Tasty Chips Electronics GR-1 User Manual

Granular synthesizer

Hide thumbs

Table Of Contents

Table of Contents

Quick Links

Download this manual

User Manual

GR-1

Granular Synthesizer

Table of Contents

Summary of Contents for Tasty Chips Electronics GR-1

Page 1 User Manual GR-1 Granular Synthesizer...
Page 2 This manual is written by: Pieter van der Meer Koen Pepping -Tasty Chips Electronics (2017-2022) Illustrated by: Luc Derks...
Page 3: The History Of The Gr-1
The history of the GR-1 The idea of the GR-1 came up 4 years ago, when our friend Erwin Tuijl, from the band “Pocket Knife Army”, brought up the idea of a hardware granular synthesizer. Pieter van der Meer, Koen Pepping and Jasper Andrea represenRng the Tasty Chips Team (2017), took on the idea and turned it into reality. ASer a lot of brainstorm sessions, Hardware revisions, test sessions, hard work and dedicaRon by our team, the GR-1 Granular Synthesizer was born. We love this thing and we invested a lot into building it. We hope you will enjoy and love the GR-1 as much as we do! In 2018 through 2021 many new features like live sampling, diﬀerent play modes, and mulR- Rmbrality were added. As we write this, the GR-1 is sRll being improved. Thank you for buying the GR-1 Granular Synthesizer! -Tasty Chips Electronics (2017-2021)
Page 4: Table Of Contents
Table of Contents The history of the GR-1........3 A clean slate..........32 Version naming..........6 MIDI..............33 Contents of the box..........7 MIDI in............33 Warranty.............8 MIDI thru............34 Important notice!..........9 USB MIDI...........34 GR-1 Specifications.........11 MIDI OUT (USB only).......34 Quick start guide..........12 Set MIDI channel........35 Global Overview..........13 MIDI program changes and banks....35...
Page 5 Patch Scan Settings..........49 Pitchbend range...........56 Scan Key Sync..........49 DSP Metering..........56 Scan loop confinement........49 MPE............56 Scan mode...........49 File selector: Sound previews.....56 Scan clock sync...........49 Send precision CC........57 Patch Play Mode Settings........50 Check Firmware Upgrade......57 Responds to play.........50 On board chord toggle mode.......57 Slider base note...........50 Saving a Performance.........57 Free scale.............50...
Page 6: Version Naming
Version naming Version naming convention This document’s version is wri\en as v<major>.<minor>.<patch level> The major and minor versions follow the GR-1 ﬁrmware versions. The patch level is separate from the ﬁrmware version’s patch level. Major version updates involve a complete redesign of the user interface and possible feature addiRons. Minor version updates involve feature addiRons. Firmware patch level updates purely involve bug ﬁxes. Document patch level updates involve addiRons to documentaRon: yet undocumented features, and errata. Document version 2.5.5 Applicable firmware version 2.5.x...
Page 7: Contents Of The Box
Contents of the box Firstly, congratulaRons! You are now the proud owner of the Tasty Chips Electronics GR-1 granular synthesizer. The contents: • The box with schemaRc drawing of the GR-1 on its top side. NOTE: this box features a sRcker with serial number GR-XXXX! • External region-independent AC/DC power supply, boxed. NOTE: AC cord not included. • Quick start guide (single A4 sheet). • The GR-1 unit. Later units include a sRcker with serial number (GR-XXXX) on the bo\om plate. The display has a protecRve sRcker on it, which may be peeled oﬀ if you prefer.
Page 8: Warranty
Warranty The GR-1 comes with a 2 (two) year warranty on factory defects. Warranty is eﬀecRve from the date of shipping of the unit. “Factory defects” covers: • Missing parts (see previous secRon) • Broken parts (for instance: cracked screen, broken bu\ons, knobs or sliders) • Non-funcRonal unit (“dead on arrival”) • Semi-funcRonal unit with serious defect (for instance: inability to access any USB sRck or USB hard disk, leS and/or right channels permanently muted). In case of such defects, you can reach us at info@tastychips.nl, and claim your unit to be repaired. We’ll contact you with all the necessary informaRon for return shipping and will refund all postage costs incurred. Please understand that shipping and repairs may take several weeks depending on the severity of the defect and your locaRon in the world. We’ll ﬁrst a\empt to repair your unit. If, and only if, the unit is damaged beyond repair, we’ll send a new unit. In some trivial cases like missing power adapter, or broken SD card, we will send the replacement parts directly to you, because they may be easily replaced.
Page 9: Important Notice
Important notice! Power supply and power lead The GR-1 comes with its own external AC/DC power supply. A power lead is not supplied, however. This is because there are many types (one per world region), and most people have a couple lying around at home. For more informaRon, look up the IEC-60230 C13/C14 cable specs [h\ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320]. If you want a spare power supply: • Brand: Mean Well Model: GST18A09-P1J (or GS18A09-P1J on older units) • Power specification Please do not use an adapter other than included in the GR-1 package. Using another adapter or power source, may cause damage to your GR-1. It is protected against reverse polarity and overvoltage, but extreme voltage will sRll cause damage! The GR-1 accepts heavier 9-12V adapters than the supplied 20W unit, but please contact us before trying! Using USB devices with the GR-1 will draw extra power, but most of these devices: MIDI controllers, USB sRcks, sound cards and even USB drives, are ok. However, it may be that connecRng too many devices will cause power issues. Beware! If you are not sure, it’s best to plug in devices only when the GR-1 has fully booted.
Page 10 Reading this manual The GR-1 is designed as an easy-to-use device, but we also wanted to give the user access to more complex funcRons. To get the GR-1 up and running in a short Rme, you can read the Quick start guide. This manual is intended if you want to know more, and take full advantage of everything the GR-1 has to oﬀer. This manual starts with the basics like a feature overview, the one page quick start guide, followed by a global overview of all the on-board controls and sockets. It then conRnues on to a couple of quick tutorials that move beyond twiddling and playing, and into properly using the GR-1 to build your own patches, storing them, etc. Beyond that are the chapters with detailed explanaRon of all the menus and connecRvity opRons (MIDI, sound cards, USB sRcks), and details of the on-board controls. For the sake of completeness and geung the most from your GR-1, there’s sRll more background informaRon on the GR-1 engine, followed with tables of all on-board and MIDI controls. The manual ends with FAQ, troubleshooRng and ﬁrmware upgrade chapters.
Page 11: Gr-1 Specifications
• Audio input and live recording via USB soundcard • High quality stereo audio: internally 32 bit ﬂoat, DAC: 44.1KHz, 106 dB SNR • High quality headphone ampliﬁer with dedicated volume control • Quad core ARM Cortex-A running opRmized Neon SIMD code • 800 x 480 pixel, 7” TFT true color display • Firmware updates via USB, and over internet • Sample ﬁle uploads in mulRple formats via USB • The GR-1 can handle 32 sample ﬁles of 10 MB (about 2 minutes long) • Presets and performances can be saved to internal ﬂash (4GB, or 20GB in later models) or external (USB) memory • 2 control voltage assignable inputs 0-5V with voltage protecRon • 1 gate output • 12dB/oct digital mulSmode ﬁlter with direct and MIDI controls • 2 assignable LFO’s with waveforms (sine, random, saw, square) and direct controls • LFO wave recording •...
Page 12: Quick Start Guide
Quick start guide To get your GR-1 Granular Synthesizer up and running (stand alone), you can simply connect your headphone and follow the next steps: 1. Connect the adapter that came with your GR-1 to the DC connector at the back of your GR-1. Use your own IEC-60230 C13/C14 power lead [h\ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320]. Turn on the power switch (see ﬁgure below). The display and bu\ons should now light up. 1 Press the “play” bu\on, a single voice will now play constantly and “bank” bu\on 1 will light up, indicaRng voice 1 of 4 is playing. 2 The other 3 “bank” bu\ons will trigger voice 3-4 to play. 3 Holding down the shi^ bu_on while “Play” is lit, the ADSR sliders will now funcRon as pitch ﬁgure below. controls for the 4 voices, making it possible to play chords and drones. See...
Page 13: Global Overview
Global Overview 1. Grain window sec/on (Sides, /lt, curve) 2. Envelope sec/on (ADSR) 3. Knob sec/on 4. Presets 5. LFO sec/on 6. Playing, menus, copying, and disk access 7. Select knob & Escape buNon 8. Posi/on slider 9. Display 10. Master Volume 11.
Page 14: Position Slider
Position slider The posiRon slider is the control for the sample play posiRon. The slider will correspond to the posiRon of the verRcal blue line in the sample display: Display The display visualizes everything that is happening in your GR-1. Most icons and interface details are already explained in the previous paragraphs (ADSR, window, LFO waves etc.), but here are some icons that are not explained yet. The icons display (from leS to right): • MIDI events via DIN inputs • MIDI events via USB • Knob/slider event • PotenRometer Setpoint locked (unRl value is matched by dialing to the set point).
Page 15: Grain Window
Grain window The grain window is an amplitude envelope for each grain. The length of the window slopes is relaRve to the grain size that was set. In other words: - A window is always exactly as long as the grain size. The parameters of the grain envelope are (see the illustraRon below): (The grain window envelope is shown on the middle-right side of the GR-1 display column.) Note: ShiS + Sides controls loop start and ShiS + Curve controls loop end. They can be ﬁne tuned by turning the “select” knob. The GR-1 supports down to 1 sample frame resoluRon on sample loops. Voice Envelope section The amplitude envelope is triggered when a key/voice is acRve. The envelope is a standard A\ack, Decay, Sustain, Release envelope. The A\ack, decay and Release Rmes can be set between 0-12 seconds. The A\ack slope is linear, the Decay and Release slopes are exponenRal. A = A_ack D = Decay S = Sustain R = Release (The voice envelope is shown on the middle-right side of the GR-1 display column.)
Page 16: Knob Section
Knob Section The knob secRon is a secRon of 8 single turn potenRometers/knobs. All knobs have their own funcRonality: LFO section The GR-1 has 2 assignable Low Frequency Oscillators (LFO’s). The LFO’s can produce 2 diﬀerent waveforms as modulaRng signal for diﬀerent parameters. The controls of the LFO’s from top to bo\om: • Frequency: controls the speed of the modulaRng signal • Amount: controls the amount of modulaRon • Wave: selects the waveform of the modulaRon signal • Dest: selects the desRnaRon parameter to modulate (Read more about the LFO controls and op?ons in chapter “LFO”.)
