Sugar Bytes Graindad is a new granular effect plugin powered by a mighty grain engine with embedded FXs and an innovative harvester modulation engine.
It took much longer than I expected. In 2022, Sugar Bytes released their first flagship granular FX plugin with the unique harvester modulation. In the closing sentences, I was hoping for an iOS version. It took them four years, but now it’s here.
Sugar Bytes released Graindad für iPadOS today. It includes the same features, including the unique harvester modulation from the desktop plugin.
Great release, and thanks to Sugar Bytes for turning it into an iPad FX.
Sugar Bytes Graindad is available now as a free download. You can unlock the full version via an in-app purchase for $24,99. It runs as a standalone and AUv3 plugin on iPadOS.
More information here: Sugar Bytes / App Store
Desktop version is available from my partner
Plugin B
Article from October 4, 2022
The Berlin company Sugar Bytes makes crazy instrument and effect plugins packed with innovative ideas. You won’t find bread-and-butter or more of the same here. This is about plugins that enable endless wild sound experiments.
Something the company doesn’t offer much in their plugins is granular synthesis. One of my favorites when it comes to synthesis technologies. With Graindad, Sugar shows a very playful granular effect plugin with fascinating ideas
Sugar Bytes Graindad
Graindad is a new granular effects plugin for macOS and Windows with many playful ideas.
The grain engine, the heart of every granular plugin, can play back up to 64 grains simultaneously in different unique ways. You can manipulate existing audio files or use the process in real time with live audio. Clever, you can record in sync to your host clock or even trigger it directly via MIDI.
The engine offers 12 main parameters, giving you creative tools like looping, stuttering, time stretching, glitch, pitch shifting, reversing, and harmonizing. And of course, also parameters like density, grain size, position, pitch, and more.
The plugin’s highlight is its dual modulation engine. On the one hand, you get a classic mod system with LFOs, envelopes, modulators, step sequencers, and more. Modulations you know from every synthesizer, and now also from effects.
But Sugar Bytes goes beyond that and offers a Harvester Modulation engine.
Harvester Modulation
The Harvester is a newly developed modulation system that lets you modulate all 12 main controls at once. You have to think of it as a field where parameters are scattered, and the harvester captures them at different points.
And just like in real life, you can also drive along paths that you have drawn before and modulate several parameters at the same time
Sugar Bytes goes more in detail:
The Harvester modulates all 12 main controls at once. The distance between the Harvester and parameter objects defines the modulation depth. The parameter objects have “moons” that can be recorded as automation or randomized for additional layers of motion.
On the Auto-Pilot Page, the Harvester can move between 12 breakpoints, which can also be triggered by MIDI notes for performative control.
An exciting concept to modulate parameters. There is plenty of stuff to discover, including morphing.
Effects
Furthermore, Sugar Bytes added a pretty impressive multi-effects engine inside its granular processor. You can find classic effects here, like multimode filters, reverbs, shimmer, delays, flanger, chorus, and flangers.
Dry/Wet controls make it easy to blend filter sweeps into the image or use the bandpass as a peaking EQ to emphasize certain frequencies.
Sugar Bytes also has many built-in ways to randomize parameters. Okay, that’s nothing extraordinary with SB releases anymore. Of course, Graindad also includes many presets created by professional sound designers.
First Impression
Sugar Bytes likes to take more time for the next release. In this case, too, but then you can be almost certain that there will be another highlight.
It looks like a super exciting plugin with a lot of sound options. Especially the interface, which looks very intuitive, makes you want to discover it right away. I hope this effect will also make it to iOS at some point.
Sugar Bytes Graindad is available now for 99€ and runs as a VST2, VST3, AU, and AAX on macOS (Intel + native Apple Silicon) and Windows.
More information here: Sugar Bytes
Available at my partner
na endlich! Jetzt bitte noch Nest dazu, dann sind wir wieder komplett 🙂