Tone2 announces Icarus2

4th November 2019 - KVR Audio News

Tone2 Audio has announced that Icarus2 will be released in early December 2019.

The feature-set of Icarus has been extended drastically. Icarus is now no longer just an advanced wavetable-synthesizer, but also a synthesizer-workstation.

The update to v2.0 is 100% downward compatible with all previous versions. All existing song projects and patches can be loaded without any further steps necessary.

YouTube.com/watch?v=J0eG-gormy8

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 literally any shape you can imagine.
The MSEGs offer highest precision, support frequencies up into the audio-range and have been designed with the aspect of musical usefulness.
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. Furthermore 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 selectable size. It is also possible to draw triangles, bars or ramps.

Drum-sequencer:

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 in WAV-format and save your own templates.
A large collection of drum patterns created by professional designers is included.
It 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.
The Drum-sequencer is able to stretch drum-loops that have been recorded in WAV-format, so that they automatically sync to BPM.
Furthermore, the Drum-sequencer is not only limited to playing drum sounds. It is able to play looped mono and stereo-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 bassline that 'fits'.

Glitch-sequencer:

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

New features:

The interface has been re-designed completely. It is now more intuitive and efficient to use.
Icarus2 does come with over 1500 patches created by professionals.
A massive number of additional wavetables, waveforms and samples.
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.
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-section.
A triangle indicates the morph-value in the oscillator-section.
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. OpenGL is deprecated and will be not longer be supported by Apple.

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 accessible 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.

Pricing: