SYNTH Tab¶

The SYNTH tab gathers the traditional-synthesis elements that sit on top of the granular core: a Resonator, a Sub Oscillator, the VCA and Filter envelopes that shape each played note, and the MIDI panel with per-layer root notes and a glide control.

Unlike the GRAIN tab — where every knob edits one layer at a time — most of the SYNTH panels drive a single shared engine. The Resonator, Sub Oscillator, VCA envelope, Filter envelope, and Glide are global: they are mounted in the UI via Layer 1's parameters and any change applies to both layers. Only Root 1 and Root 2 are genuinely independent per layer.

Resonator¶

A global resonant body based on the Mutable Instruments Rings DSP. When Enable is off the resonator is bypassed and consumes no CPU. A small live preview next to the panel visualises the current harmonic structure.

Control	Range	Description
`Enable`	on / off	Bypass the resonator entirely. Default off.
`Polyphony`	1 / 2 / 3 / 4	Number of simultaneous resonator voices. Higher values give richer chords at higher CPU cost.
`Chord`	0–1	Harmonic structure. Sweeps through chord qualities and inharmonicities (internal name: Structure).
`Bright`	0–1	Brightness — the balance of upper partials. Higher values add treble and shimmer.
`Damp`	0–1	Damping / decay time of the resonance. Low = short ping, high = long ring.
`Scatter`	0–1	Modal position / excitation point. Shifts the harmonic balance (internal name: Position).
`Note`	0–127 (MIDI)	Center pitch of the resonator. Displayed as a note name.
`Mix`	0–1	Dry/wet blend between the pre-resonator signal and the resonator output.
`Distort`	0–1	Drive / saturation inside the resonator feedback path.
`Polarity`	Saw / Square	Feedback polarity of the resonator. Saw is positive feedback (softer, vowel-like); Square is negative feedback (hollow, square-wave character).

The Resonator runs post-grain, so its pitch follows the grain material by default. Lower Mix values keep the grains in front; crank it toward 1 to turn the plugin into a pure physical-modelled voice.

Sub Oscillator¶

A global monophonic sub that tracks the played note and thickens the low end. Set Level to 0 to disable.

Control	Range	Description
`Level`	0–1	Output level of the sub. 0 silences it.
`Note`	0–127 (MIDI)	Base pitch of the sub when no MIDI note is playing (Free mode), or the reference pitch in Instrument mode. Displayed as a note name.
`Wave`	Sine / Tri / Saw / Sqr	Oscillator waveform. Sine is pure, Triangle is soft, Saw and Square (both band-limited) add harmonics.
`Octave`	−2 / −1 / 0	Octave offset relative to the played note.

VCA Envelope¶

A global ADSR that shapes the amplitude of every played note. In Instrument play mode the envelope retriggers on each note-on; in Free mode it effectively holds at sustain while the global transport is running.

Control	Range	Default	Description
`A` (Attack)	0.001–3 s	1 ms	Time from note-on to peak level.
`D` (Decay)	0.001–5 s	1 ms	Time from peak down to the sustain level.
`S` (Sustain)	0–1	1.0	Level held while the note is active.
`R` (Release)	0.001–5 s	300 ms	Time to fade to silence after note-off.

Filter Envelope¶

A second ADSR that modulates the per-layer filter cutoff. The filter itself — model, cutoff, resonance, drive — lives on the GRAIN tab FILTER column, along with the bipolar Depth knob that scales how much of this envelope reaches the cutoff.

Control	Range	Default	Description
`A` (Attack)	0.001–3 s	10 ms	Time from note-on to peak envelope level.
`D` (Decay)	0.001–5 s	100 ms	Time from peak to sustain.
`S` (Sustain)	0–1	1.0	Level held while the note is active.
`R` (Release)	0.001–5 s	100 ms	Time to fade after note-off.

With Depth at 0 the envelope has no effect. Push it positive to open the filter on note-on and let it close back toward the static cutoff; push it negative to invert the shape.

MIDI Control¶

Grainulator has two play modes, selected in the header settings popup:

Free — the global transport runs grains continuously; MIDI notes are ignored for pitch.
Instrument — note-on / note-off gate the VCA and filter envelopes, and incoming notes transpose the grain pitch relative to the layer's root note.

The MIDI panel in the SYNTH tab exposes three knobs:

Control	Range	Default	Description
`Root 1`	0–127 (MIDI)	60 (C3)	Root note for Layer 1. When you play this MIDI note in Instrument mode, Layer 1 plays its source at unshifted pitch.
`Root 2`	0–127 (MIDI)	60 (C3)	Root note for Layer 2, independently settable.
`Glide`	0–2 s	0 s	Portamento time between consecutive MIDI notes. Applied to both layers.

Both root-note knobs render their value as a note name (C3, F#4, …) rather than a raw number, matching the Note knobs on the Resonator and Sub panels.

On every MIDI note-on in Instrument mode the engine calculates note − root for each layer and applies that offset on top of the Pitch knob from the GRAIN tab — so Layer 1 and Layer 2 can transpose against the same incoming note by setting different root values. The Resonator tracks the note offset from Layer 1's root as a single global reference.

Glide smooths pitch transitions between notes at the per-layer level; 0 disables portamento, 2 s gives a long, slow slide. It applies equally to both layers.