Page 17: Presets
Presets The GR-1 is able to store 4 banks of 8 direct accessible preset patches. You can save and load these presets, and copy them. In the ﬁgure above, you see that the 8 bu\ons on top are the presets, the 4 bu\ons below are the banks. The bu\on of the selected bank/preset will light up. Read chapter “Patches and patch conﬁguraRon” to learn more about saving, loading and copying presets. Menus, and disk access There are 3 menus the GR-1: • Sample • Patch • Performance These modes can be selected with the bu\ons “Sample”, “Patch” and “Perf”. Each mode has its own ﬁle formats and ﬁlter for them in the load and save ﬁle selectors. For instance, you can’t see sample (WAV, AIF, etc.) ﬁles when you’re loading a patch or a performance. Each mode also inﬂuences the copy bu\on acRon. You can copy and paste samples and patches, but not performances. Only one performance can be in memory at any Rme. Read more about these modes in the corresponding chapters. Play The GR-1 has a “play” bu\on. The play bu\on triggers voices, and makes it possible to use the GR-1 standalone. The basics of the play funcRon are found in the Quick start chapter in this manual. Note that holding down ShiS when pressing play will enter audiRon mode. The granular engine will be turned oﬀ, and just a single sample will play. This is mainly for previewing purposes, but can also be used for musical purposes as modulaRon and all posiRon controls are also acRve.
Page 18: Select Knob & Escape Button
Load, Save and Copy The GR-1 is able to load, save and copy patches and performances. The load, save and copy funcRons are explained in diﬀerent secRons of this manual. Please read this manual. Shi^ When acRve, the shiS bu\on allows bu\ons and knobs to have diﬀerent funcRons. The shiS bu\on gives access to parameters that don’t have to be directly accessible. Select knob & Escape button The “select” knob can be used to scroll through and select from menus. Scrolling is done by rotaRng/turning the knob. Pressing the select knob acRvates a menu item. To leave menus and go back to the previous step press “Escape”. Holding down “ShiS“ while scrolling, increases the scroll speed tenfold. Scroll Select...
Page 19: Global Overview (Back Panel)
On/off switch & DC adapter The DC adapter can be connected to the DC jack input. The on/oﬀ switch turns the whole GR-1 on or oﬀ. WARNING: Do not use an adapter other than the one that comes with the GR-1. If you insist, please contact us ﬁrst. MIDI in & thru Connect MIDI devices to these DIN connectors. See secRon “MIDI opRons” for more info about MIDI connecRvity and the chapter “MIDI control table” near the end of this manual for the MIDI CC table. USB connection The 4 USB ports oﬀer various opRons: • Connect the MIDI output of one or more MIDI devices to one or more of the 4 USB ports to control the GR-1 with MIDI • Load samples from one or more USB disks/sRcks • Load (copy) and save, presets and performances on one or more USB disks • Perform ﬁrmware updates from a USB disk • Connect USB audio interfaces (class compliant) to record audio on the GR-1. CV & Gates There are 2 CV inputs on the GR-1, which can be routed to diﬀerent desRnaRons. The gate output provides a gate signal (5V) when the GR-1 receives one or more note-on messages. Audio output The GR-1 outputs high quality, low noise, stereo audio on 2 channels, leS [L] and right [R]. Headphone connection There is a headphone ampliﬁer on the GR-1. The knob next to the headphone controls the volume.
Page 20: Granular Controls
Granular Controls Density The density parameter controls the amount of grains per second (Hz). The amount can be set between 0.1-1000 grains per second, with a maximum of 128 grains playing simultaneously, per voice. Grain Size The grain size parameter controls the playing length of a grain. The length can be set between 5-5000 milliseconds.
Page 21: Spray
Spray The spray parameter controls how much a grain’s start posiRon is randomized. Pan Spray The Pan Spray parameter controls how much a grain’s stereo panning is randomized. 0 means completely centered. Maximum pan spray means a grain can appear everywhere in the stereo image.
Page 22: Panning
Panning ShiS+Pan knob: The Panning parameter controls how much a grain is panned to leS or right. Can be combined with pan spray. Scan The Scan parameter sets the movement speed of the grain start posiRon. It can vary from -2 Rmes (reverse moRon) the sample play speed to +2 Rmes (forward moRon) the sample speed.
Page 23: Direction
Direction Shift+Scan knob: Grains can run in both forward- and reverse directions. Reverse direction can be used for special effect. Combining both can be used to make the sound more lush. Setting the bias completely left plays all grains in reversed direction. Setting the bias completely right plays all grains in forward direction.
Page 24: Tape Mode Controls
Tape Mode Controls In ‘Tape Mode’ (see Patch Menu) scan and all other posiRon controls will work like expected, but pitch controls are gone. Instead the pitch knob now controls “tape slew”. This means the speed at which the tape head catches up with the scan pointer. Loop Start & End Loop parameters set an area in which the grains wrap around. This can create Rght loops which alter pitch percepRon. Set Loop Start: ShiX + Sides Set Loop End: ShiX + Curves Fine-tune Turn the Select knob directly aXer se\ng Loop Start- or Loop End.
Page 25: Low Frequency Oscillators (Lfo)
Low Frequency Oscillators (LFO) Rate LFO frequency ranges from less than 0.0001 Hz (hours!) to 50 Hz, and can be set in 1024 steps using the potenRometers using a cubic curve. The LFO frequency range can be set in the Patch menu under “LFO 1 / 2 max frequency”. It’s also possible to ﬁne tune LFO frequency by turning Select aSer you’ve touched the LFO speed knobs. Waveforms The GR-1 has 2 assignable Low Frequency Oscillators (LFO’s). The LFO’s can produce 5 diﬀerent waveforms: (waveforms from LeX to Right) Sine waveform • Square waveform • Saw waveform • Sample & Hold waveform • AUX waveform • The waveforms can be selected with the “Wave” bu\on. The frequency can be controlled with the “Freq” knob and the amount of modulaRon can be controlled with the “Amount” knob. The desRnaRon to be modulated can be selected with the “Dest” bu\on. Both LFO’s are idenRcal.
Page 26: Aux Lfo Waveform
2. Move the posiRon slider in the movement you want. 3. Press ShiS + Wave (1 or 2) again. The display will indicate that recording is OFF. Recording is done at about 60 Hz. The buﬀer size is 1024 points. That means you can record about 70 seconds of movement. Replaying the AUX waveform using the LFO’s means you can stretch it out to an hour or compress it to 20 milliseconds. The AUX waveform is interpolated for smooth movement. A recorded AUX waveform will be stored inside the patch data, if the patch is saved. Destinations At the Rme of wriRng (ﬁrmware 2.1 onwards) there are 11 MOD desRnaRons: • TUNE (Pitch) • POS (Sample posiRon) • SPRAY • SIZE • DENS (Density) • AMP (Amplitude) • PSPR (Pan spray) • CUTOFF • SIDES (Grain window) • TILT (Grain window) • CURVE (Grain window) By default the GR-1 operates the LFO’s and CV’s in one-to-one mode: only one MOD desRnaRon per LFO or CV. More advanced users probably want to turn this oﬀ. Do this by holding down one of the Dest bu\ons for a while. They’ll now be lit signaling that free matrix mode is enabled. Normal MOD desRnaRons are updated at 200 Hz. The grain window desRnaRons: sides, Rlt, are updated at just 4 Hz, and the window is linearly interpolated between 4 Hz steps at 200 Hz. The GR-1 is massively polyphonic. To enable this, a single shared window that’s directly used by all playing grains was required. See the “patch modulaRon seungs” chapter for extended LFO opRons.
Page 27: Modulation Matrix
Modulation matrix Next to the direct “Dest“ bu\on control, there’s also a complete modulaRon matrix in the GR-1’s engine. This can be controlled by MIDI CC or via the patch menu. MPE MIDI can also be used for LFO modulaRon. Using the matrix it’s possible to send all modulaRon sources to all modulaRon desRnaRons, with ﬂexible modulaRon depth. But also it’s possible to have negaRve modulaRon, to invert the LFO waveforms. Only pitch and cutoﬀ are not modulated by MPE. This is because pitch is normally modulated by MIDI’s pitch bend, and there’s only a single stereo ﬁlter at the end of the signal path. Also see the matrix secRon in the “Patch ModulaRon Seungs” chapter for more informaRon. MIDI clock synchronization This allows the LFO frequency to be synchronized to the MIDI beat clock. MulRplicaRon and division of this clock is also possible. Use the patch menu and enable “LFO1 sync” or “LFO2 sync”. In this mode the mulRplier and divider seung may be accessed with the Freq knobs Knob controls: Freq 1: LFO1 clock mulRplier ShiS + Freq 1: LFO1 clock divider Freq 2: LFO2 clock mulRplier ShiS + Freq 2: LFO2 clock divider...
Page 28: Control Voltage (Cv)
Control Voltage (CV) The CV secRon makes it possible to combine the GR-1 with a modular system (Eurorack for example). The CV secRon contains 2 control voltage inputs and 1 gate output. CV inputs: CV1 and CV2 accept voltages within the range of 0-5V. The CV inputs are protected for voltages outside of the 0-5V range, but we would sRll recommend to use them with care. The CV inputs are assignable to diﬀerent parameters. The CV is displayed with a mini jack cable icon. On top the CV number is displayed and below the mini jack icon the desRnaRon is displayed. CV Amount & Destination To control the CV opRons, Press the “shiS” bu\on, to change the LFO controls to CV controls: 1. LFO amount will now funcRon as CV amount 2. LFO desRnaRon will now funcRon as CV desRnaRon Note that the CV inputs are leS ﬂoa?ng when they’re unconnected. This means that by default the amount should be turned down to zero, otherwise random modulaRons may result (!). (See ﬁgure right) LFO 1 corresponds to CV 1 and LFO 2 to CV 2. Note: CV inputs have a 0-5V range. Voltages outside of that range will be clipped. Gate output: Warning: Do not use the gate output as an input!
Page 29: Example Patch
The gate output responds to incoming MIDI notes. When one ore more notes are play the gate output signal will be “High”, 5V, and when notes are released/oﬀ the gate output signal will be “Low”, 0V. Example patch: You can run the GR-1 audio through an external (analog) VCF. Then control the cutoﬀ with an external ADSR, triggered by the gate out of the GR-1.
