Granular+Synthesis+Thingy



Granular sythesis is like raining... **BACKWARDS**.

The raindrops are each a grain of sound (a sound sample). These all go up into the cloud (thus are all layered) and make a cloud of sound (often referred to as a sound scape). Granular synthesis does not create distinct tones but instead is a **CLOUD** of tones.

Granular synthesis is essentially the act of taking many very short sound samples (generally 1-50 milliseconds long). Each of these pieces is called a grain. The grains are then layered on top of each other all playing at different speeds and volumes. These patches can either be digital recorded sound samples or they can be analog.

The technique was first used by a Greek composer named Iannis Xenakis, who physically spliced magnetic tape into tiny sections and then taped it together (much like musique concrete). This technique is most commonly used to create sound effects including amplitude modulation, time stretching, stereo or multichannel scattering, random reordering, disintegration and morphing.

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