INSTRUMENTS / GENERATORS

Fruity Granulizer

Fruity Granulizer is a sample based plugin that utilizes the granular synthesis. The source material for the Granulizer is a wave sample loaded by the user. Granular synthesis splits a wave sample into many small pieces (grains) that are looped/played-back according to the settings of the generator. The length and spacing of the grains can also be altered to achieve different tonal effects. Related effects include Pitch Shifter in Music mode.

Granular synthesis can be used to stretch a wave without altering its pitch or create interesting and complex audio effects. As all of the parameters are automatable, you can even start with normal playback and then morph to complete audio chaos.

Introductory Video

To load sounds

Drag and drop samples on the plugin interface.

Parameters

Grains Section

  • ATTACK - Sets the attack and decay length of each grain (i.e. fade in/fade out time). The time is added (twice - fade in and fade out) to the length of the grain.
  • HOLD - Length each grain is held before moving onto the next.
  • GR. SPACING - Grain spacing in playback. Turn to right for greater spacing between played grains (slower playback). Turn left for smaller spacing (faster playback).
  • WAVE SPACING - This basically controls the number of grains generated from the wave sample. This value ranges from -300% to 300%. For normal playback, set both Grain Spacing and Wave Spacing to 100%. Small values mean more grains are used for the wave (smaller wave spacing). Using negative values results in reversed playback of the grains. NOTES: Grain playback order is reversed, not the sound contained in each grain.

Effects Section

  • PAN - Odd vs even grains are panned left and right respectively. Higher values (turn right), to increase panning. To disable the effect, turn the knob maximum to left.
  • DEPTH - Amplitude of the LFO applied to the wave spacing value. Turn to right to increase the amplitude. To turn the LFO off, turn the knob maximum to left.
  • SPEED - Speed of the LFO applied to the wave spacing value. Turning to right makes the LFO faster, turning left, slower.
  • RAND - Randomizes grain (order) playback. Turn the knob to right to increase the effect. To disable the effect, turn it maximum to left.

Transients Section

The Granulizer plugin is aware of transients (either autodetected or processed from the sample if slices were loaded). When a grain crosses a transient, it's aligned to it & is set a new user-defined length. This gives better quality when stretching certain material, like drum-loops.

  • HOLD - Sets the length or transient grains.
  • Switches:
    • OFF - Transients are disabled
    • USE REGIONS - Uses the slices loaded from the sample, if any.
    • DETECT - Autodetects transients, even if slice/region info is available in the sample.

Time Section

  • LOOP - When turned on, the wave loops.
  • HOLD - While pressed, the playing position won't change. It has the same effect as if the wave spacing setting is set to 0% for a moment.
  • KEY TO - Maps keys to several different properties: Key to pitch: maps keys to pitch (default); Key to percent: keys from C5 to C7 correspond to 0%-100% start position for the sample. For example, to start the sample from the middle, trigger C6 key; Key to step: keys C5 & above offset the sample start with a step (C6 offsets 12 steps, C7 - 24, etc.); Key to transient: keys C5 & above trigger the sample starting from a specific slice.
  • START - Sample start position. When turned maximum to left, the sample starts from the beginning. Turn the knob to right to start playing later in the sample.

Notes & Tips

  1. Open an empty Fruity Granulizer channel.
  2. Drag and drop your sample/recording on the Granulizer channel.
  3. Open the SMP tab (at the top of Granulizer's window) and right-click the 'Time' knob and then select 'Autodetect' from the pop-up menu.
  4. Select the 2nd last tempo shown at the bottom of the list with (tempo) behind it in brackets. This locks Granulizer to the project tempo.
  5. Trigger Granulizer with a C5 note in the Piano roll, for the duration of the original sample and put the pattern in the Playlist.
  6. Automate tempo and now Granulizer will time-stretch the sample live as the tempo changes and keep the audio in sync.

Plugin Credits: Didier Dambrin