“An exploration of China's rich musical heritage”: Arturia’s Augmented Yangtze puts a contemporary spin on 6 classic instruments

For its latest ‘Augmented’ instrument, Arturia is looking to China - specifically its “rich musical heritage”. 

Augmented Yangtze brings you the sounds of instruments such as the Bass Dizi, Xiao, Pipa, Guqin, Yangqin and Erhu. These can be played using 38 articulations and 30 processed and multisample articulations, while the four built-in synth engines - virtual analogue, granular, wavetable harmonic and ‘simpler’ - enable you to create hitherto unheard ambiences and indulge in some more experimental processing.

As is typical of the Augmented series, the front page is kept simple, but you can also dive behind the scenes and tweak your sample and synth layers if you wish. It’s possible to set up custom modulation, arpeggiation, effects and macros here, too.

Augmented Yangtze comes with 200 presets and can be purchased now at a special introductory price (regular price is €99). Simply log in to your account on the Arturia website to find out what your deal is.

There’s also a demo version which, like the full version, runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats. 

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Ben Rogerson
Deputy Editor

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.