Grainferno - Baby Audio - Official Tutorial transcript

Grainferno by Baby Audio pushes the boundaries of granular synthesis. It pairs a sleek, user-friendly interface with a deep, complex sound engine that spans a wide range of stunning sonic landscapes. >> [music] [music] >> Granular synthesis is a sound design technique that chops a sound into tiny fragments called grains, which are then played, layered, reordered, and altered in various ways to create completely new sounds that can range from smooth and natural to alien and chaotic.

Whether you're new to granular synthesis or an experienced player, Grainferno offers endless hours of fun and sonic exploration. And it has some tricks up its sleeve you won't find in any other granular synthesizer. Grainferno's play view shows only the visualizer and four macro controls that can dramatically change the timbre. This is the best place to simply browse and explore the hundreds of factory presets and see where Grainferno can take you.

Manage and adjust the six custom effects in the effects view. And to create and modify sounds in detail, go back to the design view. As usual, the top bar houses the preset management and settings where you can activate tooltips, change the color theme, and more. The source samples are managed in the visualizer. Click on the sample name to open the internal browser and explore Grainferno's bespoke selection of high-quality samples.

Or simply drag and drop them into the visualizer from your DAW or a folder. Use the arrows to skip through the folder containing your sample. Below the visualizer, you can set the properties of the grains and their movement. Grain filter, compressor, and blur alter the sound and dynamics of individual grains. On the right you find envelopes, LFOs, randomizers, and more modulators that can be linked to any parameter, including other modulators.

To get you started as smoothly as possible, we equipped Grainferno with six templates [music] that cover different use cases and serve as a starting point for your own creations. You can select them directly using the icons at the bottom of the plugin or find them in the preset browser. >> [music] [music] >> In the grains panel, you control how the granular engine generates new grains from the source sample. Rate defines how fast new grains are generated as you hold a note.

The rate knob is currently set to millisecond mode. In this mode, [music] the source sample's pitch changes as I play higher or lower notes, but the grains are always generated at the selected rate. >> [music] >> In BPM sync mode, the rate is synced to the track tempo and you can set the division with the rate knob. >> [music] [music] >> The remaining four modes are called key map modes and they work a bit differently.

The rate of the grains is now controlled by the note you play. This means we can now play Grainferno chromatically and it's always in tune. >> [music] [music] >> At slow rates, this can add to an organic and unpredictable feel of grain formations. >> [music] >> The further you turn the size knob, the longer the grains get. As they overlap, the grain cloud becomes denser and more chaotic. >> [music] [music] >> In the lower part of the grain panel, you can adjust the gain and pan of the grains.

Shape controls how gently the grains fade in and out. With the pitch knob, you can change the pitch of the grains and select the pitch mode the plugin runs in. When we play Grainferno in one of the key mapped rate modes at audio rates, changing the pitch of the grains no longer changes the pitch of the note we hear, but it changes the timbre, which can be used to great effect as a sound design tool. >> [music] >> By default, the sound engine generates all grains at the playhead's current position.

You can change that by simply clicking on the waveform or use the knobs, which you can also automate by linking them to any of the modulators. >> [music] >> By turning the scan knob up or down, the playhead moves forwards or backwards through the sample when creating subsequent grains. In BPM sync mode, scan is synced to the host tempo in divisions. >> [music] >> This can be useful when working with rhythmic source material such as beats and drum loops or to turn any source material into rhythmic patterns. >> [music] >> Scatter adds randomness to the position of the grains.

Instead of creating all grains at the same position, they're now scattered more or less widely. >> [music] >> Grainferno's three grain effects shape the grain sound and dynamics at the moment of their generation, drastically altering their characteristics. G filter is a multi-mode filter applied per grain with adjustable cutoff and resonance controls. Since the filter affects individual grains, we can modulate the cutoff per grain with a randomizer.

