A granular synth VST is something every modern electronic music producer should have in their arsenal. Thankfully, these days there are plenty of choices out there. Whether you’re interested in abstract sound design or you’re just looking for something to help your latest track stand out, there are many free and paid plugins out there worth. Dozens of synthesis methods exist – subtractive, additive, frequency modulation, S&S, vector, phase distortion, soft, virtual, and so on. Now, without getting too much into the scientific realm, today we’ll talk a bit about what Granular synthesis is, why granular synths are important, and what some of the finest granular synth VSTs on the market. Granular synthesis effect plug-in Its powerful live, polyphonic, multichannel granular synthesis algorithm creates very complex sounds, drones and outstanding surround effects. Granular synthesis is a technique that involves dividing a sample into very short pieces, and then playing the pieces back superimposed and crossfaded with one another. These pieces, or 'grains,' are usually under 50 milliseconds long and sound like short clicks when heard individually. The Steinberg Halion 6 is a plugin that was designed to have the best possible acoustic sounds sampled. This is an impressive VST, however with the rapid growth of VST’s, I don’t think this is on the level of some of the ones out there right now. Oscillators capable of combining subtractive synthesis, FM synthesis, wavetable synthesis, granular synthesis, sampling with wave-morphing, filters, modulators, and effects. Built-in sampler allowing you to send your audio samples to any of the built-in effects modules that can be used alongside an oscillator with a wavetable.

If You know of any other software that needs to be added to the list, just Email me, and I will put it here.

Standalone Granular Synthesis Applications:

Cloud Generator: https://www.curtisroads.net/software
(Mac-OS9 classic only) (free) Developed by Curtis Roads and John Alexander. Cloud Generator synthesizes granular sounds in units called 'clouds' and also 'granulates' stereo sound files.

Pulsar Generator: https://www.curtisroads.net/software
(Mac-OS9 classic only) (free) Developed by Alberto de Campo and Curtis Roads. It generates sound particles called pulsars. (See Roads (2001) Sound Composition with Pulsars for more information)

Emission Control: https://www.curtisroads.net/software
(Mac-PPC only) (free) Written by David Thall in consultation with Curtis Roads. EC is an interactive real-time program, with many novel features, including modulation of synthesis parameters, multiple sound file input, and variable-Q filtering on a grain-by-grain basis.

Chaosynth: http://chaosynth.granularsynthesis.com
(CSound) (free) Chaosynth by Eduardo Miranda uses cellular automata (CA) to control the generation of large number of individual sonic events using a GUI in CSound.

GranuLab: http://www.abc.se/~re/GranuLab/Granny.html
(Win) (free) Developed by Rasmus Ekman, it can granulate 8 streams simultaneously.

Density: http://www.apesoft.it/download/
(Win/Mac and M4L plugins) (Lite version free) Asynchronous sampled/live granular synthesis by apeSoft

Pulsaret: http://www.apesoft.it/download/
(Win/Mac and M4L plugins) (Lite version free) Microsound Prototypes of Granular Synthesis (Glisson, Pulsar, Grainlet, Trainlet) by apeSoft

MacPOD 2: http://thirdmonk.com/MacPOD.html
(Win/Mac) (free) MacPOD/WinPOD by Chris Rolfe and Damián Keller generates a wide range of effects from time compression/expansion to richly varied spectral transformations. MacPOD is named in honour of the original POD GSAMX system developed by Barry Truax at Simon Fraser University.

AL & ERWIN: https://www.keele.ac.uk/music/people/rajmilfischman/rajmilfischmanfreesoftware/
(Win) (free) Developed by Rajmil Fischman, the AL..gorithmic Compositional Environment in conjunction with ERWIN applies the solutions of Schröedinger’s equation for an atomic potential with radial symmetry (a well-known equation from Quantum Mechanics) to the creation of granular clouds.

Clouds: https://www.keele.ac.uk/music/people/rajmilfischman/rajmilfischmanfreesoftware/
(Win/Mac) (free) Developed by Rajmil Fischman, real-time asynchronous granular synthesis of four seperate sound buffers.

Blip: http://www.nicolasfournel.com/?page_id=94
(Win) (free) Developed by Nicolas Fournel. The concept behind Blip is to create innovative sounds and loops by drawing with the usual graphic tools (pencil, airbrush, line…). The classic painting functions take a whole other dimension, as they create melodies and rhythms in the musical domain.

GranuLab: http://www.nicolasfournel.com/?page_id=125
(Win) (free) Developed by Nicolas Fournel. AudioPaint generates sounds from pictures. The program reads JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP files and translates each pixel color and position into frequency, amplitude and pan information. AudioPaint can therefore be considered as a massive additive synthesizer.

