The art
of sound design
Raw Emotion
New Loops
It's an electronic dance music vocal lead with a massive sound. A mix of vocal sample and supersaw pluck which is reminiscent of Transfiguration by Dave Davis. This patch reacts well to velocity and sounds great when using the mod wheel to open the filter.
New Loops - on Augmented VOICES
I find Augmented VOICES to be a truly inspiring and unique instrument, full of creative potential. Being able to mix real vocal recordings with multiple synth engines like granular, additive, analogue, and wavetable, leads to practically limitless sound design choices. Mix that with the great quality effects, and especially the convolution reverb, and you've got a first-class instrument that is sure to inspire countless songs.
I was aiming for an EDM/club sound when the combination of the vocal, layered with a huge supersaw, sounded familiar. From there it was just a case of blending the two layers, choosing the effects, and then adding control through velocity, mod wheel, and the macros.
Catakom
Yuli Yolo
This immediate and evocative preset can give a great starting point for any ideas around. I absolutely want to create a kind of dark, dynamic voices ensemble based on expressivity. For that, I love playing with the mod wheel, it morph the sound and gives an extra sens of space and brightness.
Yuli Yolo - on Augmented VOICES
As a big fan of Pigments, I immediately clicked with the Augmented Series concept. The multisample engine combined with the Pigments-inspired possibities opened a lot of sounds exploration potential between realitistic voices to hybrid synthesis. The user-friendly interface plus the large sample collection, multisample and granular, included in Augmented VOICES is perfect for my need.
About Catakom, I had a sound in my mind, a dark, deep, evocative sound, like we may find in the catacombs of Paris. A pure imaginative approach because I've never been there. I started building the sound with the granular engine. Then, I added the multisample engine, adjusting the filters and effects.
Heaven Choir
Quentin Feuillard
This preset is a mix with classic samples and processed samples to have this augmented voices. The second layer add high harmonics on the top of the sound to push it to the sky. This is a easy to use preset with great evolutive possibilities.
Quentin Feuillard - on Augmented VOICES
The main strength of this instrument is the possibility to mix sample based and synthesis in the same time. This feature can improve every sound and make it far more natural and interesting.
My first inspiration came from samples inside to add some synthetic layers and improve the bass to create big, wide, and consistent sonic contents.
Rain Or Shine
Dov Waterman
The melding of granular synthesis and real sounds interests me tremendously and drives my creation in a big way. So for this sound I made sure to pick an open and real sounding vocal source and a processed vocal source. I then turned on the arpeggiator and the magic happened. I was particularly drawn to the morph macro and how it changed the sound subtly between the two sources.Then in combination with the Motion Macro I was able to completely transform the sound into something modern and gritty. Absolutely fabulous! This instrument is as simple but as deep as you want it to be. I love it!
Dov Waterman - on Augmented VOICES
Definitely the defining feature in the instrument is the Morph control. By having the ability to modulate and affect multiple parameters at once in varying amounts, goes way beyond just crossfading between two already complex engines. The additional macros add even more variety to the pot.
“Really, I let the core sounds guide me as to the type of sound it was. My first point of call after selecting the core samples was to listen to what they are each doing. Like if they were sustained or short sounds or how they moved before adding any kind of modulation to them. After that it was finding the right type of modulation be it note or parameter mods that fit with the sounds. Then it was how the two engines interact with each other.”
Dov Waterman
A Soul To Borrow
Gustavo Bravetti
For my preset, A Soul To Borrow, I wanted to create an ambient-cinematic sound that combines multiple vocal timbres with metallic percussive tones, for which I used the stock vocal samples and the Analog Engine’s FM. I set the modulation system to add rhythmic movement and programmed the Macros for a deep sound transformation as you can hear in the audio example.
Gustavo Bravetti - on Augmented VOICES
This instrument follows Augmented STRINGS' same line, which I love. Lots of features that allow you to go as deep as you want. The vocal samples are top-notch with a fantastic texture and definition. While some may sound familiar, everything has a strong, up-to-date vibe that blends perfectly with the synth engines, resulting in contemporary, multi-genre sounds that are genuinely usable in nowadays productions.
