Tone2 will release Icarus - 3D WaveTable Synthesizer

[pdxindy]

Now when Icarus been out for a while and the initial impressions have started to settle down.
What's your take on it?

/C

PROS:
I like how easy it is to get interesting and pleasing sounds...
Great for soundscapes/drones/pads
Low CPU
Unique set of tools

CONS:
I miss even 1 MSEG
Arp is clumsy to work with with lots of fiddly options. The saving grace is that you can save presets. The arp also has a bug in that the timing is reversed. 1/8 is slower than 1/4

Workflow wise, I find the use of drop-down menus with tons of options that then one has to scroll through could somehow be better. For example, the filter list is huge and it does not all fit on my screen. I rather like the ringmod filters but they are way down the list. Not sure how to do that better... maybe a mega-menu type thing?

Same with the LFO's which have a ton of different configured shapes. If I select Pingpong Loop 50% I have to scroll to reach it. Then I decide I want to try Pingpong Loop 25% which I right next to it on the list, I have to scroll down to it as well.

And sticking to the LFO's... all those shapes options are basically trying to account for not having MSEG's... but you cannot edit them except for the shape knob which is cool, but not flexible. So I find myself trying a bunch of LFO configurations, trying to get the shape I want. I'm sure as I become more familiar with the various options, there will be less stumbling around.

None of these are terrible cons, but it is a bit frustrating when I want to be more precise with modulations

[tasty tatsyn]

Great additions to Icarus on 1.1 patch. Glad to see Tone2 is working on this

Expecially that arp hanging note that drove me nuts ! got to love ARPs!

[Ingonator]

Icarus public beta v1.1 indeed has soem nice features.

Icarus 1.1 offers tool tips that show the parameter name, value. assigned modulators and assigned MIDI CCs.
Hovering the mouse over a knob shows the current parameter value and modulation source.

The Oscs now have a dedicated SEMI knob besides OCT and FINE. The punch and key tracking switches were moved to teh setup menu to make space for the new SEMI knob.

You could switch the waveform dispaly to a new mode that shows the detuning of Hypersaw/Supersaw/Unison modes in a graphical way.

The right-clikc menu for the knobs allows using a reset to a default value and also to reset all assigned modulation and MIDI CCs.

A new mod destination called "Filter balance" had been added to adjsut the balance when using both filters.


Icarus v1.1 offers adding mod sources in two new ways:

1.) drag&drop :
- select one of the 4 envelopes or LFOs
- click and hold on ENV or LFO
- a line appears that while still holding teh mouse button could be dragged to the knob you like
- a green line mean that using that ENV or LFO is OK for taht parameter you currently hover teh mouse over and a red line mean it is not usable there.
- Release the mouse button and the ENV or LFO will be assigned to that knob (or release over an emty part of teh GUI to abort).
- the new modulation is added to the mod matrix and you could adjust the mod amount there
- the mod amount/range is also displayed within the knobs, in a lighter color tahn the knob
- right-click on a knob and click on "remove modulation" to remove it

2.) right-click menu:
- right-click on a knob to choose a mod source from teh drop-down menus
- the new modulation is added to the mod matrix and you could adjust the mod amount there
- the mod amount/range is also displayed within the knobs, in a lighter color tahn the knob
- right-click on a knob and click on "remove modulation" to remove it



For other changes you could have a look at the last post at the previous page or at the threda in teh Tone2 forum (which also includes downlaod links):
http://www.tone2.org/forum/index.php?topic=2426.0

[wagtunes]

Are 1.0 patches compatible with 1.1 because I'm 235 patches into my sound library and if I have to redo all these I swear I will start throwing things.

[Ingonator]

Are 1.0 patches compatible with 1.1 because I'm 235 patches into my sound library and if I have to redo all these I swear I will start throwing things.

So far i do not see anything taht breaks teh compatibility but for your patches you would have to check yourself.
Best seems to be to backup your patches if not alraedy done and test them with the new version. If you do not like it you could go back to the previous version.

Of course as this is a "public beta" you should use it on your own risk. Anyway so far it seems to run stable here on Windows 10 64-bit and Live 9.7 64-bit.

[wagtunes]

Are 1.0 patches compatible with 1.1 because I'm 235 patches into my sound library and if I have to redo all these I swear I will start throwing things.

