Pitch and creative effects

These are modules you can add inside a Grid patch. Open Search modules, enter the browser name shown under a device below, add it, then select it to see its full controls in the inspector. Wire the left and right audio inputs and outputs into your patch. Adding a module alone does not put it into the sound path. A card shows only its first three controls. Widen the window to at least 760 pixels to use the full inspector.

These tables use the Grid inspector’s exact labels, including short labels such as out_db. A switch is a numeric control: 0 is off and 1 is on. Unless a row says otherwise, a range is continuous. Values such as mix use 0–1: 0 is dry, 1 is wet. Width 1 preserves normal stereo; 0 makes the processed part mono.

For tempo-synchronised controls, set the module's bpm to the tempo you want and enable its sync control. The tempo division list explains the shared choices. These Grid modules use their own tempo setting.

Shift & Ring#

Grid browser: fx-shift-ring.

Shift & Ring adds metallic or inharmonic movement. shift moves frequencies by a fixed number of hertz; ring multiplies the sound with a carrier; dual combines both. Coarse and Fine set the frequency, while the LFO and Envelope vary it. wide separates the channels' frequency motion. Feedback adds resonance and Drive adds distortion. This frequency shift is different from transposing every note by the same musical interval.

Pitch Shifter#

Grid browser: fx-pitch-shifter.

Pitch Shifter transposes the incoming sound by semitones and cents. fast uses a short moving delay; clean uses spectral processing. Window changes the fast engine's analysis span; the available range is 10–80 ms. Formant adjusts preservation of the sound's vocal-style shape in the clean engine. Feedback returns shifted sound into the effect. Glide softens changes in the requested pitch. Both engines add the same processing delay, including at zero shift: about 43 ms at a 48,000 Hz audio rate. Changing Window does not reduce that fixed delay.

Resonator Bank#

Grid browser: fx-resonator-bank.

Resonator Bank rings at pitches you choose. Mode selects a comb or one of four modal characters: beam, membrane, plate or string. n chooses up to eight resonators. Root Note sets the base pitch; Scale can snap each relative pitch to a scale. Each resonator has its own semitone offset, fine tuning and level. The default first five form a chord.

Decay sets how long they ring; Decay Tilt changes the balance of low and high decay. Colour controls damping/brightness. Spread positions resonators across stereo. The input filter changes which parts excite them; Inharmonicity changes the modal character. A resonator level at −70 dB silences it.

Resonators 1–8 each have these three controls. Defaults marked by number refer to the resonator. The shared controls follow.

Vocoder#

Grid browser: fx-vocoder.

Vocoder transfers the changing spectrum of your input onto a carrier, producing talking synth sounds. Bands sets how many frequency regions it follows. Carrier chooses noise, saw, pulse, chord or an external sound. For External, wire the carrier into sc; the main audio inputs remain the sound being analysed. Carrier Pitch offsets the built-in pitched carriers from their C2 centre.

The low/high range and Bandwidth set the analysis region. Attack and Release control how quickly each band follows. Formant Shift remaps the band shapes; Unvoiced adds consonant-like noise; Enhance levels the band balance; Depth sets how much of the input's envelope shapes the carrier.

Stutter#

Grid browser: fx-stutter.

Stutter captures short slices and repeats them rhythmically. Interval sets how often it triggers, Offset delays the trigger, Grid sets slice length and Gate sets how long repeating continues. Interval and Gate choices use four-quarter-note bars, independently of the project time signature; Grid uses note lengths. Offset is counted in sixteenths of a note and wraps within the interval. A captured slice is capped at two seconds at very slow tempos. Variation changes slice length and Chance decides how often it happens.

Pitch changes the repeats' pitch progressively; Decay fades later repeats. The filter sets their tone. Mode selects mix, insert or gate: combine repeats with the original, replace the original during repeats, or keep the first captured pass and its repeats while gating the rest. Set the module's BPM before judging its timing.

Spectral Blur & Freeze#

Grid browser: fx-spectral-blur.

Spectral Blur & Freeze smears sound over time or holds a spectral snapshot. Mode selects Blur, Freeze or Smear. Set the separate freeze control to 1 to capture and hold a frame; selecting Freeze mode alone does not capture one. Blur sets the smoothing time; Hold sets the transition into the frozen sound. Low and High choose the affected frequency band. Shift moves the spectral content by semitones; Tilt changes its bright/dark balance. This spectral effect adds processing delay even when the musical gesture itself is immediate.

For the normal track effect cards and chain controls, see Effects. For shared effect channels, see The mixer.