FRCTL Audio has released GRN 3.2.0, a free update to its granular synthesis plugin. GRN captures incoming audio into a rolling buffer and rebuilds it as a cloud of overlapping grains, turning a vocal, a synth, or a field recording into ambient pads, glitched textures or evolving soundscapes.
The main addition is a macro system. A new dockable panel holds four macro knobs and an XY pad: drag a macro’s connector dot onto any knob to link it, as many targets as you like, each with its own depth, then sweep them all with one gesture or a single DAW automation lane. The XY pad drives Macros 1 and 2 together for two-handed moves, and every routed knob shows a live readout in the macro’s colour.
3.2.0 also adds MIDI Pitch Mode, turning GRN into a polyphonic granular instrument. Held notes retune the grains to pitch, each with its own attack/decay/sustain/release envelope and velocity response, and a sampler-style root key keeps it in tune with the source material. It’s off by default, so existing projects and presets are unaffected until it’s switched on. On macOS, a new GRN MIDI Audio Unit exposes note input to Ableton Live and Logic Pro, while the plain GRN AU keeps working as before for existing sessions.
Also new in 3.2.0:
- Stacked modulation: an LFO, an envelope and a macro can now drive the same knob at once, their offsets adding together instead of one replacing the other.
- Filter Q modulation: HP and LP resonance can be modulated like the cutoffs, for LFO-driven sweeps or envelope-pumped peaks.
- Buffer Library: save a frozen grain-source buffer under a name and reload it in any project, independent of parameter presets.
- LFO PLAY mode: a per-LFO toggle that locks phase to the DAW timeline, so seeking, looping and offline bounces reproduce the identical LFO every time. Replaces the old global LFO Retrigger setting.
- A redesigned header with a taller top bar and the MOD / MIDI / MACRO panel toggles grouped together.
- A 14-day free trial of the full plugin, started from the activation screen with just an email address.
Price: $34.99 and the 3.2.0 update is free for existing owners. A free version, GRN Lite, is also available. GRN runs as VST3, AU and CLAP (plus standalone) on Windows, macOS (Universal Binary, Intel and Apple Silicon) and Linux, activates once with no subscription, and processes at zero latency.
More information: frctlaudio.com/products/grn
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