MG

Monolith

BASTL
INSTRUMENTS
MICROGRANNY
MONOLITH

Introduction
Microgranny Monolith (further only Microgranny) is a
monophonic granular sampler with MIDI input and 8-bit
audio input. It has 6 BIG BUTTONS, each of which plays a
sample from the microSD card. You can adjust several
parameters of the sample. In the manual, we will refer to the
sample, with all its edited parameters, as SOUND.
MG Monolith Features
● monophonic mono sampler
● microSD card (storing + recording samples, storing
presets)
● 6 sounds, with full adjustments, storable in a preset
● 60 presets in 10 banks (6 presets per bank), stored as .txt
files on a microSD card
● wav sample playback from microSD card (mono, 22050
Hz, 8 or 16 bit, two letter file name)
● 8-bit 22050 Hz wav recording via line input or onboard
microphone
● hold button
● sample rate (tuned or free run)
● bitcrush
● start, end position with repeat, instant loop
● granular settings: grain size and shift speed (positive or
negative)
● amplitude envelope attack and release
● MIDI Input – responds to note, cc, and clock (synchronize
loop and grains)
● MIDI sidechain envelope restart
● copy & paste sound
● input & output volume knob
● power source switch – 9V plug / 9V battery
● hackable – arduino based
Power up
There are 2 ways to power the Microgranny.
1) Battery: Plug the 9V battery to the battery clip and put
the slide switch in the BATT position
2) Adapter: Plug in the power adapter with 9V DC center
positive polarity (+ in the center of the connector) and
put the slide switch in the PLUG position.

Playback and HOLD

Press the BIG BUTTONS in order to hear the sounds. The
last pressed BIG BUTTON will play the sound. Microgranny
is a monophonic sampler which means it can play only one
sample at a time.
By pressing the HOLD button, the HOLD mode is activated
(indicated by the HOLD LED). Now you don't have to hold
down the BIG BUTTONS in order to keep them playing. By
pressing the BIG BUTTON which is already playing, it will
start playing the sound from the beginning. To stop
playback press the HOLD button again.

Sample selection
Play one of the 6 SOUNDS. By pressing the UP or DOWN
button, you can select samples that are stored on the SD
card. The name of the sample is indicated on the display.
See the Appendix for a typography explanation. By holding
the UP or DOWN button for longer than 2 seconds, the first
letter of the sample begins to change, which allows faster
browsing of the directory.
Note: When browsing the directory, the Microgranny always
searches whether the sample with the following name is
actually on the SD card. If you have only a few samples with
different first letters, it might take the Microgranny a few
seconds to find the next sample, as browsing goes first
through numbers 0-9, then alphabetically in ascending
order (A-Z). In this way, “banks” can be designed on the
microSD using letters and numbers. Searching is indicated
by “SRCH” showing on the display. In this case, it is
recommended to use the long press to move to the sample
of your choice.
TIP: See further COPY & PASTE functions to make setting
up presets easier.

Knobs
The 4 knobs on the left adjust the parameters of the sound.
The actual functions of the knobs are dependent on the
PAGE, which is indicated by the color of the RGB LED. By
pressing the PAGE button, you change the PAGE from
BLUE to GREEN. The parameter names are printed on the
board with a B or G to indicate the BLUE or GREEN page.
When changing the PAGE or sounds settings, the knobs
get deactivated, so the original values are not instantly
overwritten by a different position of the knobs. Whether a
knob is active or not is indicated by the LEDs next to each
knob.
In order to activate the knob, the knob has to reach the
original value. Turn the knob and once it matches the
original value, the LED will light up and you will be able to
edit the value.
The 2 knobs above the display adjust the INPUT and
OUTPUT volume.

FN button
The FN button allows access to more functions and
parameters of the sound. Hold down the FN button and
press the BIG BUTTONS to change the parameters of the
last played sound: TUNED, LEGATO, REPEAT, SYNC, and
RANDOM SHIFT. The state of these parameters is
indicated by the LEDs while the FN button is pressed.
Hit the last BIG BUTTON to play a DEMO!
COPY & PASTE
Pressing the UP or DOWN button in combination with the
FN button enables the COPY and PASTE functions. The
last played sound is copied by the COPY function FN+UP
into a buffer. Press another BIG BUTTON (or even the
same) and then FN+DOWN and the sound from the buffer
will be pasted with all parameters to the last pressed BIG
BUTTON.
INSTANT LOOP
When a sound is playing, you can press the HOLD button in
combination with the FN button to call the INSTANT LOOP
function. The first call of the INSTANT LOOP marks the
start of a loop, the second press marks the end and the
sound loops in between these points (indicated by “LOOP”
showing on the display). The third press deactivates the
INSTANT LOOP.
SAVE
By pressing the RECORD button in combination with the
FN button you SAVE the current PRESET (all SOUNDS
and their edited parameters).

