Imaginando GRFX Might Be the Most Fun Granular Plugin You’ll Use This Year

Imaginando has been releasing some really interesting plugins over the past few years, including the TV3 Acid Synth, BAM, and more. Their latest release is GRFX, a granular effects plugin that serves as a sequel to FRMS, their granular synthesizer. FRMS, on the other hand, was already a fun and accessible entry point into granular synthesis, making it a solid option for newcomers and experienced producers alike. Imaginando has been in the game for over a decade, and one thing we particularly like about them is their commitment to cross-platform availability—they often roll out mobile versions of their plugins as well. While GRFX isn’t available on mobile just yet, it’s expected to be released soon. Could GRFX, priced at just $39 (with an introductory offer of $29), be an affordable alternative to popular granular effect plugins like Output Portal? We got early access to the new GRFX plugin, and here’s what we think.

User Interface

The plugin features a sleek black-and-white design with turquoise textures. At its core is a nebula-like visual, referred to by Imaginando as the Harmonic Triangle. It looks both stunning and mysterious, leaving you curious about what it’s actually doing under the hood. The last time we saw a similar nebula-style design was in Spitfire & BT’s Phobos. Overall, the plugin is visually impressive and highly responsive, with little stars animated in the background of the nebula. That said, the visual flair comes at a cost—it’s somewhat CPU-intensive. Fortunately, there’s an option to disable the Harmonic Triangle animation to reduce the processing load.

The plugin interface is divided into three main strips: the top for modulation, the middle for the granular engine, and the bottom for effects. The granulator engine, located at the center, is where most of the action happens. If you’re like me and prefer jumping into plugins without diving into manuals first, you’ll find that GRFX is fairly intuitive—but to fully grasp its capabilities, watching tutorials or reading the manual is recommended. On the right side of the granulator section, you’ll find parameters for controlling the micro-properties of the grains (which we’ll cover in more detail later).

The top strip—the modulation section—offers four LFOs. You can easily assign them to other parameters as well by simply dragging and dropping the LFO shape onto your desired control. The bottom strip is dedicated to routing and effects. Here, you can route grains to either channel A, B, or both. You can apply up to two effects from a selection that includes filters, delays, distortion, bitcrusher, phaser, and more—or route the signal directly through the mixer chain.

While the routing might feel a bit unconventional at first, it actually opens up a wide range of creative possibilities within the effects section. Each effect also includes up to six tweakable parameters to help shape your sound further. As someone who has used Output Portal for years, I personally find GRFX’s interface more intuitive. Portal leans heavily on preset use and hides its parameter editing behind a more complex layout, whereas GRFX makes sound design feel more hands-on and accessible.

GRFX includes a preset menu where all presets are arranged alphabetically. What stands out is that each preset comes with a brief description, allowing for quicker, more informed decisions. One area that could be improved is better categorization—organizing presets by instrument type, for example Drums, Bass, Synths etc., would enhance the browsing experience. That said, there is a filter option based on tags, which does help narrow things down efficiently.

Feature Walkthrough

As mentioned earlier, the heart of this plugin lies in the granular section. On the left side of this section, you can control both the speed and the number of grains being triggered. The visualizer above these controls continuously records the input audio, displaying each grain’s position within the turquoise textures. You can scale the visualizer’s length from 1/4 bar up to 8 bars. The Frequency parameter sets the rate at which grains are triggered, ranging from 1/128 to up to 8 bars. You can also adjust the Offset, which determines the starting point for reading the sample. Both parameters can be synchronized to the host tempo or run freely (asynchronized). Additionally, each has a Random knob, which—when used creatively—can generate unique and experimental FX textures.

You also have control over the Number of Grains being triggered simultaneously. One creative technique we discovered was using GRFX to enhance drum loops. By setting the grain number to 1 and the frequency to either 1 bar or 2 bars, the plugin can generate subtle yet compelling variations—adding new elements every bar or two to keep the loop dynamic and evolving. To make sure these changes stay rhythmically aligned with your track, be sure to enable the Sync button so the buffer size locks to the project tempo.

