The art
of sound design
Dark Lost Tapes
Tobias
It was difficult to find a favorite preset, as I really enjoyed sound design on this project which resulted in many favorite presets. Dark Lost Tapes makes use of resynthesized strings, sounding like recorded to tape and lost in the archives for half a century. The mod wheel is morphing this sound from dark strings to airy granular clouds. Great sound for dramatic and emotional pop and scoring with deepness guaranteed.
10 Phantom Rooms - on Augmented STRINGS
The big 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.
Dystopian Hit
NewLoops
It's a hard-hitting, dark, cinematic effect made up of four layers. These are a Cello Jete sample, a "monster" brass sample, the Harmonic engine, and the wavetable engine. Add to that, 3(!) delays, 2 distortions, and the convolution reverb, making a huge sound. Then the fun starts when using the Colour and Morph macros together, you go from cinematic impact to plucky keys in a turn. Finally, velocity and aftertouch have been programmed for expressive playing.
New Loops - on Augmented STRINGS
One of the main strengths of the instrument has to be the ability to layer real orchestral samples with synthesizer engines like wavetable and granular. This leads to some creative, hybrid textures that are not possible in pure synthesis. Blending between these sound sources with the Morph macro is great fun.
Coming from a music production background, each sound has to be usable in the context of a song or audio track. I always try to make sounds that I would use myself. I also try to cover different categories, e.g., keys, pads, leads, basses, etc… That also helps to stay creative while producing a lot of presets.
Anticipation
Gustavo
For my preset Anticipation, I wanted to create a solid cinematic pad with increasing tension, for which I periodically modulate a string component +1 semitone. Then, as the modulation happens in the second bar of holding a note, you can play legato to control the tension. This, plus other increscendo modulations, and creative use of the effects buses, make this patch a perfect "oneman-band" for film scoring.
Gustavo - on Augmented STRINGS
I love how the high-quality multi-samples effortlessly blend with the synth engines producing something new and unique. Every aspect is very polished, the synth engines' palette is endless, and if you are in a hurry, there are hundreds of presets to start playing with. The modulation system is perfect for a dedicated instrument, and the effects - which I consider a vital part of sound designing - are beyond expectations.
The string samples are top-notch, very detailed, and super-rich harmonically speaking. By exploring them, I started to have a lot of sound design ideas (that I quickly wrote, afraid I might forget something). Anyway, this instrument is so full-featured that there are multiple places you can start sculpting your sounds, and the inspiration always hits you, followed by some happy accidents that will make your sounds stand out.
Dark Realism
Rob Martland
I immediately felt a sense of cinematic mystery that made me want to jump in and experiment. It has a strange and uncertain emotional hook through the fluctuating unclean harmonics layer, and I found the spacious and rich granular flute layer versatile, easily providing strange resolutions or further unease. The preset contains a multitude of odd and truly different emotional spaces.
Rob Martland - on Augmented STRINGS
The synth is amazing for adding movement and dynamics. Even without turning any macros, when the real strings were layered with the granular engine, there's this immediate sense that the instrument was ready and willing to say something organic and musical. I really enjoyed just having the eight macros, as there's enough to play with to drastically shift the sound, but so many that it would get in the way of inspiration.
I start by making a list of the types of sounds I want to create, then I let intuition and serendipity take over. I like to begin with a basic plan as a jumping off point, pretty much knowing that I'll discard it once I get into the work itself... This allows whatever I'm working on to figure itself out essentially - I just try to keep a vague sense of the qualities I'm aiming for in the back of my head.
Cold Feed
Richard Veenstra
I love this preset, I think it showcases the possibilities of Augmented Strings very well. With the Morph macro you can crossfade from a classical spiccato sound into a digital wavetable synth. The other macros change the sound in a subtle way to add lots of expression.
Richard Veenstra - on Augmented STRINGS
The morph knob is one of the unique features of Augmented STRINGS. An orchestral string sound quickly turns into a digital synth and you can automate all macros to create unique and expressive sounds. The effects and modulations are all super easy to apply to the most important features of the instrument.
I wanted to create new sounds with the instrument, sounds that are not possible to make with other synthesizers or instruments. I strived to look beyond what a string instrument can do and tried to make sounds that are expressive while playing and easily incorporated in several musical genres.
