The art
of sound design
Our Augmented Instruments bring together a range of technologies and sonic talents, brought to life by the ingenuity of our sound designers.
Collaborating with the industry's best, from seasoned professionals to emerging talents, for over a decade, we've crafted sounds that bridge the past and future. Here, we celebrate the individuals behind our iconic sounds and offer insight into their creative process.
Sunrise Over Taihu
Konstantin Klem
Honestly, I like all the presets! It's hard to pick out just one specific sound. For my demo track, I used four presets: Sunrise Over Taihu, Chinese Duet, Tianxia, and Tea Ceremony. These sounds are based on three Chinese instruments: Guqin, Pipa, and Yangqin. I think these instruments capture the spirit of Chinese culture perfectly.
Konstantin Klem - on Augmented YANGTZE
I'm definitely enjoying the Morph feature. You can seamlessly transition between sound eras - from ancient instruments to ultra-modern ones. Imagine you're composing a 10-track piece with Yangtze on each track and at one point you automate the Morph knob on all tracks simultaneously! I think this is an amazing feature for film or game scoring, when transitioning from one scene to another.
During my college years, I had the opportunity to intern at a university in China. I was able to visit cities like Harbin, Dalian, and Jiamusi. I interacted a lot with ordinary people. I think I captured the essence of this rich culture. Every time I opened Yangtze, I tried to remember everything that happened to me in China, everything I saw and heard. It was a great help in my work on the sounds.
Erhu Tapes
Lily jordy
I chose "Erhu Tapes" because of its warm, enveloping atmosphere. The harp tape loop really fuzzes and deepens the erhu multisamples. I can imagine this sound blending easily into lots of different modern music genres.
Lily Jordy - on Augmented YANGTZE
The samples are so gorgeous! The quality of the samples and the playing expression is outstanding, it's my favorite Augmented instrument so far.
I wanted to make sure that the samples could be heard very clearly and were not overpowered by the synth engines. So my approach was a more pure and minimalistic one, where the synth engines are there to strengthen the existing sample sounds and not distort/transform too much.
Deep East
Marco Iodice
One of my favorite presets is definitely Deep East, I love the complexity that the preset can achieve just by playing one chord. Enjoy a Yangqin transient being layered with a synced pulsating analog timbre and be augmented by noises and stereo granulations!
Marco Iodice - on Augmented YANGTZE
This instrument has the ability to give uniqueness and modernity to ancient and classic timbres, the sound results it offers are always fresh and innovative. The feature that I prefer and that has stimulated me most is the beautiful variety of sample articulations that the instrument offers!
The Morph knob has played a fundamental role in sound design’s 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.
Fifth Dynasty
New Loops
This preset's default sound is acoustic, featuring a Pitch Shifter Delay whose pitch is set to -5, producing a sort of diatonic canon. I began with a simple melody and most of the Macros minimized to create a natural, opaque sound with a gentle canon effect. As the arrangement progresses and intensifies, I utilized the Macros and MIDI Velocity to unveil the full expression this sound is capable of.
New Loops - on Augmented YANGTZE
As with the other instruments in the augmented series, the strength of the instrument is the ability to layered multiple sounds. This creates unique timbres to experiment with. It can get quite complex at times, making sure everything is working together the way it ís supposed to!
I wanted to make sure that each preset is usable and not to abstract. The sample content I had to work with was really great so it was easy to make authentic, playable sounds. The main focus is on the Morph macro, and I wanted the presets to remain useable with all settings.
Zane Twice - on Augmented YANGTZE
I find the Augmented series to be very well designed, especially with its management of the 4 audio engines, which proves to be very practical and fosters great creativity. Another strong point is the studio work that has been done to create samples of traditional acoustic instruments.
I focused primarily on creating presets with a natural sound, maximizing the use of traditional instrument samples. Being a fan of electronic music as well, I heavily favored using LFOs to animate the filters through Motion Macros, adding a groove element.
Forbidden City
Zane Twice
My favorite preset is "Forbidden City". I appreciate its atmospheric quality and the tension it can evoke, making it particularly useful for cinematic projects.
Windy Day
Quentin Feuillard
Windy Day it's the first preset I did on this instrument, and represent exactly my mood at this time. Take a breath and enjoy the beautiful soundscape it creates.
Quentin - on Augmented YANGTZE
Samples and other sources are for me the main strengths of the instrument. Inspiration comes instantly when hearing the sources, all of them have been designed to be use in the same sound territory and match very well with everything.
I like to look out the window, the weather and the colors help me a lot to prepare my mind to create. I start with a first source like a sample or a synth, find combinations and add modulations to make it evolve over time.
Creatures
Rob Martland
‘Creatures’: I feel this preset encompasses my natural creative inclinations, as well as showcasing the strengths I admire most in the Augmented Series - those of blurry new sonic terrain. It’s emotionally strange, even with just a single note. It’s also not obvious what's organic and what’s synthetic. It’s also kind of disorientating, and when improvising in it, I feel it’s naturally reaching for something otherworldly and heightened.
Rob Martland - on Augmented YANGTZE
I really admire the blurred line between organic instruments and synthesised layers that the augmented series is all about. You can imbue something synthetic with reality and vice versa. I think new ways of expressing can quite quickly arise in that interplay. I also love how the main screen provides you so quickly with 8 parameters/macros primed for automation, making it super quick to build variation and movement.
My approach was to listen to the new recorded acoustic instruments, and then to listen to what they’re offering/inspiring. Say a trilled pluck could have a skittering granular feel to it, so I’d then try and build upon that timbre in the synthetic layers, emphasising and amplifying that stuttering quality. Sometimes I’d try to shoot for contrasts too, if the sound was very stable and clear, I’d perhaps make something blurry and amorphous to offset it.