Superbooth 23: Tasty Chips GR-MEGA, the GR-1 granular Synthesizer/sampler taken to the next level with multitimbrality, multiple engines, and more.
The massive Tasty Chip GR-MEGA granular Synthesizer workstation is now going into production a little later than announced. For now, the silver version only. According to the developers, the black version will be delayed until August.
At the same time as this news, the developers have released a 40+ minute full overview of the GR-MEGA engine with all the details. Looks like a super powerful granular synth.
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Update From May 27, 2024
News from Tasty Chips Electronics. The GR-MEGA is in the final development phase, and the necessary components to start production have been ordered.
According to TCE, assembly will begin in three weeks, and delivery of the first units is scheduled for the end of May 2024. So, after the Superbooth 24. The first units will be in silver, while the first black units will start shipping at the beginning of June. The full schedule is available here.
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Update From December 19th, 2023
A highlight of the Superbooth 23 was the Tasty Chips GR-MEGA, a massive further development of the GR-1. It is a granular workstation with a deep engine.
Good news before the end of the year: the GR-Mega is now ready for pre-order. Besides pre-order opening, Tasty Chips also published all the details about the features.
Tasty Chips GR-MEGA
The developers describe it as a sound design powerhouse with live granular synthesis, sampler, effects, sequencer, and spectral time stretcher.
Highlights are:
- multitimbrality with 4 layers
- 20-voice of polyphony per layer
- 5000 grains in total on all four layers (4x more than GR-1)
- 128 grains per voice
- 5 engines: sampler, granular, tape mode, granular/sampler slice mode, and spectral
- maximal sample length of 60 minutes – 3 minutes max in granular (polyphony restriction)
- 48kHz with 32 floating point
- mono/stereo support
- granular engine with various arp, loop, rate and spawn modes
- 3-voice phase vocoder with up to 8192 FFT size
- 12dB/oct LPF/HPF filters per voice
- 4 multi-wave LFOs per layer
- 4 step sequencer modulators
- envelopes with pitch, filter, amp… destinations
- multi-effects processor with 4 effects slots (delays, reverbs, distortion, dynamics, and more
- 64-step sequencer with chords
- internal storage of 512GB with 300 MB/s
- Stereo TRS 1/4 ” balanced inputs and outputs
- USB host and data
- LAN ethernet
- 1x gate out, 2x CV in (-5V..+5V)
- USB audio support
- 5-PIN MIDI
- and more.
Second Impression
That looks like a powerful granular workstation with a solid feature set and a hands-on user interface. I’m looking forward to new demos.
Tasty Chips GR-MEGA is available now for pre-order on the official website. It will cost 1500€ + VAT, and for pre-order, you need to make a down payment of 1/3 of the total price (605€). The first units will be shipped in early February 2024
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Article From May 18, 2023
The hottest topic at Superbooth 23 is granular synthesis. That makes me very happy as a granular fan. There is not just a new synth from the Vector developers and the new MicroFreak update but also a new synth from the developers of the GR-1.
The Dutch developers are also showing the GR-MEGA in Berlin. It’s the big brother of the GR-1 Synthesizer, bringing tons of new stuff to the table. e
Tasty Chips GR-MEGA
GR-MEGA will be Tasty Chips’ new flagship multi-timbral granular Synthesizer. But it will be not just a granular synth. The developer tolds me that it will have five synthesis engines: spectral synthesis, stereo granular with slice, tape scratch, and a classic sampler with advanced features.
Unlike the original GR-1 Synthesizer, the new GR-MEGA will support stereo samples on each of its four layers. There will also be a resampling option. It has a built-in dual filter, envelopes, four multi-wave LFOs, and a new step sequencer that can run on all four parts. Plus, you get effects like reverb, and more to refine your sounds.
The developers completely redesigned the GR-1 engine from scratch and the entire interface for this new “mega” version. There are also new window designs, a complete modulation matrix with many slots, etc.
First Look
The Tasty Chips GR-MEGA will be available this year for 1800€.
More information here: Tasty Chips
Does it have line level inputs hate the fact that I had to use an interface with the other one main reason I sold it
yes 🙂
This was something that discouraged me from buying this, not cheap after all, device. It’s nice that they finally fixed it.
@Synth Anatomy
This looks like a very cool synth indeed. I wonder if you could use instruments like guitars as audio input going through stored fx settings. Like an advanced granular effect unit with patches.
I assume so, as even 1010music’s Lemon Drop can be used as a granular effect box for external sounds.
605€ is the deposit, the final is 1500 + VAT. The 1800€ price tag was from Superbooth 23 and part of the article from May. So not the latest news.
I should have read their website with open eyes. I couldn’t edit or delete my useless comment on your site either 🙂
No problem I did for you 🙂