Granulator: http://www.nicolasfournel.com/granulator.htm
(Win) (free) Developed by Nicolas Fournel (currently offline - hoping it will be back soon)

jMusic Online Granulator: http://www.granularsynthesis.com/jgrain.php
(Win/Mac/*nix) (free) Developed by Tim Opie using jMusic, it runs online, if you have java enabled..(does anyone now?)

Kenaxis: http://www.kenaxis.com/
(Win/Mac) (free trial) : Real-time improvisation software with 6 loop players each with granular synthesis and many other effects.

RTGS-X: https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/15912/rtgs-x
(Mac-PPC only) Real-time granular synthesizer, OSX-PPC updated version of the Real-Time Granular Synthesizer for Mac OS8.

Partikkel:http://oeyvind.teks.no/results/applications/partikkelapplications.htm
(CSound) (free) Partikkel csound opcode desigedn by Oeyvind Brandtsegg, implemented by Thom Johansen and Torgeir Strand Henriksen, with a vast array of parameters to tweak.

Atomic Cloud: http://atomiccloud.gersic.com/
(Win) (free) The Atomic Cloud Grain Cloud Generator takes an audio file as input, and generates a granular synthesis grain cloud in real time.

Sample Toy: http://www.mrkbrz.com/sampletoy/
(iPhone)

Curtis Heavy: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/curtis-heavy-granular-synthesizer
(iPhone)

Borderlands: http://www.borderlands-granular.com/app/
(iPad)

Granite: http://www.newsonicarts.com/index.php?page=granite
(Win/Mac)

Narrativas Sonoras II: http://ruipenha.pt/software/narrativas-sonoras-ii/
(Win/Mac/*nix)

Grain Science: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id487233637
(iPad)

HourGlass: http://xenakios.wordpress.com
(Win/Mac)

REplay PLAYer: http://www.essl.at/works/replay.html
(Mac)

iDensity: http://www.apesoft.it/idensity/
(iPad) Multi-streams real-time granular playground able to generate a wide range of usual and not so usual effects by apeSoft /popular-free-vst-synths.html.

iPulsaret: http://www.apesoft.it/ipulsaret/
(iPad) Real-time software capable of all time-domain varieties of granular synthesis (Glisson, Pulsar, Grainlet, Trainlet) by apeSoft

GrainProc: http://www.grainproc.com/
(iPad)

Generative 2: https://sirenaudio.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/generative-2
(Win/Mac)

SoundGrain: http://ajaxsoundstudio.com/software/soundgrain/
(Win/Mac)

Music Programming Environments that have Granular Synthesis Capability:

Csound: http://www.csounds.com/
(Win/Mac/*nix)

jMusic: http://explodingart.com/jmusic/
(Win/Mac/*nix)

ChucK: http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/
(Win/Mac/*nix)

Extempore: http://extempore.moso.com.au/
(Win/Mac/*nix)

Impromptu: (M) http://impromptu.moso.com.au
(Mac)

Max 5 (Max/MSP): (WM) http://www.cycling74.com/products/maxmsp.html
(Win/Mac)

AudioMulch 2: (WM) http://www.audiomulch.com/
(Win/Mac)

PD:(WMU) https://puredata.info/
(Win/Mac/*nix)

SuperCollider: (WMU) http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/
(Win/Mac/*nix)

Composers Desktop Project: (WM) http://www.composersdesktop.com/

Reason: (WM) http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/
(Win/Mac)

Logic Pro: (M) http://www.apple.com/logic-pro
(Mac)

SynthEdit: (W) http://www.synthedit.com/
(Win)

Reaktor 6: (WM) https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/reaktor-6/
(Win/Mac)

Kyma X: (WM) http://www.symbolicsound.com/cgi-bin/bin/view/Products/WebHome
(Win/Mac)

Bidule: (M) http://www.plogue.com/products/bidule/
(Mac)

Buzz: (W) http://jeskola.net/buzz/
(Win)

MachFive 3: (WM) http://www.motu.com/products/software/machfive/technology.html
(Win/Mac)

ixiQuarks: (M) http://ixi-audio.net/content/download/ixiquarks/index.html
(Mac)

Usine: (WM) http://www.sensomusic.org/
(Win/Mac)

Granular Synthesis Plug-ins (mostly VST):

