Thanks for the explanations

By “subtracted” I was trying to or ask/describe exactly what you said : ),

i.e., the total grain duration is not changed but the unfaded portion of a grain becomes shortened (fade durations are subtracted from the total duration).

So, the unfaded portions of grains become distanced,

And we don’t seem to have a direct control for crossfading (or overlap/spread).

I did some experimentations and, with a single grain, the formula of grain length, density and start interval relations seems like this:

grain length * [4 – (3 * density value)] = start intervals (seconds)

eg.,

1 * [4 – (3 * 1)] = 1

1 * [4 – (3 * 0.75)] = 1.75

1 * [4 – (3 * 0.5)] = 2.5

1 * [4 – (3 * 0.25)] = 3.25

1 * [4 – (3 * 0)] = 4

0.5 * (4 – (3 * 1)] = 0.5

0.5 * (4 – (3 * 0.75)] = 0.875

0.5 * (4 – (3 * 0.5)] = 1.25

0.5 * (4 – (3 * 0.25)] = 1.625

0.5 * (4 – (3 * 0)] = 2

I’m not very sure where the coefficients 3 and 4 are coming from though, and don’t know how the formula would change when the grain count is increased.