The Max for Live instrument based on granular synthesis is now available as a free download.
Ableton co-founder Robert Henke, AKA Monolake, has developed a new Max for Live instrument called The Granulator.
"Granulator is a Max4Live synthesizer based on the principle of quasi-synchronous granular synthesis," explains Henke, via his blog. "It creates a constant stream of short crossfading sections of the source sample, and the pitch, position and volume of each grain can be modulated in many ways to create a great variety of interesting sounds."
What that means on the ground is plenty of rich, constantly evolving pad sounds, that, as Henke demonstrates in the video below, can be derived from something as simple as striking a glass. Users drag samples into The Granulator and are then able to manipulate the grains' length and density of their overlap, altering the playback position of the audio with the FilePos knob. There's also a number of standard synth controls such as two multi-mode filters, ADSR and an FM oscillator to further mess with the sound. Further details are available via Henke's Monolake blog, while The Granulator itself can be downloaded by following the link below to the Ableton site.