GranSample vs Aural Studio

A 16-pad sampler with a granular engine underneath. Standalone app + AUv3 plugin for GarageBand / Logic / AUM / Drambo / Loopy Pro. Tap pads, sculpt textures, sequence patterns, chain songs. Same instrument either way. Free to try. One purchase unlocks GranSample Pro — everything listed at the bottom. No subscription, no ads, no telemetry. NEW IN 1.5 Swing, in the app and in your host. Choke groups: hi-hats that cut each other off. Resample (Pro): record your beat back onto a pad as a bar-locked loop. A rebuilt AUv3 plugin editor. PATTERN BANK & SONG MODE Eight patterns per project (A–H). Switch live — the change waits for the bar end so the groove never stumbles. Then chain them into a song: tap letters to build, set repeats per section, loop or play once (song mode is Pro). Patterns, song and BPM save with the project. MODULATION MATRIX (PRO) LFO + ADSR envelope on 8 destinations per pad: grain position / size / pitch / density, volume, pan, pitch, playback start. Drag the envelope chart, set depth per lane — host-automatable in AUv3. SAMPLE CHOP (PRO) Slice any sample across the pads — equal grid, transient detection, or manual markers you drag. Audition before you commit; the grid shows where every slice lands. KIT SHARING Export any kit as a single .gskit file — samples, settings, effects, patterns. Send it anywhere. Importing is free for everyone; exporting is Pro. PAD NAMES, COLORS & CHOKE GROUPS Name your pads, pick from 8 colors, set one of 8 choke groups. AUv3 PLUGIN Load "nono.audio: GranSample" under AU Instruments in any AUv3 host. Same grid, Kits and engine, with Sound, Grain and Sequence tabs. 900 host-automatable parameters. Load your own samples without leaving the host. Sequencer locks to host transport; everything persists in the host project. LIBRARY Factory Kits + your Projects in one place — load, tweak, save. GRANULAR ENGINE Eight knobs per pad. Position scans the sample; grain size + density set the texture from pebbles to glass. Pitch + jitter, spray + stereo spread, four window shapes, an ADSR cloud envelope, Freeze for infinite sustain. 128 grains per voice — and you can watch them fire. CHROMATIC MODE Any pad becomes the root; the grid plays chromatically. STEP SEQUENCER Per-pad patterns at 16/32/64 steps, per-step velocity, drag-to-paint, swing. SAMPLE EDITOR Waveform view — drag the grain region, trim playback range, loop, reverse, normalize per pad. LINEAR or GRAN preview. Works inside the plugin too. EFFECTS Per-pad AND master bus. Reverb, Delay, Distortion, EQ, Compressor, Chorus, Filter — up to 8 per chain, automatable from any DAW. Hand-tuned presets; save your own. IPAD Pads bigger than an MPC; recorder, properties and sequencer get their own column. MIDI USB, Bluetooth (built-in browser), or virtual MIDI. MIDI Learn on every knob standalone, per-pad channel routing. The plugin routes MIDI in through the host and emits MIDI out for pad taps. RECORDING 60 seconds from the mic straight into a pad with a live waveform. Resample the master onto a pad, free or locked to 1–8 bars (Pro). Master bounces to WAV/M4A (Pro). 10 FACTORY KITS, 16 SAMPLES Late Night Room, Outer Space, Neon City, Midnight Dub, Tape Machine, Crystal Cave, and more — each with bespoke granular settings. FREE TIER Pads 1–8 — drums and melody, enough to finish a track — with the full granular engine, effects, pattern bank, mixer, MIDI in/out. Same in standalone and AUv3. Kit import (.gskit) is free too. GRANSAMPLE PRO — ONE PURCHASE, NO SUBSCRIPTION All 16 pads unlocked everywhere — standalone AND AUv3 plugin Song mode — chain patterns into an arrangement Modulation matrix — LFO + envelope on 8 destinations per pad Sample chop to pads Resample to pads Kit export (.gskit) Per-pad ADSR envelope editor Custom backgrounds — wallpapers or your own photo, with dim and pad-opacity WAV / M4A export Made by one person who wanted a granular beat pad that fit on a phone — and in their DAW.

Press play. Then make the sound your own. Aural Studio starts you inside a complete soundscape, not at an empty editor. Open one of four presets and listen. When a layer catches your ear, open the soundscape, reshape it, and save your version to keep exploring. MEET RESONANT TIDE A deep brown-noise bed rolls beneath two pink-noise breakers. White-noise foam brightens the surface, with a subtle binaural current underneath. Hear the whole five-layer soundscape first; then open it up. FOLLOW WHAT CATCHES YOUR EAR Mute Rolling Waves and notice what drops away. Reorder the stack or duplicate a layer before an experiment. Add sine, triangle, square, and sawtooth tones, plus white, pink, and brown noise. The controls change with the kind of layer you choose. SEND A WAVE ACROSS STEREO Give Rolling Waves a repeating path between left and right. Compatible tone and noise layers can hold a stereo position or move along a repeating path. Stereo headphones are recommended for the intended separation. DRAW HOW THE SOUND UNFOLDS Choose a value available for the layer and draw a curve across its duration. Scrub to a moment, then listen as playback follows the same rise, dip, or turn. DARKEN OR BRIGHTEN THE TEXTURE For tones and noise with filtering, choose low-pass or high-pass and adjust cutoff and resonance while you listen. LET ONE WAVE SHAPE TWO MORE When Rolling Waves swells, Sea Foam rises and the Binaural Current's beat shifts with it. In Resonant Tide, the changing volume of one layer can drive those two values. Shape one source instead of redrawing the same movement. Your original settings remain ready if you change course. KEEP YOUR VERSION Save and reopen the soundscape. Duplicate it before a new direction. Import or export editable Aural documents. Your documents stay on your device unless you explicitly export them. Aural Studio is free on the App Store. No account. No subscription. Built for iPhone; requires iOS 26 or later. Aural uses limited TelemetryDeck product analytics. See the Privacy Policy for the current data disclosure. No ads or cross-app tracking. Stereo headphones are recommended for binaural and stereo-motion playback. Listen at a comfortable level, stop if you feel discomfort, and do not listen where reduced attention could create risk. Aural Studio is creative and wellness-oriented sound software, not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent a medical condition and does not guarantee a focus, relaxation, meditation, or sleep outcome.