ukdf has announced the release of GrainCharlie, a free granular synthesizer plugin.
For about a year, we were looking for an affordable granular synthesizer that didn’t have anything unnecessary. We wanted a tool that could be opened and used immediately — something intuitive that would let musicians focus on making music instead of reading manuals.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything like that. So we decided to make one ourselves.
We’re happy to introduce GrainCharlie, a simple and free granular synthesizer. It includes the essential features of granular synthesis while keeping the workflow straightforward and easy to understand.
Modes
GrainCharlie has five operating modes:
- Melody is the standard granular synthesis mode. The sample is processed into grains, with the pitch following the MIDI notes being played.
- Slice allows you to divide a sample into individual slices and play them separately, similar to a traditional sampler. You can still use the granular synthesis controls while working with the slices, giving you additional control over their playback and texture.
- Slice Melody combines the Slice and Melody modes. You can divide a sample into individual slices, while the pitch of the slices changes according to the MIDI notes being played. This makes it possible to create melodies from a single sample while retaining control over its individual slices.
- Unison works as a traditional synthesizer unison mode, allowing multiple voices to be played together. It also includes Glide for creating smooth transitions between notes.
- Polyphonic allows up to eight notes to be played simultaneously.
Controls
GrainCharlie provides controls for shaping both the individual grains and the overall sound:
- Length controls grain length in milliseconds. It can also be synchronized to the project tempo using Sync.
- Grains controls the number of grains and can also be synchronized to the project tempo using Sync.
- Position controls the initial position within the sample from which grains are generated.
- Jitter adds randomness by allowing the parameters to deviate from their set values. Higher values introduce more variation and unpredictability into the sound.
- Spray controls how far grains can be generated from the initial Position within the sample.
- Pitch transposes the entire output signal from -36 to +36 semitones.
- Pan controls the stereo position.
- Pan Spread randomly distributes individual grains across the stereo field.
- Attack controls the attack when a note is played.
- Release controls the release when a note is released.
- Reverse randomly plays some grains in reverse.
- Glide controls the transition between notes in Unison mode.
- Density controls the density of the granular texture.
ukdf concludes:
The goal was to keep the synthesizer flexible enough for sound design while avoiding unnecessary complexity. It can be used for traditional granular synthesis, while the Slice and Slice Melody modes also make it suitable for creating melodic material, unusual textures and experimental sounds.
GrainCharlie is available as a free VST3 plugin for macOS and Windows.
Read More