{"id":6764,"date":"2019-08-29T18:42:46","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T22:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=6764"},"modified":"2026-02-13T13:27:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:27:02","slug":"granular-synthesis-drums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/granular-synthesis-drums\/","title":{"rendered":"How to design unique drum sounds with granular synthesis"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first glance, granular synthesis can seem almost too arcane or intangible to fully understand, as it has certain elements that stand out from most other forms of synthesis.<\/h2>\n

Given its open-ended, infinite, and almost entirely random results, granular synthesis<\/a> can intimidate even a production veteran. But realistically, and very beautifully, most granular sounds that stand out almost always come from places of experimentation and randomization. In this article, I’ll share some fundamental tools and techniques that create a playing field that breeds these sounds in a way that feels natural to a beginner, while bringing the feeling of instrumentation to the digital world.<\/p>\n

What we’ll be learning<\/h2>\n

In this article, I\u2019m going to run through how to create tech-y granular drums and techniques for synthesizing material to layer them with. We’re going to use a couple tools that are native to Ableton and Max for Live (free with all versions of Ableton 9\u00a0 – 10). For the baseline drum samples, we’ll be using kicks, snares, and foley that have been recorded and synthesized prior to this tutorial, and will focus more on how to manipulate them to achieve a clean, textured, digital sound.<\/p>\n

Our tools for granular synthesis<\/h2>\n

The tools we’re using are heavily focused on granular sound manipulation. Most notably, we’ll be using Ableton\u2019s native Warp<\/strong> settings and Max for Live\u2019s Granulator II.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Granulator II is a unique and simple granular synthesis plugin. It loops \u2018grains,\u2019 or fractions, of a sample that are entered into it and provides various options to affect them. The variables we’ll be using are Granulator II’s File Position <\/strong>and\u00a0Grain Size<\/strong>, in addition to the notes on the piano roll, which we’ll be manipulating to affect the pitch and speed of the sound.<\/p>\n

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The Grain Size<\/strong> parameter controls how small the loop size will be. When turned to the left, it’ll lengthen the loop, creating a slower repetition and lower tone. If turned to the right, it’ll shorten the loop, creating a higher-pitched tone.<\/p>\n

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Using granular synthesis to create layering material<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In this part of the tutorial, let’s create the layering material for both the kick and snares, exclusively with Granulator II. One of my favorite things to do is throw in a tune that’s already rich with sound design into Granulator II and create layers using warped bits from it. In this instance, I’ll be using my tune, “IF U DON\u2019T KNOH (VIP).” You can simply drag-and-drop whatever tune you’d like to use from your library into Granulator II.<\/p>\n

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This method works well with both pre-sweeps for snares and attacks for kicks. When a sample is brought into Granulator II, its root note is set to C3 by default. For a bit of texture, let’s play it up three octaves. This is what that sounds like:<\/p>\n

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