Page 30: Basic Tutorials
Basic Tutorials Modifying and saving The previous chapter has given you the basics of the GR-1’s physical controls. This means that you can already have a taster of all the presets, and that you are able to tweak them to your liking. Since making your own patches is the ﬁrst step to geung more out of your synthesizer, this chapter will explain you how to do so. You may have noRced that tweaks will be gone aSer switching presets. This is because the GR-1 is designed to not to save anything unless you explicitly tell it to do so. A preset is a preset so to say. Even if you can overwrite it, you’ll need to tell it to do so. This is a design choice to make the GR-1 suitable for live use: Presets can quickly be restored without having to go into menus to recall them, never actually interrupRng the sound. Let’s make a new preset: a modiﬁed version of an exisRng patch. This is also the simplest way to create a new one. We’ll copy the exisRng preset (patch) to a new preset. We’ll then tweak it and make it permanent. For this we reserved a bunch of empty presets. Using the bank and preset bu\ons you can see that banks 3 and 4 are leS completely empty, while banks 1 and 2 contain all the presets. 1. Select a preset you want to modify using the preset and bank bu\ons. 2. Press “Patch”. 3. Press “Copy “. This bu\on will now slowly blink indicaRng it’s ready to paste to another preset. 4. Select an empty preset using the bank and preset bu\ons. For instance bank 3, preset 1. This preset is number 17 in the GR-1’s memory. It will show this on the bo\om of the display. 5. Press “Copy” again. The blinking will stop and the original patch will be copied into the new preset. 6. Modify some parameters like Density, sample posiRon (using the big horizontal slider), Scan, and others. Use the Play bu\on to hear your tweaks. 7. Press “Perf”.
Page 31: From Sample To Patch
1. Using the preset and bank bu\ons, ﬁnd a preset patch you like. 2. Press “Patch”. 3. Press “Copy “. This bu\on will now slowly blink indicaRng it’s ready to paste to another preset. 4. Select an empty preset using the bank and preset bu\ons. For instance bank 3, preset 1. This preset is number 17 in the GR-1’s memory. It will show this on the bo\om of the display. 5. Press “Copy” again. The blinking will stop and the original patch will be copied into the new preset. 6. Insert your USB sRck with samples. The “Load” bu\on will start blinking, indicaRng mounRng is in progress. 7. Press “Sample”, followed by “Load”. You will now enter the ﬁle chooser screen to pick a sample. 8. Select a sample by navigaRng with the Select knob. Turn it to scroll through ﬁles. Push it to enter a folder, or to eventually select the sample of your choosing. (If you want to quickly preview the samples see “sound previews” further on.) 9. The GR-1 will return to the main screen and display the waveform of the sample you selected. 10.Use play and the horizontal slider to ﬁnd sweet spots in the sample, and adjust the granular parameters to your liking. 11.Quick save the performance just like in the previous tutorial. First press “Perf”, then hold down “ShiS” and press “Save” at the same Rme. CAUTION: NEVER power down your GR-1 while saving. Data corrupRon may occur! Wait unRl the display responds to input again before a\empRng to power oﬀ. CongratulaRons! You just created your very own patch on the GR-1. May it be the ﬁrst of many. You can also use a USB sound card with your GR-1 to record your own samples and save them to presets in a similar way. Please see the “Samples and audio input” chapter on how to realize this. You can repeat this process, and make mulRple tweaked versions of your own patches unRl banks 3 and 4 have ﬁlled up. ASer this you may be interested to know that you can also load and save enRre performances (32 presets + global seungs). Please see secRons “Loading a performance” and “Saving a performance” to ﬁnd out more.
Page 32: A Clean Slate
A clean slate If you want to start from scratch and make your own performance completely, just use one of the following: A) “Kill” performance. This really clears everything, even the performance menu seungs. 1. Press the Perf bu\on. 2. Hold down ShiS. 3. Press Load. 4. A popup will now show to ask if you want to kill the enRre performance. 5. Press Escape to cancel or press Select to kill it. 6. You’ve now got 32 empty presets. Default patch parameters and short empty samples. B) Copy a single preset to the rest of performance. 1. Press the Perf bu\on. 2. Select the preset you want copied. 3. Press Copy. 4. A popup will now ask if you want to proceed. 5. Press Select to paste this preset to the rest of the performance. C) Copy a “template”, that is the parameters of a single preset, to the rest of performance. 1. Press the Perf bu\on. 2. Select the preset you want copied 3. Hold down shiS and press Copy. 4.
Page 33: Midi
MIDI The GR-1 oﬀers many MIDI control opRons. For details see the MIDI control table near the end of this manual. The GR-1 supports USB MIDI and DIN MIDI connecRvity. There are 2 DIN MIDI connectors on the GR-1, “MIDI in” and “MIDI thru”. MIDI in To control the GR-1 with MIDI, connect the output of the MIDI device to the MIDI or USB input of the GR-1: It is possible to directly hook up your DAW via the DIN MIDI IN port. It will support all MIDI data at DIN speed (31 kbps). MIDI IN oﬀers support for the following MIDI commands: • Note on/oﬀ (11 voice polyphonic, velocity sensiRve) • Pitch bend (bends all played notes in tune) • Program changes per MIDI channel (changes the preset in each part). • Controls (cutoﬀ, ADSR Rmes, LFO frequency, etc. can be controlled with MIDI controls) See MIDI CC table at the back of this manual for the corresponding MIDI channels, CC numbers and more. MPE MIDI controllers can be enabled in the performance menu. The GR-1 then supports pitch bend, aSer touch, Rmbre, and liS velocity, per note.
Page 34: Midi Thru
MIDI thru The GR-1 can be chained with other MIDI controlled devices, by simply connecRng a MIDI cable from the MIDI thru connector on the GR-1 to the MIDI in of any other synthesizer: USB MIDI The GR-1 supports USB MIDI in host mode. That means it can directly hook up to USB MIDI controllers and keyboards via one of its 4 USB ports. At the Rme of wriRng only hooking up a single USB MIDI device is supported. It is possible to use USB MIDI and DIN MIDI at the same Rme, but please note that both MIDI controllers should be on diﬀerent MIDI channels. The GR-1 also supports your DAW via USB, but only via a host-to-host interface. This allows you to set up many hi-resoluRon automaRons in parallel, as USB supports a much higher data rate than DIN. Direct USB connecRon from host (PC/Mac) to your GR-1 is not possible as the GR-1 is also a USB host. Please search this manual for host-to-host interface to ﬁnd out what opRons exist to realize this. MIDI OUT (USB only) The GR-1 supports MIDI out via USB since ﬁrmware 2.4. It will generate CC’s when you turn its knobs and when you move its sliders. It can also generate 14 bit precision CC’s (NRPN’s) if you like. This feature requires a host-to-host interface when you want to use your DAW to receive these messages.
Page 35: Set Midi Channel
Set MIDI channel To set the change the MIDI-channel the GR-1 listens to, you will need to enter the conﬁguraRon screen to do this. 1. Press the “shiS” + “Perf” to enter conﬁguraRon screen 2. Select “MIDI-channel” parameter with the “select” knob (turn & press) 3. Select the desired channel with the “select” knob (turn & press) 4. Press “Escape” bu\on to exit the conﬁguraRon screen Turning leS completely will turn MIDI oﬀ. Note that each of the four parts in the GR-1 has its own assignable MIDI channel. You can set all four at the same Rme by performing the above, but with the “ShiS” bu\on enabled. All available MIDI controls are documented in the chapter “MIDI Control table”. MIDI program changes and banks The GR-1 supports MIDI program changes on all of its four parts. For the sake of clarity: the GR-1’s noRon of preset bank is not the same as a MIDI program bank. A MIDI program bank is 128 presets; a GR-1 bank is only 8. Sending MIDI program change 0, will acRvate GR-1 preset 1, bank 1. Sending MIDI program change 8 will acRvate GR-1 preset 1, bank 2, etc. As you can see the GR-1’s 4 banks are mapped to the program change range [0..31].
Page 36: List Of Tested (Usb)Midi Controllers And Keyboards
List Of Tested (USB)MIDI controllers and keyboards AKAI MPK25 Alesis Q25 Arturia Beatstep* Arturia Keystep* Arturia Matrixbrute Casio HT-700 Electra One Eowave Ribbon Joué board Keith McMillen K-Board Pro 4 Koma Komplex sequencer Korg Nanokontrol2 Korg Nanopad2 Midistart 2 Moog Sub37 NaRve Instruments 88S MKII Roli Seaboard Block Sensel Morph (using the piano keyboard overlay) StudioLogic MixFace Synthstrom Deluge Teenage Engineering OP-1 *) For proper results with the Arturia controllers you will need to turn oﬀ “Transport CC’s” in Arturia’s “MIDI Control Center” program on your PC/Mac. *) Needs GR-1 Firmware v1.2 onwards to funcRon properly.
Page 37: Audio Input
Audio Input There is no audio input on the GR-1 itself, but it can record audio using USB class compliant audio interfaces and dongles. ConﬁguraRon To enter the Sample conﬁguraRon, press “ShiS” and then “Sample”. The conﬁguraRon parameters can be set with the select knob. Leave this conﬁguraRons screen with “Escape”. In the top you can see the detected audio interface / sound card. Default it will read: “Sound card [None found]”. When one is plugged in it should detect it within a second or two: “Sound card [BizBaz Audio Frobnicator]”\ Looping rec With “looping rec” turned oﬀ, the recording of the sample will be a one shot recording. Turn “looping rec” on to do conRnuous recording/real-Rme processing. Record start mode You can turn on the ability to record here and select the start point for recording. The following start points are available: • Current posiSon: When pausing the recording, recording will start from that same point when acRvated again • Wiper: Recording starts from the sample posiRon, when acRvated • Start: Recording starts from 0.0s, when acRvated Rec level You can adjust the recording level with this slider here. This goes from 0.0 up to factor 2.0.
Page 38: Sample Size
Sample size The sample size or “recording duraRon” (in seconds) can be set here. This will take eﬀect immediately. If you did this accidentally, press this preset’s bu\on to undo all unsaved changes to sample and/or patch. Note that resizing only works when not recording! This is a design choice, because the GR-1 has no way to know where to record in the buﬀer once it has resized to something smaller. Clear sample Select and push (used to be Select and turn in ﬁrmware versions < 1.5) to create a new sample with the number of seconds set with “Sample size”. If you did this accidentally, press this preset’s bu\on to undo all unsaved changes to sample and/or patch. You can also use ShiS+Load when the Sample bu\on is lit to do this. Recording samples To start sampling ﬁrst see to it that you’ve used the sampling menu described above, and make sure you enabled sampling start posiRon. You can turn on “looping rec“ as well if you want to use the GR-1 for live sampling and replay simultaneously. It will then keep looping through its sample buﬀer unRl the user manually stops it (press Select). Hook up your USB sound card and connect it to a sound source. Now make sure you’re in the main screen and then press Select. A red wiper should appear and should start running forward. If it stays sRll, then re-plug the USB cable. The GR-1 will now record the incoming sound into the buﬀer. Sampling is done at 44.1 kHz, 16 bit, mono. MulR-channel sources are converted back to mono. You can use the play bu\on and scan knob to play through the buﬀer at diﬀerent speeds, even backwards. All on play mode funcRons are available. Including the on-board chord bu\ons and sliders. All granular parameters and synthesizer parameters are also directly controllable while playing the recording sounds. To stop recording, press Select once more.
