Arturia Augmented PERSIA – The Sound of the Middle East Reimagined
5,0 / 5,0 | 
Augmented PERSIA from Arturia expands its range of fusion instruments into the Iranian plateau with a powerful and deeply expressive blend of the traditional and modern.
Arturia’s Augmented range of instruments started off with a more Western and traditional range of instruments that saw strings, brass, pianos and voices blended with synthetic counterparts to deliver a hugely expressive and very useful range of sounds.
But in recent releases, Arturia have sought to blend more global sounds with synthesizers, and Augmented PERSIA now joins YANGTZE, its Chinese-inspired instrument. It is a very welcome addition too, reminding us of the immense power and beauty of the region’s music and heritage.
Arturia Augmented PERSIA
Augmented PERSIA, at its heart, features six core instruments that have been deeply multi-sampled for their inclusion here. These include an Oud, Tar, Saz, Alto Kamancheh, Shah Kaman and Ney. Five of these are string-based, with the Ney being the only woodwind featured.
Each of these instruments can trace its history back through centuries of civilisation in Iran, Syria, Türkiye, Azerbaijan and even further afield to Egypt and within Jewish cultures. Suffice to say, each delivers hugely evocative sounds of the region as a whole.
As with the other instruments in the range, Augmented PERSIA blends the acoustic samples with powerful synthesis methods, in this case, virtual analogue, granular, wavetable and additive engines in layers, with two sounds per side.
Build Your Own Augmentation
Both halves of the instruments can be blended, or morphed, to your taste, and Augmented PERSIA also allows you to create your own concoctions by selecting from the extensive range of sounds and samples, enhanced by a powerful FX engine, multiple filters per layer and additional non-instrumental sounds.
In Conclusion
What this delivers is a fascinating blend of sounds that move seamlessly between the old and the new, offering the player distinctly authentic sounds of the region, but with the ability to make something unique and entirely out of this world.
Whether you’re looking for something that conjures instant images of an ancient part of the world, or a distinctly off-world experience through the blending of electronic synthesis, Augmented PERSIA is another fine addition to a range of instruments that I can’t seem to keep my hands off!
More Information
Augmented PERSIA is available to buy now for €149, but is currently on offer for an introductory price to existing Arturia owners. It also forms part of a new Augmented Series 8 that gathers all of the Augmented instruments together for a better price!
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