foresee, yet it's just so weirdly intuitive to get results you love. These outputs can be so elaborate that they'll inspire entire tracks. Hell... As soon as I got Harmor I made a track, literally just 1 harmor instance when it comes to the tonal side, besides the bass, it sounds like 3 amazingly expressive instruments, and I didn't even use the B side, only one oscilator (With crazy unison, tbf) too. The crazy brickwall key-follow filtering and phaser made an amazing melody out of my chords I thought were cool at best, that inspired the bass, and with some automation to that one synth, it was realistically done. i hadn't touched this plugin for years upon years, and right off the bat some of my coolest sound design in a long time just came flowing out effortlessly, in no time too. It's amazing how much better my ear now is with tonal things, I feel in control dealing with all of those harmonics.
Granular synthesis is one of my favourites, too! I got my feet wet with Granulator II, which is good and free for Ableton Live users. I moved on to Grain Scanner, which is amazing but paid. Pigments is great indeed, too. But now that I have the Lemondrop, that's basically all I use. Such a lovely little thing, and so tiny and easy to integrate. It's in nearly all my jams now.
I haven't found an stable multi sample granulator yet. Grandad is great, but somehow just slo1 works. And with "Borderlands" on win I couldn't record the output at all. That'd be great doing a walkthrough with each of them. Appreciated!
My only work assignment this weekend is to produce 3 backing tracks on acoustic guitar. But nooooo... somebody found out about granular synths at stayed up until 3:30 two nights in a row.
Love it! Another interesting thing you can do with granular synthesis is use it as a non musical sound design tool for audio post. You can create swarms of arrows, the sounds of thousands of tiny impacts (like sleet perhaps) or anything really that you need large multiples of 'things' moving around. I know you can just use your sfx library for some of this stuff, but on animation projects when the sound can be a little more .... interesting(?) I love using granular concepts to create sound design events.
Cameron, you certainly stirred my interest in granular stuff. Thank you for waking me up from my musical wintersleep. Time to play around with 'SpaceCraft Granular Synth' on my iPad again.
LLC Grainular effect rack extenion in Reason is so much fun.... I think it's free too. Many of their plugins are great for ambient, generative and experimental stuffs.
I came across Oi Grandad a few months ago and I love it - amazing for a freebie. Sending Oi Grandad into Emergence and/or Boids (a freebie by ToneCarver) can lead to sonic hell, but sometimes I get something sublime - couple it with a random note generator and I can get as close to Eno ambient as my limited capabilities can take me. Of the paid for VSTs, my go to is usually FRMS (by Imaginando) - 4 Oscs each of which can be granular or a basic waveform plus has some FM algorithms as well. Since Cameron's skill/talent is way beyond mine, I would love to see a longer video of how he puts granular sound together.
Thank you so much for this video. I never knew about granular synthesis, but I decided to put together a full track after picking up Emergence. What an amazing tool!
would love a video about Oi, Grandad & a much deeper dive into granular synthesis. Also i see people mentioning Phase Plant with the new engine & Kontakt instruments too. absolutely in the favour of a video on the same.
I love Emergence, one of my favorites things is to run a reverb after it to create a moving soundscape "behind" the main synth. It's awesome. Never heard of the "Oi, grandad" tho, will definitely try it out. I like the granular engine in Pigments, but it always feel it's not enough. Maybe this will scratch that itch.
Travelizer by NI was always my go to for granular sample FX and Ambient backgrounds. LOL "How do you use a guitar in FM8"? Good one. I don't know too many people who used this program and haven't at one point wondered how to use FM to change the sound of their non-digital instrument of choice.
I'm a beginner, the first, and only thing, I bought was FM8. 😅 My favorite musician had posted about it, so I didn't think about how easy or not it was I was all "Scott Hansen (Tycho) said this one was on sale, and took the time to post it, and he's a Magic Synth Man, so it's gotta be good!" I have to watch a lot of how to videos because it isn't very intuitive. Thanks for this video, I want to try granular now, I hope I can get something to work for me. I moderately like the different elements of what I work on, but trying to get more than one to work together isn't meshing. But I realize it's like being a 2D artist, can't just start drawing and expect to be a Larry Elmore instantly! :)
I discover granular synthesis with reaktor without knowing it was that. Then I put a name on it through your excellent videos and pigments 3. I recently discover novum from traktion which is the new cool kid of granular synthesis. Its original and powerful approch makes it very addictive. It could be nice to see your review on this synth. Keep on Cameron your channel is great !!
