The screen¶
Grainsmith Field runs on one landscape screen. This page names each region so the rest of the manual can point at it. From top to bottom: the top bar, the waveform with its two ribbons, the four control panels, the four XY pads, and the scrub deck.
Top bar¶
Left to right:
- Presets opens the preset browser. The two chevrons next to it step to the previous or next preset.
- The name shows the loaded preset or sample. A
*after the name means you have changed something since the last save or load. - The input meter shows the level of audio coming into the app.
- Record starts and stops capture. A small badge under it shows the record mode.
- Play starts and stops the transport.
- Gear opens Settings.
See Presets for the browser and Recording and Live mode for the record button.
Waveform¶
The waveform fills the top of the screen. It shows the loaded sample as a filled shape, the live grain cloud in amber, and a playhead line at the current read position.
The waveform is a play surface. Touch it and drag to move the read position; the grain cloud follows. Long-press it to open the grain-buffer menu (copy, paste, export, Edit Area, clear). Drag an audio file from the Files app onto it to load that file.
Two vertical ribbons sit on the right edge:
- Pitch transposes the grains. Its label reads TRANSPOSE when the app is in Instrument play mode. See Pitch.
- Level sets the output level, from unity at the top down toward silence.
Control panels¶
Four panels sit below the waveform:
- Main — the five grain dials: Size, Density, Speed, Jitter, Spread.
- Reverb — Reverb and Space.
- Grain Shape — Soft, Round, Sharp.
- Morph — the single gold macro knob.
All of these are covered in Main, Reverb, Shape, Morph.
Every dial takes the same touches: drag up to raise the value, drag down to lower it, and double-tap to reset it to its default. Hold a dial for a moment to enter fine mode for the next drag; in the standalone app, that same hold arms MIDI learn for the dial.
XY pads¶
Four square pads run across the bottom: Grains, Scatter, Texture, and Tone. Each maps its two axes to a pair of settings, so one thumb moves two things at once. See The XY pads.
Scrub deck¶
The bottom strip holds two spring-loaded scrub rockers, one in each corner, with the Freeze button between them. Push a rocker to move the read position; let go and it springs back. Freeze holds the read head in place so grains keep spawning from one spot.
On iPhone¶
The iPhone layout is the same instrument in a compact frame. The waveform and scrub deck stay pinned, and the middle band swipes between the knobs and the XY pads. Use the page rail on the left edge to jump between the two. Reverb and Grain Shape move into an Advanced popup, reached from the compact knob page.