Superbooth 2023: Tasty Chips - GR Mega - New Granular Synth with Dual Filters
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- At Superbooth 2023, we spoke to Peter from Tasty Chips who showed us their flagship model, the GR Mega, a granular synthesizer designed for complex sound design based on samples. The GR Mega boasts many modulation options, a large mod matrix, four LFOs, 18 mod destinations, four envelopes (one freely assignable), and a step sequencer. The instrument also includes dual filters, low-pass and high-pass, seven effects (of which four can be used in parallel), and 128 presets. Peter explained that the grains in the synthesizer are generated from the samples and can be randomized in position and mixed together to create the final output.
The GR Mega is expected to be released at the end of the year.
Price: Around 1,800 Euros.
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Peter‘s excitement is killing me 😂
😆
A good example for the Dutch proverb: „Just be normal, that’s crazy enough.“ 😂
Peter really made Sonics State work to get information about this (awesome sounding) instrument!
Good on Sonic State for asking a lot of great questions.
Not all creators are the best pitch-men for their product.
Yes … but there are limits ….😂
Not so good questions I disagree
@@eento06 What questions should they have asked?
As a heavy user of my GR-1 I’m really excited about this. Great to hear about the planned UI changes, dedicated audio inputs, hopefully some improvements to components/form factor (yes please 19” rack mountable!)/colour scheme, but at the end of the day the biggest issue for me will be performance. My GR-1 frequently has audio artefacts/dropouts under load when running loops in 4 layers in multitimbral mode (which is my most common use for it), and it would be a near-perfect instrument if it wasn’t for these performance issues. Really hoping the new code and processor for this unit are more effective in this regard.
There will be none of that here.
@@TastyChips You definitely have my interest, this looks like a really promising upgrade and I am keen to see/hear more! 🙏🏻
@@TastyChips is that something fixable on a firmware update? im interested in the GR-1 but i don't want to have that kind of problem after spending that money
Looks great!
Not sure what all the fuss is about regarding the interview. These are hardware builders and not massive companies with huge sales and marketing teams.
Exactly. They don't need a pitchman while they are not ready to ship the product. That would be an additional cost that no boxes are being sold to support. When they start to ship, let the regulars dive in to them.
Hardware builder or not - this is an exposition and you should be able to articulate what it is that you've built if you want people to buy it this Xmas. End users don't care what programming language was replaced by what other programming language to get where you are at - end users care what the buttons do when they press them or what the floating squares are and mean on the display when the sound comes out. Tell me what it is, tell me what it does, show me how it works and how much it's going to cost. If I am a distributor and you can't even do that at the show cos it's too hard for you, I have 123 other choices to view at the same venue.
I have the GR-1. Depending on what you feed it, results vary. Sometimes just noise. Sometimes magic. When you find the gold, nothing else can do what it does.
Agreed!
..except for a well designed Reaktor patch maybe.. or Max patch. I agree though - this is definitely filling a hardware hole in the market.
TIPs for Tasty Chips if you want this to be a True Success:
(1) As requested from MOST users since the release of your 1ST unit the GR-1 >> include sampling inputs directly on this GR MEGA ! this is one of the huge Value Added propositions to make mostly Dawless or Hardware focused studios use this with their Hardware SYNTHS over software.. the iridium implemented sampling inputs for its granular engine & at this size there's no excuse not to include it in the GR-MEGA.
(2) Bring all the controls down that are above the top of the screen & chop that extra height off the unit.. & tighten up the unit a little in general try to avoid leaving unnecessary dead wasted space. Its great to see proper hands on control surface which i applaud & your synth engine sound great .. but studio space is still at a premium for most users so make the best use of it you can. it doesn't need to be perfect but look to the Novation Peak as inspiration for good use of space & see what can be shifted/tweaked to save space while maintaining knobs buttons & utility.
(3) Make it 19" rack mountable... once its a a bit shorter & tighter those who can afford to have it on their desk at the new reduced size will & those who don't but still have rack space will have the ability to justify the purchase & add rack ears to it, Vesna mountable would also be a bonus if possible.
(4) Hire a graphic designers and or make name logo small sharp & understated. & my personal request offer this in black with white /or gray silver text as a standard option (not an addition 100 euro like the GR-1 ) black matches & fits best with most other hardware studio gear both modern & vintage.
I agree with all this feedback! Well said
As a GR-1 owner I'd love to see all of this implemented!