Thanks for a really useful video with a ton of info. I want looking to get into granular synthesis and was looking at the Tasty Chips GR-1, but now I'm going to save my money and try some of the plugins you mention here.
I use Falcon as a granular synth, Portal as effect. I own pigments, and have tried Arturia's granular effect, but the CPU usage just isn't as efficient. Anxiously awaiting Kilohearts' granular sound source in Phaseplant. You can make faux granular sounds with it now, but I bet the real thing will be awesome.
Another great vid, Cam. Thanks for the explanations, that will help me do a little more intelligent knob-tweaking. And, yeah, if you decide to dive into Oi, Grandad, I'd watch the heck out of that video.
Great video. I use Arturia Fragments. I have to be honest and say I don’t really understand what I am doing with that plug-in. I’d really like a more in-depth starting-from-basics explanation of granular synthesis with examples and diagrams etc. I know it’s very powerful, but it often feels like a random effect that I toy with (or scroll through presets) and just pick something that catches my ear rather than knowingly sculpt something I had in my mind.
i think it was though one of your previous videos that i found emegence. this is a plug in i love and can't recomend enough. i managed to do some of the first sound-scapes with it that i was realy proud of.
Hi Cameron! A few days ago I thought about your vid about "weird" plug-ins and wanted to check out emergence. And now you come up with a whole video about that. Thank you! Together with your sexy voice I could watch this for hours. I really love that bridge that music creates between those mathematical, technical approaches and the feelings that music can create. That's really weird. In high school I chose maths, physics and music, and well history. And till today physics and music is literally all I do. And that's great! Money is generated by being medical physicist and music is hobby. Still wondering what would have happened if I had done it vice versa...
Great video! I'd love to hear about some paid options as well. I have Arturia Pigments, and I know it has a granular engine, but not sure how it compares to the Efx Fragments plugin.
Cool tutorial. Going to check out those free plugz you mentioned. In the mean time, a powerhouse the needs mentioning is Granulator 2 by none other than Robert Henke himself. It is a free tool for Ableton, and unlike the bulk majority of other granular tools, it is very MUSICAL and playable, both in a studio, and a live setting. Capable of capturing sounds in real time, and immediately going to town on them, Robert did a lot to eliminate so many of the dead ends that other granular tools often include in an effort to appear more complete. If poke about in it, you will find all kinds of semi-hidden gems in the parameters. Also, if you are clever in your use of assigning macros, you can fine tune all kinds of parameter values when you find "sweet spots", of which there are often many, and each unique to the sound you are manipulating.
I think that granular synthesis is the most fascinating type of synthesis thus far and it can produce results that are far more interesting than any other type. I'd appreciate witnessing your deep dive into that rabbit hole.
Great video. I was hoping that you would do a video on the RIBS granular vst at some point. Is that a possibility? I'd really like to see a good tutorial on that one if doable. Thanks for the great vids.✌
I get myself lost for hours in granular synthesis - there is nothing better than messing up vocals with it: anything and everything from autobots to aliens, to galadriel and the ring of power test, to horrors of human voices that even Cthulhu would've said: "Damn boy, more of that please". I also think granular is often swept to the side as a one-off trick, where in fact it is way up there with wavetable synthesis and physical modeling in terms of complexity and sonic beauty of the results. (also if I remember correctly time-stretching in sampling without pitch shifting owes it's origins to granular synthesis principles). I use Grain and Lectric Panda's Fritz in Reason, and granular is part of Arturia's Pigments. Not many affordable options in hardware though - 1010music dropped a lemon earlier this year and... that's about it, before going either to modular or iridescent. However if you're offerring to give us more videos on the subject then i say YES PLEASE! 😀
Staring into the coffee grounds, a Tasty Chips GR-1 is appearing in your future ;) I love Pigments, and it's granular features are why it's my desert island softsynth. As for other software, on the free side, shout out to Ableton's Granulator II. On the paid side, I love Output Portal for it's musicality of sound, macro performance and attractive aesthetic. And Dawesome / Tracktion Novum for also allowing more complex mangling. Spacecraft is really fun, and is a VST now too (Tracktion seem to be incorporating a lot of granular engines). I'd really love hardware manufacturers to follow Tasty Chips lead, stop making any more wavetable synths, and start making next level granular/delay/reverb hardware synths that are also effects processors.
