It’s time for a high-quality granular Synthesizer. Tasty Chips Electronics announced today that the GR-1 hardware polyphonic granular Synthesizer is now available on Kickstarter. The GR-1 is based on a Raspberry PI3 and allows to use up to 2048 grains in parallels that means you can use up to 128 grans per voice. (16 voices x 128 grains) Also there are further informations available for the sample import. Sound designers can upload samples in multiple format via the USB input.
The GR-1 can handle 32 sample files of 10 MB (about 2 minutes long). To manipulate further the sounds, the granular engine comes with a 12dB/oct digital lowpass filter with MIDI controls and 2 assignable LFO’s with different waveforms. Additional ADSR envelopes for the amplitude and grain window gives your even more freedom of creating sounds.
Due of a clever preset and performance features, this special instrument is also designed to be used in live situation. Musicians can saved to an internal flash memory (4GB) or to an external USB memory their own creation and performances. On the device, you can have 4 banks for saving in each 8 presets of granular sounds.
Exciting features are announced when they reached stretchgoals in the Kickstarter campaign. When an amount of €50.000 is reached, they will implement a live sampling features via the USB interface/dongle. So you can record and save any sample to the GR-1. Hope a lot that the stretchgoals will reached because these feature will make the device even more powerful. Good luck Tasty Chips Electronics for this new product. I’m really happy to see it live.
Introduction
The GR-1 is a hardware polyphonic granular synthesizer in a class of its own. The GR-1 is capable of creating textures, characteristic sounds, drones, soundscapes, pads etc. with the help of your creativity! A sample and a few knob tweaks is enough to create something beautiful!
A truly high-end device
The GR-1 is massively polyphonic: 128 grains per voice, times 16 voices = 2048 grains in parallel. It employs 32 bit mixing and a HIFI stereo DAC for rendition. A 7″ full colour display that is typically only found in top class synthesizers. It can use (USB or DIN) MIDI keyboards, USB sticks/disks, USB audio interfaces, and even PC keyboards. Yet it also features CV interfaces for integration with Modular (Eurorack) systems.
Easy to use
The on-board controls and MIDI connectivity make it extremely easy to manipulate sound. Directness is nr. 1 in the design: knobs and sliders allow all granular parameters to be changed in seconds. The GR-1 also allows stand-alone operation: No MIDI keyboard required! The GR-1 has buttons and sliders to create 4 note chords or drones. (see video demo, stand-alone “play” mode) Use the built-in headphone amp to create sounds fully standalone. It’s modest form factor of 32 x 21 cm and light weight allow it to be taken everywhere in a small backpack.
Specifications
- 128 grains per voice
- 16 voice polyphony
- Standalone or MIDI controllable
- MIDI IN & MIDI THRU connection with DIN and USB MIDI
- High quality stereo audio: internally: 32 bit float, DAC: 44.1KHz, 106 dB SNR
- High quality headphone amplifier with dedicated volume control
- Quad core ARM Cortex-A running optimized Neon SIMD code.
- 800 x 480 pixel, 7” TFT true color display
- Firmware updates via USB
- Sample file uploads in multiple formats via USB
- The GR-1 can handle 32 sample files of 10 MB (about 2 minutes long)
- Presets and performances can be saved to internal flash (4GB) or external (USB) memory
- 2 control voltage assignable inputs 0-5V with voltage protection
- 1 gate output
- 12dB/oct digital lowpass filter with direct and MIDI controls
- 2 assignable LFO’s with waveforms (sine, random, saw, square) and direct controls
- 4 banks of 8 presets all hands-on accessible and overwritable
- ADSR amplitude envelope and Grain window envelope with direct controls
- Rotary encoder for configuration, file/sample selection. Config menus provide extended possibilities beyond what the pots and sliders offer.
- Access to configuration screen providing many more options
- 32 x 21 x 7 cm aluminum casing.
- Raspberry PI3 inside. Tried, tested, easy to service, or upgrade. And _very_ powerful!
- Full MIDI control: All on-board sliders and knobs, and internal controls are represented as MIDI CC. Full support for program change, pitch bend.
- Ability to read and write any USB stick or drive: FAT, ExFat, NTFS (Windows), HFS+ (Mac), Ext4 (Linux).
- Much more to be added by firmware updates: fully exposed mod matrix, another mode of granular synthesis (very small sample loops), MIDI clock sync, LFO cross mod, and stretchgoals
Stretchgoals
We have some really cool stretch goals to offer. The GR-1 can do firmware updates via USB, these extra features will NOT effect/delay the first batch.
€50,000: Sampling via USB interface/dongle. Record and save samples on the GR-1.
€65,000: There are 2 knobs that now control a lowpass filter. This stretch goal makes it possible to load different effects (more filters, delay, distortion, bitcrusher/sample rate reducer, etc.).
€70,000: Sub (sine) oscillator with control over pitch and amplitude will be added to the GR-1. This will make it possible to add a sub bass to your patch or add harmonic foundation to your patch.
€100,000: Map MIDI notes to different sample positions. This makes it possible to play multitimbral and layer samples with a good preparatoir of samples.
€120,000: Ok this is without a doubt the coolest stretch goal of all..: Play multiple (at least 2) patches at the same time. Each MIDI channel will correspond to a different patch. You will be able to layer patches and make multitimbral sounds.
The GR-1 Granular Synthesizer is now available for pre-order via the Kickstarter campaign
- GR-1 Granular Synthesizer (First batch): Assembled & tested. External power supply included. Comes with quick-start guide and 16 preset patches + samples. 799€ (estimated delivery in November 2017)
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GR-1 Granular Synthesizer (Second batch Assembled & tested. External power supply included. Comes with quick-start guide and 16 preset patches + samples. (849€) (estimated delivery in January 2018)
More informations here: Tasty Chips Electronics GR-1
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