Page 39: Supported Usb Sound Cards
• Behringer UFO202 (some white noise) • Behringer UM2 (please use the XLR input, it needs the mic pre-amp!) • BOSS SY-1000 guitar synth • Cakewalk (Roland) UA-25EX • DeLock USB 2.0 Sound Adapter • EVO4 • EWENT EW3751, USB Audio Adapter 5.1 • Focusrite Scarle\ 2i2 • Logitech H390 Wired Headset • MiniDSP USBStreamer (ADAT, TOSLink -> USB) • NI Komplete (NOTE: power hungry, please only connect aSer GR-1 is fully up & running) • Rocksmith guitar cable • Roland UA-1EX • SoundcraS Signature 12 • Sweex USB Sound Card Adapter • Tascam DR-05X • Terratec Aureon USB Mini • Zoom H6 • Zoom R24 Zoom ﬁeld recorders: We have tested the H4NPro ourselves without external power. But several users have pointed out that they work ﬁne with the GR-1, but external power is recommended.
Page 40 NOTE: The Zoom H6 needs to be set up in “interface” mode for it to be used as audio input device by the GR-1. Unsupported: • MOTU Track16 If a sound card is not “USB Audio class compliant”, and requires a special driver for it to work on Windows, Mac, or Linux, then it is not supported by the GR-1. There are no plans for adding support for non-class compliant USB sound cards, as all of them have highly speciﬁc driver soSware making it impossible for us to maintain in the future.
Page 41: Importing Samples From External Drives
Importing Samples from external drives The GR-1 can load samples in diﬀerent formats from the internal or external (USB) memory. Sample Formats The GR-1 can handle diﬀerent audio formats and quality, with a maximum of 10 MB (about 2 minutes long). The samples will internally be converted to 44.1KHz 16 bit, mono. The following formats are accepted: • .wav • .ogg • .ﬂac • .aiﬀ (However, some .aiﬀ -C ﬁles are not supported. Some companies create compressed .aiﬀ ﬁles to keep these ﬁles exclusive for their own use.) • .avr • .XI Loading samples To load a sample, follow the next steps: 1. Press the “sample” bu\on to enter sample mode, this bu\on will now light up 2. Press the “load” bu\on, you will now enter a menu that looks like the ﬁgure below 3. Select the desired sample directory with the “select” knob (turn and press the knob) 4. Select the desired sample with the “select” knob (turn and press the knob) To cancel sample loading and exit the menu press the “Escape” bu\on. The Escape bu\on can also be used to cancel opening a big folder, which would otherwise take a long Rme. Note that samples can be played, or previewed in the ﬁle selector. For this you’ll need to turn on...
Page 42: Copy Samples
3. Press the desired “preset” (with bank and or preset bu\ons) 4. Press the “copy” bu\on again, the copy bu\on will now stop blinking To cancel aSer step 2, simply press the “Escape” bu\on. NOTE: the patch or performance should be explicitly saved for the changes to the desRnaRon preset to take eﬀect! It is possible to record and process (real Rme) incoming audio. Recorded audio can be saved as a sample. Saving samples To save your sample, follow the next steps: 1. Press the “sample” bu\on to enter “sample mode”, this bu\on will now light up 2. Press the “save” bu\on, you will now enter the save screen 3. Select the desired directory with the “select” knob, (turn the knob) 4. Press save and then name your sample (if you like). See below. 5. Press the “save” bu\on to save. To cancel anyRme aSer step 2, simply press the “Escape” bu\on twice. CAUTION: NEVER power down your GR-1 while saving. Data corrupRon may occur! Naming 0. The default name will show in the text box 1. Turn Select to choose a character in the name with the red cursor 2. Push Select to edit that character. It will now turn blue to indicate edit mode. 3. Turn to scroll through the alphabet and numbers. 4. Push the selected alphanumeric character and go back to character selecRon mode. Hold down ShiS to get capitals. 5. Repeat steps 1..4 unRl you have wri\en your name. 6. Press “save” to conﬁrm you want to use this name. NOTE: you cannot save samples to /media/internal. This is because the GR-1 has no delete bu\on. So, the GR-1 was designed to not allow arbitrary storage on the internal SD card. Otherwise it could ﬁll up and cause system malfuncRons. NOTE: if you want to remove your USB sRck or drives you can press ShiS + Escape to cleanly eject them. All drives are ejected at the same Rme.
Page 43: Sample Tuning
Sample Tuning Samples may not be tuned to the C key. The GR-1 has two ways to tune a sample to the matching note: • Analog, manually using direct on-board controls and your ears. • Digital, using your MIDI keyboard. Most people used to DAW systems will like to get started this way. Analog: For this the “Pitch” knob can be used. It can be tuned one complete octave down or up. To make the tuning process easier, holding down the “escape” bu\on for a couple of seconds acRvates a tuning sine wave, and the bu\on should light up. Adjust the tuning to match the pitch of the sine wave. Hold down the escape again and the tuning sine wave should deacRvate. Note that the tuning sine wave replaces the sub-oscillator, should it be on. The Pitch knob has a resoluRon of a couple of cents, because it spans two whole octaves in total. If you want to ﬁne tune down to the last cent, turn the Select knob directly aSer having turned the Pitch knob. Digital: 1. Enter the patch menu with ShiS+Patch 2. Scroll to “Keyboard tuning” 3. Hit the matching note on the MIDI keyboard Note that both ways may be employed in parallel. This can be confusing, but the analog way allows to set pitch in cents, while the digital way doesn’t. Since ﬁrmware 2.2 this combinaRon is visualized when turning the pitch knob.
Page 44: Patch Load & Save
Patch Load & Save When you are tweaking knobs and pressing bu\ons you are making a “patch”. You can save, load and copy a patch. A performance consists of 4 banks of 8 presets that are directly accessible. The presets may be overwri\en with your own tweaks or even with new patches. Saving a patch To save your patch as a preset, follow the next steps: 1. Press the “patch” bu\on to enter “patch mode”, this bu\on will now light up 2. Press the “save” bu\on, you will now enter the save screen 3. Select the desired directory with the “select” knob, (turn the knob) 4. Press save and then name your patch (if you like), see below. 5. Press the “save” bu\on to save To cancel anyRme aSer step 2, simply press the “Escape” bu\on twice. Note that if you want to remove your USB sRck or drives you can press ShiS + Escape to cleanly eject them. All drives are ejected at the same Rme. Naming 0. The default name will show in the text box 1. Turn Select to choose a character in the name with the red cursor 2. Push Select to edit that character. It will now turn blue to indicate edit mode. 3. Turn to scroll through the alphabet and numbers. 4. Push keep the selected alphanumeric character and go back to character selecRon mode. 5. Repeat steps 1..4 unRl you have wri\en your name 6. Press “save” to conﬁrm you want to use this name CAUTION: NEVER power down your GR-1 while saving. Data corrupRon may occur! Wait unRl the display responds to input again before a\empRng to power down. NOTE: you cannot save patches to /media/internal. This is because the GR-1 has no delete bu\on. So, the GR-1 was designed to not allow arbitrary storage on the internal SD card. Otherwise it could ﬁll up and cause system malfuncRons.
Page 45: Incremental Patch Saves
Incremental patch saves If you want to keep old versions of your patch, do the following: 1. If you haven’t done so already: enable the incremental patch saves toggle in the performance menu (“shiS”+”perf”). 2. Either load a separate patch from USB (patch save to internal storage is not allowed), or save your patch under a new name (see above). 3. Hold down “shiS”, and press “save”. This will result in a blinking save bu\on, and possibly a momentarily halted display. A popup should appear with the name of the incremental save patch-0, patch-1, patch-2, etc.. CAUTION: NEVER power down your GR-1 while saving. Data corrupRon may occur! Wait unRl the display responds to input again before a\empRng to power down. Loading a patch To load a patch, follow the next steps: 1. Select the preset to load the desired patch on, using the bank and preset bu\ons. 2. Press the “patch” bu\on to enter “patch mode”. This bu\on will now light up. 3. Press the “load” bu\on. You will now enter the load screen. 4. Select the desired patch folder with the “select” knob, (turn and press the knob) To cancel aSer step 2, simply press the “Escape” bu\on twice. The name of the loaded patch should now be displayed on the screen. The newly loaded patch is now a preset during this session and may be recalled at your desire by pressing the combinaRon of bank and preset bu\on you selected earlier on. Note that this applies unRl the next performance load or reboot. If you wish to store the preset as a part of this performance, you need to explicitly save the performance. Note that you can also load samples this way. Just select a sample (.wav, .aiff, etc) ﬁle instead of a patch folder. This will also import the sample base name, Bla.wav -> “Bla”, as the new patch name. (You will need to save the patch or performance to properly store this name as the new preset name.)
Page 46: Copy A Patch
Copy a patch To copy the current patch to another preset, follow the next steps: 1. Press the “patch” bu\on to enter “patch mode”, this bu\on will now light up 2. Press the “copy” bu\on, the copy bu\on will now blink 3. Select the preset to copy the desired patch to, using the bank and preset bu\ons 4. Press the “copy” bu\on. The source preset data is now displayed on screen. To cancel aSer step 2, simply press the “Escape” bu\on twice. NOTE: the patch or performance should be explicitly saved for the changes to the desRnaRon preset to take eﬀect! Kill a preset This clears the currently shown preset. It doesn’t modify anything on disk if you don’t choose to save aSerwards. 1. Press the Patch bu\on. 2. Hold down ShiS. 3. Press Load. 4. A popup will now show to ask if you want to kill the preset. 5. Press Escape to cancel or press Select to kill it. Patch volume The patch volume is very useful when it comes to matching volumes of diﬀerent patches for a (live) performance. The patch volume can be controlled with the “ FX-2” knob when the shiS bu\on is lit.
Page 47: Patch Configuration Menu
Patch Configuration Menu Patch configuration Press “shiS” and then “patch” to enter the “patch conﬁguraRon” screen. You scroll through the menu by turning the Select knob. Hold shiS to speed up scrolling, because this menu is quite long. Patch Global Settings Name This allows you to set the name of the preset. This is done character-by-character using the Select knob, or when you connect a computer keyboard, with the keyboard. Turn the Select knob to choose a character to edit. Push to edit. Then turn it to scroll through the le\ers and numbers. This name will now be used in patch and performance quick saves. Hold down the GR-1’s ShiS bu\on to get capital le\ers. Sample mode This toggles between three modes: 1. Granular: the default playback mode of the GR-1. 2. AudiRon: just play the sample. It can be pitched like in granular mode. This is useful for previewing sounds, but can also be used for musical purposes since later versions of the v2.1 ﬁrmware. 3. Tape mode: Emulates a play head moving over the sample using the “Scan” knob. Use the “Pitch” to set tape slew: how quickly the head picks up movement. Full posiRon modulaRon and scan looping are supported. You can always override the sample mode of the current patch with ShiS+Play. Pressing play again without shiS, will disable the override, and turn it back to the conﬁgured sample mode you conﬁgured in the menu. Spawn mode This tells the granular engine how to spawn grains when a new note is triggered. There are four opRons: 1. Gradual: gradually generate grains based on the conﬁgured clock 2. Direct: Generate a full cloud as if the granular engine had been running conRnuously in the background.