Grainferno's grain compressor controls the dynamic range of the micro-sampled grains. This sample, for example, contains very loud parts, but other parts have a much lower level. As I turn up the vertical slider, the quiet parts get louder. This results in a more even loudness across the whole sample. The horizontal slider compresses the level within individual grains. G comp runs in three different modes. Radical delivers aggressive compression, threshold works more like a traditional compressor, inverse mode reverses the compression behavior, making louder grains quieter and quieter grains louder.

Grainferno's G blur effect adds feedback to the grain generation engine and blurs the grain onset. It's kind of like a delay at the grain level, but with a twist. Warp sets the amount of downwards pitch in the feedback path. >> [music] >> Grainferno's modulation panel features a wide range of modulators, including [music] envelopes, LFOs, randomizers, and much more. Each modulator can be linked to any number of parameters, including other modulators and itself.

And every parameter can be modulated by as many modulators as your CPU can handle. To link a modulator to a parameter, drag the cross arrow icon and drop it onto the control you want to modulate. Parameters linked to modulators are indicated by a small green dot. When you hover the mouse over them, a modulation window opens. [music] >> [music] >> Dial in the attack, decay, sustain, and release of the three envelope generators with the knobs or by clicking on the curve.

Grab the handles to adjust the slope. Envelope one is the main amp envelope for Grainferno's granular engine. The amp envelope toggle lets you choose between voice and grain modes. In grain mode, the envelope is shaped per grain, which is useful for slower sounds with individually audible grains. In voice mode, the envelope is modulated per voice as in a traditional synth, which is useful for audio rate sounds where the granular engine essentially acts as an oscillator.

Grainferno's three LFOs let you freely draw a waveform. Create new curve points by clicking on the curve and use the handles between points to change the slope. In grain sync mode, the LFO is synced to the grain rate in divisions of two to 64 grains. >> [music] >> With the modulo function, you can easily bend the LFO into complex and unusual shapes for interesting effects. >> [music] [music] >> Grainferno's randomizers add unpredictability and endless variation to your sounds.

Randomizers one and two send a unique random signal per parameter, so no two destinations connected to them will ever receive the same values. >> [music] [music] >> The third randomizer called C random or cached random sends the same random value to every destination it's connected to. >> [music] >> Grain Furnace envelope follower creates a modulation signal by following the level of the individual grains generated from sample one. >> [music] >> Grain Furnace four macro knobs can be linked to one or more destinations to have important parameters at hand or to change several parameters with a single turn.

Link them to your MIDI controller for expressive live performances. >> [music] [music] >> Grain Furnace can generate grains from two different samples within the same patch, greatly expanding its sound design potential. To load a second sample, drag and drop it from a folder or your DAW onto the lower part of the visualizer or load it with the internal sample browser. As you add a second sample, the morph control slider appears, which lets you blend between the two source samples.

You can control the slider manually or modulate it with Grain Furnace modulation sources. [music] Morph control offers seven unique modes to combine the two sample layers into granular permutations. X-Fade crossfades between the samples and generates grains from their blend. >> [music] >> Follow one acts like an envelope follower where the grains of sample one shape the envelope of the grains of sample two. The slider adjusts the level of the second sample. >> [music] >> Weave swaps between sample one and sample two being louder. >> [music] [music] >> Four-bit alternates between sample one and sample two in 16 different four-step patterns, which you can select with the slider. >> [music] [music] >> Eight-bit lets you choose from 256 different eight-step patterns of sample swapping.

Random has a chance for grains to be generated from either sample one or two. Move the slider to the center for maximum randomness. [music] As you move it up or down, you notch the chance for either sample. >> [music] >> Bi-Follow is a bipolar envelope follower. If you turn it up, sample one follows the envelope of sample two. Turn it down and sample two follows the envelope of sample one. >> [music] >> Grain Furnace features six custom-built high-quality audio effects to enhance [music] its sonic spectrum.

Activate the individual effect modules, rearrange them, or toggle the entire effect section on and off. Most effect parameters can be modulated. This concludes our tour of Grain Furnace, Baby Audio's granular synth [music] powerhouse. We hope you enjoyed the video and that it helps you get the most out of your new plugin. Thanks for watching and see you soon. >> [music] [music]