Granular synthesis revolutionized Sound Design, Electronic and Experimental Music. crusher-X does advanced granular synthesis on your live input in real-time!

crusher-X granular synthesizer and effect plug-in for Windows (VST 2.4 32bit and 64bit) and macOS (AU, VST 64bit)

Its powerful algorithm creates very complex sounds, drones and outstanding surround effects. The crusher-X trademark is known since 1999 as "the" granular effect standard. crusher-X is used by famous sound-designers, composers, musicians and film-makers all over the world. The professional, open-minded and curious "crusher-X community" creates outstanding, unique, multi dimensional sonic pieces.

crusher-X features:

• Real-time live granular synthesis engine that creates grains from live input signals
• Real-time modulation of all Grain parameters: Delay, Length, Birth, Speed, Sweep, Overdrive, Filter, X-Crush, Diffuse, Volume and Pan
• MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) support
• Autotune and Pitch tracking system 
• 10 channel surround outputs (e.g. 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.2, 9.1)
• Microtonal tuning. Comes with hundreds of different tuning scales and MIDI keyboard control
• Up to 199 individual grain streams that are processed multi-threaded (Multi-Core CPU support)
• Physical modeling faders and an unique physical modeling X/Y controller.
• 3D grain visualization
• Around 150 preset patches
• Around 270 free assignable real-time plug-in parameters, real-time MIDI control
• Morph system for parameters and patches 
• Unlimited undo/redo and randomize functionalities
• Parameter phase and frequency spread modulations (spreading modulations over several grain stream generators)
• Grain quantization to host
• Grain lengths up to 60 seconds
• Shadow programs
• Meta parameter modifications with 13 adore parameters
• Several granulation live buffer and freeze modes: Switch continious from live processing to file processing
• Offline rendering
• Automatic triggered grain buffer filling modes
• Free editable multi-channel Compressor/Expander/Limiter stabilizes feedback and output level behavior
• Smart latency compensation system

Feel free to try the demo!

Download crusher-X-DEMO.dmg

Download crusher-X-DEMO.zip

crusher-X is the secret weapon for sound designers. Giving birth to unusual, uncategorized, never heard sounds flow, grain walls, drone walls, sonic explorations – that’s why granular synthesis exists. crusher-X unique multichannel surround sound feature is designed to make film scores outstanding. The “inner consistency” of grains that are modulated and smeared in phase and frequency over 10 surround output channels is the reason why composers are using crusher-X for their next level score.

Check out the free demo and drop crusher-X on your tracks

You are a DJ and looking for an unconventional, exceptional and stylish live effect tool? You feel bored about the standard echo, filter and fading effects?

Try free demo and beam your show up! Mangle your voice, tracks and transitions like your Ibiza colleagues will never allow themselves.

Add live crusher-X granular synthesis to your guitar play. Guitarist all over the world are using crusher-X as a pathfinder towards the world of experimental sound clouds. As crusher-X runs as an VST or AU effect it can be easily integrated in any Windows or macOS based gear. Plug-in to a new sound world and taste the reflections of hunderts of grains on your delicious play.

Start with the free demo and launch your first grain rocket today!

For this purpose the qualification „beautiful“ or „ugly“ makes no sense for sound, nor for the music that derives from it; the quantity of intelligence carried by the sounds must be the true criterion of the validity of a particular music.
Iannis Xenakis in "Formalized music: Thought and mathematics in composition.", 1963-1992

The crusher-X algorithm is based on the traditional granular synthesis algorithm (Xenakis, Roads, Wilkins) invented in the early 1950s. In granular synthesis, short (e.g. 50 milliseconds) sound fragments, "the grains," come from a fixed file buffer. The starting time, length and silence between the grains can be modulated. More than one grain at a time is possible, so you can create complex sound "clouds" from any sound signal. 

When experimenting with those (length of grains), I have discovered a certain confusion as to what effect one can expect when setting parameters to certain values. Not only it seemed that length and density each had an impact of its own on the character of the granulated sound, but it also appeared that their relational value was highly important.
Leon Zadorin "Composing with Granular Synthesis"

A "window function" blends in and blends out the grains at the begin and end of its live cycle. This function determines the character of the continuum and thus the different perceptions. Xenakis recommended the Gaussian window because of its theoretical considerations. For performance reasons, e.g. Truax realized in its real-time systems simple linear-interpolated envelopes.

All sound is an integration of grains, of elementary sonic particles, of sonic quanta. Each of these elementary grains has a threefold nature: duration, frequency, and intensity. All sound, even all continuous sonic variation, is conceived as an assemblage of a large number of elementary adequately disposed in time. (...) Hecatombs of pure sounds are necessary for the creation of a complex sound.
Iannis Xenakis in "Formalized music: Thought and mathematics in composition.", 1963-1992

In opposite to the “classic” file based approach, the crusher-X algorithm provides a floating grain buffer which allows real-time input and output. In this floating buffer the grains are created by several generators routed to several outputs (stereo or surround). One can apply many very unusual parameters to the grains such as Speed, Filter, Pan,  X-Crush, Overdrive or Diffuse  - all modulated with independent modulation sources and modulation phases, synchronized or not synchronized to the plug-in host. The accSone grain processing algorithms X-Crush, Overdrive and Diffuse are unique in the world of granular synthesis. A feedback loop can gerenate very complex and non-linear sounds.

A complex sound may be imagined as a multi-colored firework in which each point of light appears and instantaneously disappears against a black sky. But in this firework there would be such a quantity of points of light organized in such a way that their rapid and teeming succession would create forms and spirals, slowly unfolding, or conversely, brief explosions setting the whole sky aflame. A line of light would be created by a sufficiently large multitude of points appearing and disappearing instantaneously.
Iannis Xenakis in "Formalized music: Thought and mathematics in composition.", 1963-1992

Now its up to you! Try the free demo and dive in...

Download crusher-X-DEMO.dmg

Download crusher-X-DEMO.zip

accSone developments focuses on software that provides sound designers, musicians and artists with special and unusual tools for their outstanding projects. accSone was founded in 1997 and is located in Munich/Germany. The accSone flagship product crusher-X was born 1999 and raised up to the "most sophisticated" tool for granular synthesis in the market.

CEO, founder and owner of accSone is Dr. Jörg Stelkens. A C-Level executive and turnaround manager, Certified Professional Scrum Master (PSM I), broadcast industries advisor, software designer, curator, lecturer and publisher. Expert in media, internet and DSP technologies, software development, media-art and computer-music. He has developed a widely spread contact network between soft- and hardware developers, artists and musicians in the field of radio-, media-, video- and sound-art. On behalf of the city of Munich accSone curated the sound and radiophonic art venue t-u-b-e (2000-2010).