Granular synthesis is a basic sound synthesis method that operates on the microsound time scale.
It is based on the same principle as sampling. However, the samples are not played back conventionally, but are instead split into small pieces of around 1 to 50ms. These small pieces are called grains. Multiple grains may be layered on top of each other, and may play at different speeds, phases, volume, and frequency.
At low speeds of playback, the result is a soundscape, often a cloud, that is manipulable in a manner unlike that for natural sound sampling or other synthesis techniques. At high speeds, the result is heard as a note or notes of a novel timbre. By varying the waveform, envelope, duration, spatial position, and density of the grains, many different sounds can be produced.
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Fast granular synthesis demonstration
You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. An example of granular synthesis. Note how the tiny snippets of sound (the grains) are initially distinct, but then blend together, generating a completely new timbre. Read more about Granular Synthesis: History, Graintable Synthesis, Programming Languages, Articles, Books, Further Reading Famous quotes containing the words granular and/or synthesis:“I feel like a white granular mass of amorphous crystals—my formula appears to be isomeric with Spasmotoxin. My aurochloride precipitates into beautiful prismatic needles. My Platinochloride develops octohedron crystals,—with a fine blue florescence. My physiological action is not indifferent. One millionth of a grain injected under the skin of a frog produced instantaneous death accompanied by an orange blossom odor.” “The invention of photography provided a radically new picture-making process—a process based not on synthesis but on selection. The difference was a basic one. Paintings were made—constructed from a storehouse of traditional schemes and skills and attitudes—but photographs, as the man on the street put, were taken.” Related Phrases
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