Page 48: Grain Stealing Threshold
Only applies to granular sample mode. Technical note: spawn mode is a consequence of the energy / CPU saving properRes of the engine. When a voice is not playing for a while, the granular scheduler is disabled. Grain stealing threshold Grain stealing kicks in when the 128 grains per voice are used up. The GR-1’s grain stealing is intelligent and results in no crackles or clicks whatsoever. Leave this at 0 to disable grain stealing. This is the default from ﬁrmware 2.2 and before. With a high combinaRon of density and grain size the grain scheduler will start oscillaRng. When the slider is set higher than 0.0 it will gradually start stealing grains. The higher the seung, the more aggressively the stealing will be. This will result in shorter grains, but the grains spread will be quite homogeneous. And the way in which this occurs is quite intuiRve and natural. Keyboard tuning If your sample is not in the C key, you can easily tune it: Scroll to this opRon to highlight it, and then hit the matching note on the MIDI keyboard. ADSR Pile-up This toggles between starRng the ADSR envelope from 0 or resuming where it started. This applies when repeatedly playing the same note on the keyboard. Especially with long releases, ADSR pile- up is useful. Voice stealing will only occur in extreme cases. But someRmes you want to have abrupt a\acks. So, then you can turn this opRon oﬀ. Grain Key Sync When this is on, a grain will trigger directly when a note is played. When this is oﬀ the grains sequencing is independent from note triggers. Grain Clock Sync Turn this on to synchronize the density parameter (the rate at which grains spawn) to the incoming MIDI clock. In this mode the Density knob is used to set mulRplier and divider (with ShiS pressed). Sample loop confinement Turn this on to limit playing of the sample, in both audiRon/sample and granular mode, to the area deﬁned by the loop start and loop end controls (see below). Resample anti-aliasing When this seung is “ON” an anR-aliasing ﬁlter will be turned on. This can reduce the amount of...
Page 49: Granular Glide
Normally the grains that are playing will play unRl the end of the set “grain size” at the same note pitch of the note that was played when the grain started playing. When the Granular glide seung is “OFF” the grains will be tuned to the notes that are played at that very moment. If you want the grains to follow the played pitch immediately turn this seung “OFF”. If you have longer grains and want to have a granular-chorus like funcRon that glides between notes. Turn it “ON”. This feature can also be used to create a swarm like sound where all grains have a diﬀerent pitch. Just try to wiggle the “Pitch” knob, or use an LFO to modulate TUNE. Set the LFO speed high enough and you’ll get a swarm-like chorus eﬀect. LFO amount can add addiRonal dramaRc eﬀect. Patch Scan Settings Scan Key Sync The scanning (scan) through the sample can be synced to a voice trigger/note-on event. When “Scan Key Sync” is “On”, the scan posiRon will reset to the “Play posiRon” on every voice trigger/note-on event. “Legato” will only reset the play posiRon on the ﬁrst note played. Scan loop confinement Turn this on to conﬁne the scanning to the loop area. The loop area is set up with the loop start and loop end controls. When this is oﬀ, the enRre sample will be scanned through. Note if you have this on, it’s best to disable the opRon “Sample loop conﬁnement”. Otherwise grains will wrap around this area, mostly resulRng in clicks and plops. Scan mode The GR-1 scanning movement has three modes: • Loop • One shot • Ping pong The scan knob inﬂuences speed and direcRon of all these modes. Scan clock sync Turn this on to synchronize the scan movement speed to the incoming MIDI clock. In this mode the scan knob is used to set mulRplier and divider (with ShiS pressed).
Page 50: Patch Play Mode Settings
Patch Play Mode Settings Responds to play Toggle this to make this patch responsive to play mode or not. SomeRmes it’s useful to make a patch exclusively responsive to a MIDI, while other patches are exclusively responsive to play mode. Slider base note This is the base note for play mode. When changing this, turn play oﬀ and on again to take eﬀect. C-5 is the naRve sample replay frequency. Free scale When in play mode, turn this on to allow free sliding pitch: no semitones. Turn it oﬀ to enable division of the octave into the scale deﬁned below. Play scale When using the sliders to pitch, choose which notes to enable or disable in the octave. This allows the playing of custom scales.
Page 51: Patch Fx Settings
Patch FX settings FX type The GR-1 has several built-in eﬀects: • Delay • DistorRon • Reducer • Reverb Only one of these can be acRve at a Rme. Note that the sub-oscillator and ﬁlter are not in this list. They can be acRve simultaneously. FX mapping There are 2 FX knobs on the GR-1: FX1 and FX2. You can map these to the eﬀects, but also to the sub-oscillator and the ﬁlter. See the table below for which funcRons FX1,2 represent when an eﬀect is selected: Eﬀect FX 1 FX 2 ﬁlter (all modes) Frequency [0Hz..20kHz] Resonance Sub osc Freq [-2 octaves .. fundamental] Amplitude Delay Time Feedback DistorRon Filter cutoﬀ frequency DistorRon Reducer Bit reducRon Sample rate ReducRon Reverb...
Page 52: Patch Modulation Settings
Patch Modulation Settings LFO2->Delay sync Toggle this on the enable the LFO2 period to determine the delay period. Cubic LFO amount curve Toggle between cubic and linear curve for the LFO amount knobs. Cubic mode is useful for vibrato, for instance. This also aﬀects the data entry in the modulaRon matrix. LFO 1 or 2 Sync When this seung is “ON” the LFO will be synced to the MIDI beat clock, with the selected Rme division. This seung can be turned on for each individual LFO. LFO 1 or 2 Key Sync Each LFO can individually be synced to a voice trigger/note-on event. When this feature is “ON”, the LFO wave will reset to the beginning of the waveform on every voice trigger/note-on event. LFO 1 or 2 max freq This sets the maximum frequency of LFO1 and LFO2, respecRvely. Range starts at 0.01 Hz and goes up to 100 Hz. This can be used to gain more precision in the low ranges. For instance, if you have an LFO period of an hour and want to set it to 61 minutes. The default is 50 Hz. Mod Wheel -> LFO 1 or 2 Enable this to amplify the enRre MOD matrix row (LFO1 or LFO2) using your MIDI controller’s mod wheel. Note that the default cutoﬀ funcRon of the mod wheel in earlier versions is now gone! LFO1->2 Cross Modulation...
Page 53: Modulation Matrix
Modulation Matrix The modulaRon matrix allows you to set mulRple modulaRon desRnaRons per modulaRon source (LFO1, LFO2, CV1, CV2, ASertouch, Timbre, LiS, Velocity, Pitch [from last note!]), instead of just the one-to-one rouRng available in the main screen. The matrix is split into 9 rows in the menu. Push select once to enter the row. Turn to select a cell for ediRng. Then turn to increase or decrease value. The minimum is -1.0, and the maximum is +1.0. You can also use the horizontal slider to set values more quickly. NegaRve values allow LFO waveforms to be inverted. Tap again to leave edit mode, and hit Escape to exit the row. Escape also works to exit edit mode. If you desire more precision when dialing in values in the matrix, use the “Cubic LFO amount curve” toggle. If you change a value the main screen will recognize and display “MAT-” instead of a single desRnaRon. Tapping the desRnaRon bu\on will remove the MATRIX status. An important thing to keep in mind is that the GR-1 by default operates the LFO’s and CV’s in one- to-one mode. Only one modulaRon desRnaRon is possible per matrix row. Hold down one of the LFO Dest bu\ons for a while and they’ll be lit and you’ll enter matrix mode for the LFO amount knobs. No longer will matrix cells be cleared once you turn the LFO amount knobs or press the LFO Dest bu\ons. This makes matrix ediRng much faster also in the main screen. This matrix/one-to- one toggle is a system wide seung that resets back to default at every boot. Note that the MPE aSertouch, Rmbre, liS, velocity, and pitch modulaRon sources cannot drive tuning, or grain window desRnaRons. There is only one stereo ﬁlter for each mulRRmbral part. This implies that cutoﬀ is also only available on global modulaRon sources and on pitch. ModulaRon from pitch to cutoﬀ is done by taking the last played or playing key. A tuning desRnaRon was leS out, because MPE already has pitch bend per note, and we felt it could lead to confusion. For the modulaSon sources a^ertouch, Smbre, li^, velocity and pitch to take eﬀect, MPE mode should be enabled in the performance menu. Mod matrix cells can also be changed directly via MIDI CC. See the CC table for details. Note that MPE matrix cells are not available as CC, for the simple reason there are not enough CC’s available any more. MPE Position clipping Toggles clipping if MPE modulates sample posiRon. In some musical use-cases clipping is desirable, in others it isn’t.
Page 54: Patch Keyboard
Patch Keyboard Keyboard split 1,2 The keyboard can be split in 3 areas (0, 1, and 2) , using 2 splits opRons. Split 2 should always be at least as high as split 1 on the keyboard. Area 0: leS of split 1 Area 1: right of split 1, and possibly leS of split 2 Area 2: right of split 2 If splits are oﬀ, everything is Area 0. Area 0..2 – Pos offset This allows you to add a sample posiRon to a keyboard area. It is added to the sample posiRon generated from the matrix and by the posiRon slider. Area 0..2 – Keyboard -> Pos This allows you to map keyboard note to sample posiRon. It is added to the sample posiRon generated from the matrix and by the posiRon slider. This can be used to step through the sample’s gradients and/or parts. Area 0.. 1 – Pitch Toggles pitch on and oﬀ. Useful if you want to have only sample posiRon control in a keyboard area.
