One of my favourite forms of sound design is Granular synthesis. Granular synthesis is quite an ambiguous term but can be fundamentally described as a process in which audio samples are broken down into tiny pieces of audio. These small segments are usually referred to as “grains”, according to Curtis Roads’ insightful study “Microsound” each grain will usually range from 1-100 milliseconds in length. Each grain does not have to be played in order and different grains can be played at the same time creating a “cloud” of audio which can prove to be incredibly textural. Each grain has a “Window” or envelope furthering the amount you can manipulate the sound.
My favourite trait to granular synthesis is how pliant and stretchy the audio feels. Granular synthesis opens a door to physical modelling which isn’t there for many other kinds of traditional synthesis methods. Granular synthesis allows a disconnect between both pitch and time which feels totally articulate. The seemingly endless possibilities with this method of sound design are fun and fascinating to me.
My favourite synthesiser to use to experiment with granular synthesis is a hybrid soft synth called POLYGON 2 by the incredible Glitchmachines. I will link some patches I’ve created using Granular synthesis and this VST. My favourite trait of this synth is that you can layer audio and granulate them all at once. I tend to make a lot of extreme sound so this felt perfect to me – although this synth can feel quite unintuitive, the UI is a bit messy and the modulating system doesn’t work or feel great.
The capabilities of Granular synthesis are unbound despite its trial and error ethos. I feel like this synthesis mode continues to be at the forefront of cutting-edge sound design, constantly appearing in artists I would consider to be the best synthesis designers at the moment; SOPHIE, ARCA, OPN, FKA Twigs, WWWings etc.
Granular Synthesis Demo: