gRainbow 1.0, free, open-source, cross-platform granular Synthesizer plugin gets a major update

gRainbow is a new free, open-source, cross-platform Synthesizer that uses pitch detection to choose candidates for granular synthesis or sampling.

A year ago in May, I reported on the free granular sampler/synthesizer gRainbow. Unfortunately, it didn’t score well at the time of the article because it was buggy and often crashed.

Good news already came at the beginning of the year. The developer re-released the plugin, completely updating it and making it more stable.

gRainbow 1.0.3 Update

When you first open it, you can’t miss the more modern, slimmer GUI, which allows you to work faster. I definitely prefer the new finish over the original one.  

A lot of fine-tuning has been done, not just visually but also in the code. This includes an enhanced pitch detection algorithm powered by machine learning.

According to the developer, the plugin now handles longer, multi-pitch samples better than some typical synths. He promises that the results are more accurate pitch patched for MIDI input with less time-stretching and fewer unwanted artifacts.

Samples must be at least 5 seconds long for the granular sample. You get a warning if it is shorter than this requirement. But you can also load in complete songs, which is neat.

Once uploaded, you can choose between four rainbow-colored visual representations: spectrogram, harmonic profile, detected pitches, and waveform.

From here, you can use gRainbow’s core engine to tweak your sounds, including modifying the grain envelope, tweaking core functions, setting macros, working with three envelopes and LFOs, and more.

I installed the plugin on my Apple Silicon M2 and it works great—no comparison to the original version. Thanks for the update. It’s not a groundbreaking granular plugin or the best on the market. But it’s a lot of fun to experiment with for a free plugin. 

Available here: Gumroad

Article From May 31, 2023

Granular synthesis is one of my favorite forms because you can use it to generate very unusual sounds and beautiful, dense textures from simple sounds. You can’t have too many granular synths. And if it’s free, that’s even better.

gRainbow is a new free granular Synthesizer plugin for macOS, Linux, and Windows from Brady Boettchers. It’s open-source and not just another “more of the same” granular synth.

gRainbow

gRainbow is  a novel granular synth that tries to fix problems related to pitch information in classic granular synths. The developer summarizes the issues/limitations in three points:

1. Pitch variations in the input clip can produce inharmonic tones, which isn’t always wanted. This leads users to use short single-pitch clips often, restricting the synth to a single timbre.
2. Manual pitch matching to the input clip is often required to produce the correct notes with MIDI input, which can be difficult and repetitive.
3. Pitch shifting is commonly done with time-stretching, which can create unwanted artifacts when shifting multiple octaves in either direction.

According to Brady Boettcher, it prefers longer, pitch-diverse audio clips that automatically produce harmonics matched for MIDI inputs. So avoid too much time-stretching by generating harmonics already near their target pitch.

How Does It Work?

Brady Boettchers’s new granular synth depends on audio material, i.e., samples that can be loaded. Once imported, a pitch detection analysis is run to segment the clip into discrete pitches over time.

Next, it finds up to 6 pitch-matched position candidates for each note, guaranteeing harmonically agreeable grains. Finally, the user customizes each note and its generators (i.e., changing parameters and candidates) to their liking and can save everything into a preset to avoid processing things again next time.

First Impression

I would have loved to tell you more about how it sounds and how easy it all works. Unfortunately, the plugin crashes on my Apple Silicon Computer in Ableton Live. I hope the developer fixes the problem. But at first sight a welcome free granular plugin with an interesting approach with a very colorful design.

gRainbow is available now as a free download from GitHub. It runs as a VST3, AU, and LV2 plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon and Intel), Linux, and Windows.

More information here: GitHub 

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