I'm a simple man, I see the word 'FREE' -- I click. Seriously, I really lacked the granular synth since I'm unable to buy anything. Thank you 😌😌😌 There's also Cataract, but I guess it's not really a granular synth.
Loved the video! I've been messing around with Granulator II in Max for Live and it's very addicting. Made some really cool choppy/glitchy stuff with some vocal samples. I could never really get into Emergence, but I think that's partly because I'm still new to granular synthesis and haven't delved deeply into the mechanics yet.
I also have a slight granular addiction. Silo is a good option, especially if you see it cheap on the PA website. I like to use the freeze function to create drones. I also picked up EFX on offer when it came out, but another free one I still use loads is Soundhack Bubbler. It's so good on guitar!
well, you got me! Always considered it not worth my time from the view short stints on -proably- either inferior plugins or just to little time to run into something awesome whilst blindly fiddling about. I will take your sugfestions on what plugins to try and, well, just a shor matter of time beforemy curiosity and talent for procrastination overtakesmy senseof duty in my daily audio study and recording routine
What is your favorite granular tool? 🤔
First 100 users get 20% off of SoundGym! ► bit.ly/3TJFq5O
▼▼▼PLUGINS IN THIS VIDEO▼▼▼
Emergence ► bit.ly/3Ux3g6a
Oi, Grandad ► bit.ly/3A7IHVH
BLEASS Granulizer ► bit.ly/3AbKucq
EFX Fragments ► bit.ly/3UPlVK9
Pigments ► bit.ly/3WT6geG
BLEASS Granulizer
Tasty Chips GR-1. And yes…addicted describes it well.
I've been using Omnisphere's granular engine for years now, gonna give these recommends a try!
I enjoy using Grain in Reason 12. It is simple, but effective is mutating sounds. I often apply modulations and other effects to really explode things.
melda granular!!
I would love a deeper dive into granular synthesizers and how they work
Noted!
I second this motion
@@VenusTheory yaaaay teach us master
+1! Always had an interest in granular synths but never got understand them well
Yes a deeper look at the free oigrandad would be great for everyone. Thanks Cameron!
As an ambient musician, I'm ALWAYS interested in new tools. I'd LOVE an in-depth analysis/coverage of granular synthesizers! That would totally make my day.
There ALL kind of shit in omnisphere. More then you need for ambient. 😁
Omg mopearound spotted
I would like to do the same too now)
Because ambient music is the only one type of music for eternity))
@VenusTheory Normally I view TH-cam videos at 1.5 speed, but since it's a lazy Saturday morning I watched this one at normal speed and I must say - what an absolutely wonderful narrating voice you have! Don't know anything about you, but you should be making millions as a radio DJ or voiceover artist!
dude this might be your best video yet. From the cinematography to your storytelling, its suberb.
Not only I find granular synthesis and effects fascinating by the stuttering glitchy sounds they make. But they can also work well with some ambient/experimental/glitchy live jams or tracks.
Can you recommend a free granular synthesis plugin?
And the student asked his teacher how he can make these sounds on his FM8. Then the teacher said that the FM8 couldn't do this because it's an FM synthesizer. The heart of the synthesizer was heavy and it became a sad certainty that he would soon be sorted out or at least could no longer be number one - simply because he is an FM synthesizer. He eventually considered starting drinking, picking fights with other sound generators, paying with ration cards, neglecting his personal hygiene, and hanging out with the Casios...
I use Reason, it came with Grain. This was my gateway drug to granular synthesis. I love feeding it all kinds of weird samples and it's always a surprise!
I even used someone's breath to make very interesting sounds. I love granular so much.
Same here
Grain is great. Pigments, MGranulizer too!
Same, Grain was my introduction to granular. It is absolutely one of those types of synthesis that is more fun and interesting because it's just easier to get cool results. I took the vocals from Zedd's Remedy and used Grain and automation assigned to the speed to stretch the end of some of the lines to make the vocals sort of wail out longer. It was definitely a better sounding way to stretch without pitching considering it was Reason. I found a lack of micro control with the parameters in reason and it made it hard to precisely dial in, I feel lucky I even got the results I got.
Nice to see Reaper running in the background🤘
Haha I was going to say the same thing!
Not looking to start a lengthy debate here nor waste anyone's time but I'm using Ableton Live for non-genre-specific projects and I was wondering what could Reaper offer me that Ableton doesn't? Are you familiar with both by any chance?