I wanted something completely new for this project, so I went fully experimental, looking for unique timbre and texture combinations. Always taking advantage of the extensive modulation system, I wanted the sounds to be alive and expressive. To create original sounds that genuinely react to the player's touch.
Earth's Pulses
Marco Iodice
The timbre of this patch morphs from ethereal choirs, far and dusty, to a strongly processed and synth based one. Motion Macro is a lot of fun, it manages the tremolo effect rate and using it while performing is essential! What I love about this sound is the drastic change in dynamics that can be achieved by experimenting with the Macros, particularly with Morph and Motion!
Marco Iodice - on Augmented VOICES
Augmented VOICES, in addition to providing a large amount of top quality samples, provides 4 synthesis engines that considerably increase the sound possibilities. I had a lot of fun creating ambient patches using voice samples processed and merged with the Granular Engine! The beauty of this instrument lies in the simplicity with which you can get complex and deep sounds, simply by moving a few knobs. Love it.
The Morph knob has played a fundamental role in the sound design process, being a powerful tool with which to generate many different sound shades. When I work on presets, I usually decide at the beginning the sound type on which i will work, and then leave room for fantasy and improvisation, letting the instrument inspires me.
Hymns Of The Sun
Klaus Baetz
This sound combines several elements that I personally prefer: it's not over-complicated but has a certain something. Then it has a slight 80s vibe and you use it many situations: it can sound both friendly and atmospheric like in the demo but also dark and alien-like.
Klaus Baetz - on Augmented VOICES
What I find most interesting about Augmented VOICES is the contrast between a very natural and intimate sound source like the human voice and various types of synthesis. By blending these contrasting elements together you get very fresh and inspiring results that can create all kinds of moods.
Before I started designing each sound I tried to create a draft of an image in my head. Then I started to build a soundscape so that patch could work as a soundtrack for the image that I envisioned. Luckily this worked well most of the time for this instrument and when the inspiration didn't struck, the content was so good that just playing around with it brought up new ideas.
Offworld
Ed Ten Eyck
This is a dark and noisy atmospheric texture with movement, which I envision being used in movies and games.
Ed Ten Eyck - on Augmented VOICES
The ability to tweak the sample and synth engine's sound using the Morph knob makes Augmented Voices fun to use, and it can result in some unexpected goodness. The Morph feature in Augmented Voices is interesting to me as it can do more than just cross-fading, and that can result in some really inspiring sounds.
If I already have an idea in mind I'll first find two samples that are closest to what I envision and then bring in two synth engine sounds to mix with those. Other times I'll just pick the samples, adjust them a bit and from there I usually get an idea of what realm of synth sounds I'd like to add.
Voice Computing 2.0
Tobias Menguser
It was difficult to find a favorite preset, as I really enjoyed sound design on this project, which resulted in many favorite presets. Voice Computing 2.0 is a weird combination of real and computer voices, granular modulations and additive shifting all in one sound. Really organically evolving textures can be created with this sound easily. Believe it or not, this audio demo is only one sound with a few automations.
Tobias Menguser - on Augmented VOICES
Its unique strength is the possibility to combine deep sampled instruments with high quality real time synth engines and effects, not to forget the convolution engine. This combination allows hybrid sounds of a new generation and quality level.
I was deeply inspired by the source material (multi samples and synth presets) and it was more about curating how those sources fit together, adding filters, effects and modulations and make best possible use of the great Macro system.
Bathing Reverb
Richard Veenstra
This preset is a combination of an ethereal Aah voice sample with digital wavetables with various synthetic voices. With the morph parameter it is possible to completely change the sound of the preset.
Richard Veenstra - on Augmented VOICES
The morph feature is very powerful. Within a couple of seconds you can alter a sound drastically. The combination of two powerful sample engines and the harmonic and wavetable engines are a fantastic combination.
I wanted to be creative with the sounds I made, I wanted to make full use of the synth engines, its modulation and the onboard effects in Augmented VOICES. The comb filter and formant filter are really useful for creating otherworldly sounds as well.