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Author Topic: Icarus2 released  (Read 3281 times)

Markus Krause

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Icarus2 released
« on: December 11, 2019, 11:48:51 AM »
What is Icarus2?

Icarus2 is a powerful synthesizer-workstation. The audio-engine provides a huge sonic range, offers true high-end sound-quality and creates a wide range of sounds impossible with other synths. Icarus2 ships with 1600 hand-picked patches created by professionals.
Icarus2 offers 54 different synthesis methods. The audio engine is not only able to create all classic synthesizer sounds. It can produce a vast range of fresh sounds, which are impossible with other products. The innovative '3D wavetable synthesis', which is exclusive to Icarus, creates a new dimension of sounds with dynamic expression and acoustic movement. Besides that many other unique synthesis-methods are available that can be combined freely.
Icarus comes with the largest collection of filters available within a synthesizer. The audio-engine offers many powerful features like a drum-sequencer, a built-in vocoder, re-synthesis, a glitch-sequencer, the most advanced wavetable-editor available, an extremely mighty oscillator section, MSEGs, ...
However, the synth still remains very easy to use. A comfortable interface with drag & drop support gives you instant help, visual feedback and immediate acoustic results.
The audio engine offers high-end sound quality and extreme flexibility with low demands on the CPU.

Product page:
https://www.tone2.com/icarus.html

Download links for the free demo (you are allowed to give these links to the public):
https://www.tone2.com/update/Tone2_Icarus2_PC_32bit.zip
https://www.tone2.com/update/Tone2_Icarus2_PC_64bit.zip
https://www.tone2.com/update/Tone2_Icarus2_Mac.pkg


Synthesis

The powerful audio-engine is able to create all important synthesizer sounds in high-end quality. Icarus can do a massive amount of synthesis-methods: 3D wavetables, classic wavetables, resynthesis of samples, vocoder, additive, substractive, analog, FM with up to 6 operators, formant synthesis, waveshaping, PWM, sync, ringmod, AM, noise, physical-modeling, phase-distortion, granular, time-stretching, pitch-shifting, samples, harmonic-morphing, FFT-filtering, lofi, import of custom waveforms and wavetables and many other innovative modes, exclusive to Icarus.


3D-Wavetables

The'3D Wavetable Synthesis' can produce sounds impossible with other synths and reveals a new level of dynamic expression. Tone2 has extended the classic wavetable-synthesis, which can cross-blend waveforms, with an additional morph-dimension. You can use 54 morph-modes to further shape and modulate the sound. The morph-modes are not limited to traditional waveshaping-methods. There is also a vast range of innovative and exclusive synthesis-methods included, which are not available from other companies. This results in a wide range of unique sounds that cannot be generated by other synthesizers. Get inspired by unheared signature-sounds and give your productions an unique character!


Oscillators & Hypersaw

Icarus offers three oscillator-blocks with true stereo-architecture. Each oscillator-block itself again can contain up to 10 detuned hypersaw-oscillators. Tone2 has expanded the popular hypersaw concept with a stereo-processing, precise phase-control, punch and the ability to make single oscillators play chords. 37 different modes are available, including, hypersaw, supersaw, stereo hypersaw, unison, stacking, chords and flanging. The hypersaw-modes can be combined with any kind of wavetable, waveform or synthesis-method.


Filters

Icarus2 comes with the most powerful filter-section available on the market. The synthesizer-flagship offers 63 exciting filter types. Many filter-types are exclusive and not available from other companies, which results in a wide range of unique sounds. All filters are musical useful and have really different sonic characteristics. There are no similar sounding types included.
There are two modular filter-blocks available. Each one is equipped with true stereo-architecture, flexible routing and multi-mode filters. Two stereo-distortion-sections, each with 9 different modes, allow you to further shape the sound.
An animated display shows the frequency-response and gives you immediate visual feedback. This makes it very easy to understand and tweak the filter-behaviour.


Arpeggiator

The arpeggiator supports many advanced features such as glide, swing, shuffle, split, smart note-sorting, matrix-integration and gives precise control over play-direction and velocity. Comfortable playing aids like auto-chord speed up the production process. It is also possible to load and save patterns.


