Anyone else here working with granular synthesis and/or microsound? I had been familiar with the topic from a long time before things started to 'click' with me about a year ago. Microsound focuses on using very small sample lengths (generally under 50 milliseconds) to generate and extract tone colors (aka timbre) from a sound source. The resulting music can be described as glitch, clicks-and-cuts, drone, noise, experimental ambient and soundscape to name a few.

These Wikipedia articles give a good overview:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsound
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granular_synthesis

I have utilized some aspects of granularity in the past but hadn’t been able to pay much attention to the full scope and theory until recently. I find myself fascinated at the variety and range of tones and rhythms that come from making slight changes to the source material. I also like moving away (at least as an option) from rigid note quantization and the familiar timeline of sequence-based composing (which I am still very much into). Here's a list of resources for those interested in more:

Density GS and Pulsaret - http://www.densitygs.com/
Density is both a standalone granular synthesis app and a Max for Live (M4L) device for Ableton. Pulsaret is very similar to Density and uses elementary sound waveforms to generate the sound rather than using your own samples. The site has good intro videos, which demonstrate how the various controls affect the sound stream. There is a free lite version and limited demos of both apps. The creator, Alessandro Petrolati, is very approachable, and I have exchanged emails with him.

Robert Henke (Monolake) - Granulator - http://www.ableton.com/pages/max_for_live/granulator
Henke recently released his Granulator as a free M4L instrument, which has been long-awaited. Its controls are slightly different than Density and it's definitely worth checking out the videos and the page on his site to see how it works: http://www.monolake.de/technology/granulator.html

Bordulator M4L instrument - http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device.php?id=360
Another good granulator for use in Ableton using Max for Live. This was the first granulator I started to get results with.

NI Reaktor - http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/reaktor-5/
Reaktor has a number of good granular synthesis macros and ensembles, both in its standard library and the extensive user library. Personally, it took me a while to make sense of them, but if you have Reaktor (or Reaktor Player) you already have access to them.

Microsound by Curtis Roads - http://www.amazon.com/Microsound-Curtis-Roads/dp/0262681544
This can be a dense read, but it gives a great overview of microsound and its context within music history and theory. There are also some good videos of Curtis Roads on Youtube:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajdRGF5NHIs
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ehu8u_JTjw
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul4y_e3TLyk&feature=related

.microsound mailing list - http://microsound.org/
This discussion list has other likeminded producers and labels dealing with experimental and microsound music. From the list description:

.microsound is not a "genre" mailing list, since this proliferation has occurred largely without regard for stylistic boundary. instead, .microsound presents itself as a forum for the discussion and exploration of a more general "digital aesthetic" manifesting across a wide variety of styles and disciplines -- from academic computer music to post-industrial noise to experimental ambient and post-techno.

Microsound Twitter list - http://twitter.com/#!/nofi/microsound
I created this list to keep track of other microsounders on Twitter.

My microsound compositions
So far, I have released three albums of granular synthesis and microsound. The first two are collections of experiments and the third is a kind-of 'side project/concept album' of granular space music. For those interested in hearing more:

• http://nofi.bandcamp.com/album/granular-01
• http://nofi.bandcamp.com/album/granular-02
• http://nofi.bandcamp.com/album/el-libro-principal

Drop me a line to share techniques or if you're interested in more. I haven't included any artists or labels but may do so in a follow-up. Cheers,

I agree interesting results can come with working with triplets (1/3, 1/6, 1/12 aka 4T, 8T and 16T notes) rather than just factors of 4. I hadn't realized until your post there was a triplet grid (Command + 3 in clip edit). Also fun is to set the delay offset percentage (usually to the left of the [sync] button in a delay device) to 16.7% or 33.3% for some triplet delay times and instant dub sound. I'm not as up on more recent artists, but The Black Dog and Plaid used to produce a lot with different time signatures. If you want to delve further, check out the Euclidean Rhythms post.

Regarding microsound, definitely download the free Density GS app (there's also a text file to download with an activation code) and start messing with it. You can get some interesting non-linear and glitchy rhythms from using short sample lengths and low density settings. There is a fine line between noise and interesting soundscape. It takes a little playing, but you can find a sweet spot for interesting tones and rhythms from just about any sample. Cheers,