Future Music

Transformi­ng a sample in Grain

Reason’s new granular synthesis superstar can sustain a short sound beyond recognitio­n. Set up an initialise­d patch and let’s go!

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01 > Grab Grain from the Instrument­s section of the Browser, and drag Alesis Cymbal 06.wav in to load it. This is a short sample from FM325’s Drum Hardware pack. Like any sampler, we can now use any MIDI note to play the sample across the keyboard and define its root pitch.

02 > Change the Motion mode from FW-Loop to FW-BW Loop. The green ‘flag’ marker controls the playback start point, and the red one on the right controls the end point. Set them to loop a section that’s reasonably consistent in level, and draw a long MIDI note into your sequencer.

03 > The three granular controls set the granular properties: Grain Length sets the size of the ‘grain’, Rate sets how many times it’s repeated, and X-Fade sets how smooth and abruptly each grain fades in then out into the next one.

04 > Go back to the Motion mode selection and change FW-BW Loop to Envelope 1. Env 1 now controls the travel of the playhead between the flags. Select Preset to choose a predefined envelope shape, or draw your own.

05 > Head to the effects section. Switch on the Reverb and crank the Decay right up. Switch the Phaser on too, and bring its Rate down. There’s plenty more to choose from, of course.

06 Now go back to the top. With the grain behaviour, movement and effects in place, try messing with the start and end points to fine-tune the sound. The range extends from tonal sounds to raspier, more distorted ones.

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