Granulator III shows direct recorded audio in red.
We check out Live 12’s updated granular synth.
Robert Henke, polymathic genius and one of the original designers of Ableton, has contributed a brand‑new version of his popular Granulator instrument to the all‑singing, all‑dancing Live 12. Like the rest of this latest Live, Granulator III sees refinements to workflow and new features aplenty.
For those not familiar, Granulator is a powerful granular synthesizer that processes samples in a very different way to normal samplers, and which often gives rise to completely new and exciting textures. Great for ambient sound designers and anyone who wants to experiment more deeply with sound. It also represents Ableton’s ongoing commitment to the Max audio programming language in which Granulator III is written. This new version makes this powerful synthesis method easier than ever to work with.
Those familiar with the prior version — Granulator II (dating back to Live 9) — will notice quite a few differences: gone are the FM, AM and noise sections, the dedicated filter envelope, and the ability to chain two filters together. Not only this, but the remaining parameters are renamed: Pitch Tuning is now called Transpose, but has lost the Fine control that might make it harder to tune patches to a track; FilePos is now named Position; the previously complex Scan section is now just one Scan knob, and Spray is simplified to the less evocative but more descriptive Variation control.
These changes have led to a cleaner, more modern‑looking layout, which is in keeping with the Live 12 update in general. There is now a simple row of virtual knobs along the bottom of the instrument, which remain constant, and the top half of the display alternates between the current sample’s waveform and the new envelope and filter panels. This makes navigation simple and intuitive.
The real innovation comes with the new modulation options that appear in the narrow row below the waveform display. Clicking a bottom‑row knob calls up the modulation options available to it — a different selection appears for each. Alongside standard modulators like LFO, env 2, and velocity, these now include the all‑new MPE inputs of Slide and polyphonic Press. I found it easy to check what was modulating what and to quickly adjust settings I had in mind. This simple change has also decluttered the display very effectively.
Vocal Exercise
Sampling your voice is a great starting point to get familiar with granular synthesis: we know what our voice should sound like, so the effect of the individual parameters is immediately apparent.
Use the brand‑new direct recording method (‘Ext‑in’ under the ‘I/O’ button) to record directly into Granulator from a laptop mic. (Other input sources are available, including directly from other Live audio channels — another new feature.) Note that Granulator captures the audio retrospectively (which I find a bit disorientating to be honest!) and that you need to choose Channel 1 to record a mono sample if using the laptop mic.
Having recorded your lovely ‘ahh’, set the Grain size to maximum length to illustrate the differences between the new modes: Classic is the same as Granulator II, and shows two concurrent grains (the cyan vertical lines) moving through the sample. Looping is a new mode, which is more akin to a standard play‑through of the sample by one grain. Cloud uses a cluster of grains and you will hear a more chorused version of the sound reflecting this — increasing the Density parameter in Grain Size increases the number of concurrent grains.
Tip: Turn on Hold to avoid the need to repeatedly hit the keyboard to trigger the sound, and tick Loop (in the Scan modulation row) to have the sample continually repeat; left unchecked the scan plays through once and then gets ‘stuck’ in the grain size window, which may not be what you want.
This is also a useful starting patch to experiment with the newly re‑implemented LFO. Click Scan, Grain or Position and control the amount of LFO applied in the new modulation row — and have fun! For super‑double fun, alter the Stereo setting in the LFO panel to put the left and right channels out of sync. This can generate anything from subtle to wild stereo spatial effects.
It can be very pleasing to have the LFO applied to the filter alongside one of the other parameters such as Grain. There’s just something very nice about that synchronicity! Especially now that there are nine great‑sounding filters to choose from, including ‘combination’ filters to make up for the loss of the two separate filters in Granulator II.
Talking Of Synchronicity...
A significant new feature of Granulator III is the new tempo‑sync LFO mode, so I was very interested in exploring the potential for ‘granulating in time’! I started with a percussion loop to see if it could plausibly be used for creating variations on a rhythm to bring life and variety to an otherwise static loop. And of course it can! Using the LFO to change parameters on the beat (or other regular timings) leads quickly to very interesting tempo‑sync’ed effects that I don’t think you could easily create in any other way.
It’s a simple case of setting the LFO to the Note setting (as opposed to the free‑running mode) and choosing a number of 16ths under the LFO Beat knob on the bottom row. For example, a setting of 4 will cycle the LFO for the duration of one beat — given four 16ths is equal to a beat.
By simplifying and modernising the interface and adding the new MPE integrations, direct sampling and more filter options it is even more inviting and easier to experiment with than ever before.
One slight inconsistency I noticed is that the method of counting LFO time in Granulator III is very different to Ableton’s existing LFO Tool. Granulator III multiplies 16ths, whereas LFO Tool uses multiples and divisions of a bar. Not only this but the S&H shape in Granulator’s LFO runs four times as fast as the other shapes(!). So a little more consistency in this area wouldn’t go amiss.
But once that’s understood, loading a percussion loop in Granulator and sending the LFO to any of the likely candidates — Position, Grain, Transpose, Filter — gives instant time‑sync’ed results, and as ever with this instrument, a tweak‑and‑see‑what‑happens approach is a great experimental strategy. I found I almost always produced pleasingly unexpected and usable results quickly.
Reducing the Shape parameter to below 50 will increase the emphasis on transients for more percussive effects, and running in mono can help increase the clarity. Rectangle and S&H can be used to give very definite changes timed to the beat, and use of Phase determines where the cycle starts in relation to the LFO shape.
Though no‑one would claim it replaces a ‘proper’ beat‑slicer it undoubtedly increases the interest and variety of a secondary percussion loop or even a main rhythm. And of course, there’s no reason to limit the use of a synchronised LFO to percussion loops — anything timed to the beat is going to be worthy of a try.
Adding Interest To Chord Sequences
Loops can have a tendency to be stuck on one chord, but a neat way of adding granular synth magic to an actual chord sequence (say a fairly static pad sound) is to import a sample of that chord sequence into Granulator III. Then use automation of Position on the arrange page to jump to the correct chord in the sample at the right time in the arrangement. Then experiment with the other settings to impart more texture to the chords.
Summary
For fans of Granulator II there may be disappointment at the removal of some of the previous features, such as FM, but on balance I think the trade‑off is worth it given how much easier this new version is to use — and that the range of sounds possible is still vast.
And given Granulator II is still available (for free), there’s nothing actually lost here. But by simplifying and modernising the interface and adding the new MPE integrations, direct sampling and more filter options it is even more inviting and easier to experiment with than ever before. Now there’s even more reason to get into the world of granular synthesis and to explore the novel range of sounds that it’s capable of!
Classic Granular Synth Effects
Granular synthesis reaches the parts of the sonic spectrum other methods can’t. Here are a few of the classic use cases that it excels at, with example starting settings:
1. Time‑stretched vocals: For the classic ‘Fatboy Slim’ time‑stretch effect on speech vocals set Position to 0 and Scan to 0.1‑0.5x.
2. Extend a short one‑shot sample into a pad with Scan below 1, Grain Size at 50‑100 ms, and use Cloud mode for a richer sound.
3. Long evolving drone textures: the classic granular synth use‑case, these rich sounds can be almost be complete pieces of music in and of themselves. Longer Foley or other real‑world sounds always work well. Use of Scan and Position with the LFO to jump around the sample is the key here, as is a subsequent rich, wet reverb and delay to create a satisfying drone or wash of sound.
