Crusher-X version 8 will melt your brain and use it as a granular sound source
Crusher-X from Accsone expands again and this time it’s going to smash you over the head with Grain Controlled Oscillators (GCOs), modulation arpeggiators, envelope following granular modulations and a sample loading DCO. Do we understand any of this yet? Probably not but it sounds like fun!
Crusher-X 8
It’s a granular synthesizer that leads the way in complex and creative sound design and synthesis. It sets about the task of granularly processing live audio and doing horribly interesting things with it. Version 8 introduces a whole new sound source in the shape of these Grain Controller Oscillators which create a life for themselves within each grain. They explain it as follows:
think of hundreds of individual Oscillators or Sample-players that enjoy their crazy life “inside” each grain. With the new GCO Grain Modulation you can “color”, “enrich”, “destroy”, “overlay” or “nibble” live drones with any sonic or tuned audio layer you can dream of, as well as can make them appear or disappear depending on the GCO Mix Modulation.
Got that? Good! It’s all about sounds smashing into audio, oscillators messing about with grains in order to frequency modulate, ring modulate and bounce off each other.
Accsone Crusher-X 8 · Source: Accsone
Part of the expanded modulation section brings in an arpeggiator. It’s fully integrated with the microtonal scaling and can be employed to mess with the pitch of the GCOs, or the speed of modulation or the filter cut. Another addition is “offset modulation” which means you can now control and modulate the time between the point where grains are created and when their processes execute. This can all be further controlled by binding the Grain Modulators to Envelope Followers so that they dance depending on the input of the live signal.
And then, almost as an afterthought, they’ve taken the DCO and turned it into a sample player for your own samples or waveform designs. They’ve gifted it with looping and pitch and have thrown it into the mix.
This thing has always been nuts and it continues to sprout whole areas of madness that you wouldn’t have thought necessary. Crusher-X 8 is a complex sound design environment that rewards intense scrutiny with mind-bending sonic possibilities. Check out the disturbing video below to see if you want to embrace your granular future.
Crusher-X 8 is available for MacOS and Windows for €259 or €89 for the upgrade.
More information
- Crusher-X webpage.
Video
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