Alex

Antti

Bram

Destroy FX

dmi

dunk

ioplong

Jaha

Jason

Koen

Magnus

mda

mdsp

Sean

Koen Tanghe @ Smartelectronix

KTGranulator

Description

KTGranulator is a free delay line granulator available as a VST effect plugin with custom editor and as a MacOSX Audio Unit. It was made as an exploration in building VST effect plugins and using the VSTGUI library and was inspired by the great DLGranulator effect in Ross Bencina's AudioMulch. It works like this: incoming (mono) sound is fed into a delay line from which small pieces of various durations and at different moments in the past are selected. Each of these pieces is then amplified, transposed and enveloped to form a "grain". Each grain is also randomly panned and the whole mix is sent out to a stereo output stream. Feedback of the grain output back into the delay line is also provided, and the delay line can also be frozen so that the grains are only taken from what is currently stored in the delay line.

Donation

In case you would like to donate some money you can click the button at the right. It does help a little to keep me motivated doing this in my free time, but it's no obligation at all. Feel free to give whatever you want to spend: any amount is welcome! Or, if you prefer to donate some music or books, you can visit my "wish list" over at amazon.co.uk and choose one of the items on the list. If you bought me something, please let me know, so I can remove it from the list. Amazon wish list

Download
File	Description	Size	Date
KTGranulator1.2_VST_win32.zip	Version 1.2 Windows, VST, dll	171 KB	20040813
KTGranulator1.2_VST_win32.exe	Version 1.2 Windows, VST, installer	536 KB	20040813
KTGranulator1.2_VST_OSX.dmg	Version 1.2 * MacOSX, VST, PPC only	284 KB	20040813
KTGranulator1.2.3_AU.dmg	Version 1.2.3 * MacOSX, AU, PPC + Intel	220 KB	20060119
Latest changes This minor update of KTGranulator (1.2) has a new parameter "split pitch" that when enabled will make the plugin choose either the maximum or minimum value for the pitch (and nothing in between). The latest AU version (1.2.3) now comes as a "universal binary" so that it can be used on PPC-based Macs and Intel-based Macs.
KTGranulator1.1_VST_OS9.sit	Version 1.1 * MacOS9, VST	263 KB	20031211
Note about MacOS9 Right above, you can find the last version of KTGranulator for MacOS9. New versions for MacOS9 will not be built any longer. I'll keep the last version ever built on this page for those who didn't make the switch to MacOSX yet.
Note regarding Mac Universal Binary versions I currently don't own a Mac myself, but if I receive enough donations to buy half of a Mac Mini, I'll pay for the other half and invest some spare time and efforts to make the VST Universal Binary versions happen.
* Thanks to Sophia Poirier from DestroyFX for building the Mac versions !

Some hints to get started

check out some of the "factory presets" to see what is possible and how it's done two small and different delays give a basic reverb sound two grains and an IOT of around 25 ms yields a tremolo-like sound a reasonable amount of feedback combined with a noticeable delay time and pitch shifting gives "rising or falling sound" unequal, but close to each other minimum and maximum pitch shifting settings yield a detune effect very small unequal delay times, combined with feedback yields phasing checking the freeze button and then moving the locked delay time sliders allows you to scrub manually through the previously recorded sound (stretching, reversing, speeding) using a very big duration, an IOT time of just above half the duration time and a small number of grains while the delay line is frozen, lets you experiment with looping the contents of the recorded past (use the delay sliders to change the looped range) experiment for yourself and if you want more info on the parameters, read that "read me" file if you didn't already...

Demo examples
Audio	Author	Info
dry - wet	Richard Lainhart	"A Cloudless Sky is one of a series of compositions for electric guitar with realtime computer processing. I use a Macintosh PowerBook running VST plugins, including KTGranulator, in a shell application I created in Cycling 74's Max/MSP to process the live guitar input. These excerpts were recorded in realtime without editing or overdubbing."
dry - wet	David Newman (aka room)	See below for the piece where this was used.
WANTED - if you made some good ones, and you want to share them, please send them trough (dry version and wet version, your name and maybe some additional info)

Music examples
Title	Author	Info
First thing	Drone vs. Wanted Man	"In my latest track (maybe "production" sounds better here) "First thing" I used the KTGranulator especially on vocals and drums, also on the guitars. A lotta automation was done with all the parameters and often I just bounced my creation out to a new audio file... that you can of course use for further granulation purposes or other unusual treatments... This tool really lets me get into audio... the way I can slice signals, even rhythmically while the pitch of the signal is going crazy and endless more possibilities make it a really powerful tool for nowadays music production and sound design."
Lies	KiloWatts & Vanek	"Froze the incoming buffer on the vowels with short IOT, and semi-short DUR... then dragged the IOT faders." "I actually also used the KTGranulator in our very first live show, during Lies. Did all the vocal granulation live. I used it in a few other songs as well..." (album coming out in September 2004 on Holophon Records)
Fragment K	Har	"This piece is an example of how I've been using KTGranulator on some of my recent ambient guitar soundscape recordings. No synths or samplers were used: this is just my plain old Fender Strat played cleanly using a combination of "bowed" notes using a Morley volume pedal and some two-handed tapping, then DI'd straight into my PC... played in real-time in a single pass and no overdubbing. Then, once the signal is in the computer it was processed beyond recognition with an array of delay-based, compression and reverb effects, many of which are freeware or shareware with the exception of the Lexicon Pantheon reverb that is bundled with Cakewalk SONAR3. But the real star of the show here is KTGranulator, which was perfect for generating the breathy, almost orchestral sounding Ligeti-style tone-cluster textures."
Holiday on Alcatraz Island	TennesseeVic	"I had the idea of writing a gloomy piece where some sounds would be completely deconstructed. KTGranulator did that beautifully: through the repetitions of a loop I gradually turned up various parameters. This turned the drum effect from a simple delay into something resembling the sound of waves on the shore. There is also a granulator on the piano that comes in halfway, but there the effect is gradually turned down."
dancing on	bluedad	"I used it on at least four tracks. I did a regular guitar track, copied it and panned them both hard left and right. Then I copied another track, and ran it through your plug. I used it on percussion in the first break after the first verse. Also, my favorite use was on a few vocal snips that begin to appear in the second verse. They go 'on and on' panning left to right and back to left. I thought that sounded very subtle and cool. Finally, the guitar solo and the end... I recorded my solo, reversed, ran it through your plug, and then for the hell of it, through ohmboyz delay, plus I copied it on another track, and shifted it a bar... So, it's a little bizarre."
beautiful flower (little)	room	"KTGranulator was used on the vocals of this track + delay."
eech	the knowa	Especially in the beginning of the piece the mangling capabilities of the plugin can be heard.
WANTED - if you made some good ones, and you want to share them, please send them through (a link with title and artist name, and a short description of how the plugin was used)

Contact

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