We hear you. This indeed the most requested feature. You'll be glad to hear the Mega has a high quality balanced stereo inputs built in. It even has dedicated knobs for it to be used as a live effect with dedicated dry/wet and input level, and a record button.
Lets hope your taking on board the critical thoughts about the colour scheme.@@TastyChips
Wooden side cheeks replaceable with 19" rack ears, and it's the perfect form factor for a module. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for this towards the end of the year. Interesting they decided to do a total rewrite of the code
If it is this it is an instant buy.
Glad they keep on pushing granular synthesis, definitely something I will have a look at as soon as it becomes available
Very cool! Basically an Amon Tobin machine
Second patch in, and every one after 😂
2:20 Skinny Puppy has entered the chat.
One side of the stereo recording of the line out from the synth is having obvious problems - it's much lower than the other side. Around 6:20, he modulates the panning, and you clearly can hear that one side is significantly lower than it should be. Listen in headphones. The microphone recording is fine - it's only present in all the synth sounds, and as you can hear at that timestamp, its not a modulation setting. The waveform display on the synth shows me that the samples themselves are balanced... the problem occurred somewhere between the synth's output stage and the rendered video.
you even hear it on Laptop speakers..
True. The rendering is off balance. It's a prototype still. It's a software issue that crept in there after optimization. Relatively easy to fix.
The most exciting thing I've seen in quite a while.
I have a GR-1. Amazing synth. This is giving me gear lust, which rarely happens. But damn, for such a great instrument this guy has no idea how to be enthused by his creation.
I'd give it a bit of out for some folks just not being comfortable on cameras. If you prefer being alone at home working on a your projects; presenting at a show like this is a complete flip; even if the product is great.
Definitely making some of the most interesting synths. Was thinking about a GR-1, but a few limitations were a bit off-putting. This seems perfect. A couple of questions come to mind, how many multitimbral parts, how many polyphonic voices, how many grains per cloud can it produce, what sampling rate, how many outputs and if two, can it be expanded with external audio interface?
Hi, thanks! 4 layers (layer = multitimbral part), 20 voices per layer, 128 grains per cloud.. although you can hit the same note and use a large release to get it up to thousands, of course. sampling rate is 48 kHz. It has stereo 1/4" balanced outputs. USB output expansion, well.. we're thinking about it. If we decide to do it, it will probably only support a couple of preferred USB audio interfaces.. It will be able to record layers to wav, though.. if that helps?
@@TastyChips Cool, yes, that helps. That's what I wanted to know. Since it is double the price, I would have maybe expected it to be 8 layers, or at least 6. Would have been better for crafting more complete tracks with. That was a problem I always had with the Elektron Digitone; four tracks gets a track going but doesn't allow you flesh it out much. But it seems like the extra processing is going toward the LFOs, modulation, mod matrix, and especially the four slot effects engine. Still cool. I think they only other question was about removable media, I'm guessing it's sample transfer by USB (doesn't support connecting drives)?
Makes the GR-1 look like a prototype 😉
This machine has some serious engineering inside.
If I bought one of these I'd probably never leave the house...
Great news! ❤
A bigger unit cool! for 1000€ I assume this one has the basic edit features that lacks in the GR-1 wave file editing options ( in/out chop samples, normalize ect) I had to buy the SP-404MII as a wavefile editor, witch has a build in audio-interface. No touch screen, thats a missed opportunity. Does this one come with audio-interface build in? Curious about the IO, a shame it wasn't shown. Still got many questions, not a clear pitch, imo it should be max 1300€
GREAT ONE....
I played with it. I loved it.
Does it do real time granulation, exemple : granulate from an input ( synth ) ?
Yes, it's directly usable as a granular effect. It even has dry/wet controls for that in the upper-right section.
@@TastyChips Awesome thank you !
@@TastyChips Are the filters analog? Would be really cool to run the samples (grains or entire) through analog filters. Also can you map samples to specific notes? Say I have sampled another synth... Classic sampler stuff basically.
@@andy80sdrums Filters are digital, because they're per voice, and we can do many voices.
Mapping samples to specific notes: Yes, most definitely. We have a slice mode for that, with easy controls and an autoslicer and everything. You can even load in multisamples into this mode.
sounds delicious
That second preset he played pulled my head pants down and blew my mind
sounds great. i would advise a UI overhaul. people can roll their eyes but along side reliability, connectivity and obv sound usabilty/UI are the vital to widen the access.
