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General Category => Icarus => Topic started by: Markus Krause on June 15, 2016, 06:49:05 PM

Title: Interview
Post by: Markus Krause on June 15, 2016, 06:49:05 PM
Carl Schmeller did an interview about Icarus. I'll post it here, since it might contain usfull info for you.

Carl: Welcome Markus! You're releasing a very amazing new synthesizer now – Icarus. What are the main features of that synth?

Markus: Icarus is a 3D-wavetable synthesizer. The wavetables can be morphed into several dimensions. It offers powerful and flexible sound engine with true stereo architecture. Icarus offers high-end sound quality with low CPU requirement. The easy-to-use interface with direct visual feedback makes tweaking accessible to everyone. The synth has a huge sonic range and an unique signature sound. It comes with a huge library of over 1000 sounds. We developed a new resynthesis method, which is easy to use and quickly gives good results. There is also a modular effect section with 53 effects and a high quality vocoder.

Carl: What makes it different to other synths like your Nemesis and Saurus or other popular synths like Spire, Serum or Sylenth?

Markus: Icarus can do sounds, which are not possible which are not possible with the other synthesizers. The innovative resynthesis function in Icarus allows you to rebuild nearly any sound with a single mouse-click: Simply click on the resynthesis button and select a wav file. Like magic, Icarus will automatically assemble a patch, which sounds very close to the original sound. Our new algorithm gives better results and is easier to use than traditional methods.
Furthermore Icarus can do Speech (re)synthesis and has a Vocoder. This is is not possible with the other products.
Nemesis is a FM synthesizer. Saurus is a substractive synth. It is an emulation of vintage hardware. I don't think that they really can be compared to Icarus.

Carl: The „3D wavetable synthesis“ and the editor of Icarus is very exciting. Can you explain the meaning of this special kind of synthesis and what is the difference to other synthesis like FM, subtractive, additive etc.?

Markus: In wavtable synthesis you can crossblend waveforms. In 3D wavetable synthesis can be crossblended and morphed in several dimensions. This gives more dynamic expression and offers a huge, new area for sounddesign.
FM synthesis means to modulate the frequency of an oscillator with another oscillator.
Substractive means that filters remove a part of the spectrum.
In additive synthesis you add a large number of sines to assemble a sound.
Icarus can do all these synthesis methods, but the main focus is wavetables.

Carl: Which kind of presets could people expect and for which kind of music genres could them be used?

Markus: The synth covers a huge sonic range. It is suitable for all musical genres, but especially modern ones. The synth has a very unique signature sound. Some people say, that it can sound like polished plastic, but warm and in a very pleasant way. It's possible that it inspires musicians so much that it helps to arise even new musical genres - at least i hope so. What's really new and unique is that speech and synthesizer sound can melt into somthing like 'singing robot choirs'.

Carl: How did you came to the idea to create Icarus and how long have you developed on that tool?

Markus: It took several years to develop Icarus.
The motivation behind that is quite egoistic: I did build this synth mainly for myself. I wanted a replacement for my Virus TI, my Microwave, my Alpha Juno, my Casio CZ, Alchemy and my Blowfeld. I really like wavetables, but i don't like the sharp sound that the conventional wavetable synths have. So i experimented how wavetables can be enhanced to sound more warm.

Carl: Icarus has a lot of vocal patches. Is it true that a real singer isn't necessary anymore?

Markus: This depends on your personal needs and the musical style that you do. It does the job for the EDM tracks that i do quite well. I'd say: If you like the sound of vocoders, it can replace the singer.

Carl: The number of 1000 product-patches seems to be very huge. But will there be expansion packs too for Icarus in the future?

Markus:Definitely yes. The possbilities for sound design are huge. So far we it sems that we still haven't even scratched the surface of what's possible.

Carl: Will Icarus also be available as an Android or iOS app one day is is this plugin only available for PC and Mac?

Markus: PC and Mac only.