Page 55: Performances & Performance Configuration
Performances & Performance Configuration A set of 32 (max) patches/presets + global seungs is what we call a performance. MIDI channel and hardware seungs etc. can be conﬁgured for an individual performance. You can load and save performances to/from both internal storage and to/from USB drive. Configuration To enter the performance conﬁguraRon press “ShiS” and then “Perf”. The conﬁguraRon parameters can be set with the select knob. Leave this conﬁguraRons screen with “Escape”. The ﬁrmware version can be found here in this menu: look in the top right. Midi Channels Since the GR-1 is mulRRmbral it allows you to set the MIDI channel for each of the four parts. Turn completely to the leS to turn oﬀ MIDI handling for this part. Hold down “ShiS“ to set all four parts to the same channel. LED Brightness Controls the brightness of the LED bu\ons. Potentiometer Setpoints When “ON” the potmeters/knobs of a saved patch are locked, unRl you turn/slide past the saved set point. From v1.2 and up it, setpoints will also be displayed numerically (30.4% for instance), under the lock icon. So that you know which side you have to turn to, to acRvate the control. Direct shift When this is on, you’ll have to keep ShiS pressed to access secondary funcRons like the voice sliders or quick save. When this is oﬀ, the ShiS bu\on behaves like a toggle. ADSR Slider mode The ADSR sliders can be just how they were intended, but also to control the individual volumes of the four play mode voices (“Voice vol”), or to control the individual volumes of the four parts (“Part vol”). Velocity Curve Keyboard velocity sensiRvity: Choose between sqrt (square root) and linear here. Square root is the default, and used by most well-known synths.
Page 56: Load Sample: Convert To 44.1
Load sample: convert to 44. 1 Turn this on to force the GR-1 to convert every imported sample to naRve 44.1 kHz sample rate. Loaded samples that are already 44.1 kHz are not modiﬁed. MIDI CC updates visuals Since MIDI CC’s can happen a lot if you’re sequencing the GR-1 via MIDI. It may be convenient to turn the visual updates oﬀ. Turn it on if you want to keep track of the CC acRvity. May be useful for diagnosRcs. Patch switch -> stop grains When switching patches grains are stopped. Clicks may be heard. If you turn this oﬀ, grains will keep playing: no clicks, but there may be old/long grains in other parts of the sample. This is nice for smooth transiRons from patch to patch. Pitchbend range Pitchbend range in semitones. Note that in previous ﬁrmwares (<=2.3), the MPE toggle forced the range to 48 semitones, which is ideal for the Roli Seaboard, but other MPE controls may be more suited to smaller ranges. DSP Metering Toggles a DSP processing bar in the main display. Full width means 100% CPU usage. Audio dropouts will occur already around 90%. Can be used to see how the GR-1 reacts to larger spray, bigger samples, larger grains, higher density, and higher polyphony. Turn on MPE support. This eﬀecRvely supersedes MIDI channel selecRon. This will turn on an enormous pitch bend range, which is not recommended for normal MIDI input devices. File selector: Sound previews Very big sample ﬁles can cause the ﬁle selector to slow down to a crawl. This is because the samples are loaded in and then played, and the code was not opRmized yet. In 1.2.1 we added a...
Page 57: Send Precision Cc
Send precision CC When one of the physical controls of the GR-1 is moved, send 14 bit NRPN’s instead of just the normal 7 bit CC’s. This aﬀects MIDI OUT. MIDI OUT can only be used using a USB host-to-host interface. Check Firmware Upgrade This will check for ﬁrmware updates on the a\ached USB sRck/drive and allow you to update from here. This is the same as what happens on boot with an a\ached USB sRck with ﬁrmware updates on it. It has the added beneﬁt of also checking for updates from the tasty chips site if the LAN cable is plugged in. Select and push again to check for new ﬁrmware. An online ﬁrmware upgrade has priority over one on the USB sRck. Please keep this in mind. On board chord toggle mode Normally the play mode toggles voices on/oﬀ with the bank 1-4 bu\ons. Turn this oﬀ and the voices will only play when the bu\ons are pressed. Saving a Performance To save your performance, follow the next steps: 1. Press the “performance” bu\on to enter “performance mode”, this bu\on will now light up 2. Press the “save” bu\on, you will now enter the save screen 3. Select the desired directory with the “select” knob, (turn the knob) 4. Internal memory: select one of the 6 folders (50 on later models), press select to enter the folder, and press save 5. External memory (USB disk): select a folder (keep in mind that everything that is inside the performance will be saved, so you might want to make empty folders on your disk) then press save. To cancel anyRme aSer step 2, simply press the “Escape” bu\on twice.
Page 58: Performance Quick Save
NOTE: you can save performances to /media/internal. This is because there are only a limited amount of folders in /media/internal to which you can store performances, and a performance itself has a ﬁxed maximum size. NOTE: if you want to remove your USB sRck or drives you can press ShiS + Escape to cleanly eject them. All drives are ejected at the same Rme. Performance quick save To quickly save the performance you’re ediRng: 1. Press the “performance” bu\on to enter “performance mode”, this bu\on will now light up 2. Press “shiS” together with “Save” 3. The Save bu\on will now blink for a second or two CAUTION: NEVER power down your GR-1 while saving. Data corrupRon may occur! Wait unRl the display responds to input again before a\empRng to power oﬀ. TIP: quick save your performance to quickly store the performance menu seungs to permanent memory. If you do this with the default performance (that loads when starRng), you’ll start up next Rme with these seungs. Loading a performance To load a performance, follow the next steps: 1. Press the “Perf” bu\on to enter “performance mode”, this bu\on will now light up 2. Press the “load” bu\on, you will now enter the load screen 3. Select the desired performance folder (turn the “select” knob”, and press it), or select the performance.grp in the root of your USB drive, if you saved it there. To cancel anyRme aSer step 2, simply press the “Escape” bu\on twice. Initializing a performance Using this funcRon you start from a bunch of samples of your choice. This loads a directory ﬁlled with samples into the preset slots. This funcRon is operated as the loading but with ShiS pressed when pressing load.
Page 59: Copy Preset To "All
1. Press the “load” bu\on, you will now enter the load screen. [This procedure doesn’t care about whether the Sample, Patch, or Perf bu\ons are lit. But it’s useful to have Sample or Patch lit, as that will show actual sample ﬁles in the ﬁle chooser. Perf mode will ﬁlter them out.] 2. Use the Select knob to enter the desired folder ﬁlled with samples. 3. Hold down ShiS and press Load. This loads the samples in the selected folder into the preset slots. Default patch parameters and performance menu seungs are used. Copy preset to “all” Copy a single preset or that preset template to all the preset slots in the performance. We like to call the preset’s parameters (without sample) “template”. 1. Press the Perf bu\on. 2. Select the preset you want copied. 3. Press Copy. 1. Just pressing “Copy” without ShiS will copy the enRre preset. 2. Holding ShiS and pressing Copy will copy the template. 4. A popup will ask if you want to proceed. Press Select to do so, or Esc to cancel. 5. If you pressed Select, the preset (or its template) is copied to all the presets in the performance.
Page 60: Timbrality
Timbrality Since ﬁrmware 2.0 the GR-1 can operate either monoRmbral, which means it plays a single patch, or mulRRmbral, which means it plays mulRple patches at the same Rme. By default it runs in monoRmbral mode. Entering multitimbral mode You can add patches to the mix using ShiS + preset bu\ons 1, 2, 3, and 4. The sample display will automaRcally be split in 4 parts, indicaRng you’re now running mulRRmbral mode. The new patch can be immediately heard. You can now just switch patches using the preset bu\ons, control the patch parameters like you’re used to. The knobs change the patch parameters of the currently highlighted (“focused”) part. The last part acRvated is displayed in a lighter shade of grey. Focus on a part Since ﬁrmware 2.1, you can use the Select knob to scroll and focus on a part of your choosing. Pressing this bu\on combinaRon (ShiS + preset 1, 2, 3, or 4) again on an acRve part will remove the preset from the part. When only a single patch is leS, the display goes back to monoRmbral mode, displaying only a single sample. NOTE: The same part cannot be present in mulRple parts. The GR-1 will refuse to add the same patch twice. Since ﬁrmware 2.3 it will show this with a popup. MIDI configuration Patches can respond to diﬀerent MIDI channels, and can be sensiRve to play mode. This can be done in the patch menu. Which makes mulRRmbral mode so ﬂexible. This way you can even record and granulate a live sample on one part and play chords and solos on other patches, all at the same Rme. NOTE: Increasing the number of parts will yield higher polyphony. RestricRons to polyphony apply and are outlined in the next secRon.
Page 61: Polyphony
Polyphony This secRon explains the GR-1’s forms of polyphony, the voice stealing algorithm, the grain window, and how to make the best of them. Forms of polyphony The GR-1 has two forms of polyphony: • Grain polyphony: 128 grains per voice • Voice polyphony: corresponding to playing notes: 11 voices at the Rme of wriRng. • Voice timbre A voice may have anywhere from 0 to 128 grains playing at any Rme. This allows the ﬂexibility to have a single grain playing (sporadically) up to a massive “cloud” of grains. No amount of playing notes will cause the amount of grains to be modiﬁed by the engine. The Rmbre of the voice will be kept intact as much as possible. Note hold The GR-1 supports the MIDI hold CC. Since version 2.1 this acts like the standard hold funcRon, instead of just holding previously playing notes. That is, all new notes will remain playing even if your ﬁngers were liSed from the keyboard. This remains this way unRl hold is turned oﬀ again. Voice stealing When the GR-1 reaches maximum voice polyphony and the user presses yet more notes on the keyboard, it will choose to abruptly remove the oldest playing note, preferably already in release, that is not being held (by the hold CC explained above). It also makes choices based on the posiRon of the notes on the keyboard in relaRon to each other. This should make note polyphony as full and responsive as possible. Voice stealing can be delayed signiﬁcantly by using ADSR pile-up mode in the patch menu. Grain stealing When the maximum amount of grains per voice (128) is reached, the grain scheduler will stall unRl grains have reached their end. This results in an oscillaRon eﬀect where there’s a big bunch of grains in one place and nothing elsewhere. Grain stealing remedies this eﬀect. It will steal grains in a way that is inaudible to the user: no crackles or clicks. The only drawback is that it (logically) shortens grains. This depends a lot on the Grain stealing threshold seung. See the patch menu.
Page 62: Audio, And Avoiding Drop-Outs
Audio, and avoiding drop-outs When pushing the GR-1’s engine, audio dropouts can occur. It is important to remember that granular synthesis is random in nature. Too much and too sca\ered access to sample memory will result in a high strain on the engine.. • Maximum voice polyphony is caused by long envelope release and fast playing on the keyboard.. Beware, the GR-1 allows almost 50 second long envelope release! • Maximum grain polyphony is caused by high grain size and density. • High spray and long samples will cause sca\ering of sample memory access. A suitable comparison is cooking with only 4 burners on your stove, but having a lot of pans around. The more powerful your hardware is, the more burners you have. The larger the sample, the higher the spray, and polyphony, the more pans you’ll have around. You’ll have to swap out many pans many Rmes which causes slow downs. The combinaRon of the above factors can cause audio dropouts. The soluRon is to be aware of them, and apply some pracRcal knowledge: • If you desire long releases and many playing notes: consider limiRng spray and/or choosing shorter samples. AlternaRvely, choose a short envelope release and use the built-in delay eﬀect or use an external reverb that can generate long releases. • With longer grains, it’s oSen enough to have a density of 100 grains per second. • The on-board play mode can be adequate for drones, by just using 4 voices. • AnR-aliasing may be turned oﬀ. This is not recommended, but the aliasing sounds can be used creaRvely, in some cases. Master volume and patch volume When note polyphony increases the total volume will also increase. There is no compression on the end mix, so it will start hard clipping the output. So keep in mind that you can lower the volume with the master knob. Note ﬁrmware 1.4.2 onwards has higher volume than before. Since ﬁrmware 2.2 the patch volume can go a lot higher than before, and will cause similar clipping if not handled with care.
