Arturia's Augmented Instruments: Epic Sounds or Failed Idea?

[@sandmyn]

Luv you're work ❤

[@AlexReidStudios]

Thank you so much 😀

[@edward.david_lol]

Thanks Alex, I haven’t used the Augmented series much because I have Output Brass and Strings and Output Exhale for voices

[@AlexReidStudios]

How's Output? I remember trying Strings a looong time ago

[@edward.david_lol]

@@AlexReidStudios Output is expensive but high quality, it uses many GB space as well but low CPU as it operates through Kontakt player. The sounds use traditional instruments but in a modern way so it can be used easily for many modern music genres. The number of options are less than Arturia but Output has more than enough presets for variety.

[@DerekPower]

I've been an Arturia user since 2009 and I have enjoyed what they put out over the years. The Augmented Series is no different and, yes, I do see this as their answer to the various orchestral libraries out there, in particular Native Instruments. I can see a future Pigments version update having the morph button between the two sound engines. This would mean an interface redesign as it could make it confusing or cluttered. Analog Lab can also be the key to bringing these sounds together, albeit with some limitations in what parameters to edit.

[@AlexReidStudios]

Didn't thought about Analog Lab, but it could be awesome to be able to morph between two synths when layering

[@TheDavidPoole]

I really laughed a lot at your poster. You won the internet with that one.

[@AlexReidStudios]

Worst part, it's based om real events

[@TheDavidPoole]

@@AlexReidStudios I thought as much 😆

[@furiobisotti8150]

Since I play keyboards in rock cover bands using VSTs live, I am not the right user of these instruments. I am a heavy user of V collection, obviously, so didn't buy any augmented thing if not included in the collection. I bought Pigments because it's really high class. I used augmented strings and voices a few times just selecting raw samples with very basic editing on that. There are really a lot of wonderful raw sounds. But I guess it's not the intention of Arturia marketing. To be honest, I am not using any extension of Native Instruments for the same reason. I prefer cooking some Kontakt samples for my keyboard classics. I guess guys in soundtracks will have the exact opposite position...

[@AlexReidStudios]

I get you, I also sometimes use the raw samples as they are great quality.

[@Cysubtor_8vb]

I've really been liking the sound of Augmented Brass and would like to get around to mixing it with my own low brass playing yet just haven't had time at the moment. Even if in a purely synth produced track, I like how realistic the tone is and don't mind it being a standalone instrument to be used for that purpose while other synths get more experimental. As for the others, I can get pretty good sounding string tones from generic synths, so I passed on it and the readily available piano. I do also have Augmented Voices, but isn't as invested in that one.

[@AlexReidStudios]

Brass sounds epic, I also use it regularly. The other one I lile is the piano, to combine the different engines.

[@SongOfItself]

I have Augmented Voices, the lite version that was initially offered for free, and I trialed the Pianos. Never warmed up to any of them. The Morph feature is of course fine to have in general, but in practice the many of the presets sound to me much like the example at 0:19 - it’s just incongruent and, to me (dare I say it?) sounds kind-of ugly 😊 I think it’s a gimmick. Take the awesome architecture of Pigments (which is my favorite synth of all time, my “desert island” synth), wrap it up with it with a bunch of samples and sell it as a new product. That’s just a Kontakt thing though, isn’t it? Package a number of samples and call it a “synth”. I have some of those, and they rarely get any CPU cycles on my system. Of course here you’re getting the full power of the Pigments engine, which is more than Kontakt can ever offer, but really, I’d rather just load samples into Pigments. And if Arturia put a Morph knob on that, I wouldn’t mind 😊 Though it’ll probably never happen, because then the Augmented series would lose its main selling point.

[@AlexReidStudios]

I agree in many points. I liked a lot playing with these instruments, but in the real practice I would prefer going directly to Pigments, hence my point on taking all good things on Augmented and applying them to Pigments. But yeah, I doubt they will add that.

[@iamYork_]

yeah i had my eye on these when they went on sale but they always looked like a more user friendly Pigments... I think if they were less money id pick them up just to have more bread and butter sounds to play with but at the current cost I dont feel it works for me anyway with all the soft synths i already have... But overall look like fun...

[@l.romain6447]

They have sum exclusive features, also there’s an update coming so maybe they willl make it more exclusive 🤷🏿‍♀️

[@vitalwave]

Nice video Alex, every Augmented Instrument is really good, but also CPU killer lol, the piano is the only weak one, but the Brass is the best of the bunch

[@AlexReidStudios]

Brass is epic, I use it the most

[@Xanaduum]

The rest of the V collection works great, but the augmented series just uses too much ram, I have 32GB and all the other instruments sound great. But with three or four notes of polyphony on augmented voices or strings and it starts glitching, and that with just one instrument loaded. Makes it unusable without hamstinging the polyphony in the menu and playing slow. In order to get around it I guess you could record two key polyphony, and then record that to audio, then overdub to save ram. But that really shouldnt have to be done.

[@AlexReidStudios]

Agree, they consume too much resources

[@Xanaduum]

@@AlexReidStudios what specs do you have on your computer, or at least what computer do you recommend for music editing?

[@AlexReidStudios]

@@Xanaduum The CPU is most important. I have an intel i7 11th gen

[@Xanaduum]

@@AlexReidStudios good to know, looking into upgrading. 👍

[@Deatg-ek8rf]

Augmented is great for jazz, better than anything native instruments has imho.

[@GillamtheGreatest]

i tried one or two of these and although they sound great i just didnt click with them. i think i would rather just see them integrated into pigments somehow.

[@AlexReidStudios]

Totally agree, I do use them but only on projects I want their specific sound

[@amazeus1980]

VERY cpu hungry and lack of tuning in herz. I have Brass, Voices and Strings but bought it only because I got a very good deal (about 30€ for each)… My pc is i7, 24GB ram and SSD hard drive and some presets cause glitches. Btw Pigments is also very pcu hungry…huge disappointment really!

[@AlexReidStudios]

Yeah, usually in forums CPU talk is everywhere. We dont know the programming they do, but other synths that are equally or more powerful are lighter

[@amazeus1980]

@@AlexReidStudios Arturia makes some good stuff but there is still a lot of room for improvements…and imo lack of tuning in herz makes these instruments unprofessional. Especially if we talk about orchestral instruments!!!

[@stevehofer3482]

Nice review of instruments that don’t get much attention. They don’t even get attention from me. Even when I am on my one computer that has plenty of power to run, I haven’t spent much time with them, snd I’m not sure why. My working theory is the interface is not. - inviting. I have a similar issue with Massive-X, which also has similar, but less extreme CPU issues.