@@HamedEmine Hey, I've used Ableton a bit. It's definitely it's own thing and has some very unique features. I think it's better for live performance and loop based music than Reaper, as Reaper has more of a traditional DAW design.
I started off with Reaper years ago as i was having issues with Cubase and latency and someone suggested it, as I could download the full version for free and use it for an unlimited amount of time (of course I eventually bought a license 😉)
Certain things in Reaper just make sense to me, for instance: they do away with the arbitrary distinction between 'midi' and 'audio' tracks. A track is a track. You can use it for either/both. Audio, midi, video, images... lots of different media types can occupy the same track. Would you want to do this? Probably not, but it just demonstrates how versatile the program is. Couple this with things like the customizability, the tiny footprint, the routing options, the low price, the frequent updates, the community support etc., it makes for pretty attracttive proposition.
Of course it has it's downsides, but so does any DAW... One downside with Ableton was the complete lack of comping support. That was just completely ridiculous if you were tracking vocals. I know that it has now been included in version 10/11 I think.. But that was a deal-breaker.
Downsides of Reaper? The deep customizability can be a bit overwhelming for new users I guess, and might lead to a bit of 'floundering'. It might take a bit of time to setup up the way you want it. Another downside/feature is the lack of flashy plugins and instruments/sample banks. This means that the download size of Reaper is something ridiculous, like 17 MB or so... So, you would need to provide your own instrument plugins; but most people who are already using a DAW probably have their own third party plugins anyway.
I suppose if you feel that something is lacking with your Ableton experience, you can always give the full version of Reaper a try, completely free. You can check out Reaper.fm for a near exhaustive amount of video tutorials.
Sorry if that reply was a bit rambling 😉
Thank you so much guys! I really appreciate the help!
Thanks Venus, I’ve watched a heap of your videos and love your channel. Thought it’s about time I buy you a coffee.
I love granular synths too, partly because I'm not musically trained (so music is hard work for me, but at least my ears work!) and I can lose myself in it with tweaks and experimentation until it sounds good (to me). It suits my experimental/abstract/atmospheric leanings, hence a regular viewer of your great videos ;-)
the best thing I got out of this Black Friday, is discovering you channel, man.
Love the way you talk about things and explain them, love your recommendations and love your music
Your passion to the things that inspire you is contagious
Thank you soo much! you rock
Love the Pigments granular! And also the one in their Augmented Strings advanced section. Great vid!
I would super watch you go into Oi Grandad more. I caught some of your pigments stream and was inspired to take another dive into it again myself
you are basically the greatest musician's/producer youtube channel. thanks for doing what you do!!!
Immediately began poking around with Emergence after this, it's so intuitive to produce gorgeous soundscapes with no knowledge of the tool. Very inspiring!!
Nice! I will definitely be checking out Oi, Grandad! Three tools I use along these lines:
- SoundHack's Bubbler: has characteristics of delay, granular, and pitch shifting, all in a unique and free little plugin
- PaulXStretch: while not specifically granular, the way it can manipulate and blur FFT windows is kind of like huge grains smeared into one another - one of my primary tools the last 6 months, and before that eons of the much simpler paulstretch effect in Audacity
- FRMS: an option for Android by the maker's of the excellent DRC VA synth; the granular engine is $12, but very nice.
Harmor was the synth that really blew me away with possibilities, and I just so happen to have bought it today, now that I'm no longer a pirate. There is something about tools that make things you can't foresee, yet it's just so weirdly intuitive to get results you love.
These outputs can be so elaborate that they'll inspire entire tracks.
Hell... As soon as I got Harmor I made a track, literally just 1 harmor instance when it comes to the tonal side, besides the bass, it sounds like 3 amazingly expressive instruments, and I didn't even use the B side, only one oscilator (With crazy unison, tbf) too.
The crazy brickwall key-follow filtering and phaser made an amazing melody out of my chords I thought were cool at best, that inspired the bass, and with some automation to that one synth, it was realistically done.
i hadn't touched this plugin for years upon years, and right off the bat some of my coolest sound design in a long time just came flowing out effortlessly, in no time too. It's amazing how much better my ear now is with tonal things, I feel in control dealing with all of those harmonics.
Describing as river and ocean to comparing the differences is dope! 🤩🔥🎵
Granular synthesis is one of my favourites, too! I got my feet wet with Granulator II, which is good and free for Ableton Live users. I moved on to Grain Scanner, which is amazing but paid. Pigments is great indeed, too. But now that I have the Lemondrop, that's basically all I use. Such a lovely little thing, and so tiny and easy to integrate. It's in nearly all my jams now.
