A "Hidden" Pigments Trick: Using the Granular Engine for Crazy Polyphonic Modulation

I’ve recently been cultivating a morning habit I call "playtime." It is a dedicated slot around 7:00 a.m.—coffee in hand—where I ignore my to-do list and simply mess around in the DAW without the pressure of a specific project. This is crucial for maintaining creative flow; it is often in these low-pressure moments that we stumble upon the most interesting techniques.

During one of these sessions, I discovered a workflow in Arturia Pigments that I hadn’t utilised before. We typically view the Granular Engine as a sound source—a way to generate pads or textures. However, it is surprisingly powerful when viewed as a polyphonic modulation source.

Because the granular engine generates grains independently, it can act as a complex, organic random generator that functions polyphonically. This means every single note you play can have its own unique, evolving modulation path.

Here is how to set it up.

Method 1: The Granular Trigger

The simplest way to harness this chaos is to use the grain generation as a clock source.

In a standard setup, your LFOs or Function Generators might run freely or sync to the host tempo. But in Pigments, you can set a Function Generator to restart via the Granular Engine. This is not an audio signal routing; it is a control signal. Every time the engine spits out a new grain, it sends a trigger to restart your envelope.

This allows you to create per-voice articulation. If you map that Function Generator to your filter cutoff, you are no longer just sweeping a filter; you are creating a rhythmic texture that reacts dynamically to the density of your grains. If you randomize the grain density, you effectively randomize the rhythm of the filter modulation, creating a "living" sound that feels far less static than a standard synced LFO.

Method 2: Audio-to-Modulation (The Combinator Workflow)

While triggers are useful for rhythmic effects, we can go deeper by converting the actual sound of the grains into control data.

Pigments doesn't have a universal "audio out to mod in" matrix, so we have to be clever with the Combinator.

1. Route Engine 2 (your Granular engine) into the Combinator.

2. Use the Envelope Follower mode within the Combinator.

3. Assign the Combinator output to your target (e.g., Filter Cutoff or Wavetable Position).

This captures the amplitude and shape of the grains and turns them into a modulation curve. Because the granular engine is polyphonic, the modulation is too. A dense cloud of grains will keep the filter open, while sparse grains will cause it to flutter.

The beauty here is the organic relationship between source and destination. If you use the Voice Modulator to randomise the grain shape (forward vs. reverse), that change is instantly reflected in the modulation curve. You are creating a cohesion between the sample source and the synthesized elements, making them breathe in the same space.

The "Hidden" Audio-Rate Modulation

There is a third, grittier method that bypasses the Combinator entirely, though it is restricted to specific filter models.

Most digital filters in Pigments won’t accept audio input as a modulation source. However, the Analogue models (specifically the Cluster and Jup-8 filters) do.

If you select one of these analogue-modelled filters, you can route Engine 2 directly into the modulation input of the filter. Unlike the Combinator method, which smooths out the signal via an envelope follower, this is raw audio-rate modulation. You are slamming the filter frequency with the raw waveform of the grains.

The result is not a smooth sweep; it is a distorted, growling texture rich in harmonics. It adds a layer of grit that is perfect when you need a sound to cut through a dense mix without sounding too "clean."

Final Thoughts

Techniques like this are why I still recommend setting aside time for aimless experimentation. By using the granular engine as a modulator rather than just a voice, you create patches where the texture drives the movement. It ensures that your background layers and your lead elements aren't just sitting on top of each other—they are mechanically locked together.

Give this a try in your next session. It’s a fantastic way to break out of the standard "LFO-to-Filter" habit.