Alchemy: http://www.apple.com/logic-pro/whats-new/
(for Logic)

crusherX Studio: http://www.crusher-x.de/

SaltyGrain: https://www.samplesumo.com/

Grainbot: http://www.kvraudio.com/developer_challenge_2009.php#dc09_24

+bubbler: http://www.soundhack.com/freeware/

grANALiser: http://morfiki.blogspot.com/

Fragmental: http://www.niallmoody.com/ndcplugs/fragmental.htm

GGrain: http://www.gvst.co.uk/ggrain.htm

ParticleCloud: http://www.martin-brinkmann.de/plugs.html

Dropout: http://www.tweakbench.com/dropout

Minerva: http://www.tweakbench.com/minerva

Pudding: http://www.tweakbench.com/pudding

SideSlip: http://www.tweakbench.com/sideslip

Muchacho: http://www.xoxos.net/vst/vst.html#effects

Grainz: http://www.sknote.it/download.htm

Grapheed: http://www.lidsquid.de/grapheed/index.html

Scope: http://www.lidsquid.de/archive.php

GRMTools: http://www.inagrm.com/grmtools

Padshop Pro: http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/vst/padshop/padshop_pro.html

HALion 5: https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/vst/halion_und_halion_sonic/halion_5.html

ag.granular.suite: https://cycling74.com/toolbox/ag-granular-suite/
(for Max/Jamoma)

Granulator II: http://www.monolake.de/technology/granulator.html
(for Max and Max4Live)

The Mangle: http://sound-guru.com/software/mangle/

Triple-Perc: http://www.customarttools.com/softwarelist/tripleperc
(for Max and Max4Live)

Grainer: http://puredata.info/Members/pdiliscia/grainer
(for PD)

J.A.G.S.: https://github.com/Limulo/Jags
(for PD)

Cosmosƒ: http://www.sonic-lab.com
(VST/AU)

The Synthesis ToolKit in C++ (STK): https://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/stk/
(C++ Library) (OSS, free) The Synthesis ToolKit in C++ by Perry R. Cook and Gary P. Scavone is a set of open source audio signal processing and algorithmic synthesis classes written in the C++ programming language. STK was designed to facilitate rapid development of music synthesis and audio processing software, with an emphasis on cross-platform functionality, realtime control, ease of use, and educational example code.

Key:

Win = Microsoft Windows
Mac = Apple Macintosh OSX and MacOS
*nix = Unix-like (including Linux, BSD and Darwin)
OSS = Open Sourse Software

Of course you can use emulators on other platforms to run these programs. A popular program for Unix is WINE, which has been tested with programs such as Granulab and AudioMulch.

Other programs such as Cubase, Logic and Protools may also be used in more of a micromontage format, by cutting up samples and rearranging the pieces.

RAPID is a modern polyphonic hybrid synthesizer designed to bring together fast workflow and powerful synthesis techniques. The unique layer engine that powers RAPID lets you shape and customize all aspects of your sounds, resulting in dynamic and fat patches, ready for production, performance or simply inspiration.

RAPID comes with a great variety of production ready sounds. Each preset designed and handcrafted for playability and creativity in mind, passed through careful quality control. All macros are linked to allow an easy control of the most striking sound aspect.

NEW

With version 1.8.5. the new effects Chorus X and Vintagizer have been added.

Since version 1.8.0. a new bonus sound package Granular Elements is now included for free.

Since version 1.7.0. the additional plugin RAPID FX is included. This allows the use as an effect unit on DAW mixer, insert and send channels and opens up a whole new dimension of sound processing possibilities.

Each of the 8 synthesis layer can be controlled separately and consist of the following elements.

Oscillator

• Morphable Wavetables.
• Multi-Samples with Velocity and/or Round Robin.
• Up to 8x Unison voices.
• Bass and Treble control per waveform.
• Tube Distortion and Asymmetric Clip.
• Phase Modulation and Ring Modulation.
• Phase & Ring Modulation from other Oscillators.
• Phase Bend, Phase Double and Phase Mirror.
• Phase Feedback Modulation.
• Hard Synchronization and Sync Bend.
• Formant Shift and Phase Overlap.
• Organic Drift and Pulse-Width Modulator.
• Chaos Phase and Noise Generator with smooth Brown/White/Pink fading.

Granular Synthesis

• Up to 100 true stereo grains.
• Morphable grain envelope shapes.
• Grain lengths from 10 milliseconds up to 1 second.
• Chaos randomizer for grain position, rate, length volume and detune.
• Can also use stereo Multi-Samples as granular source.
• Free bonus library Granular Elements included.

Filter & Insert

• 6, 12, 24 dB Lowpass and Highpass.
• 12, 24 dB Pro-Lowpass.
• 12, 24 dB Bandpass and Peak.
• 24 dB Multi-Bandpass and Multi-Peak.
• 12 dB Notch and Multi-Notch.
• Acid, Analog, Legacy and Vintage Lowpass
• Xtreme Lowpass I and II.
• Formant, Vowel, Bitcrusher and Sample and Hold.
• Feedback-Comb and Time-Lag.
• Parallel and Serial Low/High-Pass combination.
• Tube Distortion, Overdrive and Tone-Fuzz.
• Exciter and Attack Booster.