Page 63: Temperature And The Internal Fan
Temperature and the internal fan When the strain on the engine increases the physical power of the computer in the GR-1 also increases. Which, aSer a while, leads to higher temperatures. At about 70 degrees C it will turn on the fan, in order to keep cool. This happens in warmer climates (room temperatures > 25C) and conRnued strain on the engine for a couple of minutes. At the Rme of wriRng the GR-1 is equipped with a Raspberry Pi 3, but in the future more powerful boards can be used to replace it. Leading to an overall cooler system with higher polyphony. Menu screens Related to temperature and dropouts is also the screen you are using. The main screen has many animated components, so will stress the system more. A menu screen uses less CPU and GPU horsepower so it will run cooler and dropouts will be less likely. If you’ve exhausted all other opRons, this may be useful to know. On board controls Controls Screen/mode FuncSon in screen PosiRon slider Main Sample posiRon PosiRon slider Menus Cell select / toggle, slider value Escape to previous naming/saving step Escape bu\on All, except main or screen Escape bu\on (keep Tuning oscillator pressed) Eject all USB drives. ShiS should be ShiS + Escape explicitly pressed. Toggle mode ignored! Play Toggle play mode...
Page 64 Kill sample, patch, or performance. ShiS + Load ShiS should explicitly be pressed. Toggle mode is ignored! Enter save menu for selected IO mode Save (sample, patch, or performance) Save Save ﬁle dialog Conﬁrm overwrite Quick save the current sample, patch ShiS + Save Main of performance Copy selected IO item (sample, or Copy patch) to buﬀer. If blinking paste from buﬀer to current patch/sample. Copy [when Perf bu\on is Copy preset to all presets, including lit] sample. ShiS + Copy [when Perf Copy patch [WITHOUT SAMPLE] to all bu\on lit] presets! Set next LFO waveform for LFO1, or Wave1, Wave2 LFO2 Toggle LFO AUX waveform recording ShiS + [Wave 1, or Wave2] (REC<->STOP) Dest1, Dest2 Set next desRnaRon for LFO1, or LFO2 Toggle between single source-dest Dest1, Dest2 (hold down) mode and matrix mode. Both bu\ons will light up. Set current part to patch 1..8 within Preset 1..8 current bank, return to main screen.
Page 65 mapping in patch menu ShiS + FX2 Patch volume Pan spray Set pan spray Scan All, except audiRon mode Set scan speed Scan Scan clock sync = ON Set scan clock mulRplier ShiS + Scan Granular mode Set forward/reverse direcRon bias ShiS + Scan Scan clock sync = ON Set scan clock divider Sides Set grain window sides Sides + ShiS Set loop start Tilt Set grain window Rlt Curve Set grain window curve ShiS + Curve Set loop end A\ack Set ADSR a\ack ShiS + A\ack All (Play mode ON) Set Voice 1 pitch Decay Set ADSR decay ShiS + Decay All (Play mode ON) Set Voice 2 pitch Sustain Set ADSR sustain ShiS + Sustain All (Play mode ON) Set Voice 3 pitch Release...
Page 67: Midi Control Change (Cc) Table
MIDI Control Change (CC) table MIDI Comman Control GR-1 parameter Value Range/descripSon msg. d / CC curve Pitch Pitch bend 0 – 16383 see CC 60 (pitchbend range) bend MIDI PGM 0..7 -> Preset 1..8, Bank 1; Program MIDI PGM 8..15 -> Preset 1..8, Bank 2; Select patch 0 – 31 change MIDI PGM 16..23 -> Preset 1..8, Bank 3; MIDI PGM 24..31 -> Preset 1..8, Bank 4; Linear Note on Note on 0-127 (volume) Note oﬀ Note oﬀ 0-127 MOD wheel 0 - 127 Cutoﬀ (addiRve) 0..10 kHz linear posiRon 0 – 127 Start .. end of sample...
Page 68 0:TUNE, 1:POS, 2:SPRAY, 3:SIZE, 4:DENS, LFO2 desRnaRon 0-10 5:CUTOFF, .. 0:TUNE, 1:POS, 2:SPRAY, 3:SIZE, 4:DENS, CV1 desRnaRon 0-10 5:CUTOFF, .. 0:TUNE, 1:POS, 2:SPRAY, 3:SIZE, 4:DENS, CV2 desRnaRon 0-10 5:CUTOFF, .. LFO1 key sync LFO2 key sync MOD wheel LSB UNUSED LFO1 clock sync 0-1(+) 0:OFF, >0:ON LFO2 clock sync 0-10 0:OFF, >0:ON Patch volume 0 - 127 [0.0 .. 10.0] cubic -1.0 .. +1.0 (NOTE: this used to be anRalias toggle Grain Fwd/Rev bias 0-127 linear in ﬁrmware <2.2) NRPN value LSB 0 - 127 Master volume 0 – 127 0.0 .. 1.00 cubic MOD LFO1-TUNE 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD LFO1-POS 0-127...
Page 69 MOD CV2-DENS 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear REC(ord sample) 0-127 0: stop, >=1: start MOD LFO1-SIDES 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD LFO1-TILT 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD LFO1-CURVE 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD LFO2-SIDES 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD LFO2-TILT 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD LFO2-CURVE 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD CV1-SIDES 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD CV1-TILT 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear MOD CV1-CURVE 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 linear...
Page 70 RPN Par LSB 0 – 127 RPN Par MSB 0 – 127 Note pressure LSB 0-127 MPE Rmbre LSB 0-127 All sound oﬀ All notes oﬀ and cut sound All sound oﬀ All notes oﬀ OMNI mode oﬀ, accept commands only on 1 OMNI oﬀ channel OMNI on OMNI mode on, accept commands on all channels - MOD LIFT -DENS 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 Linear MOD LIFT -CUTOFF 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 Linear MOD LIFT-TUNE 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 Linear MOD LIFT-POS 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 Linear MOD LIFT-SPRAY 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 Linear MOD LIFT-SIZE 0-127 -1.0 .. +1.0 Linear MOD LIFT-SIDES...
Page 71 LFO1DIV 0..9 LFO1 MIDI clock divider - 1 LFO2MUL 0..9 LFO2 MIDI clock mulRplier - 1 LFO2DIV 0..9 LFO2 MIDI clock divider - 1 Timing Clock Clock Rck to drive MIDI clock enabled controls. Timing Start Ignored, but accepted Timing ConRnue Ignored, but accepted Timing Stop Ignored, but accepted Timing AcRve sensing Ignored, but accepted Timing/ Reset Stop all voices. Precision MIDI: “NRPN” The GR-1 also supports all the above CC parameters as Non-Registered Parameters Numbers (NRPN). This means you can use the normal 7 bit MIDI values, but also use 14 bit values if necessary. This allows for more than 128 controls, and for control values with 16384 steps instead of the normal 128. All CC’s that have range 0-127 (not the toggles, or triggers) are also available as 14 bit precision NRPN’s. Since the GR-1 has many parameters that demand high precision, like sample posiRon or ﬁlter cutoﬀ, this feature exposes the full potenRal of GR-1 to MIDI controllers and sequencers. Note that the GR-1’s large modulaRon matrix is not fully represented as normal 7 bit CC, but also uses CC’s that are only available as NRPN. An NRPN is just 4 CC packets being sent:...
Page 72 CC header byte (176 + channel), 99, NRPN parameter MSB (upper 7 bit of CC number from above table) CC header byte (176 + channel), 98, NRPN parameter LSB (lower 7 bit of CC number from above table) CC header byte (176 + channel), 6, NRPN value MSB (high 7 bit of the 14 bit value) CC header byte (176 + channel), 38, NRPN value LSB (low 7 bit of the 14 bit value) For example, let’s take parameter 2 (sample posiRon) and set that to sample posiRon 98.76% of the total length (16181 as a 14 bit number). We’re using MIDI channel 1 (that’s 0 in the header, since we start counRng from 0). 176, 99, 0 176, 98, 2 176, 6, 16181 div 128 = 126 176, 38, 16181 mod 128 = 53...
Page 73: Firmware Updates
Firmware updates WARNING: NEVER power down your GR-1 while updaRng the ﬁrmware. Data corrupRon may occur! Even in the extreme case of a freeze during update, please wait at least 30 seconds before a\empRng to power oﬀ!! If the above are not respected, the GR-1 may fail to boot on the next power up! You can then only recover through ﬂashing the internal SD card, losing all your internally stored performances. The GR-1 ﬁrmware can be updated via USB, and since version 2.0 also via the LAN port. To perform a ﬁrmware update via USB: download the latest version on www.tastychips.nl/gr-1-support and follow the next steps: • Place the gr1_ﬁrmware_vx.y.z_abcdefgh.tgz ﬁle in the “root directory” on a USB drive. • DO NOT UNZIP the tgz ﬁle! • Insert the USB drive in one of the 4 USB ports on your GR-1. AlternaRvely, to perform a ﬁrmware update via the LAN port: please plug in a LAN cable from your router to the GR-1’s LAN port. The LAN port is situated directly next to the 4 USB ports. LAN update is only available in ﬁrmware v2.0 onwards. • Turn on/restart your GR-1, you will now see a window popping up • Press “select” within 5 seconds to perform the ﬁrmware update...
Page 74 The ﬁrmware update will now start and takes less than a 30 seconds • Remove the USB disk and restart the GR-1 Keep in mind that when there is a ﬁrmware update in the root directory of a connected USB drive, the GR-1 will always boot with the “press “Select” to update” window. You might want to remove the ﬁrmware update from the USB drive when the update is done. The actual ﬁrmware version can be found here in the conﬁguraRon menu (top right). For updaRng without a reset ﬁrst: From version 1.2 onwards it’s possible to use the Performance menu to enter the update screen: • Go to Preferences -> General • ShiS+Perf • Select “Check Firmware Upgrade” • Push the Select knob (or turn on old ﬁrmwares). See the troubleshooRng chapter if you run into problems with updaRng.