Drums


Icarus2 has been extended with a drum-sequencer. It is an easy-to-use, but powerful X0X-style sequencer-module. It comes with a wide variety of drum-sounds, noises and waveforms. You can also import your own samples and save your own templates. A collection of 100 drum-patterns created by professional designers is included. The drum-sequencer supports swing, shuffle, loop-length, effect-send, key-split, roll, mono-samples, stereo-samples, looped samples and looped waveforms. Your sounds can be passed through punchy, BPM-synced envelopes, which allow you to create impressive 'gated-drum-sounds' easily. You can stretch wav-files with drum-loops or any other rhythmic content so that they automatically sync to BPM. Furthermore, the drum-sequencer is not only limited to playing drum sounds. It is also a small multi-timbral synthesizer that is able to play looped samples or waveforms with or without pitch-tracking. It does also come with a smart auto-accompaniment which automatically resolves the chord that you are currently playing and plays a bass-line that 'fits'.


Effects

Icarus comes with a flexible effects-section. 54 different effects, feedback and a limiter can be combined in modular slots in order to build new and exciting results. You can create your own custom effects which can be saved and loaded separately.
The innovative ducking-module can make the mix sound more transparent and lush. It dynamically adjusts the volume of the effect-mix and prevents delays clashing with the original signal.


Microtuning

Icarus offers 21 different microtuning-modes. The engine can slightly detune certain voices to make your chords sound fatter, harmonically rich and warm. Tone2 also developed several innovative algorithms that are not longer limited to the usage of a certain tonality. Icarus is able to analyze what you are playing in real-time and can enhance your chords automatically.


Glitch-sequencer

Icarus2 has been extended with a grid-based glitch-sequencer. You can chop your sounds and create modern glitchy, pitchstop, trancegate or stuttering effects. 'The Glitch' works similar to a multi-effect sequencer. The incoming audio is passed through 10 different effect-modules. Each effect is controlled by up to 16 segments to adjust the parameter of the effect. Furthermore, it is possible to adjust the speed, groove, routing, mix, smoothness and loop-length. Random-buttons allow you to create new sequences quicky. It is also possible to load and save your own templates.


Equalizer

Optionally an equalizer with dynamic bass-boost and psychoacoustic-processing is provided to make your sound sit right in the mix. The EQ is easy to tweak since a display visualizes the frequency-response in real-time.


Interface

Icarus still remains easy to use. Animated displays give you visual feedback. You can instantly see and hear the results of your actions.
Context sensitive tool-tips explain the function of the control that you're currently tweaking. The user-friendly and accessible interface makes tweaking easy for anyone, regardless of skill level or experience.
The GUI can be displayed with 12 different sizes and three scales: Small, normal or huge. It is also possible to hide parts of the interface, like the keyboard, when you don't need it. The customize-able interface allows you to select your favorite color from 26 schemes.


Patch-browser


The patch-browser gives you instant access to a great and inspiring library with production-ready sounds. Icarus2 comes with a collection of 1600 hand-picked patches. Each sound has been carefully built by a professional sound-designer and has been crafted with a lot of love and great attention to detail. The patches are very easy-to-mix, because they've been carefully EQed, pre-mastered and are in perfect sync to your track tempo.
Since all patches have been sorted into categories you can find quickly what you need. You can tag your favourites with a ranking-system.
An on-screen keyboard allows you to audition to the sounds.


Modulation

You can use drag & drop or the modulation matrix to connect dozens of sources to all important sound parameters. It is possible to modulate almost any parameter with audio-rate speed, from internal modulation sources like LFOs, punchy envelopes, step sequencers, and a wide variety of MIDI signals.


Multistage-envelope-generators

Two MSEGs are available as additional modulation-sources. The MSEGs can be operated as LFO or envelope and allow you to create custom shapes. The MSEGs offer highest precision and support frequencies up into the audio-range.
The MSEGs can be synced to BPM, sync with the arpeggiator or run freely. Triads or dotted rhythms are also supported. You can define loop-points and start points. You can delay or fade the MSEGs. You can move, add or delete points with your mouse. You can bend lines upwards or downwards to change their shape or even create precise rectangular curves. The MSEGs can be edited completely freely or you can snap points to a grid of a select-able size. It is also possible to draw triangles, bars or ramps.


MIDI

Icarus2 supports MPE (Midi Polyphonic Expression), which can add several additional dimensions of dynamic expression to the sounds.
MIDI-learn is also supported. It is possible to assign CC's with a right-mouse-click.