What issues with the UI do you see?
What's wrong with it?
100% agree. A lousy UI is a deal breaker.
The original GR-1 is OK, but it leaves a lot of room for improvement too.
@@2112jonr What would you improve?
It will receive a total overhaul still. The replacement is already halfway finished.
Looks interesting. Didn't go for the GR-1 but this looks promising. Yeah, the font is a bit weird but I kinda like it somehow. The grey/blue scheme still looks nice imo.
The four parallel FX and live granular fun makes it reeeeeally tempting. Can't wait for the end result. And please don't go for for sth everybody likes.... just do what you feel like. Rather male it polarizing than nice for everybody. I bet this will help on the long run. And in NL you have greeeeaaat graphic designers. so just get one onboard and let's go! :)
Cant wait for the end of the year even tho summer will be nice i hope.
Seriously cool! 'Can it be set up for live playing?' would be a natural question methinks.
NB. Tasty Chips: Wood is just plain wrong for space ships.
Oh yes. It can be easily setup for that. There are videos coming where the Mega is used by a professional keyboard player, and also where it's used as a live granular fx / looper (there's a special knobs section for that).
@@TastyChips Cool. I'd love to hear how it fares with guitar as an advanced real time granular fx unit (with patches).
I'm thirsty for the grains!
I love it so much.
I like this synth/computer. Granular synthesis in the box never Interested me. This feels more like an instrument I might get this.
Is the total cost 1500 or 1800 euros? The website is confusing because it says 605 euros as the first of 3 payments, but then it says the total cost is 1500 euros
Total cost = 1500 EX VAT. Including Dutch VAT that's about 1800
Sound good!
Where is the convolver pedal???
That thing is comically HUGE!!!
5:33 cool
Is this better than the Waldorf Iridium for granular?
Love it! 🤟
Der is Mega 🤣❤🔥🫶✨🤌🏻 Ein bisschen mehr room oder stage währe cool.
Sample management? SD card or internal? Samples per project limitations. Sample file size or format limitations? How many voices? Are the filters digital (Iassume so), or analog? Looks and sounds awesome!
We're releasing the spec sheet soon, but here's a summary:
- there's 512GB internal flash storage. no SD card, but M2 flash memory
- 128 presets (samples) per project. 50 projects total. a project resides in RAM (8GB)
- Granulation takes place on samples of 3 minutes maximum. However, the other modes can be used on 60 minutes sample files maximum. There's an easy crop function to select the interesting part of a large sampling.. field recording or an entire music album for instance.
- 20 voices per layer. so 80 can be playing in total if all layers are enabled.
- Filters are digital, because we have 2 filters per voice.. 160 analog filters can not fit even into such a casing, and would use a lot of power, make a lot of heat, etc.
- Thanks!
🤘👀🤘
The slide, tilt and curve sliders have been changed to knobs?
You saw well. Also the window can do more like "wobbling". The controls are simplified because on the GR-1 the curve and sides controls competed with each other. The Mega's window controls are faster to set up.
I loved my GR-1 my only issue was that the sliders felt to “loose” are these the same kind of faders or do these have more of a firm feel? Either way it looks amazing.
The horizontal slider is completely different. In the direction of movement it's very smooth.. like a DJ fader. Sideways movement is almost non-existent. The vertical sliders are also different from the GR-1's. There's still sideways movement, but less than on the GR-1. Rest assured, these parts are high quality Alps. We did our homework. ;-)
@@TastyChips that’s awesome, I’m lookin forward to this!!!!
Would love to see a demo of the reliq instruments analog matrix mixer that should be demoing there!
It is really hard to justify buying this with the software available. But I do want one.
which software can do that complex granular synthesis ?
@@ReiHerreraCrusher-x
I like this
It has an HDMI connection... here take my money...💸💰💸💰💸
Can you just play samples in a regular polyphonic fashion? Any word on polyphony?
Exactly, I am wondering the same thing. Well actually the video mentions 'massively polyphonic' @3:26 and 'you can also use the entire sample @3:34.
Im sure we'll find out soon, but the original GR-1 is 11 note polyphony
Yes, it has a traditional sampler mode, that sticks more to the conventions than the GR-1 does, but can also do stuff like chord mode. The polyphony is 20 voices per layer.
wow! I wish I´d understand it more...
brutal
I would love to see more robust pots and sliders than the one on the GR1. They have a little too much play for my taste!