Parameters of the SOUND

KNOBS
SAMPLE RATE (G) - is the pitch of the played sound. It
can operate in 2 different modes, depending on the sound’s
TUNED parameter. Initially, the TUNED parameter is turned
on, which means that the SAMPLE RATE is changed in
semitones in a range from -36 to +5, where 0 is the original
pitch. When TUNED is turned off, the SAMPLE RATE can
be adjusted in a fine resolution from -360 to +50, which is
10 times higher and corresponds to the tuning (when
TUNED is turned on -12 is the same pitch as -120 when
turned off).
GRAIN SIZE (B) - sets the size of the GRAIN loop. When
GRAIN SIZE is set to 0 there is no granular effect applied to
the sound, and therefore the SHIFT SPEED function
doesn’t affect the sound either.
CRUSH (G) - is the distortion effect applied to the sound.
SHIFT SPEED (B) - sets the speed at which the GRAIN
loop travels through the sample. it ranges from -127 to 128,
where 0 means the GRAIN loop is static. The negative
numbers mean that the GRAIN loop travels backwards
(from the end position to the start position).
ATTACK (G) - sets the attack parameter of the volume
envelope. This means how long it takes for the sound to
fade in from silence to the maximum volume after the
playback of the sound was started.
START (B) - marks the playback starting position. The
sample gets chopped into 1024 points and START selects
the starting point. When START is set to 0 it means the
sample is played from the beginning.
RELEASE (G) - sets the release parameter of the volume
envelope. This means how long it takes for the sound to
fade out to silence after the playback of the sound was
stopped (e.g pressing the button).
END (B) - marks the playback ending position of the 1024
points of the file. When END is set to maximum it means the
whole sample is played.
Note: Ending position cannot be set lower than the starting
position.

BIG BUTTONS 1-6

TUNED (1) - see SAMPLE RATE to see how the parameter
influences the sound. When playing the Microgranny by
sending MIDI notes, the TUNED parameter selects whether
the notes transpose the sound or play individual grains. See
the MIDI chapter for more information.
LEGATO (2) - if turned ON, the MIDI Notes sent to the
Microgranny are transposing the pitch without resetting the
start position and envelope, while more than one MIDI Note
is held. Note: LEGATO can be turned ON only when
TUNED is turned ON.
REPEAT (3) - if turned ON, the playback position jumps
back to the START position when the playback reaches the
END playback position. When turned off the playback ends
when reaching the END position. If SHIFT SPEED is
negative the start and end positions are switched.
SYNC (4) - when turned ON, the GRAIN SIZE and END
parameters automatically synchronize to the MIDI clock.
RANDOM SHIFT (5) - the shifting of the GRAIN loop in
the sample can be set to random, meaning it randomly
decides whether the SHIFT SPEED goes forward or
backward each time the GRAIN loop is played to the end.
RNDMZR (6) - randomizes the settings of all SOUND
parameters.

Presets and Banks

One preset consists of 6 sounds and all their parameters.
To load a different preset, hold down the PAGE/PRESET
button and press one of the 6 BIG BUTTONS to load the
corresponding preset. The display for example shows
PR.23, meaning you loaded preset number 3 (second
number) from bank 2 (first number). To save a preset, hold
down the FN button and press the RECORD button.
In one bank, there are 6 presets. To change banks, hold
down the PAGE/PRESET button and press UP or DOWN.
There are 10 banks (0-9).
All of the presets are stored on the SD card in the form of
simple TXT files, named P23.TXT for example. You can
rename and rearrange your presets on your computer,
however the parameters can be edited only on Microgranny.
TIP: When you have been tweaking your sound and you
want to quickly come back to the initial settings, just reload
the preset.

Recording
Microgranny can record 8-bit samples with a sample rate of
22050 Hz. It uses the onboard microphone or line input.
When the line input is connected, the microphone is
disabled. Use a mono cable for line input recording.
Press the RECORD button to enter the record mode (the
RGB LED turns RED). In the record mode, the dots on the
display indicate the level of the incoming signal. Use the
INPUT volume knob to adjust the volume. Pressing the
HOLD button will activate or deactivate the pre-listen
function – the sound coming through from the input to the
output, while in record mode.
After entering the record mode, the display asks you to
select (“SLCT”) a position where you want to record. Now
press one of the 6 BIG BUTTONS. Microgranny checks if
there is a file in this slot and deletes it and prepares for
recording. Then the display says (“REDY”) and the
RECORD LED starts blinking to indicate that you should hit
the RECORD button to start recording. Microgranny will
turn off the display (to minimize noise) and will start
recording (indicated by only the RECORD LED and the
LED of the current slot). To stop recording, hit the RECORD
button again. The recorded sound is now stored and
assigned to the BIG BUTTON. You can exit the record
mode by pressing the PAGE button.
For each BIG BUTTON in each preset, there is one file
reserved for recording. Only the wave files starting with a
number, for example, “2D.WAV”, can be deleted and
overwritten. The first character of the name of the sample
refers to the bank, the second character refers to the BIG
BUTTON and preset (in preset P21, the reserved files for
recording are 20-25.WAV, in P22, the reserved files are
26-2B.WAV, and in P23, the files are 2C-2H.WAV, etc.)
Note: Recording automatically saves presets.

