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What's New

User-visible changes per Grainsmith desktop release. The current shipping version is 1.0.17.

Grainsmith shipped its first releases under the name Grainulator; the app was renamed to Grainsmith in 1.0.9. The plug-in's internal identifier was kept unchanged through the rename, so DAW projects saved with the older build keep loading the plug-in.

v1.0.17 — Pitch modes

  • The GRAIN-tab Pitch knob now snaps to a chosen pitch set. Click the small caret (▾) on the Pitch knob to pick a mode: Octaves, Oct+5ths, Scale, Free, or Chromatic. In Scale mode you also pick one of 12 scales (Major, Minor, Pentatonic Major, Pentatonic Minor, Dorian, Mixolydian, Harmonic Minor, Phrygian, Lydian, Locrian, Whole Tone, Chromatic).
  • The knob snaps on release, so you can drag freely and land on an allowed pitch when you let go. In Free mode the readout shows decimals; the other modes round to whole semitones. New patches default to Chromatic (whole-semitone snapping), matching earlier behavior.
  • The per-grain pitch variation on the TEXTURE tab gained the same five modes (previously Octaves / Oct+5ths / Scale only) and shares the scale selection with the Pitch knob — pick a scale in either place and both follow.

v1.0.16 — Controller support

  • Faderfox UC4 hardware controller support, plus fixes to Live mode carried over from the 1.0.15 review.

v1.0.15 — Live mode length and feedback

  • Live mode (record incoming audio into a layer's buffer, then granulate it) gained loop-length and feedback controls and a de-click pass on the record and play seams.

v1.0.13 / v1.0.12 — Feel and fixes

  • Spectral panel refinements, a per-layer level Trim, and a batch of interaction fixes. Fixed sample paste from the clipboard.

v1.0.9 — Renamed to Grainsmith

  • The app's display name changed from Grainulator to Grainsmith. In a DAW the plug-in now shows as "Grainsmith" (and "Grainsmith FX" for the effect build). Installed file names were left unchanged so existing projects keep loading the plug-in.

v1.0.8 — Maintenance

  • Fixed a crash on launch affecting Intel Macs, caused by a factory preset failing to load. Apple Silicon Macs were unaffected.

v1.0 — Initial release

The first public release (as Grainulator). A dual-layer granular synth with a spectral block, modulation matrix, and a shared post-mix effects chain.

What's in the box

Grain engine — per layer. Two independent granular voices with size, density, pitch, speed, jitter, spread, pan, and level. Each layer has its own audio buffer, loop points, freeze state, scan controls, and reverse probability. The desktop layout shows both layers side by side; the compact AU and iPad layouts use a layer switcher.

Window shaping (TEXTURE tab) — per layer. Eight window shapes per layer (Hanning, Gaussian, Trapezoid, Triangle, Tukey, Pluck, PluckSoft, ExpDecay) with Tilt, Curve, and Sides, plus a second target shape and a Morph knob with rate that crossfades between the two. Pitch variation, dynamics randomisation, reverse probability, and scan rate/depth all live here.

Spectral Array Oscillator (SAO) — per layer. A phase-vocoder synth per layer with Focus, Transpose, Tilt, FMT/Pitch/Both mode, Clarity, Partials, Scan, and Capture/Clear controls. MIDI-responsive and polyphonic.

Voice Interaction. A panel between the two Spectral columns with three cross-voice effects — Follow (time-domain source coupling), Vocode (spectral envelope transfer), and Duck (bipolar amplitude sidechain) — governed by a direction switch and a power toggle.

Global synthesis block (SYNTH tab). Sub Oscillator (Sine / Tri / Saw / Sqr with selectable octave and base note), VCA ADSR, Filter ADSR with bipolar depth, and per-layer root note plus shared glide.

Per-layer filter (GRAIN tab). Ten filter models (Stilson, Microtracker, Krajeski, MusicDSP, Oberheim, Improved, RKSimulation, Hyperion, DaisyLadder, CytomicSVF) with cutoff, resonance, drive, and an envelope-depth knob driven by the Filter ADSR on the SYNTH tab.

Global effects chain (FX tab). Signal flow is Master Filter → Compressor → Delay → Reverb, all running on the summed two-layer signal:

  • Master Filter. Same ten filter models as the per-layer filter.
  • Compressor. Feed-forward log-domain with stereo-linked detection, 6 dB soft knee, parallel-mix blend, and an optional tanh soft-knee limiter.
  • Tape Delay. Stereo with independent L/R times, four routing modes (Dual / PingPong / Single / Cascade), two time-change behaviours (Tape / Fade), saturation in the feedback path, tempo sync with swing offset, and infinite-loop capture.
  • Multi-mode Reverb. Three selectable algorithms — Misty (Signalsmith Basics), Cloudy (Mutable Rings / Griesinger), and Stormy (Oliverb / extended Griesinger-Dattorro) — sharing one surface. Stormy is the default and includes shimmer and infinite freeze.

Modulation matrix (MOD tab). Five lanes, each with a source picker (LFO, Envelope, Euclidean LFO, Step Sequencer), a destination from 45 active targets, an amount and curve, and a layer target. Rhythmic sources share a clock that can free-run or lock to host tempo at a musical division.

MIDI control. Two play modes (Free and Instrument). Per-layer root note plus a shared glide knob in the Envelopes & MIDI column.

Platforms

  • macOS standalone, AudioUnit (v2 / v3), VST3, AAX. Universal binary (Intel + Apple Silicon).
  • Windows standalone and VST3.
  • iPadOS — a separate product, Grainsmith Field. See its own documentation.

Audio file formats

  • Everywhere: WAV, MP3, FLAC.
  • macOS only (via Core Audio): AIFF, M4A (AAC), Ogg Vorbis.

The Windows build does not decode AIFF / M4A / Ogg — convert those to WAV before loading.