Grain: A Comprehensive And In-Depth First Look Into Propellerhead’s New Granular Synth From Reason 10

[dustiraw]

Hey guys, My name is Dusti and i know i have not been active on the forum i plan to be from here on out....I would love you guys to read my in depth editorial going over almost every major feature in grain as well as my thoughs. Its on my site, Heres the short link......http://wp.me/p9iQ8M-P

Heres a little Excerp of the openingt ...

Grain: A Comprehensive And In-Depth First Look Into Propellerhead’s New Granular Synth From Reason 10. Should It Really Just Be ‘Taken With A “Grain” Of Salt’?

Back in 2002 a little company called Propellerhead was just getting it’s feet wet and were not yet a household name for the electronic producer, but were pioneering some extremely cutting edge technology for its time that is still implemented in every modern DAW today. The REX File format was just one of many to get in on the ground floor along with something they called “Grain-Table Synthesis”. Yes, Granular Synthesis was a thing, but these guys wanted to take it further into what they thought was its most logical direction and applied these techniques merging the Granular Synthesis application with a wave-table based approach. What they got was Maelstrom….hate it or love it it’s unique and original, but only yields desired results for people content with its fixed grain tables without the ability to import, sample or create/modify your own..Well those days are over! Even though the “Wave-Table” concept may have gotten lost in the transition there is no doubt that this synth has much more to offer beyond the scope of standard Granular Synthesis. With a Modulation Matrix, the power of Thor, and the ability to not only use the Granular Synthesis approach but it can also be used strictly as an extremely advanced and complex sampler as well. Grain’s features only START with its Granular abilities.
Even though Propellerhead has always designed Grain with the user in mind, making it as straightforward as possible, Granular Synthesis is anything but a simple science. Grain is a massive beast to tame. There is absolutely no way that I could go into intricate detail on every single feature and function in this review, but I will cover a big chunk of it, and by the end of this article you should have a fairly good understanding of how Grain works and how to approach it upon using it for the first time. I will also be posting many videos going over the nuts and bolts in greater detail and how to use each specific section of Grain.

Note of caution: Although I have all mostly good things to express about Grain that DOES NOT mean it’s for everyone. Unless you’re only using Grain for the factory content (amazing btw), you are not going to achieve the same results with your own samples without a substantial knowledge of the fundamentals of synthesis, modulation, and sampling. Don’t let that scare or intimidate you, once you understand how Grain works it will open up a whole new world of possibilities for producers and sound designers of any level or genre.

[mayzon]

Looks very comprehensive, I will certainly read it in detail. Thanks

[Aosta]

Thanks for this! It must have took a lot of time and effort to do.
Very much appreciated! I've bookmarked it and will return when I have a spare hour lol.

[antic604]

Great job! Thanks for sharing this

[EnochLight]

Dusti, your font and screen grabs are tiny. Anyway you can size them up - like a lot? I'm viewing on Chrome at 150% and it's still pretty small. Nice article, though.

[cgijoe]

Wow. Thorough indeed. I read about a quarter of it before I decided I should get back to work. Luckily, I'm a sound designer - so perusing literature like this can count as "research."

[Funkspace]

Looks like a great read. I've messaged the link to myself so I can read it tonight on the iPad
Thanks !

[dustiraw]

Thank you guys for reading. if you have any questions on Grain (or anything sound design related) please contact me at dusti@learnsounddsine.com if you have a chance and feel this article (or articles like this) would suit this site please contact the moderators and let them know you enjoyed this. Would love to start writing for the site!

[selig]

Hey Dusti - I PM'd you to talk about this article - hit me up!