Page 75: Frequently Asked Questions (Faq)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Q: Why does the GR-1 come without a IEC power cable? A: This is because most people have at least a couple of these cables lying around leS over from older discarded devices. It’s be\er for the environment. Q: Why does the GR-1 come without a printed manual? A: Because the manual receives signiﬁcant updates every few months, and it saves the environment. Q: How to store performance/global menu se\ngs like midi channel, led brightness, etc? A: See the secRon “Performance quick save”. Note that saving to /internal/performance 1 will restore these seungs on GR-1 startup. Q: I want to use the GR-1 as a normal sampler without granula?on going on. How to do this? A: Patch menu (ShiS+Patch) -> Sample mode -> AudiRon. Q: There's just one ﬁlter? Is it then paraphonic? How to use the gr-1 as a fully polyphonic device? A: You can use MIDI MPE devices to achieve full polyphony. You can use sampled sweeps to emulate the polysynth’s typical ﬁlter envelopes. Without MPE it indeed is somewhat paraphonic. Q: My USB s?ck or drive isn't working with the GR-1. How do I get it to work? A: See the troubleshooRng secRon about USB drives. Q: My USB sound card isn't working with the GR-1. Is it supported at all? A: Only the so-called class compliant USB sound cards are supported. Others, especially most expensive or older cards require special driver support, and the GR-1 doesn’t have that. However, there are hundreds of class compliant USB sound cards out there. Check the list in “Supported USB sound cards” for more informaRon. Q: I have audio dropouts or a lowering of the density parameter. What is this, and how to avoid? A: See the “Polyphony” chapter. Q: The grain density seems to oscillate when there are a lot of grains (combina?on of high density and high grain size se\ngs). What is this? A: This is normal. Per voice you can "only" have 128 simultaneous grains. The grain scheduler wants to add more, but the system refuses. Then some grains reach their end, and the scheduler can add grains again. This causes an oscillaRon. The trick is to limit the combinaRon of the grain size and density seung a bit, and then the density will be constant. Another way is to raise the Grain stealing threshold. Standard this is 0 (no stealing).
Page 76 Q: I want to hook a GR-1 up to my DAW, how does this work? A: There are two ways: 1. DIN MIDI: Use a USB-to-DIN MIDI adapter/sound card, and hook it up to the GR-1’s MIDI IN DIN port. This works well enough for standard MIDI controls like notes, pitch bend, and the odd CC. However, a DIN MIDI connecRon is not the best if you want to have a lot of smooth automaRons. 2. USB host-to-host interface. For instance, the iConnecRvity mio2 or the Sevilla SoS MIDI USB-USB [h\ps://compasﬂamenco.com/midi-usbusb-p-4.html]. As you may know the GR-1 has only USB A ports, and is a USB host. Your PC or Mac is also a host. There are no ways to directly make a USB connecRon between them. A host-to-host interface takes care of this. Q: Some?mes, when switching to a new preset, a parameter resets itself. What is this, and how to avoid? A: Since switching presets gives each knob a potenRally diﬀerent value, the actual knob posiRon may not represent the underlying value anymore. Since the knobs are quite sensiRve they may pick up the slightest movement or even noise in the system. To remedy this you can use “Setpoints” in the performance menu. That way the knobs are locked when switching presets. The lock disappears when you turn it to the actual value. Q: I want to save separate patches and samples to internal storage. Is that possible? A: It’s only possible to store performances to internal storage. But using a so-called “performance quick save” is actually much faster and easier than saving a separate patch. Please look it up in this manual. It is not allowed to store separate patches and samples to internal storage. The reason for this is that the internal storage is limited and there’s no delete funcRon. Q: I want to rename the performances in the internal storage. Is that possible? A: Sorry, no. For this, use a USB sRck with folders you have created and named yourself. Q: In mul??mbral mode, some?mes I cannot enable a speciﬁc part. What is this? A: The GR-1 doesn’t allow the same preset to be acRve in mulRple parts. Please make sure the other parts are assigned to other presets, and then you’ll be able to acRvate this part again.
Page 77: Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting File systems (USB disk/stick format) Using the right format, or ﬁle system, does help. On a Mac you can use “Disk URlity” and format it like this: Format: ExFat Scheme: GUID or MBR In any case it should not be FAT32. MacOS (HFS+) is not correctly supported under Linux as of yet, causing to someRmes mount it read-only. APFS is completely unsupported. NTFS is properly supported, but is not readable on Mac. The old FAT32 is not recommended for bigger parRRons (>= 32GB). So, if you want the smoothest experience, please use ExFat for everything. For Linux experts: Ext4 is ﬁne as well. Some USB drives and sRcks come with special recovery parRRons. Later MacOS formats sRcks using such parRRons. Older GR-1 ﬁrmware (<1.4.1) just went ahead and mounted these parRRons and allowed you to write to them. But these parRRons are small (200 MB or so) and ﬁll up very quickly. Also, they’re hard to access on PC/Mac. From ﬁrmware 1.4.1 onwards these parRRons are skipped, as they should be. Please upgrade to the latest ﬁrmware available. Please contact us if problems persist. Multiple USB sticks or USB drives The GR-1 iniRally didn’t support mulRple USB sRcks at the same Rme. Since ﬁrmware v2.1.8 it does support them. Please upgrade to the latest version, and contact us if problems persist. Firmware upgrades Apple’s Safari browser seems to destroy .tgz ﬁles when you use the default seungs (!). This will cause the update process to get stuck on older ﬁrmware! Firmware 1.4 and up do accept this type of mangled ﬁle. If you’re upgrading from a ﬁrmware older than 1.4, please download the ﬁle with another browser like Firefox or Chrome..or in Safari: Alt + mouse click (downloads ﬁle instead of opening) To always download-only instead of opening: •...
Page 78: Crashes
Crashes With early ﬁrmware this used to happen more oSen. Nowadays not so much, It seems that the only ones that occur today are leaving USB devices plugged in at boot (they require too much current for the GR-1 at startup), and plugging USB devices aSer a ﬁrmware update (happens one Rme only). If this should happen to you, please drop us a mail with speciﬁcs of the situaRon, preferably with screenshot, or be\er video. Firmware version number and serial number are also highly appreciated. Lightning bolts If you see one of these while booRng up, beware! This means that the Raspberry Pi is having a hard Rme supplying current to the a\ached USB devices. Please unplug USB devices while starRng up, and only insert them when fully up and running. Preferably one by one. NEVER insert USB devices while saving. Unrecoverable data corrupRon may occur! Slow USB drive or stick Some sRcks really are very slow. In our experience the branded ones are a lot faster than the cheap unbranded ones. These are perhaps 4 Rmes slower or worse. Also, older ﬁrmware had a “slow” USB mode for compaRbility. But since ﬁrmware 1.3.3 the GR-1 always runs in fast USB mode and is fully compaRble with all USB MIDI controllers. Please upgrade to the latest version. Problematic USB stick or drive It’s a pre\y seldom problem, but some USB sRcks or hard disks create a lot of inrush current. When connected while booRng, you may see a message like: usb1-1.4: device descriptor read/64, error -32 This is basically the USB port freezing up because it has to provide too much current (power). In such a case, remove the USB device, and reboot unRl the GUI appears and then try a\aching it again. Even if the GR-1 boots up seemingly well with a hard disk, it may be that it has caused latent instability in the system. It’s just be\er to only connect a hard disk once the GR-1 is fully up and...
Page 79: Reflashing The Internal Storage
Reflashing the internal storage This secRon describes a last resort when your GR-1 refuses to boot or has become unstable. Please only follow these steps if all else has failed. It may be that the internal storage, the Micro SD card located in the GR-1’s Single Board Computer has become corrupted. So far, it seems that about 1% of the units has experienced this aSer 2 years. This would seem to suggest that some Micro SD cards are worse than others, or some get used way more oSen than others. All digital media wear over Rme, and SD cards are no excepRon. However, like with all products, some pieces may be more durable than others. This seems comparable to the issues experienced with light bulbs, for instance. This secRon is for customers who’s GR-1 is out of warranty (older than 2 years), or for customers who sRll have right to factory warranty (unit less than 2 years old) and cannot aﬀord to wait to receive a new SD card from us. You will need some degree of compute skills in order to reﬂash the internal storage to a new SD card. If you feel conﬁdent enough, read on: 1. Buy a new Micro SD card of at least 32GB. You can ﬁnd a list of suitable models here: h\ps://elinux.org/RPi_SD_cards h\ps://www.androidcentral.com/best-sd-cards-raspberry-pi-4 2. Download Balena Etcher, or the Raspberry Pi Imager tool (Balena doesn’t seem to work well on OSX Catalina a user reported): h\ps://www.balena.io/etcher/ h\ps://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ 3. Download the following image from our site: h\ps://www.tastychips.nl/downloads/gr-1_1.6.1_50perf.img.zip 4. Use Balena Etcher / Raspberry Pi Imager to write the image to the new SD card. You’ll need a USB adapter for the Micro SD card or a card reader on your PC/Mac. 5. Power down the GR-1 and unscrew the GR-1’s casing. The unscrewing consists of 7 countersunk M3 screws in total. 6. Remove the old SD card from the Single Board Computer (typically a Raspberry Pi 3B). 7. Insert the new SD card and use a bit of duck tape or electrical tape to fasten it in the slot, just in case you’ll be moving the GR-1 around a lot. 8. Start up the GR-1. It will reboot by itself to expand the ﬁle system to the full size of the SD card. Once it has fully booted test some basic funcRonality like the play bu\on.
Page 80 9. You’ll now upgrade from the basic 1.6 image to the latest ﬁrmware: Follow the upgrade procedure described in the “Firmware upgrades” chapter. This is USB only since v1.6 ﬁrmware only understands upgrades over USB and not yet those over internet. 10. Your GR-1 should now be ready to face the next couple of years. Firmware updates from hereon may be performed over internet.
Page 81: Credits
Credits Tasty Chips Team • Pieter van der Meer (Founder of Tasty Chips Electronics, Lead engineer) • Jasper Andrea (Andrea Audio ProducRons) • Koen Pepping (Vannes Engineering) • Luc Derks (Sound design, QA, IllustraRon) Hired • Niels Johannes de Wit (SoSware engineering) • Bas van Geuns (Intro AnimaRon video) • Marco Galtarossa (3D renders) Hardware Granular Idea • Erwin Tuijl (Pocket Knife Army) Special thanks to Brainstorm sessions • Erwin Tuijl (Pocket Knife Army) • Jasper Schutz • Job de Klein • Leon Stok •...
Page 82: Contact
Contact Tasty Chips Electronics Email: info@tastychips.nl Website: www. tastychips.nl Youtube: h\ps://www.youtube.com/tastychips Facebook: h\ps://www.facebook.com/tastychipselectronics Fb user group:h\ps://www.facebook.com/ groups/141549229871409...