When working with guitars, synths, or any melodic instruments, GRFX proves especially handy for filling in the gaps between note hits. If your melodies are spaced out, you can use the plugin to creatively fill those empty spaces with grain-based textures that add depth and movement. Want to build tension? Try increasing the Frequency of the grains—the faster they trigger, the more intense and rising the effect becomes. There’s also a Freeze option, which locks the current sample in place and stops it from being overwritten. It’s perfect for holding onto a particular texture or moment you like.

As you move to the right side of the granular section, you’ll find more detailed parameters to shape the grains. Window and Shape essentially control the amplitude envelope of each grain—deciding whether they come through as soft, plucky, or sustained. In our experience, having a slightly slower attack helps the grains blend better into a mix without sounding too harsh or intrusive.

You can also define the Size of each grain, which sets the playback length, and adjust the Stereo knob to spread grains across the stereo field—from centered mono to a wide panoramic image. The Reverse Probability knob is a fun addition, letting you randomly reverse some grains for more unpredictable and glitchy results. One of the more thoughtfully implemented features is the Routing system. You can send grains to either Route A (which passes through the multi-effect chain) or Route B (which bypasses it). What’s great is that you can blend between the two—deciding what percentage of grains go to A or B—allowing for dynamic and layered effects possibilities.

Overall, GRFX impresses with its attention to detail, especially when it comes to grain control. This was one of our favorite aspects of the plugin—the in-depth tweakability it offers. Even if you find a preset you like but feel certain elements don’t quite sit right, you can easily dial them in using the granular parameters to make everything fit seamlessly into your mix.

Now, let’s talk about the most complex—yet arguably the most exciting—part of GRFX: the Harmonic Triangle. This feature allows you to control the pitch of the grains, with each of the three vertices representing a pitch value that can be transposed between -12 to +12 semitones. The Node inside the triangle determines the probability of each pitch being triggered. When it’s centered, all three pitches have an equal chance of being played. You can even assign an LFO to the node, causing it to move over time and introducing constantly evolving pitch modulations.

For microtuning, there’s a switch that lets you toggle from semitone quantization to free pitch mode, opening the door to more experimental sound design.

The Modulator section includes four independent LFOs, each of which can be drag-and-dropped onto most parameters in the plugin. Once mapped, you can fine-tune the modulation amount using Quick Modulation Mode, which provides visual overlays on the parameters being affected. This is especially handy for modulating things like Frequency or Reverse Probability, letting you introduce evolving variations over time with minimal effort.

Effects Sections:

GRFX’s effects section gives you a level of control you don’t usually see in most plugins—especially when it comes to how it works with the granular engine. Each grain can be routed (based on probability) through one of two multi-effect chains, or bypass the effects entirely, giving you crazy flexibility for per-grain processing. The FX lineup includes filters, distortion, chorus, phaser, EQ, bitcrushing, and tape-style delays—all stackable in two insert slots, plus two send channels with reverb and delay. You can run these either in series or parallel, depending on how you want your textures to evolve.

For instance, you could have a portion of the grains go through distortion while the rest float into a lush reverb tail. The routing system lets you split grains between dry and processed paths—Route A and Route B—which are then feed into a simple mixer with volume level, return levels, and a global dry/wet knob. It might seem a bit overwhelming at first, especially if you’re new to music production, but once you get the hang of it, it’s honestly super powerful.

Sound Demos

Here’s a demo of how you can make some cool sequences with just simple pluck sounds.

Without GRFX:

With GRFX:

Here’s another example of how you can use GRFX to make your FX sounds more interesting and rhythmic.

Without GRFX:

With GRFX:

Conclusion

All in all, GRFX is one of those plugins that allows for great control. There’s a lot under the hood, but once you start poking around, it’s surprisingly fun to use. The granular engine is super flexible, the effects are deep without being overwhelming, and the routing options are also a great addition. The Harmonic Triangle alone could keep you busy for hours—it’s wild how much movement and unpredictability you can inject just by modulating a few parameters. In addition to its features, the GUI is exceptionally appealing and beautifully designed

For the price, especially during the $29 intro offer, GRFX feels like a bit of a steal. If you’ve been eyeing plugins like Output Portal but wanted something a little more hands-on and a lot more budget-friendly, this one’s worth checking out.

Price: $39 ($29 introductory price for a limited time)

KNOW MORE