Madacapa
Yuli Yolo
This huge and large strings ensemble layered with a granular piano can demonstrate for me the power of the multisamples & multi synthesis engine include with Augmented Strings. i like to play with the morph and the mod wheel's effects, they bring some extra harmonics and can glue really well the sound.
Yuli Yolo - on Augmented STRINGS
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 strings to hybrid synthesis. The user-friendly interface plus the large sample collection, multisample and granular, included in Augmented STRINGS is perfect for my need.
About Madacapa, my inspiration comes from the multisample and granular engines content. I did my best to get a large vocal ensemble like we can find in an orchestral context. After that, I adjusted some envelope parameters here and here, with extra care with the mod wheel modulation effects.
Distorted Perception
Marco Iodice
This instrument gives a new life to the strings, transporting us to places yet to be explored. The four synthesis engines allow us to obtain extremely layered sound results! Augmented Strings is an immediate, original and good-looking instrument, you will be enchanted by the Morph knob and the magic it contains inside! I simply love this sound, it manages to be stable and highly unstable at the same time. The sound timbre morphs from vibrato strings, surrounded by feedback distortion, to granular and warm one.
Marco Iodice - on Augmented STRINGS
I think the greatest strength of this instrument is its ability to generate an extremely complex sound results using a few clear commands and knobs. The timbre you get from the Augmented Series is never something you've already heard, this instrument has won a fixed place among my go-to solutions when I produce. The sample library recorded specifically for Augmented STRINGS is varied and of extreme quality - working with this material has been a pleasure for my ears.
The creative process related to Augmented STRINGS has been fresh and innovative, certainly different from the usual. I usually decide at the beginning the sound type on which I will work, and then leave room for fantasy and improvisation. During the sound design I have given great importance to the setting of Morph, trying to focus on the nuances of sound that the small movements of the knob could give.
City Of Demons
Jorg Huttner
City Of Demons was one of the first sounds I made and it sounds very airy, but also big and wide. It can support both a very beautiful scenery, but also a more suspenseful and tense atmosphere. Blending in some more aggressive tone with the COLOR knob can support its more sinister side and it can morph into a more action-supporting role when dialing up the MOTION knob and the fast modulation it creates.
Jörg Hüttner - on Augmented STRINGS
The symbiosis between string instrument samples and synthetic engines makes for a very interesting combination and allows for the creation of organic sounds with an “edge”, which is very useful for any media composition, be it film, TV or video games. Blending between samples and wavetable or granular synthesis especially stood out to me. That combined with the great-sounding filters of Arturia creates a winning concept.
Pigments has already become a “weapon of choice” for me when it came to granular synthesis, so I was looking forward to creating a cool blend between this and live string samples within “Augmented STRINGS”. Sounds like this can easily create the main backdrop for a cue or composition and inspire the overall tone. Such atmospheric sounds were the first things I tried to get to, and it was fairly easy.
En Harmonie
Lily Jordy
This preset consists of tenderly layered cello and viola natural harmonics, morphing to wavetable bowed strings. In this audio clip you only hear part A but using the different macros to affect the color and space of the sound.
Lily Jordy - on Augmented STRINGS
Augmented STRINGS is a unique kind of hybrid instrument - you can really find new timbres that were never heard before when you combine samples with the Pigments Synth Engines. It was a special discovery to create presets on this instrument.
I would first pick a Multisample that inspired me - for example a deep cello pluck, and would then place the Morph at 50% and find an engine or combination of engines that added something interesting to its sound.
Sad Day Cello
Quentin Feuillard
I really love the sound of the cello, I want to add some low frequency with an analog strings to increase the feeling of this instrument. You can switch between two articulations, classic legato and natural harmonics, with the morph knob to create different atmospheres.
Quentin Feuillard - on Augmented STRINGS
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.
Ed Ten Eyck - on Augmented STRINGS
The Morph feature in the Augmented instruments is interesting to me as it has the ability to do more than just cross fades between sample/synth layers.
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.
Lifted
The Morph macro can be really fun and interesting depending on the preset, turning up the Movement macro some helps give some life to the sound as well. Lifted: To me this preset has a pleasant dreamy feel to it that I enjoy.