Minerals: capture a moment, then play its texture

Choose material worth capturing

A short guitar harmonic, a sung vowel, a percussion roll or a synth chord can contain enough detail to build a new texture. Minerals captures incoming audio into a buffer and plays material from it as grains. Begin with a source whose register and tone already have a useful relationship to the song.

A sparse input makes the transformation easier to hear. Establish a note or phrase, let the buffer receive it, then decide which part should become the new layer. MIDI control does not supply audio content by itself; the buffer needs material to work with.

Freeze stops writing, not grain playback

The capture buffer can hold up to 32 seconds. Freeze stops new audio from being written while the grain system continues to use the stored material. It is therefore a way to retain a source moment, rather than a general pause or mute button.

Grain size, position, speed, spray and reverse choices determine how that stored moment becomes a texture. Material processing follows the grain stage before the rack. Mix Point changes the relationship with the rack: Pre Rack lets the blend enter it, while Post Rack treats the wet path before adding the dry source.

Workflow one: a guitar harmonic becomes a pad

Use a sustained harmonic, a clean chord or a short swell, with the song's harmony available for reference.

1. Feed the source to Minerals and allow the buffer to capture the useful material.
2. Enable Freeze when you want to retain that capture, then choose a grain position and size that produce a usable sustain.
3. Introduce spray or reverse behaviour gradually, keeping the intended pitch relationship easy to judge.
4. Choose the Material and rack treatment after the grain texture is established.
5. Balance the resulting layer beside the direct arrangement.

Smaller or more scattered grains can make the source less recognisable, while a larger or more stable selection can retain more continuity. Check a chord change before committing. A texture built from one harmony may need a different musical placement from the original performance.

Workflow two: percussion becomes a rhythmic background

A shaker, hand drum or short metallic hit can provide a different grain texture from a sustained pitched source.

1. Capture a section with the percussion character you want, then freeze or continue recording according to the role.
2. Set grain size and playback behaviour so the output has an intentional relationship to the rhythm.
3. Add positional variation gradually and hear several bars rather than one interesting instant.
4. Choose Mix Point deliberately before setting the rack, so the dry percussion receives only the treatment you intend.

If the direct groove should stay clean, a Post Rack wet relationship may be more useful than sending the combined signal through the rack. If the whole blend should become one new instrument, the Pre Rack relationship offers a different starting structure.

A creative use: retain the last vowel as an answering instrument

Capture the ending of a vocal phrase and freeze that material. Use position and grain behaviour to build a separate sustained answer in the gap after the singer. Where the host and patch route MIDI to the instrument's grain control, use it as performance information for the captured material, not as a substitute for the capture.

Control the layer's entrance and ending with the host and hear the next vocal line. A grain texture can carry recognisable vocal colour while serving a different arrangement role. Keep its register and duration intentional so it does not sound like an accidental endless word.

Check the buffer state as part of the session

Before printing, confirm whether Freeze is enabled and which material the buffer contains. A live-writing texture can evolve as new audio arrives; a frozen capture should be chosen deliberately for the passage. Save the relevant state through the product's supported workflow.

Compare the final layer with its direct source and the full arrangement. Keep Minerals when its capture, grain behaviour and rack relationship each support a clear musical result, with enough space left for the next event.