Turn any sound into something unheard.
A granular synthesizer for iPhone and iPad that decomposes audio into grains and rebuilds it into evolving textures, rhythmic patterns, and ambient soundscapes. Up to 8 playheads (5 in AUv3), deep modulation, step sequencer, Sampl chop mode, and AUv3 — designed to be played, not menu-dived.
DownloadA full granular workstation that fits in your hands. Scroll to take a closer look.
Use GrainHeads as an AUv3 instrument or AUFX audio effect inside any DAW. As an effect, it captures live audio and processes it through granular synthesis in real-time. Play heads over MIDI — each on its own channel or all at once from channel 1 — with each head's pitch setting transposing the incoming note. Full parameter automation, multiple playheads, and preset recall in both modes.
Deploy up to 8 granular playheads in standalone (up to 5 in AUv3), each with its own position, scan speed, filter, pitch, amplitude, and modulation. Each head can target a different sample for rich, multi-source textures that evolve independently.
Multiple LFOs, envelopes, and sequencer lanes can target the same parameter simultaneously with their values summed together. LFOs can modulate other LFOs for deeply nested movement. Virtually every parameter is modulatable.
Go beyond note patterns. The step sequencer locks any parameter per step — pitch, filter, grain size, position, pan — with polyrhythmic lengths and clock divisions from /64 to x64. Each playhead runs its own sequence, and every individual lane can be detached to run at its own independent step count for true intra-head polyrhythm. Filter envelopes add timbral motion per step.
Three XY macro pads give you six macro axes. Any axis can be assigned to any parameter, with its own amount, so a single gesture moves as much of the patch as you choose — and the routing is stored in the preset.
Shape each grain with an interactive envelope editor. Draw any curve using Bezier control points for precise control over transient character and spectral detail — from soft clouds to sharp percussive fragments.
Two independent filters per playhead, with six types each — LP, BP, HP, Notch, Low Shelf, and High Shelf — at 12 or 24 dB/oct. In shelf modes Drive becomes ±12 dB Gain. Run them in Parallel or chain them in Serial, and lock the two cutoffs into Free, Link, or Mirror relationships for sweeping bands and matched curves.
Sculpt further with lo-fi degradation, stereo delay, reverb, and filtering — all with adjustable signal flow so effects interact in the order you choose.
Control playhead drift direction and speed with the Scan parameter. Set a scope with Start/End, add wobble for instability, and enable Ricochet so the playhead bounces off scope walls. All fully modulatable by LFOs.
Load up to 4 different samples simultaneously. Each head can choose which slot to play from — and the slot selection is modulatable by LFO for dynamic sample-switching textures.
Lock pitch to chromatic, major, minor, pentatonic, dorian, blues, and more. Even randomized or modulated pitch snaps to the nearest note in the selected scale — musical results without manual tuning.
One tap randomizes an entire playhead — parameters, effects, LFOs, and sequencer patterns. Scale quantization keeps randomized pitch musical. Happy accidents, on demand.
Turn the waveform itself into a multi-touch instrument. Slice the sample into zones with draggable separators; each finger plays its own zone simultaneously, looping inside the zone bounds. Map any subset of parameters — A/B mix, scrub speed, pan, both filters, FX sends, lo-fi bits, and more — to vertical finger position for tactile, transport-free performance. Record your fingers in PERF and loop them back, up to 8 bars.
Watch GrainHeads in action.
GrainHeads is built for sound designers, musicians, and experimental producers who want deep, hands-on control over texture and motion — not a grid of menus.
Every parameter is reachable from the surface. Macros map complex timbral shifts to single gestures. Sampl zones turn the waveform into something you play with your fingers rather than program. And the summing modulation matrix means you can layer movement on movement without running out of routing.
GrainHeads is a granular synthesizer for iPhone and iPad. It takes any audio sample, splits it into tiny overlapping fragments called grains, and plays them back as independent streams to build evolving textures, rhythmic patterns, ambient pads and glitchy soundscapes. It runs as a standalone app, as an AUv3 instrument, and as an AUv3 audio effect.
Granular synthesis slices audio into tiny fragments called grains and plays them back with independent control over pitch, position, speed, and density. Grain lengths vary by instrument — roughly 1 ms to a few seconds across the technique as a whole. In GrainHeads a grain runs from 10 ms to 2 s by default, and up to 5 s if you raise the maximum grain length in Settings (part of the full version). This lets you stretch, freeze, scatter, and reshape any sound into textures impossible with traditional synthesis.
The standalone app runs up to 8 independent granular playheads. The AUv3 instrument and the AUv3 effect run up to 5. Each playhead has its own source, scope, pointer, grain settings, pitch, grain envelope, dual filters and output stage, so the heads can play completely different material at the same time.
Yes. GrainHeads has 4 sample slots (A–D), used as two pairs. A playhead reads either the A/B pair or the C/D pair and crossfades between the two samples with the A/B Mix control, which is itself modulatable. Different playheads can point at different pairs, so one head can granulate one sample while another head works on a different one.
