Granular is a Source block. It employs the concept of Granular Synthesis, where a source sample gets chopped into tiny pieces called “grains”. These grains are then played back layered together, to create a new sound.

The sound created can vary from one that pulses - where the individual grains sound distinct, to a smooth dense texture - where the grains overlap each other indistinguishably. It can either sound repetitive, or highly varied depending on whether the grains are sourced from the same part of the original sample, or if their origins are more scattered.

In it’s options, ‘Location’ shows a graphic of the source sample’s waveform. Dragging the locator sets the area of the sample where the grains are sourced from.The ‘Sample’ setting lets you open the SoundCloud search screen, where you can search and select tracks, or perform a randomised search if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Clicking on a track will load it as your new source sample. ‘Spread’ sets the width of the area grains are sourced from - their precise location within this region is randomised for each grain. ‘Grain Size’ sets a grains duration, and ‘Density’ determines how many grains are playing and how overlapped they are.

The SoundCloud search panel will return tracks with a duration less than 4 minutes, and which either have a license other than “All Rights Reserved”, or are tagged “blokdust”. A selection of specially recorded samples have been added to the BlokDust account on SoundCloud (search “blokdust” when loading a sample).