Sounds incredible, very excited, but can I please suggest like the other commenter above that you overhaul the interface and ui, namely your colour scheme, menu navigation and primarily knob and button quality and sourcing. I sold my GR-1 because I found the knobs, buttons and slider quite unpleasant to use. It sounded amazing but I didn’t enjoy using the encoders or buttons in any way,
the flat buttons flush to the case weren’t a joy to use, and the slider felt loose and poor quality, and the rubber knobs less than pleasant to turn. .
You would have a real winner on your hands if this gets redone for this new synth before you launch. I would look to UDO, Elektron, Verbos, Xaoc and Melbourne Instruments for knob, slider and button quality inspiration. All these companies are some of the best in the game for their user interface feeling with the knobs sliders and buttons they use.
We hear you. We've made special higher button caps for this one. Some people indeed mention they press buttons almost blindly and when buttons are flush they cannot distinguish between button and casing. In the prototype we didn't use them, because we still had only a small sample of these higher caps.
The colour scheme indeed has too low contrast. Various users have mentioned this. We already have a new GUI lined up, but it wasn't finished for this presentation, but it has larger fonts everywhere and more contrast between background and text.
The main slider is completely different in the Mega. We went for a DJ slider that has 0 wobble and is _fast_. The encoders will be without push now and hence will be more more stable. The vertical sliders are high quality Alps in this model.
Sounds sweet. I don't understand..... why only 128 presets.
50 projects of 128 presets each.
@@TastyChips That... is tasty! Thanks. Do we have an anticipated price?
@@mark35mi I guess it's around 1800€ as stated in the video - 8:30 ^^
What's up with that teal kaossilator? Just a new color?
great... just when you think I'm over my gas problem, WHY!!!!
Are the 4 parallel FXs available to all 4 layers independently?
Yeah I want to know too, really unclear. And even worse, it isn’t listed on their website yet.
yes
@@TastyChips if all 4 layers are used what is the note polyphony? Also does each layer have an independent filter with independent envelope?
@@ct6929 The note polyphony is then 80 voices. Note that you can still hit the roof of 5000 grains, because you can do 128 grains per voice.. Although we estimate that not many people will want to do this.
Each voice has independent filters (LP and HP) and there's a specialized filter envelope per voice too. You can even use the aux envelope to route the LP and HP separately.
@@TastyChips thanks, this sounds amazing. This is a layering powerhouse. I’d like to have the option to use a layer with a clean multisample instrument, like a piano or violin, then add texture in another layer with the granular engine using a different sample. Enabling multisamples without granular processing would really take this to the next level imo. See prophet X or modwave as example
can it record samples from audio jack?
Of course. It has 2 balanced 1/4" inputs.
How does it compare to the Waldorf Iridium granular section ?
ua-cam.com/video/oKw2J_1PfkE/v-deo.html
I hope they scale this down and make a MINI version for around $500
The GR1 is the scaled down version of this. When this new improved version releases, you’ll probably find second hand GR1 prices at $500.
7:41 Drives me nuts when people say changing from C++ to Rust somehow automatically makes everything more reliable and faster. To me, this says they were coding "C with classes", and not modern C++. Rust is a great language, that is safer by default, assuming all the libs, microcontroller support, and other bits in the device doing low-level support aren't old style C/C++. But it's not magic.
A really good price, I wonder if they will abandon the first version? At 1800€ one would almost forget there is an economic crisis, after three years of pandemic and in year #2 of WW3. You can tell it is weighing on the salesman.
how charismatic..
did he think about maybe someone is asking some questions about his product?
800€, and interesting instrument to play with waves
There’s way too much empty space on that front panel. They couldn’t have made it a little more compact?
Then they couldn’t call it MEGA
I guess they wanted to space things out enough to keep it playable. Helps make it look like it's worth the asking price too. It's hard for machines like this to get away from being compared to VSTs that can run on an iPhone
You must be huge fan of the Roland SP-404 MK2.
Its for putting your coffee or tea on the machine :))
Are the filters analog or digital?
Thats the big question.
Digital. We have an LP and a HP per voice. With 80 voices in total, that's 160 filters. If you want analog, you cannot realize this without having a huge power supply and a lot of heat, and it probably wouldn't fit in the casing anymore..
@@TastyChips makes sense! I think the Mega is great and I am going to get one for sure. Also thanks for including classic sampler functionality along the powerful features portrayed here. This to me is the best product this year. Future classic?
