Granular Delay

Live-memory granular delay records incoming audio into a rolling buffer and sprays overlapping grains back into the mix for shimmering echoes and frozen textures. Hold freezes capture so the current memory keeps replaying.

Position, Grain Size, Spread, Pitch, and the grain Window shape how each grain reads from the buffer. Density sets the grain-spawn cadence: it runs free in grains per second, or locks to a patched phase clock divided by the Density Division for tempo-synced spawns. Feedback and Damping recirculate wet grains into memory, and Mix balances the granular wet path against the dry signal.

Inputs

Audio In

Stereo audio captured into the live granular delay memory.

ID	audio
Signal	audio · audio rate · stereo
Unit	normalized
Range	-1 to 1 normalized
Default	0
Coercion	Implicit

Trigger

Spawn one grain immediately and re-anchor Density scheduling without clearing active grains; when clocked, subsequent grains resume on wired phase boundaries.

ID	trigger
Signal	trigger · event rate
Coercion	Implicit

Hold

High freezes capture so incoming audio no longer overwrites memory.

ID	hold
Signal	gate · event rate
Coercion	Implicit

Position

Read position in milliseconds, or a Clock Divider phase output for synced grain memory access.

ID	positionMs
Signal	control · control rate
Unit	ms
Range	0 to 8000 ms
Default	250
Coercion	Implicit

Grain Size

Grain length in milliseconds, or a Clock Divider phase output for synced grain length.

ID	grainSizeMs
Signal	control · control rate
Unit	ms
Range	1 to 500 ms
Default	60
Coercion	Implicit

Spread

Random read-position spread in milliseconds, or a Clock Divider phase output for synced spread width.

ID	spreadMs
Signal	control · control rate
Unit	ms
Range	0 to 2000 ms
Default	125
Coercion	Implicit

Feedback

Wet granular feedback written into memory while capture is live.

ID	feedback
Signal	control · control rate
Unit	gain01
Range	0 to 0.95 gain01
Default	0.25
Coercion	Implicit

Mix

Dry/wet mix.

ID	mix
Signal	control · control rate
Unit	mix01
Range	0 to 1 mix01
Default	0.35
Coercion	Implicit

Seed

ID	seedMod
Signal	control · control rate
Unit	count
Range	1 to 65535 count
Default	7919
Coercion	Implicit

Density

Grains per second, or a phase clock to lock the grain-spawn cadence to the Density Division. Free (unwired) keeps the raw rate; a patched clock drives synced spawns.

ID	density
Signal	control · control rate
Unit	grainsPerSec
Range	1 to 200 grainsPerSec
Default	20
Coercion	Implicit

Outputs

Stereo Output

Stereo granular delay output.

ID	out
Signal	audio · audio rate · stereo
Unit	normalized
Range	-1 to 1 normalized
Coercion	Implicit

Parameters

Position

Sets the center position sampled from the captured delay memory.

ID	positionMs
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	0 to 8000 ms, step 1
Default	250
Group	Grains

Grain Size

Sets the duration of each grain.

ID	grainSizeMs
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	1 to 500 ms, step 1, log
Default	60
Group	Grains

Density

Grain spawn rate in grains per second. Ignored when a phase clock is patched into the Density input (see Density Division).

ID	density
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	1 to 200 grainsPerSec, step 1
Default	20
Group	Grains

Density Division

Sets the grain-spawn interval when a phase clock controls Density.

ID	densityDivision
Type	enum
Control	select
Range or Options	1/64 (1/64), 1/32 (1/32), 1/16 (1/16), 1/8 (1/8), 1/4 (1/4), 1/2 (1/2), 1/1 (1/1)
Default	1/16 (1/16)
Group	Grains

Spread

Randomizes each grain position around the selected capture position.

ID	spreadMs
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	0 to 2000 ms, step 1
Default	125
Group	Grains

Seed

Sets the repeatable random sequence used to generate grains.

ID	seed
Type	int
Control	numberInput
Range or Options	1 to 65535 count, step 1
Default	7919
Group	Grains

Window

Chooses the amplitude envelope applied to each grain.

ID	window
Type	enum
Control	select
Range or Options	Hann (hann), Triangle (triangle), Gaussian (gaussian), Exponential (exponential)
Default	Hann (hann)
Group	Grains

Pitch

Transposes every grain by a fixed number of semitones.

ID	pitchSemitones
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	-24 to 24 semitones, step 0.1
Default	0
Group	Pitch

Pitch Random

Randomizes grain pitch around the fixed transposition.

ID	pitchRandomSemitones
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	0 to 24 semitones, step 0.1
Default	0
Group	Pitch

Stereo Spread

Spreads grains across the stereo field.

ID	stereoSpread
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	0 to 1 phase01, step 0.01
Default	0.35
Group	Pitch

Feedback

Feeds the granular output back into capture memory.

ID	feedback
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	0 to 0.95 gain01, step 0.01
Default	0.25
Group	Output

Damping

Reduces high frequencies in the feedback path.

ID	damping
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	0 to 1 phase01, step 0.01
Default	0.35
Group	Output

Mix

Blends the dry input with the granular delay output.

ID	mix
Type	float
Control	slider
Range or Options	0 to 1 mix01, step 0.01
Default	0.35
Group	Output

Details

Canonical ID	fx.granularDelay
Category	effects
Runtime Surface	control
Runtime Targets	control-main-thread
JUCE Early Access	Supported
Early Access Note	Native-supported in the plugin for the current catalog/runtime support contract.
Audio Channel Behavior	Width Transform (alters the stereo image)
Stereo Width	stereoSpread (neutral 0.35, range 0–1)