vimsynth/modules/grain

modules/sources/GRAIN

GRAIN

Granular synthesis: takes a recording apart into short windowed grains and scatters them into a cloud. Freeze pos and half a second becomes an endless texture that still sounds like what it came from. Stereo out. Every knob has a CV — slot, size and spray included — so an envelope or a sequencer can be turning several of them against each other at once.

The GRAIN card as vimsynth draws it: its title bar, 8 knobs, 9 inputs down the left edge and 2 outputs down the right
GRAIN on an empty rack — 32×28 cells, knobs at their defaults, with a sound in its slot. Press a in the app and pick GRAIN to get this card.

inputs

Down the left edge of the card, top to bottom.

pos cvcv
Moves the point in the sample the grains are taken from. Sweep it slowly to scan through a sound; freeze it to hold one moment for ever.
pitch cvcv
Transposes the grains, in octaves.
dens cvcv
Modulates how many grains a second.
trigtrigger
Fires a single grain, over and above the density. A clock here places grains on the beat instead of scattering them. It does NOT switch the voice on and off — one trigger is one grain, so to gate or envelope a grain sound use level cv, not this.
slot cvcv
Switches which bank slot the grains are cut from. Additive on the slot number itself — an LFO here scans across whatever sounds are loaded.
size cvcv
Scales the grain length — a ratio on the size knob, not an offset, so the same modulation depth wobbles proportionally whatever the base length is.
spray cvcv
Modulates how far a grain may wander from pos. Turn it up with an envelope and a stutter opens into a cloud partway through a note.
spread cvcv
Modulates how wide the cloud sits in the stereo field.
level cvcv
Modulates the output level, and normals to full when unpatched. This is how you GATE or envelope a GRAIN voice: patch an ADSR or a gate here to make it a hi-hat, a pluck, a swell — GRAIN has no VCA of its own, so this port is its amplitude. Do not reach for trig to switch a grain sound on and off; that only sprays a grain.

outputs

Down the right edge, in the same order.

laudio
The cloud, left. A cloud is born stereo — take both.
raudio
The cloud, right.

knobs

Left to right across the face — the dials in the picture.

slot0 … 63= 0
Which bank slot.
pos0 … 1= 0
Where in the sound the grains come from. FREEZE this and half a second becomes an endless texture.
size0.005 … 0.5 s= 0.08 s
How long each grain is. Short is a fine hiss; long keeps the character of the source.
dens0.5 … 200 hz= 20 hz
How many grains a second. Sparse is a stutter; dense is a cloud.
pitch-24 … 24 st= 0 st
Transposes the grains, in semitones.
spray0 … 1= 0.1
How far a grain may wander from pos. This is what turns a stutter into a CLOUD — with no spray, every grain is the same grain.
spread0 … 1= 0.5
How wide the cloud sits in the stereo field.
level0 … 1= 0.8
Output level.

more

The full reference — every parameter curve, the patching notes and the worked examples — lives in the manual: docs.vimsynth.com/modules/grain. In the app itself, :help GRAIN opens the same page without leaving the rack.