Granular synthesis/sampling?

[Neuro_No_Neuro]

@unconventionalmauric It’s an interesting way to make multiple playheads, but the issue with these is that the actual envelope for each playhead (which I don’t believe we can do per phrase) would be not only adjustable in size, but in play-position and playback speed. Check out that Grainscape software video above. In the case of the Grainscape video, pay attention to the melodic parts (pads, etc.), and you’ll hear a ‘haze’ of sorts, and multiple pieces of audio being played back simultaneously. Granular synthesis is truly a unique method of sample manipulation, and is all over the more exotic sorts of electronic music:

We have two Tools that do a good job with a singular playhead -

Loop Marker Automation
SMC Tool

Both methods have a very ‘clicky’ envelope, so the sound is very sharp, very on/off. Really cool for making slow bits of click-based ‘beds’ of sound. When one would want to make a softer form of granulation (imagine small envelopes at the beginning and end of the granular sample - smaller than what we can make with the Envelope Tool), the API doesn’t currently allow for that. A mushy sound, so to speak. This would allow for singular ‘pad-like’ sounds with circulating grains, also adding FFT filtering to it would make even more audio options. Lots of think about.

The 0Sxx way is the one way that Renoise can currently do a granular synthesis, but it’s really more of a time-stretching method - here’s a mention of it:

Granular Effects

Someone should build a lua tool for doing this in renoise natively, basically you can do grain manipulation (timestretching etc) on high enough pattern resolution (up the pattern length, bpm & lines/beat settings) and using the Sxx commands. There is a panning column for stereo fuckery and you can change the notes for different pitches of the grain -> then render the result to new sample. If I had the coding chops I’d build this one myself

So, it can be done, but at the cost of the entire track if one would want to use it as an effect in the track. extremely fast tempo, and the LPB all opened up. More of a sample generator, instead of a useable effect occurring within the track. If that’s the case, then loading up a VST or AU would solve this. A bit more on this:

Could Redux/Renoise's architecture support a granular engine?

You’ll need to be able to access samples at a finer level than with sample offset in the pattern, ideally down to the individual sample points. Then being able to modulate the offset with lfos and other slow moving curves, multiple overlapping individual grains/samples, that stuff is a real pain right now. Not to mention there’s more ways to approach the granular window than with just chopping the grains up, moving sampels into fft for some clever pitch mangling then makes total sense. Does anyo…

For those of us that don’t want to use VST/AU effects - built-in granulation techniques is one of the things we’re kinda hungry for as far as the sampler is concerned. The sampler is INCREDIBLE, and would have even greater capabilities with this option added in. I’ve been begging for it for approximately 3 years now, just FYI