I wanted to take a look at granular synthesis; mostly because I didn't really understand what it meant. The relatively small amount of research I ended up doing really did help me rap my head around the concept.
From what I could understand, granular synthesis is a sort of small-scale synthesis. It tries find the smallest inkling of a sound and manipulate it (like a grain, as we talked about in class). The idea behind it seems to be taking the whole idea of sound and breaking it up to its bare components. In doing so, you're able to form completely new audio from the ground up. There's a huge amount of customization to be had; customization that is limited simply by one's own patience and understanding.
There's a debate regarding where the idea of granular synthesis came from. It's widely claimed that Dennis Gabor was the father of granular synthesis, due to his research leading to the conceptualization of the subject. However, a man named Iannis Xenakis played an equally important role as he was the one who developed said concept. He proposed that all sounds are building blocks; elementary pieces put into place to create a complex whole. That seems obvious to us now, but it was most likely a very different way of seeing the aural world at the time.
It's said that Curtis Roads was the first to utilize a granular synthesis engine.
All of this is intriguing to me. Obviously because I'm learning it for the first time, but also because I never really did see sound as a bunch of bits and pieces. I always saw it as an instrument and technique to be perfected rather than an architectural form. I can't say I'm a big fan of what I've embedded above, but I think it is a great showcase for that raw form. Not sure if granular synthesis is the simplest way to get the sound I want to achieve, but it certainly helps me understand those sounds a bit better.
From what I could understand, granular synthesis is a sort of small-scale synthesis. It tries find the smallest inkling of a sound and manipulate it (like a grain, as we talked about in class). The idea behind it seems to be taking the whole idea of sound and breaking it up to its bare components. In doing so, you're able to form completely new audio from the ground up. There's a huge amount of customization to be had; customization that is limited simply by one's own patience and understanding.
There's a debate regarding where the idea of granular synthesis came from. It's widely claimed that Dennis Gabor was the father of granular synthesis, due to his research leading to the conceptualization of the subject. However, a man named Iannis Xenakis played an equally important role as he was the one who developed said concept. He proposed that all sounds are building blocks; elementary pieces put into place to create a complex whole. That seems obvious to us now, but it was most likely a very different way of seeing the aural world at the time.
It's said that Curtis Roads was the first to utilize a granular synthesis engine.
All of this is intriguing to me. Obviously because I'm learning it for the first time, but also because I never really did see sound as a bunch of bits and pieces. I always saw it as an instrument and technique to be perfected rather than an architectural form. I can't say I'm a big fan of what I've embedded above, but I think it is a great showcase for that raw form. Not sure if granular synthesis is the simplest way to get the sound I want to achieve, but it certainly helps me understand those sounds a bit better.
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