Modulators

• 4x ADSR envelopes with adjustable slopes.
• 4x LFOs with dual waveform and phase bending for complex shapes.
• 4x Sequences with up to 32 steps, with loop and one-shot mode.
• Different trigger modes for various use-cases.

Arpeggiator

• 32-Step pattern steps with adjustable lengths.
• Up, down, random, queue and chord pattern mode.
• Octave and shuffle control.
• Import/Export external MIDI files.

Voicing

• Legato mode with note glide.
• MIDI channel filtering.
• Key-range per layer.
• Input note filter.
• Reorder of insert and filter processing.

Effects

• Reverb with 8 spatial models for different sizes.
• Delay with smooth delay time modulation.
• Dual Delay with Cross-Feedback and Ping-Pong mode.
• Tonal Delay with tunable delay times.
• Chamber for very short reverb acoustics.
• Smooth Tube Distortion with dynamic EQ Boost.
• Bit-Crusher, Rate-Reduction with Jitter.
• 2-Band Waveshaper with adjustable crossover.
• 4-Band Saturator with 16 different insert types.
• Phaser, Flanger, Chorus with precise modulation depth control.
• Ensemble Chorus.
• Multi-Stage dual Chorus X.
• 3-Band-Equalizer with low-pass, high-pass, low-shelf, high-shelf and bell filter.
• Talker Filter 6 vocal formant modes and internal crusher.
• Dynamic Compressor with Digital and Analog mode.
• Syncable Sidechain leveler with different shapes.
• 32-step stereo Trancegate with Shuffle-Rhytmn control.
• Send Router, for parallel mixing with other layers.
• Tapestop with adjustable slope, start and stope time.
• Glitch for pitch shift, stutter and time jumps, controllable by sequences.
• Vintagizer Retro and Lo-Fi emulation.

Master

• 8-Channel Mixer.
• 3-Band Dynamic Compressor with different reaction models.
• Output Limiter with automatic makeup gain.
• Quick Modifier for simultaneous control of Volume and Filter Envelope for all layers.

User Libraries:

• Single- & Multi-Cycle Wavetable import.
• Single- & Multi-Sample import with Velocity & Round Robin.
• Resynthesis Algorithm for new Multi-Sample generation.
• Archive & Installation of self contained library bundles.

Workflow

• Drag & Drop Modulation.
• Preset Files for Modulator, Effect or Arpeggiator pattern.
• Copy & Paste Modulators, Patterns or complete layers.
• 3-Macro Controllers.

GUI

• Resizeable HD graphics with 16:9 resolution (1280 x 720 px).
• 4K Ready and scalable up to 300% (3840 x 2160 px).
• Ten unique UI Themes.

General

Plugin Types

• Rapid Synthesizer
• Rapid FX

Version

• 1.8.5
• Future updates included

Factory Size

• 2,0 GB

Delivery

• Internet Download

Content

Presets

• 660+ Sound Presets
• 250+ Modulator Presets
• 250+ Arpeggiator Presets
• 510+ Effect Presets
• 110+ Rapid FX Presets

Audio

• 250+ Wavetables
• 190+ Multi-Samples
• 370+ Oneshot Drum Samples (44.1 kHz, Stereo, 16-bit WAV)

Audio Plugin Specification

Plugin Format

• VST 2
• Audio Unit

Architecture

• 32-bit (x86)
• 64-bit (x64)
• Apple Silicon (ARM64)

Supported Hosts

• Ableton Live 11
• FL Studio 20
• Cubase 11
• Logic Pro X
• Studio One 4
• REAPER 6
• Bitwig Studio 3

• Most other DAWs. Test the Demo for compatibility to be sure!

Channel Output

• Stereo

Supported Samplerates

• 44.1 kHz (internal)

• 48, 96 and 192 kHz (resample)

System Requirements

Operating System

• Windows 7, 8, 10
• MacOS 11 (Big Sur)
• MacOS 10.7 and later (Catalina)

CPU

• SSE2 available
• Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 / Xeon (recommended)
• AMD with at least SSE2
• Apple Silicon M1 (ARM64)

GPU (optional)

• OpenGL 3.0 compatible graphics card

Memory

• 4GB RAM

• 8GB RAM (recommended)

• at least 3GB free disk space

Screen Resolution

• 1280×1024

• 1920x1080 (recommended)

Miscellaneous

Granular Synthesis Vst Plugins

Rapid Extension
XT Name	Factory Sounds
XT ID	1

• Product Code: 1.0

• 104.39€

• (Incl. USt. 16% )

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