Granular synthesis is the reason why I never finish a track, always got lost in discover new endless sounds 🙂
feel this dude lol
I haven't found an stable multi sample granulator yet. Grandad is great, but somehow just slo1 works. And with "Borderlands" on win I couldn't record the output at all. That'd be great doing a walkthrough with each of them. Appreciated!
3:42 sounds like brian eno's under stars, haha, both the sound and notes
Addictive indeed. Favorite plugins right now: Novum / Pigments for sample based. For realtime processing: Fragments / Silo / MGranularMB.
Was fairly sure you weren't getting out of that cave, but glad you did get out. I expect to spend the weekend now playing with granular synths.
My only work assignment this weekend is to produce 3 backing tracks on acoustic guitar. But nooooo... somebody found out about granular synths at stayed up until 3:30 two nights in a row.
Love it! Another interesting thing you can do with granular synthesis is use it as a non musical sound design tool for audio post. You can create swarms of arrows, the sounds of thousands of tiny impacts (like sleet perhaps) or anything really that you need large multiples of 'things' moving around. I know you can just use your sfx library for some of this stuff, but on animation projects when the sound can be a little more .... interesting(?) I love using granular concepts to create sound design events.
What a great professional informative video thanks!
granular synthesis was my gateway drug to sound design
so awesome to see you make a video dedicated to this!
My first synth was a dx7 :) my dad bought it for me even though I wanted a juno 106
"If there's anything I love more than reverb, it's granular synthesis" I don't know why but this made me laugh
I could fall asleep to your voice. It's so smoothing especially with that heavenly background score.
Cameron, you certainly stirred my interest in granular stuff.
Thank you for waking me up from my musical wintersleep.
Time to play around with 'SpaceCraft Granular Synth' on my iPad again.
Oooooh I've heard Spacecraft is really fun!
Thanks for the comment, reminded me to take another look at the app, really fun to play with
LLC Grainular effect rack extenion in Reason is so much fun.... I think it's free too. Many of their plugins are great for ambient, generative and experimental stuffs.
Thanks for sharing. This was helpful and inspiring me to take on more software synthesis. Your examples sounded good too.
Thank you - this was a really clear explanation of a topic I've bounced off of for years!
I would love to see a production video about using Reaper. I'm getting into learning this DAW and I have gone pretty deep into learning it.
Emergence perhaps is the one for me. Thank you so much
I came across Oi Grandad a few months ago and I love it - amazing for a freebie. Sending Oi Grandad into Emergence and/or Boids (a freebie by ToneCarver) can lead to sonic hell, but sometimes I get something sublime - couple it with a random note generator and I can get as close to Eno ambient as my limited capabilities can take me. Of the paid for VSTs, my go to is usually FRMS (by Imaginando) - 4 Oscs each of which can be granular or a basic waveform plus has some FM algorithms as well. Since Cameron's skill/talent is way beyond mine, I would love to see a longer video of how he puts granular sound together.
amazingly well put together and informative video bro thank you for this, 🙏
Forgot to mention Novum or Reason Studios Grain and Lectric Panda's Fritz which are great as well :)
I love Grain so much... Oh my!
Love your videos Cameron.
While they are very educational, you make them funny as hell too.
Keep up the great work
Thank you so much for this video. I never knew about granular synthesis, but I decided to put together a full track after picking up Emergence. What an amazing tool!
Thanks for the great overview 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Just what I was looking for especially the real time plug-in
would love a video about Oi, Grandad & a much deeper dive into granular synthesis. Also i see people mentioning Phase Plant with the new engine & Kontakt instruments too. absolutely in the favour of a video on the same.
yes please, more videos on these plugins.
I love Emergence, one of my favorites things is to run a reverb after it to create a moving soundscape "behind" the main synth. It's awesome.
Never heard of the "Oi, grandad" tho, will definitely try it out. I like the granular engine in Pigments, but it always feel it's not enough. Maybe this will scratch that itch.
Would love a deeper dive in oi-grandad. Looks super interesting!
Travelizer by NI was always my go to for granular sample FX and Ambient backgrounds. LOL "How do you use a guitar in FM8"? Good one. I don't know too many people who used this program and haven't at one point wondered how to use FM to change the sound of their non-digital instrument of choice.
