A big "Yo" to all:
As the subject line should make clear, I am both new to the list and new to
The Wonderful World of Csound (Ob.version reference:Csoundppc 0.3.1 on
PowerMac 7200/75), new to the tune of 2-3 weeks. Reason for throwing myself
into Csound: Make weird noises (imagine) w/o unknown-to-me
hardware/software designers telling me how to make them. Not having to buy
more instruments is a plus too. Reason for wanting to make weird noises:
Make music influenced by, oh, Flying Saucer Attack, Roger Reynolds, My
Bloody Valentine, George Crumb, Wire, Bill Laswell etc., Amp,
Byzar....Method of making said noises/music I'm most interested in:
Granular synthesis. Which brings me to...

Newbie Question #1: Granular synthesis in "musical" applications. I've got
the buzz/drone/grind/rushing water types of sounds down quite well, now I
want ones  that can, say. be used to play recognizable chords with. Using
GEN 10 etc. derived waveforms works well, but when I use sampled sounds I
generally get bizarro clangorous noise (not that that's a bad thing; what
used to be a guitar and now sounds like massive out-of-tune bells has a
starring role in a piece). I've tried snipping out small bits of the sample
and pasting it to a reversed/inverted version of itself to produce a
symmetrical wave, as well as fiddling with various settings+ratios for
grain length, density, etc. but have had only partial success. If someone
could give me tips on how to get the more musical sounds, as well as basic
hints, neat things to do etc. concerning granular synth. in general, that
would be greatly appreciated.

Low level life-insurance worker by day
Sound hacker by night
Robert Tichacek