ATTENTION: Do not turn OFF the Microgranny while it is

recording! It might result in corrupted files or a broken file
system on the microSD card. If you are having problems of
this kind, it is advised to format the microSD card again.
See below for more information.

MIDI
MIDI Channel
Microgranny has MIDI INPUT. It reads MIDI messages on
the specified MIDI channel. To set the MIDI channel, hold
down one of the BIG BUTTONS while turning on the
Microgranny, to set the input channel to 1-6. By following
the same procedure while the FN button is pressed, you set
the input channel to 7-12. The input channel is indicated on
the display each time you turn on the Microgranny, for
example, “CH 2” for MIDI input channel 2.
MIDI notes
Microgranny reads Note messages and reacts to Velocity.
The first 6 notes of the lowest MIDI octave correspond to
the 6 buttons on the Microgranny.
If the TUNED parameter is ON, the last played sound gets
spread and its pitch transposed on the keyboard in the
range of 3 and a half octaves. The middle C note is the
original sample pitch (C4 – note no. 60). The transposed
mode is active from 3 octaves below this note (C1 - note no.
24) to 6 semitones above this note (F4 - note no. 65).
If the TUNED parameter is turned OFF, the range of 5
octaves (with C4 in the middle) represents the whole
sample, and pressing different keys/notes sets the starting
position of the playback, i.e. playing different parts of the
sample. When used with granular settings, this feature can
be used to play individual grains.
The BIG BUTTON 1 button is selected with the lowest C
and it goes up to F for BIG BUTTON 6 (one semitone at a
time). All higher notes play the last selected BIG
BUTTON/SOUND.
You can also press the BIG BUTTON you want to have
active on the MG itself, and all incoming MIDI notes will play
the corresponding SOUND.
Whether incoming MIDI notes will play different pitches or
different grains (different parts of the sample) depends on
the setting of the TUNED parameter.
TIP: In case you happen to have some hanging MIDI notes,
turning the HOLD function ON and OFF will reset the MIDI
note buffer.
MIDI CC
Microgranny reacts to MIDI CC messages to set the
parameters of the sound.
The CC mapping is as follows:
102 = SAMPLE RATE
103 = CRUSH
104 = ATTACK
105 = RELEASE
106 = GRAIN SIZE
107 = GRAIN SPEED
108 = START
109 = END
0 = preset change.
The modulation wheel sets the GRAIN SIZE and Sustain
pedal is also supported.
MIDI Synchronization
Microgranny can synchronize the GRAIN SIZE and END
position (and looping in general) to MIDI Clock. When it
receives the clock message, it turns automatically to slave
mode. You can turn off the synchronization of individual
sounds by turning off the SYNC parameter.
When in sync mode, the settings GRAIN SIZE or END are
indicated on the display as multiple or division of one beat.
This means that if the GRAIN SIZE is set to 1 the GRAIN is
one beat long (24 MIDI clocks).
MIDI sidechain “compression”
This feature adds the ability to render attack again any time
while the sound is playing, after receiving a specific MIDI
Note on the MIDI Input. This results in a “side chain
compressor” like effect.
You can set the SIDE CHANNEL, SIDE NOTE, and SIDE
DECAY for this feature while you turn the Microgranny ON.
To set the SIDE CHANNEL, hold down the UP button and
one of the 6 BIG BUTTONS to set the channel to 1-6, and
with the FN button held to 7-12.
To set the SIDE NOTE, hold the DOWN button and one of
the 6 BIG BUTTONS to set the side note to 0-5 and with the
FN button held to 60-65.
To set the SIDE DECAY, hold down both the UP and DOWN
buttons and one of the 6 BIG BUTTONS to set different
lengths of the decay. Setting the SIDE DECAY to the first
button makes it the same value as the attack of the sound.

Preparing the SD Card and your own

samples
Of course, you can use your own sounds and you can use
any microSD card you want. Before you use the card, it is
advised to format it with the official formatter to make it work
faster. The original SD formatter can be found here together
with instructions: www.sdcard.org/downloads
You can use any microSD card reader that shows the card
on your computer as an external drive. The samples for
Microgranny have to be wav files, Mono, 16 or 8-bit, and
with a sample rate of 22050 Hz. To convert your samples
into such a format you can use the free software Audacity
(www.audacityteam.org/download) or any other software
that allows these exporting options.
In Audacity, open your file, when it is Stereo, use Track >
Stereo Track to Mono. Then change the Project Rate
(bottom left corner) to 22050 and then go to File > Export.
In the Format drop-down menu choose “Wave (Microsoft)
signed 16 bit PCM” and use a name with two letters only,
use A–Z (only upper cases) and 0–9 letters. Check the
“factory” SD card if you are not sure how to name your
samples.
Samples starting with a number (e.g. 2B.WAV) are reserved
for recording and can be deleted and overwritten from
within the Microgranny.
Copy the files to the root directory on the SD card and
everything should be ready to be played by the
Microgranny.

Appendix - 7 segment typography