Barry Truax (born 1947) is a Canadian composer who specializes in real-time implementations of granular synthesis, often of sampled sounds, and soundscapes. He developed the first ever implementation of real-time granular synthesis, in 1986, the first to use a sample as the source of a granular composition in 1987's Wings of Nike, and was the first composer to explore the range between synchronic and asynchronic granular synthesis in 1986's Riverrun. The real-time technique suites or emphasizes auditory streams, which, along with soundscapes, inform his aesthetic.