🔒 Your files stay on your device — core audio processing runs locally. Privacy details →
Find a toolCtrl K
✨
Free · In-browser · No upload

Granular Synthesizer Online.

Scatter any sound into a live cloud of 20–500 ms grains. Stretch, freeze, smear and glitch it, then record your performance.

Before-and-after illustration of Granular Synthesizer: Source audio texture becomes Granular soundscape through Scatter micro-grains.
Before → process → afterSee the signal story, then hear it in the workspace.

TIME + SPACE MAP

Grain Cloud Canvas

Trace the dry event into motion, repeats or ambience. The visual separates the direct sound from what arrives later, making timing, density, feedback and stereo movement easier to reason about.

Before-and-after illustration of Granular Synthesizer: Source audio texture becomes Granular soundscape through Scatter micro-grains.
Source audio textureScatter micro-grainsGranular soundscape
A time-domain field: one clear source event expands into controlled repeats, modulation or ambience before returning to the mix.
Open the full signal breakdownBest source, processing logic, limits and three-pass listening check
  1. Source audio texture

    Start with the right material

    Drones, pads, glitch textures and discovering new material inside a short sample.

  2. Scatter micro-grains

    Understand the transformation

    Many overlapping buffer fragments are scheduled locally with randomized timing and pitch around the selected controls.

  3. Granular soundscape

    Verify the usable result

    A live resynthesis performance and a locally captured output.

Grain density

Where this workflow stops

Granular output is intentionally stochastic, so repeated takes can differ. Dense settings are CPU-heavy and may crackle on slower devices.

THREE-PASS CHECK

Make the final decision by ear

  • Judge timing against the rhythm rather than in solo.
  • Check whether the tail masks the next word, note or transient.
  • Audition mono and headphones when the effect uses stereo motion.
Source
Microphone or browser-decodable audio up to 200 MB.
Grain engine
20–500 ms grains at 1–100 grains per second, with spray and pitch jitter.
Output
A real-time performance recording downloadable as WAV or MP3.

How to use the granular synthesizer

  1. Load a source: drop any audio file in, or press Record a sample and capture a sound with your mic.
  2. Pick a preset — Frozen Pad, Shimmer, Granular Echo, Glitch or Drone — or shape your own with the grain size, density, spray and pitch sliders.
  3. Start the engine and perform on the XY pad: horizontal movement scans through the sample, vertical movement bends pitch.
  4. Open the record panel to capture your performance, then download the take.

How it works: a scheduler creates short overlapping Web Audio sources with triangular gain envelopes, random pan, position spray and pitch jitter. The signal then passes through a low-pass filter, feedback delay, hall-reverb send and output recorder — all locally in your browser.

Limits: the export captures a real-time performance, not a deterministic offline render. High density, long source files and effects can overload slower phones or CPUs and cause crackles. Microphone use needs permission. AudioWrench grants no rights to your source recording; use only audio you own or are licensed to transform.

Granular Synthesizer: quick answer and technical limits

Quick answer: A real-time granular instrument that slices uploaded sound into tiny grains and scatters them by position, size, density, pitch and randomness.

Best for
Drones, pads, glitch textures and discovering new material inside a short sample.
How it works
Many overlapping buffer fragments are scheduled locally with randomized timing and pitch around the selected controls.
What you get
A live resynthesis performance and a locally captured output.

Know before you use it: Granular output is intentionally stochastic, so repeated takes can differ. Dense settings are CPU-heavy and may crackle on slower devices.

Public browser workflow evidence

Question: Can the granular instrument load a local fixture, render a short capture and export a readable WAV?

Observed result: The tool captured 0.7 seconds of granular output and exported a valid 138,284-byte WAV.

Evidence boundary: Granular scheduling is intentionally stochastic, so this verifies the workflow and file output rather than a fixed artistic result.

Network observation: No audio-payload or cross-origin requests were observed during this published workflow.

Open the public benchmark, method and fixture →

Privacy: Selected audio is processed in this browser and is not uploaded to AudioWrench. Normal page assets can still be requested as described in the privacy notice. Privacy details →

FAQ

What is granular synthesis in simple terms?
Granular synthesis plays a sound back as a cloud of tiny overlapping slices called grains, each lasting tens of milliseconds. By changing grain size, density, position and pitch you can freeze a single vowel into an endless pad, smear a chord into a drone, or shred a drum loop into glitch textures.
What sounds work best as source material?
Almost anything — a sung note, a guitar chord, rain on a window, even speech. Harmonically rich, sustained sources make lush pads and drones, while percussive sources turn into rhythmic glitch material. You can drop in a file or record a sample with your microphone.
How do I record what I play on the XY pad?
Start the engine, perform your sweeps and freezes, and use the record panel to capture the live output. The recording happens inside the browser, and your take can be played back and downloaded as an audio file when you stop.
Is this granular synth free to use commercially?
The tool itself is free, but it does not grant rights to the source audio. You may use an output commercially only when you own or have the necessary licence for the input and your intended use.