Granular (Riverrun) (1986)
AI & Code
Barry Truax split sound into atoms. Granular synthesis takes microscopic grains of sound and assembles them into new textures resembling flowing water. The river of time became controllable.
Full text
Barry Truax created the POD system, the first implementation of granular synthesis in real-time. In 'Riverrun,' sound is born from thousands of microscopic grains, just as a river consists of drops.
By controlling the density and distribution of these grains, Truax creates massive sound flows. Granulation allows freezing a moment of sound or stretching a drop of water to the size of an ocean without losing quality. This changed our perception of time in music.