Granular synthesis (or in this case re-synthesis) is where you take a little snippet of a waveform and use it as a synthesizer would, but instead of selecting the built-in defaults (like sine, saw, square, noise, etc) it uses the snippet.
A̶n̶d̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶o̶r̶d̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶d̶e̶a̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶a̶c̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶W̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶Y̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶e̶a̶t̶e̶d̶l̶y̶.̶ ̶N̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶c̶o̶v̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶.̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶:̶l̶o̶l̶:̶ ̶ ̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶t̶h̶o̶d̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶v̶i̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶p̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶m̶o̶o̶t̶:̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶e̶n̶o̶u̶g̶h̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶w̶a̶v̶e̶s̶h̶a̶p̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶c̶e̶i̶v̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶p̶i̶e̶c̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶u̶d̶i̶o̶.̶ ̶ ̶T̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶u̶i̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶e̶c̶h̶a̶n̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶d̶e̶v̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶u̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶p̶s̶:̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶b̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶p̶s̶,̶ ̶c̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶m̶a̶l̶l̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶i̶e̶c̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶,̶ ̶m̶a̶s̶h̶ ̶s̶e̶v̶e̶r̶a̶l̶ ̶t̶o̶g̶e̶t̶h̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶f̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶p̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶-̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶d̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶u̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶b̶u̶i̶l̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶ ̶"̶W̶o̶w̶!̶ ̶I̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶[̶i̶]̶I̶S̶ ̶[̶/̶i̶]̶m̶a̶d̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶p̶s̶!̶"̶ ̶.̶.̶.̶A̶s̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶o̶t̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶p̶a̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶p̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶m̶e̶l̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶a̶w̶ ̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶p̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶e̶v̶e̶r̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶d̶e̶a̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶a̶s̶h̶,̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶g̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶p̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶p̶e̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶l̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶e̶t̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶f̶a̶b̶r̶i̶c̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶s̶c̶r̶a̶t̶c̶h̶.̶ ̶D̶i̶g̶?̶ ̶A̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶,̶ ̶b̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶r̶e̶q̶u̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶m̶a̶d̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶o̶u̶n̶d̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶r̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶u̶s̶.̶
On that note, I've gone through 7 different preliminary versions of this fucking song so far and am about to give up. I have no idea why this one's being so problematic for me.
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EDIT:
Thinking about this in the shower this morning... (don't ask) -
Although the above about granular [re]synthesis made perfect sense when I wrote it, it dawned on me that most all of the basslines we're gonna come up with from that 808 waveform will be - essentially - used in a granular fashion, even if it's fairly limited in implementation for most of us (restricted to a pretty narrow frequency domain more or less.)
And there are no rules against using, say, Alchemy if you own it - which does bigtime granular hoohaa out the ass.
So on second thought...
I'm going to retract what I said above and STFU for once and let somebody else mouth off.
Pay attention.
