Iridium vs GR-1 - Which does Granular Better?

So funny! GR1 link doesn’t work.

The GR-1 has a MONOphonic playhead, and the Iridium has POLYphonic playheads. Every time you play a note on the GR-1 the playhead resets for all notes. On the Iridium each note plays independently, as visualized on the screen. This is a big difference that all reviewers overlook for some reason. It made me replace the GR-1 with a Quantum. Maybe I couldn't find the setting in the menus of the GR-1, even though I looked and looked many times.

Agreed that the lack of inputs on the GR is a nuisance / irritant. Luckily the new Mega version rectifies this.

Fascinating and helpful comparison. Thanks!

Ahh what a distiguished gentlemen using the word "tinkly" to describe sounds , carry on lad ... carry on

I have both and love them equally. 💕 🎹

If I had to choose between the Iridium and GR-1 , the iridium is a powerhouse that can do everything , if I need the niche envelope configuration of the GR-1 , I would go for that , but very niche applications.

i wait GR MEGA Granular Workstation!!

Since I bought and returned my GR-1 I’ve always felt a need to warn people. The one I got didn’t work properly. It did not safe any preset adjustments and thus seemed to confine one to messing around with the existing presets. How to make one’s own unique sounds on such an instrument? I basically had to threaten them with legal steps to force them to take it back. I Never received an explanation for what could have been wrong with my individual machine so I can only assume it was a major software problem. So be warned!

Thanks for sharing! Check out the Tempura granular synth by the makers of the Vector synth?

I've watched this video so many times. Got rid of my Hydrasynth, and got the GR-1 (Black Edition). You're not helping Mr. Jones. The G.A.S. is real.

Yea. The lack of audio inputs and ability to multi-sample.. on a sampler are two very big things that (I think) if they added to the GR-1 it’d be the best! Awesome video tho! Thanks man. I’m over here struggling. I agree. The particle synth is my favorite as well.

Not difficult to image if the $700 dollar or trillionbilliongizillon dollar synth does the grains better... guess which.

I'm missing a personal recap, of you. If you have both of them, you use them for different purposes. like when do you use the Gr-1 and when the Iridium. Reading all the comments, it seems that many are ending up with both of them. I think it's safe to say if you are into granular starting with the GR-1 is the way to go..

Good info but I encourage you to pick up the pace.

Humor is hard and few people can pull it off with this type of content, but I think you’re a funny guy.

Unpopular opinion: granular very rarely sounds good

Both sound amazing tbh!

I got the iridium thinking I might kill two birds with one stone and I was very wrong. I loved it anyway, but now I have the Gr-1 and the iridium was sold

I hear the difference. The GR-1's more resolution comes across like melting butter compared to the Iridium more jagged crumbs. The Iridium sounds more transparent in this example but the GR-1 for this granular scrubbing sounds more musically useful which I would take over transparency. I would use this for under water sound effects. Nice comparison video Mr. Jones.

Wow scrubbing though that Rhodes sample is beautiful. If I was a famous film director (I'm not) I would hire you to score ALL of my films.

The wallet never wins...

Awesome! It would nice to watch ios granular apps comparison. Borderlands Granular, Spacecraft, Fluss (+AUM)

That Rhodes tone is amazing, even before graining it out!

Jameson - Great video! I have the Iridium and I've been tempted by the GR-1 because of the interface.
One thing that I was having trouble with originally was the constrainable random jumping around that I've always associated with granular synthesis. I found that assigning a sample-and-hold LFO to the position and then modifying the modulation amount gives the Iridium that "sound" I was looking for. As you noted, Tasty Chips seems to get things right out of the box, but Waldorf allows for an immense depth through programming and customization.
Peace.

Plug the ACIDBOX III after the GR-1 and you're in for a crazy time

which makes the better granola ?

This is such a great video! Seriously impressive work

I love my GR1, though next month i plan to buy a Quantum,

I’ve owned both these synths, the GR-1 I can easily replace with more powerful iOS apps, the Iridium is a multi-talent beast, and this video didn’t really mention the filters: for example you can run any scratchy clicks sample through the comb filter and turn it into beautiful Karplus-Strong ambient plucked string atmospheres.

Thank you very much sir for sharing those wonderful Rhodes samples.

i knew a guy who was beta testing a Quantum, and i wanted one. then the Iridium desktop came out, and i wanted that. as cool as both units are, i read so many negative things about the build quality(mostly screen issues), that i stayed clear. i bought a M to satisfy my Waldorf fix for the time being.

You can do 6 if you use both layers

Just use Falcon 2...
So much cheaper and leaves both of them for dead especially regarding Granular.

GR1 absolutely smokes waldorfs granular sound quality. I have both and man I wish it wasn't so.

I really am a fan. You are informative and fun! I love my iridium

Didn't know Bad Santa's new side hustle was synth vids! Love my GR-1, but the menu could have definitely done with some more usability work for really getting deep. I tend to just route it through external effects and a filter anyway. Still fighting my desire to get an Iridium as well, no sure this helped at all... Subbed 👌

If you are looking for a prize there are none, only more cardboard

Great to see this. I owned a GR1 which I gave up thanks to covid related financial issues. Have been thinking about picking one up again, but was curious about the granular synthesis in the iridium. Doesn't make my position any clearer .. I guess both is always the right answer.
FWIW you can pitch the grains and pan them in the GR1 too, but the pitch mapping is nice on the iridium.

Did you know the GR-1 now also comes as Limited Editon in BLACK and is twice as cool? You gtta get this! 😁

My son loves the word wobbly. He would enjoy your wobbly sounds.

Great video. Only have 1010music BlackBox for hardware graining,,,,but several sw plugins...

I think you are trying to get me to spend a LOT of money I don't really have...two of the three devices I desperately want all in the same video!!!!

Excellent comparison. Thanks for sharing.

I have both the GR-1 and the Iridium keyboard. I find myself using the Iridium much more. However I do like the GR-1 when I have a lot of time to spend on one instrument. I don't feel like it is as intuitive as the Iridium. I would love if you did an extensive how to and workflow of the GR-1. It would be very helpful. Also getting sound into the GR-1 and using samples in GR-1 is not easy for me. I just don't quite gel with the GR-1 so much as I do with the Iridium. But I would really like to be better with the GR-1

Excellent video as always, ( I’m a fan of self deprecating humour ) concerning the GR1 versus Iridium , well I had the GR1 and though it was cool to use - the slider is awesome as you say for finding the sweet spot - the menu system and interface once you got ‘under the hood’ was a programmers dream- but alas my nightmare, and me and the filter just didn’t agree at all. I have the iridium now, so as you rightly point out there’s loads of synth engines- and the one I’ve yet to try is the ‘granular’ …… so as they say TBC . Thanks again for some excellent iridium videos very much appreciated 👍