Tasty Chips GR-MEGA Firmware Update 1.7 Reworks the Granular Engine
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Tasty Chips GR-MEGA Firmware Update · Source: Tasty Chips
Tasty Chips GR-MEGA · Source: Tasty Chips
Tasty Chips takes its flagship GR-MEGA to new heights with a “monumental” firmware update that reworks the granular engine and adds tons of new features. Find out what’s new.
Tasty Chips GR-MEGA
Firmware Update 1.7
Granular synthesis hardware specialists Tasty Chips recently debuted the GR-2, an affordable version of the company’s flagship GR-MEGA. There’s also the GR-1. Somehow, the company also found the time to show some love to the MEGA, and today announced firmware update 1.7 for the GR-MEGA, a “monumental update” (in the words of the company) that they almost called 2.0.
The big news of the update is the reworked granular engine. Grains are now visible in all four layers at the same time. There’s also a new control called pan spray distribution for pushing grains into the extremes of the stereo image. There’s pitch spray for randomizing pitches across grains as well as patch spray, which boosts grain density over various layers using a distribution. Pitch quantization allows for various Western scales and equal temperament scales, plus there’s a user scale to quantize voice pitch. There’s also a granular filter, an exclusive to the instrument.
The update also makes changes to the file system, with context-specific saves, adds multi-presets, improves the Tile Menu, adds a new multi-band resonator effect, and more.
Find out more about the update on the Tasty Chips site.
Tasty Chips GR-MEGA
[27 March 2024 written by Lasse Eilers] The Tasty Chips GR-MEGA granular hardware synthesizer was one of the most exciting things to come out of last year’s Superbooth. After working on it for almost five years, the manufacturer now says that the first units will finally begin to ship in May! They’ve also released a new video.
The Tasty Chips GR-MEGA unveiled at Superbooth 23 will begin shipping in late May! According to the manufacturer, they’ve now sorted out the last issues with the casing, and PCB production is about to begin. If you’ve already pre-ordered the GR-MEGA, you can find the expected shipping date for your unit on the Tasty Chips website.
The GR-MEGA is a granular hardware synth and sampler that picks up where the GR-1 left off. With four multitimbral layers, 20 voices of polyphony per layer, up to 5000 grains in total, and five different engines, it offers massive sound design possibilities.
In addition to traditional and granular sampling, the GR-MEGA offers a tape mode, granular slice mode, and a spectral phase vocoder engine. Everything is controlled through a hands-on interface with plenty of knobs, a large 7” screen, and a big slider for moving through the source material in a very intuitive way.
The modulation engine comprises four LFOs, four envelopes, four step sequencer modulators, and a matrix to bring everything together. All in all, you can route 20 sources to no less than 100 destinations. Furthermore, the GR-MEGA features a built-in FX section with four simultaneous effects and a choice of various delays, reverbs, dynamic effects, and distortion.
The built-in step sequencer can play up to seven notes simultaneously and offers up to 64 steps. In multitimbral mode, each layer gets its own sequencer.
It’s great news that Tasty Chips seems to have sorted out the last issues and is getting ready for production!
Price and availability
You can pre-order the Tasty Chips GR-MEGA from the manufacturer for €1500 + VAT. One third of the price (€605) is required as a down payment when you order. The synth is available in black or silver. Tasty Chips says that they will fulfill pre-orders in small batches, with the first batch shipping in late May. As production ramps up, they plan to roll out the GR-MEGA to dealers by autumn of this year.
More information about the Tasty Chips GR-MEGA
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3 responses to “Tasty Chips GR-MEGA Firmware Update 1.7 Reworks the Granular Engine”
I wish they make it really powerful for 1800 I except more than a raspberry pi inside…
How do you know there’s a raspberry pi inside?
when your digital synth costs more than a decent laptop + a good midi controller + a virtual synth that does way more…