GrainPlane is a physical interface built specifically for granular synthesis.
It creates a one to one mapping of physical grain action in the real world (rice, beans, sand, etc.) to auditory grains. Dropping a single grain onto the surface of the instrument triggers a single audio grain to play back. Letting a stream flow onto the surface creates a more densely layered texture.
A set of Piezo contact mics are attached to the back of the surface and this audio information is processed by the Max/MSP patch running on the computer. With the combination of audio information from multiple sources and Max's DSP engine, it not only detects the impact of grains hitting the surface but the grain's relative size and approximate X and Y coordinate location on the surface.
The software interface allows mapping any of the controller features to synthesis features including grain pitch, pan, sample source, and length.
This instrument was presented at the Audio Mostly conference in Sweden.
GrainPlane: Intuitive Tactile Interface for Granular SynthesisAM '16 Proceedings of the Audio Mostly 2016, 2016
Or, download it here.
