Granular Synthesis

Abstract

In this chapter, we will look at granular synthesis and granular effects processing. The basic types of granular synthesis are discussed, and the influence of parameter variations on the resulting sound is shown with examples. For granular effects processing on a live input stream, we write the input sound to a buffer used as a source waveform for synthesising grains, enabling granular delays and granular reverb designs. We proceed to look at manipulations of single grains by means of grain masking, and look at aspects of gradual synchronisation between grain-scheduling clocks. The relationship between regular amplitude modulation and granular synthesis is studied, and we use pitch synchronous granular synthesis to manipulate formants of a recorded sound. Several classic types of granular synthesis are known from the literature, originally requiring separate granular synthesis engines for each type. We show how to implement all granular synthesis types with a single generator (the partikkel opcode), and a parametric automation to do morphing between them.