Wavetable-editor

Icarus comes with the most advanced wavetable-editor available on the market. You can use it to create your own waveforms and wavetables or to edit the ones that are included to Icarus. A random-generator allows you to create an infinite number of new and musically useful wavetables with a single mouse-click. The spectral editor turns Icarus into an additive synthesizer, giving you detailed control over the partials and phase. You can also draw your own waveforms using the mouse.
Icarus' flexible, compact and open file format allows sound-designers and artists to easily create their own soundsets, waveforms and wavetables. Many common file-formats are supported. It is even possible to import and export wavetables or waveforms from-and-to other synthesizers.
In Icarus all wavetables are stored within your patches and songs automatically, so you don't have to worry about managing any additional files on your hard-disc.
The comfortable editor includes over 100 professional tools to tweak wavetables. You get basic features like, cutting, mixing and filtering, as well as advanced tools such as de-noising, enhancing, re-synthesis, vocoder, spectral modification and phase manipulation.


Resynthesis

With Icarus anyone can build sounds quickly and easily. Traditional resynthesis methods require a deep knowledge of sample-editing in order to achieve good results. It needs time-consuming pre-processing with a sample-editor and precisely tuned samples.
Tone2 has taken care of these problems and has developed new algorithms. Icarus' innovative wavetable-resynthesis can rebuild sounds with a single mouse-click. It works with nearly any kind of audio-material and produces good results. You click the resynthesis-button, select a wav file and Icarus will automatically create a patch, which sounds like the original. Optionally, you can further shape your sound with morphing, BPM-synchronization, time-stretching, the filters, the effects or any other module.
Traditional sample-import, auto-tuning, beat-slicing, pitch-shifting, noise-reduction and granular playback is also supported.
All waveforms, wavetables and samples are automatically stored within your patches or songs. This means you don't have to worry about any files missing on your hard drive or broken song-projects.


Vocoder

Icarus is able to sing chants. You can pick one of the vocoder patches and play a melody. The vocalic chants are never out-of-tune and can automatically synchronize to your song's BPM-rate.
With the built-in vocoder you can also create your own phrases. The top-quality vocoder module has 1024 bands and is very easy to use: Simply click on 'Vocoder' and select a wav file containing speech. Icarus will analyze it and automatically create a patch. Optionally, you can further shape your sound with morphing, the filters, the effects or any other module. Playing the sound forwards, backwards, formant shifting, BPM-sync, time-stretching and looping is also possible.




Technical data



Summary

Icarus2 is a powerful synthesizer-workstation
Icarus2 is also the most advanced wavetable-synthesizer on the market, but not limited to wavetable-synthesis
The audio-engine can do 54 different synthesis modes and is able to produce all important synthesizer sounds
The 3D-wavetable-synthesis allows a new dimension of dynamic expression
High-end sound-quality with low CPU-requirement
Easy-to-use interface with animated displays and context-sensitive help
Huge sonic range
Over 1600 presets by professional designers
GUI with 12 sizes, 3 zoom-levels and 26 color-schemes
Drag & drop modulation
Drum-sequencer with 100 drum-patterns
Powerful arpeggiator with autochord-support, shuffle and swing
3 x 53 effects, vocoder
Glitch-sequencer
10x stereo hypersaw, unison, stacks, chords
Polyphonic, monophonic, several legato modes
The most powerful filter-section available on the market: Dual multi-mode filters with 62 filter-types and 8 distortion-types
Customizable user-interface
Expandability, modular


Features

Sound engine with true stereo-architecture
3D-wavetable-synthesis: Waves can be morphed in 3 dimensions
Multicore-processor support
MSEGs with BPM sync (multistage envelope generators)
Very flexible mod-matrix with precise modulation up to the audio-range
Efficient patch-browser
The most powerful wavetable-editor available on the market
Spectrum-editor for editing single harmonics
The re-synthesis allows you to rebuild any sound with a mouse-click
A random-buttom allows you to create new sounds with a mouse-click
Sample-import and automatic tuning
54 different synthesis-modes that can be combined
Dual multi-mode filters with 2 x 62 filter types
2 x 8 distortion types
3 x 53 effects, vocoder, trancegate
10x stereo Hypersaw, unison, stacks
Polyphonic, monophonic, legato
Up to 256 waveforms per wavetable
Unlimited number of wavetables and waveforms
Random-generator for wavetables
Midi-learn
MPE-support (Midi polyphonic expression)
Context sensitive help
Drag & drop modulation
Punchy envelopes and very fast LFOs
Expandability
Customizable user interface
Can import and export samples, waveforms or wavetables in wav format
Standalone version for PC
Flexible preset-management
Microtuning for enhanced chords
Equalizer with dynamic bass-boost and psychoacoustic processing.
Free support and updates


