ADDAC System has announced its first comprehensive take on granular synthesis: the ADDAC112 VC Looper & Granular Sampling module.

The company says that the new 32 HP Eurorack module and the accompanying 13 HP patchbay [ADDAC112B] “bring a sea of possibilities to modular synthesists”.

“There’s a long history behind the granular concept and many reinterpretations of its core principles, and this is our take on it,” comments ADDAC System founder André Gonçalves. “In a loose description, digital granular refers to pieces of sound files being played at the same time with slight, or completely different parameters — originating what is commonly referred to as ‘granular clouds’. In our vision we added the possibility of extremely long buffer sizes — up to 5 minutes,. This allows “softer” approaches to the granular principle. using it as an effect that can generate both ‘accidental’ effects like slight ‘stutters’ to more extreme processing or complete transformation of any incoming audio signal.”

The module consists of three main sections:

• The Looper Engine, which is where all the ‘real-time’ recording happens. Multiple controls within the Looper Engine section allow users to record and play loops into a list so that samples may be accessed at any given time. Using the included SD Card, the Looper Engine can store a total of 99 loops per preset, and five minutes of sampling time can be shared for all loops loaded into a bank. Loops are saved as separate 16 bit, 44.1 kHz mono .WAV files
• The Granular Engine features a deep set of controls, allowing a wide range of results. This section was designed to be fully hands-on, with all controls readily available on the front panel allowing for immediate playability. After a grain is initialized, the Granular Engine will read and calculate all parameters, continuously calculating new settings every times it starts playing. The Granular Engine feeds from whatever LOOP buffer is selected — therefore the size of any grain is dependent of the LOOP size
• The Output Mix allows individual control over the dry Input, looper volume and grains volume so they can be summed and combined into the stereo outputs.

In addition to each of these three sections, all of the front panel control knobs have their own CV input, and all controls on the left block (ADDAC112) have a corresponding I/O matrix on the right block (ADDAC112B).

Pricing and Availability

The new ADDAC112 VC Looper & Granular Sampling module will be available in late March for a cost of €540.