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10. Granular synthesis with Audio Damage Quanta

1 In the previous walkthrough, we looked at some of the basic functions in Quanta’s architecture. Now it’s time to get into the showcase feature: granular synthesis. We’ll once again start from the default empty patch. This time, however, we’re going to go to the Oscillator section and reduce its Level to nil.

2 Making sure we’re in the Sample window, let’s load in a sample. We can do this simply by dragging one into the empty field that makes up most of the top half of the GUI, or clicking the floppy disk icon and using the browser to navigate to the desired file. We’ll load in a sample called DrumsDry.wav.

3 Our sample is a simple rock drum loop, but that’s not at all what we get if we play a note from our MIDI controller – in fact, there’s only a faint repetitive noise. Let’s take a look at the Grains section just below the Sample area. Note that the # Grains parameter indicates there are just ten grains in play.

4 Let’s increase the number of grains to around 50. While we’re at it, we’ll change the Shape of the grains, and adjust their Length, too. Now we get a sort of sustained waveform. It’s not very exciting, though! Note that we can also add an amount of random behaviour to some parameters, including the number of grains in play.

5 There are so many parameters with which to play. Try adjusting the Tune of the grains. We’re going to crank ours all the way up. Looking to the right, we see a

Position knob. This adjusts the position in the sample from which the sound is played. We can also adjust this parameter using the ‘handle’ in the Sample display.

6 Once again, we can add a random element to the Position parameter by using the Rand knob tied to it. The results add a lot of interest, but our sound still lacks any dramatic movement. Maybe it’s time to look at some of the modulation options on offer. Click the Matrix icon in the upper-left.

7 Scroll through until you find the Grain

Position on the left. Follow that row until you reach the FLFO 1 column, and click and drag in the intersecting box until you have a value of 77. Now FLFO 1 is modulating the Grain Position parameter. We can likewise modulate the Grain Tune with FLFO 2.

8 Now, let’s click over to the FLFO window and play with both sets of FLFO parameters. Make sure the

Freq( uencies) of both are very slow – but not identical. After that, we can adjust their shapes to taste. The results are hauntingly pretty. This is only the beginning – go experiment further!