I'm a beginner, the first, and only thing, I bought was FM8. 😅 My favorite musician had posted about it, so I didn't think about how easy or not it was I was all "Scott Hansen (Tycho) said this one was on sale, and took the time to post it, and he's a Magic Synth Man, so it's gotta be good!"
I have to watch a lot of how to videos because it isn't very intuitive.
Thanks for this video, I want to try granular now, I hope I can get something to work for me. I moderately like the different elements of what I work on, but trying to get more than one to work together isn't meshing. But I realize it's like being a 2D artist, can't just start drawing and expect to be a Larry Elmore instantly! :)
I would like to know how to use plugins with a daw in a workflow. Your channels is soooo great! Thanks for inspiring!
I discover granular synthesis with reaktor without knowing it was that. Then I put a name on it through your excellent videos and pigments 3.
I recently discover novum from traktion which is the new cool kid of granular synthesis. Its original and powerful approch makes it very addictive. It could be nice to see your review on this synth.
Keep on Cameron your channel is great !!
Thanks for a really useful video with a ton of info. I want looking to get into granular synthesis and was looking at the Tasty Chips GR-1, but now I'm going to save my money and try some of the plugins you mention here.
Looks like lots of fun
thank you! I use lots of granular tools on iOS, but haven't really explored it in my PC-based DAW.
Another free one is Quilcom Harvester, of which the video is also a nice introduction into granular synthesis!
Excellent informative and educational video
Please make a video about Oi, Grandad!, I'm experimenting with it, but I can't understand how the modulations work.
Great content and storytelling 👍
Nice! This is the video I've been waiting for. Thanks!
Cubase´s PADSHOP ist a wonderful granular synthesis vsti.
Your video was a like a dream!
Subbed, downloaded, liked.
I use Falcon as a granular synth,
Portal as effect. I own pigments, and have tried Arturia's granular effect, but the CPU usage just isn't as efficient.
Anxiously awaiting Kilohearts' granular sound source in Phaseplant. You can make faux granular sounds with it now, but I bet the real thing will be awesome.
Thanks, great video! Could you do a deep dive oi grandad video? Cool vocal tricks would be ace
Yes please and thank you on the video on Oi grandad
Another great vid, Cam. Thanks for the explanations, that will help me do a little more intelligent knob-tweaking. And, yeah, if you decide to dive into Oi, Grandad, I'd watch the heck out of that video.
I'll see what I can do! Happy tweaking!
Great video. I use Arturia Fragments. I have to be honest and say I don’t really understand what I am doing with that plug-in. I’d really like a more in-depth starting-from-basics explanation of granular synthesis with examples and diagrams etc. I know it’s very powerful, but it often feels like a random effect that I toy with (or scroll through presets) and just pick something that catches my ear rather than knowingly sculpt something I had in my mind.
i think it was though one of your previous videos that i found emegence. this is a plug in i love and can't recomend enough. i managed to do some of the first sound-scapes with it that i was realy proud of.
id love to see a video of good ol grandad in action
Now that's what I was looking for. Thank you so much...
Love granular synthesis! I also like that you were using Reaper in this video! My go to DAW the past two years.
Love Parawav Rapid. Nice
Hi Cameron!
A few days ago I thought about your vid about "weird" plug-ins and wanted to check out emergence.
And now you come up with a whole video about that. Thank you!
Together with your sexy voice I could watch this for hours.
I really love that bridge that music creates between those mathematical, technical approaches and the feelings that music can create. That's really weird. In high school I chose maths, physics and music, and well history. And till today physics and music is literally all I do. And that's great!
Money is generated by being medical physicist and music is hobby.
Still wondering what would have happened if I had done it vice versa...
We need more granular vids!! Thank you!!
Great video! I'd love to hear about some paid options as well. I have Arturia Pigments, and I know it has a granular engine, but not sure how it compares to the Efx Fragments plugin.
Nice use of a "grainy" old tape effect on the vídeo!
"A lazy river of audio" 👍
Brilliant.
Cool tutorial. Going to check out those free plugz you mentioned. In the mean time, a powerhouse the needs mentioning is Granulator 2 by none other than Robert Henke himself. It is a free tool for Ableton, and unlike the bulk majority of other granular tools, it is very MUSICAL and playable, both in a studio, and a live setting. Capable of capturing sounds in real time, and immediately going to town on them, Robert did a lot to eliminate so many of the dead ends that other granular tools often include in an effort to appear more complete. If poke about in it, you will find all kinds of semi-hidden gems in the parameters. Also, if you are clever in your use of assigning macros, you can fine tune all kinds of parameter values when you find "sweet spots", of which there are often many, and each unique to the sound you are manipulating.