Modulators (all can be used simunaniously)

2 MSEGs (loop support, BPM-sync)
4 AHDSR envelopes
14 Decay envelopes
2 Hold envelopes
16 LFOs with sine waveform
3 LFOs with 45 morphable waveforms and BPM-sync
Step-LFO / gate with custom-waveform
Arpeggiator
Various Midi CCs
4 Noise sources
Key-split


Synthesis methods (can be combined)

3D wavetables / classic wavetables
Resynthesis of samples
Vocoder
Hypersaw / stereo hypersaw / supersaw / unison
Stacks / chords / autochord
Additive
Substractive / analog
FM with up to 6 operators
Speech-synthesis
Formant-synthesis
Wave-shaping
PWM
Sync
Ringmod, AM
Noise
Physical-modeling
Phase-distortion
Granular
Time-stretching
Pitch-shifting
Samples
Harmonic-morphing
FFT-filtering
Lofi
Import of waveforms and wavetables
Many other innovative modes, exclusive to Icarus


Effect types (can be combined for new effects)


Reverb Medium, Reverb Big, Reverb Plate, Reverb Glass, Reverb Dark, Reverb Infinite, Reverb Feedback, Reverb Spring, Reverb Trance, Reverb Cheap, Reflections
Delay, Pingpong, Multitap, Delay Fat, Delay Dual, Delay Diffuse, Delay Band, Tape Delay, Echo
Chorus, Smart Unison, Ensemble
Phaser, Phaser Stereo
Flanger, Flanger Stereo
Vibrato, Vibrato stereo
Autopan, Surround Pan, Rotary, Tremolo
EQ High Cut, EQ Low Cut, EQ Param
Saturate, Soft Clip, Hard Clip, Rectify, Bitcrush, Warp, Waveshape, Amp Sim, Multiband Distortion, Degrader, Multiband Degrader, Noise
Compressor, Limiter
Surround Encode
Trancegate
Glitch-sequencer with Repeat, Gate, Pan, Tremolo, Lowpass, Highpass, Bitcrush, Degrade, Detune, Pitchslide
Feedback
Microtuning
Psychoacoustic processing
Bass-boost


Filter types (can be combined)

Low-pass: Digital 12dB, Digital 24dB, Butter 24dB, Curtis 12dB, Curtis Analog, Tone2 24dB, Tone2 Analog, Tone2 Scream, 303 18dB, 303 Analog, Chain 6-48dB, Elliptic, Octave, Shaped, AM, HighQ
High-pass: Digital 12dB, Analog 12dB, Analog 24dB, Chain 6-48dB
Band-pass: Digital 12dB, Digital 24dB, Analog 12dB, Analog 24dB, Boobs
Equalizer: Notch, Peak Tight, Peak Medium, Peak Wide, Shelf Tight, Shelf Wide, Bandlimit
Vocalic: A, U, I, IEA, AOU, IYU, IEAOU
Comb-filters: Phaser 2x, Phaser 2x FB, Phaser 3x, Phaser 3x FB, Comb+, Comb-
Fractal-filters: LP 1, LP 2, LP 3, LP 4, FO 1, FO 2
Ring-modulation: Ringmod, LP, LP2, FM Lowpass, AM
Pysical-modeling resonators: Guitar, Flute, Odd, Even
LoFi: Resampling, Sample & Hold

Markus Krause

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Markus Krause

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Re: Icarus2 released
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2019, 11:51:20 AM »
What's new in Icarus2?

New features:

