ANALOGyGR

ANALOGyGR Granalog Synth (AUv3)

ANALOGyGR is a virtual instrument plugin that can run standalone, or in any AU compatible host such as Logic Pro or GarageBand. Please note that the standalone version does not include a built-in keyboard - you need to connect a suitable MIDI device to play the synth.

What's a "granalog" synth?

It's granular... but (probably) not as you know it.

ANALOGyGR (analog-ee gee are) is not a granular synth in the traditional sense, but it does borrow some ideas and terminology from granular synthesis. Please note that ANALOGyGR is not a file-based audio effects processor that allows you to load your own samples, and this is what makes it different, possibly even unique! At its heart, ANALOGyGR is an eight voice polyphonic virtual analog synth with oscillators that are rendered as "grains". While ANALOGyGR can get close to sounding like a "normal" synth, it's really aimed at people who prefer more experimental type sound design and atmospheric textures. For traditional analog sounds, I'd ask you to also take a look at the popular ANALOGyXS (poly) and ANALOGyX1 (mono) synths as all three cover slightly different sonic territory.

Design Overview

Each of the 8 voices in ANALOGyGR have 3 dedicated grain oscillators each (saw, triangle and square waveforms), and these 24 oscillators are used to generate grains of varying shape (saw, ramp and triangle envelopes) and variable length (50ms to 10 seconds). The oscillator and grain shape can also be randomly selected on each grain cycle for some really interesting dynamic textures, and grains are also randomly spread in the stereo field. ANALOGyGR also has a noise generator that can be applied to the main amplitude ASR envelope, or at the grain level. Grain notes can be pitched up or down an octave on alternate cycles or randomly per voice, and can also glide from one note to the next which can make even the simplest chord sound much more intriguing!

ANALOGyGR also shares many of the "under the hood" features introduced in ANALOGyXS and ANALOGyX1 which can result is some very complex, evolving and dramatic sounds for a relatively small synth with just 16 parameters. Speaking of which...

ANALOGyGR has been designed very much as a performance-based instrument to be played and manipulated in real-time. To facilitate this, all of the instrument parameters are controllable via dedicated MIDI CCs from your keyboard or another MIDI generator plugin. ANALOGyGR can also respond to channel and polyphonic aftertouch pressure MIDI messages for an enhanced and expressive playing experience. As the sounds of ANALOGyGR typically tend to evolve over time, it is perhaps better suited to sustained note passages and sparse / simple chord voicings combined with a dynamic playing style.

Please note that while ANALOGyGR has been designed to be CPU-friendly, if you want to take advantage of the extended MIDI capabilities such as polyphonic aftertouch and parameter modulation, a fairly up to date hardware setup is recommended.

More info:

https://www.waverley-instruments.com/robjackson