Grain parameters can also be randomized within a specified range to produce “clouds” of sound.
A variety of parameters can be specified to control the overall temporal and spectral characteristics of the sounds, including:
Grain duration;
Grain density;
Grain envelope fadein/fadeout time;
Source offset;
Inter-grain delay;
Number of grains;
Panning or localization;
Sampled source material for grains can be read at variable rates, as well as in reverse.
By carefully manipulating the number of occurrences of grains, as well as the rate at which they are read, sounds can be time-stretched or pitch-shifted without changing the overall sound duration.
A few of the composers who have made use of granular synthesis include Curtis Roads (nscor), Barry Truax (Riverrun, Pacific Rim), Paul Lansky (Idle Chatter), and Horatio Vaggione.