6 Mistakes Not To Make When Choosing A Granular VST Plugin

If you are a beginner in the music production industry, chances are that you are working hard to create some great tracks and improve them over time. Yet, chances are also that you are going to make some mistakes in the process, since all beginners make mistakes. That is, of course, if they don’t take the time to get properly informed about some of the most common ones, such as those listed on this page, and then try their best to avoid them.

These, however, are not the types of mistakes that we are going to be talking about today. I am sure that you have already improved your skills a lot when it comes to creating music and there is no doubt in my mind that you will keep improving, just as long as you put some effort into it and don’t give up. Of course, in order to improve, you will also have to get familiar with certain tools that might come in handy during the production process.

The tool that I have in mind today is a granular VST plugin. As you probably already know, granular synth is an amazing technique that people use in order to split certain samples into very small segments, called grains, ranging from 1 to 50ms. Frankly, this technique is not used very often today, but that’s not because it doesn’t bring anything to the table. It is actually because it is among the more complicated techniques that you can learn.

Yet, things will certainly become much simpler once you have the right plugins on your side. If you think about it closely, breaking down sounds into grains and then using those grains to form other sounds can certainly be extremely useful during the process of music production. That is precisely why granular synthesis should not be ignored and disregarded, and that is also why you should get yourself one of those plugins that I have mentioned above.

First things first, though, you should get more information on granular synth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granular_synthesis

Now, if you have been paying attention to what I’ve been saying, then you definitely remember me mentioning certain mistakes above. It’s time to get to the point and tell you exactly which particular mistakes I am referring to. Basically, getting the perfect granular synth VST plugins is extremely important if you want to use this technique in your music production process, but here’s the thing. People tend to make some mistakes while choosing these, which can later lead to their disappointment.

I am quite sure that you don’t want to get disappointed with the choice that you’ll make. That’s why you should get informed about those particular mistakes and then do your best to avoid them. By raising your awareness of these errors, I hope to make you more careful in the actual process of choosing your perfect plugins, because you certainly need to be careful if you want to find the best one. So, let us have a look at those mistakes that you shouldn’t make.

1. Making Hasty Choices

I bet that you could have guessed this one all on your own, but I do believe that it is worth mentioning, just in case someone has forgotten it. In few words, making a hasty choice on the plugin you want to use is certainly not a good idea, since you might find yourself regretting such a decision afterwards. I can understand that you might be in a hurry to find the perfect solution for you as quickly as possible, but I still suggest you to take some time and do proper research before getting any of the plugins that are offered on the market.

2. Failing To Explore More Options

If you make the mistake mentioned above, then you will definitely make this one as well. They usually go together, which is why they are listed one after another here. Well, given that they go together, your task is to keep them both in mind during this process of finding the right granular synth plugin and try to avoid repeating either one of those. Simply put, if you are in a hurry, you won’t take your time to explore more possible solutions and options.

This will probably lead to you getting just the first plugin you come across, without thinking things properly through. That can be a huge mistake, since you might end up with some poor quality software on your hands, and that certainly won’t do anything good for your music. So, do yourself a favor and explore different options before making your ultimate decision.

3. Disregarding Quality

I have mentioned above that you might end up with some poor quality solutions, and I bet that it’s not what you want. Quite on the contrary, you want to find the best granular synth VST plugins, which is why you should never take quality for granted or disregard it. This is a given, but you would actually be surprised with how many people simply fail to check quality and take it into consideration when making this choice.

This is partly because granular synth plugins are not that common nowadays and some people just assume that all of those that exist are of great quality. Well, that is certainly not correct. The truth is that the perfect quality granular synth plugins are definitely rare and that you should be careful not to go for one of the poor quality ones out there, as we cannot deny the fact that those exist. Your task here is to do enough research to determine quality before even coming close to making a final decision.

4. Hating On Either The Free Or The Paid Solutions

Given that great quality plugins are rare, you might assume that you won’t be able to find the free options that offer such quality. Or, on a different note, you might come to the conclusion that all of these are pretty much the same and that there is no need for you to pay for something that you can get for free. Both of those conclusions are definitely wrong and if you make your choice based on them, you’ll be making a mistake, which will lead to you ending up with the wrong plugin for you. The point is that you shouldn’t hate on either the free or the paid solutions, as there are some great quality options in both of these categories.

5. Not Researching The Company That’s Making Those

People often forget that all of those granular synth plugins had to be made by someone. Why is this important, though? Well, the quality of the plugins will undeniably depend on the skills and experience of the people who have made them, which further means that you should expand your research and check out those companies making these tools in more details. You should check their experience and qualifications and it would be a good idea for you to check their reputation as well, because that can speak volumes about the actual quality of their products. In any case, you shouldn’t forget to research these companies before choosing the perfect granular synth plugin for you.

6. Not Reading Reviews

There is another thing that you should never forget to do, and yet, people often somehow overlook it. In case you couldn’t have guessed it, I am talking about reading reviews written about specific granular synth plugins that are offered on the market. When you start searching for these reviews, you will realize that there are quite a few great websites that can provide you with objective and factual info regarding particular plugin solutions. That will undoubtedly help you determine their quality and figure out which ones you might want to use, as well as which ones you might want to avoid. Just make sure that your sources of information are objective and trustworthy.