GrainDust: Granular Synthesizer by Sound Particles

GrainDust has four independent granular layers, and you can import your own audio files into each one. Sound Particles says the plugin can run up to 100 simultaneous grains, calculated as 25 grains across 5 voices in each of the 4 layers.

Each layer offers control over grain rate, density, size, continuity and detune. You can limit which region of a sample produces grains, either globally or per envelope stage. Pitchless grains can be added to some layers or assigned to specific octaves, which helps with noisy or atonal textures.

Playback modes include Forward, Reverse, Forward + Reverse, Mirror and a smoothed Mirror variation.

GrainDust includes spatial envelopes and LFOs with azimuth and elevation controls, plus 3D views that show how sounds move in space. You can load the built-in HRTF datasets or your own SOFA file for binaural listening on headphones. The developer lists stereo, surround, binaural, 7.1.4 and Ambisonics among its spatial options.

The modulation system includes custom envelopes and LFOs with more than 70 waveform modifiers, and a matrix that connects any source to any destination with a curve editor for fine-tuning. Filters can be applied globally or per layer, and the plugin supports MPE for expressive performance.