I think that granular synthesis is the most fascinating type of synthesis thus far and it can produce results that are far more interesting than any other type. I'd appreciate witnessing your deep dive into that rabbit hole.
Oh yeah, that's a nice topic i wanted to dig in. Thanks, mustashe man!
Love it. Nice presentation as always. Funny how immediately we think HEY... WHAT ABOUT ________? For instance... Tracktions Novum.
poetic explanation! very cool
Absolutely loving the Tasty Chips Electronics GR-1!
Been considering that for a while now! Might have to try it out someday.
It will blow your mind into next week.. there’s something very special about that little box that’s not found anywhere else.
Nice video :-) been using emergence for the last few weeks because of your recommendation! Thx
I have been using some.of your presets in Pigment! Love it. I need to learn how make my own!
Glad you've been enjoying them!
Great video. I was hoping that you would do a video on the RIBS granular vst at some point. Is that a possibility? I'd really like to see a good tutorial on that one if doable. Thanks for the great vids.✌
Please go a bit in depth on Emergence too, if you can.
Not too many tutorials on that. Love the plugin and the potential it offers!
Awesome video man. Your passion and love for the world of sound is awesome
Thanks for a great video! Wish I could see SoundGym pricing without signing up first.
Padshop is great,,,,and ive done that very thing with a sample from my 100W Marshall stack lol
Tasty Chips GR-1, all those knobs and sliders!
great video, thank you for the plugin recommendations! my personal favorite music production channel on youtube.
Hell yeah, I really need an explanation of Oi Grandad.
I get myself lost for hours in granular synthesis - there is nothing better than messing up vocals with it: anything and everything from autobots to aliens, to galadriel and the ring of power test, to horrors of human voices that even Cthulhu would've said: "Damn boy, more of that please". I also think granular is often swept to the side as a one-off trick, where in fact it is way up there with wavetable synthesis and physical modeling in terms of complexity and sonic beauty of the results. (also if I remember correctly time-stretching in sampling without pitch shifting owes it's origins to granular synthesis principles).
I use Grain and Lectric Panda's Fritz in Reason, and granular is part of Arturia's Pigments. Not many affordable options in hardware though - 1010music dropped a lemon earlier this year and... that's about it, before going either to modular or iridescent.
However if you're offerring to give us more videos on the subject then i say YES PLEASE! 😀
Staring into the coffee grounds, a Tasty Chips GR-1 is appearing in your future ;) I love Pigments, and it's granular features are why it's my desert island softsynth. As for other software, on the free side, shout out to Ableton's Granulator II. On the paid side, I love Output Portal for it's musicality of sound, macro performance and attractive aesthetic. And Dawesome / Tracktion Novum for also allowing more complex mangling. Spacecraft is really fun, and is a VST now too (Tracktion seem to be incorporating a lot of granular engines). I'd really love hardware manufacturers to follow Tasty Chips lead, stop making any more wavetable synths, and start making next level granular/delay/reverb hardware synths that are also effects processors.
I'm a simple man, I see the word 'FREE' -- I click.
Seriously, I really lacked the granular synth since I'm unable to buy anything. Thank you 😌😌😌
There's also Cataract, but I guess it's not really a granular synth.
I am glad to see you working in REAPER. Stoked to see more.
Congrats on trying out Reaper, Cameron.
Loved the video! I've been messing around with Granulator II in Max for Live and it's very addicting. Made some really cool choppy/glitchy stuff with some vocal samples. I could never really get into Emergence, but I think that's partly because I'm still new to granular synthesis and haven't delved deeply into the mechanics yet.
I also have a slight granular addiction. Silo is a good option, especially if you see it cheap on the PA website. I like to use the freeze function to create drones. I also picked up EFX on offer when it came out, but another free one I still use loads is Soundhack Bubbler. It's so good on guitar!
Awesome man I love these granular sounds, I discovered them with flume's music!
well, you got me! Always considered it not worth my time from the view short stints on -proably- either inferior plugins or just to little time to run into something awesome whilst blindly fiddling about. I will take your sugfestions on what plugins to try and, well, just a shor matter of time beforemy curiosity and talent for procrastination overtakesmy senseof duty in my daily audio study and recording routine