Yes. GrainHeads ships two AUv3 plugins: an AUv3 instrument and an AUv3 audio effect. As an instrument it loads samples and generates granular textures. As an effect it captures live audio from the host and granulates it in real time. Both support multiple playheads, full modulation, host automation and preset recall.
Yes. Alongside the AUv3 instrument, GrainHeads ships a separate AUv3 audio effect extension. Place it on an FX bus, feed any input into its buffer, use the Feed/Frozen switch to lock the captured audio, then play up to 5 playheads from that material with the full effects chain and modulation system.
Yes. GrainHeads registers as a standard AUv3 instrument and a standard AUv3 audio effect, so it loads in AUM like any other AUv3 plugin — as an instrument channel, or as an insert effect on a channel carrying live input or another app's output.
Yes. Logic Pro for iPad hosts AUv3 plugins, so GrainHeads loads as an AUv3 instrument on a software instrument track, or as an AUv3 audio effect on an audio track or bus, with host automation and preset recall.
Yes. GarageBand for iOS supports AUv3 instruments and audio effects, so GrainHeads loads in both roles. GarageBand exposes less plugin automation than hosts such as AUM or Logic Pro for iPad, so for deep parameter automation those hosts give you more control.
Yes, through the AUv3 audio effect. It buffers incoming audio from the host — a microphone, an instrument input, or another app's output — and granulates it in real time. The Feed/Frozen switch decides whether the buffer keeps taking in new audio or holds what it captured so you can play the frozen material.
Yes. The standalone app records audio through the device microphone and turns the recording into a sample you can granulate immediately. Microphone recording is part of the one-time full-version purchase.
Yes. The standalone app takes CoreMIDI and Bluetooth MIDI input, with omni mode or one channel per playhead, an ADSR note envelope with velocity sensitivity, pitch bend, and CC learn for mapping hardware controls to parameters. The AUv3 adds a per-playhead MIDI mode that plays heads from host MIDI, applying each playhead's pitch setting as an offset on the played note.
Yes. Ableton Link keeps GrainHeads' tempo in sync with other Link-enabled apps on the same device and with other devices on the same network. The LFOs, modulation envelopes and step sequencers can all be tempo-synced to that clock.
The standalone app runs up to 8 playheads and adds features that only make sense outside a host — external CoreMIDI and Bluetooth MIDI input, audio recording, the sample browser and purchasable sample collections, and app-wide UI customization. The AUv3 instrument and effect run up to 5 playheads to stay within plugin memory limits, and in exchange they integrate with the host: parameter automation, preset recall with the host project, and, in the effect, live audio capture from the host.
GrainHeads uses a summing modulation matrix — several sources (LFOs, envelopes, sequencer lanes) can target the same parameter at once, with their values added together. There are 8 LFOs with 6 shapes running from 0.002 Hz to 20 Hz, plus 2 freely drawn modulation envelopes, and LFOs can modulate other LFOs' speed. Virtually every parameter is a modulation target, including sample slot selection, scan direction and effect parameters.
Each playhead set to Seq mode runs its own 16-step sequencer with Gate, GateLength, GateProb, Retrig, Pitch, Accum and A/B Mix lanes, an adjustable step count and a per-step filter envelope. Any knob can be routed to a sequencer lane for per-step values, and individual lanes can be detached to run at their own step count, producing polyrhythms inside a single playhead.
Sampl is a per-playhead performance mode that turns the waveform into a multi-touch instrument. You slice the sample into zones with draggable dividers, each finger plays its own zone, and any subset of parameters — A/B mix, scrub speed, pan, both filters' frequency, resonance and drive, FX send, amp, delay and reverb sends, lo-fi bits — can be macro-mapped to vertical finger position.
Three XY macro pads give six axes. Any axis can be assigned to any parameter, with its own amount and direction, alongside the LFOs and envelopes — so one gesture moves as much of the patch as you choose, and the routing travels with the preset.
GrainHeads imports the common audio formats iOS can decode, including WAV, AIFF, CAF, MP3 and M4A. You can bring files in from the Files app, drag and drop them from another app, or record a new sample with the microphone.
GrainHeads is free to download and comes with built-in samples. A single one-time purchase unlocks the full version: importing your own samples, recording audio samples, loading all saved presets, the online sample library, and full app UI customization. There is no subscription. Additional sample collections are sold separately, with a bundle that unlocks all of them.
GrainHeads requires iOS 17.6 or later and runs on iPhone and iPad. The layout adapts responsively to any screen size, including iPad split-screen multitasking.
No. GrainHeads is an iOS application built on Apple's audio frameworks and the AUv3 plugin format, and there is no Android version.
There is no native macOS build — GrainHeads is built for iPhone and iPad, and its plugins use the iOS AUv3 format rather than the desktop Audio Unit format used by macOS DAWs.
Available now on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
DownloadRequires iOS 17.6 or later. Free with a one-time purchase to unlock the full app.