- The interface has been re-designed completely. It is now more intuitive and efficient to use.
- Icarus2 contains 566 new sounds. I does now come with 1600 hand-picked patches created by professionals
- Included a XOX-style drum-synthesizer which can play stereo-samples or looped waveforms
- Included 100 drum-patterns
- Included very precise multistage-envelope-generators
- Included a glitch-sequencer with 10 additional effects, which can create modern chop, glitch and stuttering-sounds
- The GUI can be displayed with 12 different sizes
- You can select from 3 different scales for the interface: Small, normal or huge
- Added a random-button that generates new patches
- MPE-support (Midi Polyphonic Expression)
- Many additional realtime-animations for the interface
- Arrows indicate modulation-sources which support drag-and-drop
- Additional knobs for filter-panning
- Hi-dpi support for sharper text, graphs and knob-handles
- Added an optional keyboard which allows playing sounds without midi-input
- The current value of the LFO and Step-LFO is displayed with a small circle
- A classic wavetable-view has been added, which can be shown by clicking on the display
- A vertical line visualizes the current phase of the LFOs
- The effect-section has been reworked and is more easy-to-use
- Included a new LFO-type called 'White Noise' that outputs real random values
- Included a new LFO-type called 'Band-limited Noise' that outputs tuned noise
- Included a new LFO-type called 'S&H Noise' that outputs BPM-synced noise
- Included a new LFO-type called 'S&H Noise Ramped' that outputs BPM-synced ramps
- Included a new LFO-type called 'S&H Noise Digital' that outputs BPM-synced digital-noise
- Added a new patch-browser
- 50 new shapes for the MSEGs
- A massive number of additional waveforms
- 256 new drum-samples
- 21 new effect-templates
- Support for 'polyphonic key pressure / aftertouch'
- Additional buttons to bypass FX1, FX2, FX3 and the feedback
- Additional knobs for filter-volume 1 and 2
- 'FX3 Duck' changes the dry/wet mix of effect3 dynamically, resulting in a more transparent mix
- Small triangles indicate hypersaw-spread and the stereo-spread in the osc-section
- A triangle indicates the wavetable-index in the oscillator-scetion
- A triangle indicates the morph-value in the oscillator-scetion
- An additional dry-wet knob allows to change the effect-mix in the main interface
- You can draw shapes by clicking with the right mouse-button onto the step-lfo display
- A midi-diode indicates incoming signals
- Added a realtime-display for the frequency-response of the equalizer
- Many menus have been extended with check-marks, which show the last selected item
- Additional on/off buttons for bypassing single effects
- Midi-out support for the keyboard and the arpeggiator
- Additional button to reset the patch-settings
- Global mode for the LFOs when the arpeggiator is used
- Pitch-wheel and mod-wheel are displayed on the lower left and can be used as drag&drop modulation-source
- Note number and velocity can now also be also assigned with drag&drop
- Additional 'Tools-menu' for the arpeggiator
- Matrix send values are shown when the mouse is mover over a slider
- It is now possible to bypass oscillators from the filter section in parallel mode
- The names of the sound-designers are displayed in the patch-browser
- The GUI can be resized but does not use OpenGL, which results in sharper graphics


Enhancements:

- All oscs, filters, the volume-envelope and the step-lfo are displayed on the main interface and accessible without switching through tabs
- Icarus_effects, Icarus_arps, Icarus_mseg, IcarColor.cfg, IcarMidi.cfg and the manuals are now stored in Icarus_data
- The color schemes can be changed without restarting the plug-in
- The arpeggiator is much larger and more intuitive to use
- Many additional tooltips which explain features
- Reduced latency
- Key-follow for the oscs can be toggled without entering the setup-menu
- All matrix parameters are accessible within a single tab
- All effects, the feedback, the ducking and the limiter are acessible within a single tab
- Unused effect-parameters are hidden automatically
- The cutoff-knob is located left from the reso-knob
- Polyphonic, legato, mono and glide-mode can be selected from the main screen
- After loading a new patch the synth automatically shows the most relevant tab-section
- The patch-browser shows more detailed info about the patches
- The patch-browser displays the names of the sound-designers in the lower right section
- The number of semitones are shown within the arpeggiator
- The arpeggiator-presets-menu is now more structured
- The installer's automatic detection of the vstplugins directory has been enhanced
- The 'Low-CPU morph-mode' does now always play on the entire keyboard-range
- Enhanced performance for drag&drop
- Higher precision limiter displays
- Many small enhancements for the interface
- Many small performance-optimisations
- Better description of many features and more detailed tooltips
- Much higher accuracy for Midi-pitchbend messages (if the hardware supports it)

Sound-enhancements:

- Enhanced sound and more linear frequency-response for 'Delay Dual'
- The default-parameters for many effects have been fine-tuned for a better sound
- The sound of many reverb-types has been enhanced and offers a more linear frequency-response
- Higher precision rendering
- More accurate timing for the shuffle

Changes:

- The 'random-lfo' types have been renamed to 'pseudo-random'
- The 'Trancegate' is now a 'Gate'
- The 'Low-CPU morph-mode' is now called 'Downsampling'
- Icarus_waveforms, Icarus_arps and Icarus_effects are now stored within Icarus_data
- 'Slit Low/High' in the arp-section has been renamed to 'Bypass High Keys'

Fixes:

- Fixed some typos
- Workarounds for several host-bugs (FL-Studio, Orion, Ableton, Reaper, Cubase)
- Several smaller fixes