Texture
Documentation
Free granular module for VCV Rack 2. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Free module · 18 HP · early beta
A granular texture processor
Texture records what you feed it into a buffer of a few seconds and plays it back as a cloud of grains: short or long, forwards or backwards, transposed, scattered in stereo and smeared with reverb. It turns a chord stab into a drifting pad, freezes a moment into a loop, or becomes a tape-like delay.
Texture is built on the open-source engine of Beads by Emilie Gillet, the last module from Mutable Instruments, released under the MIT license in October 2026. The sound engine is Emilie's code (we only added an optional soft-edge setting for the grains); the panel, the display and the VCV Rack integration are ours. Texture is free, now and always.
It works on its own with any modules and belongs to the Thoow Dub family of dub techno modules for VCV Rack 2.
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Early beta. Texture is new, and we would love to hear how it works for you: what sounds great, what sounds odd, what breaks. Send us feedback →
Controls
Grain
| Control | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| DENSITY (black) | ±100 % | Centre: no new grains. Turn left for grains at a steady rate, faster towards the end. Turn right for randomly timed grains, denser towards the end. With a cable in SEED it divides the incoming clock (left) or sets the probability of a grain per pulse (right). |
| TIME | 0–100 % | Where in the buffer a grain starts: left plays the most recent audio, right reaches back to the oldest. |
| SIZE | 0–100 % | Grain length and direction. Left of about 11 o'clock grains play backwards, around 11 o'clock they are about 30 ms short, towards the right they last up to four seconds. Fully right turns Texture into a delay (see below). |
| SHAPE | 0–100 % | The grain envelope: fully left is a hard, clicky rectangle, the middle a soft bell, fully right a slow swell like a reversed sound. |
| PITCH | ±24 st | Transposition. It snaps gently to unison, semitone, minor and major third, fifth, octave and two octaves. |
| ± (four small knobs) | ±100 % | One per TIME, SIZE, SHAPE and PITCH. Without a cable: right adds even random variation per grain, left adds variation clustered around the knob value. With a cable: right sets the CV amount, left lets the CV control the amount of randomness. ± PITCH always adds random pitch variation; the V/OCT jack tracks 1 V/oct on its own. Double-click sets a ± knob back to 0. |
| QUALITY | 4 | Recording quality of the buffer, see below. Changing it clears the buffer; it is locked while FREEZE is on. |
Mix and play
| Control | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| FEEDBACK | 0–100 % | Sends the output back into the buffer: grains of grains, slowly evolving tails. |
| MIX | 0–100 % | Dry against processed signal. Use 100 % when Texture sits on a send. |
| REVERB | 0–100 % | Amount of the built-in reverb. |
| PRESET | 8 | CLOUD, HAZE, STAB SPRAY, OCTAVE BLOOM, PULSE, FROZEN PAD, DUST, DOWN A FIFTH. Sets grain, mix and quality. |
| SEED | button | Press: switch to manual grains and fire grains while held (the display shows MANUAL). Hold two seconds, press FREEZE while holding SEED, or use the menu item Automatic grains (SEED) to go back to automatic grains from DENSITY. |
| FREEZE | button | Stops recording: the grains keep playing what is in the buffer. |
Grains, delay, synth
- Automatic grains (default): DENSITY generates grains on its own, steady to the left, random to the right.
- Manual grains: after a press on SEED, grains only play while SEED is held or a gate is high at the SEED jack.
- Clocked: with a clock in SEED, DENSITY divides the clock (left) or sets a probability per pulse (right).
- Delay: with SIZE fully right a single, never-ending grain reads the buffer, like a delay. DENSITY sets the delay time, TIME a multiple of it (or, frozen, which slice loops), SHAPE a rhythmic envelope on the repeats and PITCH a tape-head pitch shift.
- Synth: ten seconds after both inputs are unplugged, Texture turns into a granular synthesizer that plays wavetables. FEEDBACK then selects one of eight wavetable banks and MIX balances oscillator and grains; V/OCT always tracks 1 V/oct.
Quality
| Setting | Sound |
|---|---|
| CLEAN | 48 kHz, 16 bit: clear and detailed. |
| 12 BIT | 32 kHz, 12 bit: a gentle digital grain, like an early sampler. |
| TAPE | Clean tape: soft saturation and a little wow. |
| WORN | 24 kHz, 8 bit, wow and flutter and tape saturation: a used cassette. |
Lower qualities hold a longer buffer. The menu option Soft grain edges lengthens the shortest grain fades (4 ms in, 20 ms out) for smoother clouds with short grains and hard shapes; it is off by default so Texture behaves like the original.
Jacks
| Jack | Signal |
|---|---|
| CV: TIME, SIZE, SHAPE | ±5 V, scaled by the ± knob above. |
| CV: V/OCT | Pitch, 1 V/oct. ± PITCH adds random variation on top. |
| CV: DENS | Density CV, ±5 V over the full range. |
| CV: ASSIGN | 0–10 V added to FEEDBACK, MIX or REVERB (choose in the menu; default MIX). |
| IN L, R | Audio in. With only L patched Texture works in mono and keeps a longer buffer. ±8 V is full scale. |
| IN SEED | Clock or gate. In AUTO the cable is a clock that DENSITY divides (left) or thins out (right); a steady voltage gives no grains. In MANUAL (press SEED) grains fire while the gate is high. |
| IN FREEZE | Gate: freeze while high. |
| OUT L, R | Audio out. With nothing in R, both sides are mixed on L. |
Display and menu
The display shows the buffer like a loop of tape: the recorded audio stands still and the write head travels across it (it stops under FREEZE). Every grain the engine is playing appears as a glowing playhead at the position it reads, with a short trail and a thin line down to the audio it is reading. Height shows pitch (one octave up sits visibly higher), size and brightness follow the grain envelope, and grains playing backwards are drawn as rings. The bottom line shows the mode and the number of grains; the Thoow T flashes with every trigger at SEED or FREEZE and with every attack at the input. Click the display to switch the flash off or on.
Menu: ASSIGN input controls (feedback, mix or reverb), Soft grain edges, Automatic grains (SEED) and Show values on display (switch off the large value readout while turning knobs).
Double-click a main knob to set it back to the value of the selected preset; the four ± knobs go back to 0.
Tip: put Texture on a send and set MIX to 100 %. Play a chord, press FREEZE on a good moment, and let the grains drift through it with a little ± TIME and REVERB.
Changelog
Beta 2 · 2.0.1 · 14 October 2026
- V/OCT now tracks 1 V/oct directly; ± PITCH only adds random variation (before, V/OCT went through ± PITCH and did nothing by default).
- Double-click resets a main knob to the value of the selected preset and the ± knobs to 0.
- SEED: the display says AUTO, MANUAL or CLOCK and shows how to get back; hold two seconds (was four) or use the new menu item Automatic grains (SEED).
- Value readout no longer resizes while you turn a knob, with fewer decimals; new menu item Show values on display to switch it off.
Beta 1 · 2.0.0 · 14 October 2026
- First public beta.
The number after "Beta" counts our releases; the plugin itself reports a version starting with 2 (2.0.1), because VCV Rack 2 only loads plugins whose version starts with its own major number.
Thanks to everyone sending feedback. Tell us what you found →
Credits and license
The grain engine is Beads by Emilie Gillet (Mutable Instruments), used under the MIT license; the license text ships with the plugin. "Beads" and "Mutable Instruments" are names of their owner and are used here only to credit the source. Panel, display and VCV Rack integration by thoow, Hamburg.
Questions or feedback: service@thoow.com