The MXR Textures Granular Synthesis engine breaks down your sound and weaves it into stunning new forms. With the power of granular synthesis and dynamic processing, this pedal captures what you play and reshapes it into a shifting blend of tones and timbres: shimmering pads, glitchy rhythms, cascading lush reverbs, and much more. It is a true playground in a pedal format, where every grain is at your disposal.
GRANULAR SYNTHESIS
Much like a delay pedal, the Textures Granular Synthesis engine records your audio and plays it back. But instead of simply delaying the audio, this pedal plays it back in small fragments called grains and gives you the controls to shape them. Play them in reverse, change their pitch, freeze them, feed them back into shimmering cascades, and add the chaos of randomization to explore new sonic horizons. And as if that weren't enough, built-in reverb, filter, and vibrato effects allow you to sculpt your sound even more finely. You will explore territories of expression that professional sound designers have been seeking for decades.
EIGHT WAYS TO ACCESS
The MXR Textures Granular Synthesis engine offers a multitude of possibilities, but don't get overwhelmed. It features eight different presets to get you started with the push of a button. You will find a wide variety of sounds, ranging from regenerative octave loops and undulating polyphonic synthesizers to glitchy blips and sub-octave pads with choppy vibrato. Find the one that suits you and keep it, or use it as a base for your experiments.
DELAY, AUTO-FREEZE, OR LAYERS?
If you want to explore further, the Mode knob determines how the Textures Granular Synthesis engine captures and plays back your audio signal. Delay mode will be a familiar starting point for most users, continuously slicing notes and chords into grains as you play. Crisp repetitions, blurred echoes, and pitch-shifted echoes are all possibilities. In Auto-Freeze mode, the pedal captures your playing and sustains it into rich, evolving soundscapes. Layers mode samples up to four notes or chords into independent buffers, each with its own input and output curve—ideal for layering harmonies, creating polyphonic pads, or composing small orchestras. It is a granular version of the MXR Layers™ pedal. Want to add even more depth and dimension to your pads? Use the Layers pedal as a complement, particularly in Delay mode.
SHAPE EVERY GRAIN
After selecting your mode, a series of controls allows you to transform your instrument's sound. The Size and Overlap knobs adjust the length and number of grains. The Pitch and Reverse knobs adjust the playback speed and direction. Delay and Regen control the progression of grains over time. Mix adjusts the final blend, from clean signal to fully granular signal. These are the tools that turn the sandbox into a carefully crafted soundscape, each changing character according to the chosen mode.
GO FURTHER IN EXPLORATION
For musicians who love to explore the depths of the synthesizer, the MXR Textures Granular Synthesis engine offers endless possibilities. Holding the Reverse or Mode button while turning a knob unlocks a second layer of parameters. Inject randomization for passages that are never the same, fine-tune the built-in reverb, filter, and vibrato, or sync the tempo to the beat. You can also plug in an expression pedal to morph between heel and toe states, connect an MXR Split + Tap for hands-free preset navigation, tempo control, or sound freezing, and configure the pedal for full stereo input/output with mono, wet/dry, or stereo output.
DIVE INTO THE CREATIVE UNIVERSE
Whether you are an amateur musician in search of the ambient textures from your favorite records, an experimental rocker layering dreamlike chaos over riffs and solos, or a sound designer composing film scores, the MXR Textures Granular Synthesis engine is a limitless playground. It is a self-contained musical universe with unlimited potential, right on your pedalboard. Plug it in and let it guide you.