What about the phase vocoder?
It's intended primarily for stretching transients, typically drums, or to "Paulstretch" anything into ambient soundscapes. It's not intended for autotuning or a DJ tool. It doesn't respect formants, and the correlation between partials from frame to frame is not accurately tracked. It can be harmonized, and phase can be scattered and FFT set to big blocks to obtain the Paulstretch effect.
@@TastyChips I had a small hope, that you recreated the ElasticAudio / VariPhrase technology to be found in Roland’s V-Synth, using PSOLA algorithms or something like that…
@@BurkhardusX Interesting. PSOLA can be simulated with a granular engine IIRC, but it's been a while since we looked into it.
Rough job with the record of the synth, not doing the company any favors. Mono output in left channel only.
💗🎶
audio in
?
That is my question, too! What’s the panel looking like?
Of course
Baffling “Demo” 😂
The charisma of Peter is colder then the instrument ever will be - and there is some heavy dipping to the left audio channel in this video isn't there? otherwise very interesting synthesizer
oh something more: with an Axel Hartmann design they would outsell the whole polyphonic synth market
@@el_dani Do you want to fork out the budget for Axel Hartmann’s work?
@@milk_bath I can't fork out any budget for synthesizers production, that's why I am on UA-cam doing foolish comments instead of beeing in Berlin partying with the whole scene 😮💨
still no direct audio input?
I think this one has a direct input, I checked the comments on their IG
It has them. Don't worry. We're not going to ignore most requested feature nr.1
@@TastyChips Glad to hear it! And now waiting for the release :)
Cool VST, bro. 🎹🎶
This is more cheap then new elektron heat WTF :D :D :D
Really nice but for 1800 euros must be slick as F…. And isn’t.
It's not the final look. It's a prototype. The final graphics will be done by a pro and the casing will be somewhat flatter.
@@TastyChips nice… looking forward to it.
I love this machine but for 1800 euros it should be more slick like the EleKtron products. Don't make it that horrible beige/white color, looks like an old pc. Make it black and fonts looks bad too. I know is about the sound but make it look better.
Hm, a synth, that wanted to become a vst … ;)
There are plenty of VSTs that do the same thing if not better. From a performance point of view, yeah, its unique. But i find vsts more convenient with the same results.
@@buzzfunk so what are the VST recommendations, as I don't have 1800€ at hand for this..
Wow what scaldingly hot take. 🤡
@@el_dani Reason Mimic, UVI Falcon, Arturia Pigments, Imaginando FRMS for example.
YAWN.
Poor interview...The basics about what is granular synthesis and with what language it is coded we don't care. Why is there no questions about potential audio inputs for live processing, walkthrough on the sequencer, list of improvements compared to GR-1 etc. etc.?
Go back to the original font. The italic is very unappealing.
not for me
He really doesn’t want us to know about this thing…
If your Rust code is better than your C code, then you're a bad engineer
Tell that to Elektron.
Lets hear it... 1:48 plays an obnoxious sound
I have the original and its sound quality was less than great. Also a flimsy build. Never used it on anything. Hoping that this is better.
Nothing but desktop these days, how about rack mounted and keyboard version?? No…?
No.
Awesome looking box! An awkward conversation between the synthesist and camera man. Awesome instrument! Not that awesome people
Who cares? I'd rather have an introvert who can focus on code, then some shiny shoes extrovert twat who knows nothing about the synth but can lie to you about it all day long in order to get his commission.
Amazing machine, shame about the ugly blue logo
Hopefully they hire a graphic designer to help with their terrible graphics - and maybe brainstorm for a better name while they're at it (even GR + or GR-X would be better than GR-Mega with that awful forward leaning font).
Would have been nice to have had a look at the backside at the i/o.
I passed on the GR-1 because it required a two step process to get the samples in the machine - which wasted time and devalued the machine.
Hopefully they have a couple stereo line inputs this time round (yes 2 stereo/4 mono) and god willing it will be able to process samples and audio signals in realtime. That I would buy...terrible graphics in tact!
Terrible salesman
Why is that guy the sales demo guy? Get a coffe man and Learn your s...
This was one sad interview.
Is the total cost 1500 or 1800 euros? The website is confusing because it says 605 euros as the first of 3 payments, but then it says the total cost is 1500 euros
Is the total cost 1500 or 1800 euros? The website is confusing because it says 605 euros as the first of 3 payments, but then it says the total cost is 1500 euros