So far i do not see anything taht breaks teh compatibility but for your patches you would have to check yourself.
Best seems to be to backup your patches if not alraedy done and test them with the new version. If you do not like it you could go back to the previous version.

Of course as this is a "public beta" you should use it on your own risk. Anyway so far it seems to run stable here on Windows 10 64-bit and Live 9.7 64-bit.

Okay, so then this isn't an official release yet so if I released my library this month (would be a month ahead of schedule) very few people would have this version yet, correct?

[Ingonator]

Okay, so then this isn't an official release yet so if I released my library this month (would be a month ahead of schedule) very few people would have this version yet, correct?

I have no idea how long the public beta takes and if or which features will be added for the final version.

Anyway if you plan to release a library (BTW i am working on one too) IMO it should be also tested with v1.1 as i guess this will be used my many users soon. If you have a backup of your patches not much could happen i guess.

PS:
As you seem to be an official customer maybe you could also register at the official Tone2 forum. The developer is posting tehre on a regular basis. Ther is also a thread for the 1.1 update as was alraeyd posted here.

[wagtunes]

Okay, so then this isn't an official release yet so if I released my library this month (would be a month ahead of schedule) very few people would have this version yet, correct?

I have no idea how long the public beta takes and if or which features will be added for the final version.

Anyway if you plan to release a library (BTW i am working on one too) IMO it should be also tested with v1.1 as i guess this will be used my many users soon. If you have a backup of your patches not much could happen i guess.

Backing up the patches is no problem, but it 1.1, for whatever reason, crashes my DAW (Cubase is a picky piece of software) is there a way to go back to 1.0 until 1.1 issues are resolved?

[nordickvr]

Okay, so then this isn't an official release yet so if I released my library this month (would be a month ahead of schedule) very few people would have this version yet, correct?

I have no idea how long the public beta takes and if or which features will be added for the final version.

Anyway if you plan to release a library (BTW i am working on one too) IMO it should be also tested with v1.1 as i guess this will be used my many users soon. If you have a backup of your patches not much could happen i guess.

Backing up the patches is no problem, but it 1.1, for whatever reason, crashes my DAW (Cubase is a picky piece of software) is there a way to go back to 1.0 until 1.1 issues are resolved?

Did you keep v1.0 installer?

[wagtunes]

Okay, so then this isn't an official release yet so if I released my library this month (would be a month ahead of schedule) very few people would have this version yet, correct?

I have no idea how long the public beta takes and if or which features will be added for the final version.

Anyway if you plan to release a library (BTW i am working on one too) IMO it should be also tested with v1.1 as i guess this will be used my many users soon. If you have a backup of your patches not much could happen i guess.

Backing up the patches is no problem, but it 1.1, for whatever reason, crashes my DAW (Cubase is a picky piece of software) is there a way to go back to 1.0 until 1.1 issues are resolved?

Did you keep v1.0 installer?

It should still be in my Downloads folder.

[Ingonator]

Okay, so then this isn't an official release yet so if I released my library this month (would be a month ahead of schedule) very few people would have this version yet, correct?

I have no idea how long the public beta takes and if or which features will be added for the final version.

Anyway if you plan to release a library (BTW i am working on one too) IMO it should be also tested with v1.1 as i guess this will be used my many users soon. If you have a backup of your patches not much could happen i guess.

Backing up the patches is no problem, but it 1.1, for whatever reason, crashes my DAW (Cubase is a picky piece of software) is there a way to go back to 1.0 until 1.1 issues are resolved?

Did you keep v1.0 installer?

It should still be in my Downloads folder.

If you use the VST2 plugin anothee way to "jump" between versions is to kep a backup of the DLL file for both versions so you do not have to do a full installation.

[wagtunes]

Okay, so then this isn't an official release yet so if I released my library this month (would be a month ahead of schedule) very few people would have this version yet, correct?

I have no idea how long the public beta takes and if or which features will be added for the final version.

Anyway if you plan to release a library (BTW i am working on one too) IMO it should be also tested with v1.1 as i guess this will be used my many users soon. If you have a backup of your patches not much could happen i guess.

Backing up the patches is no problem, but it 1.1, for whatever reason, crashes my DAW (Cubase is a picky piece of software) is there a way to go back to 1.0 until 1.1 issues are resolved?

Did you keep v1.0 installer?

It should still be in my Downloads folder.

If you use the VST2 plugin anothee way to "jump" between versions is to kep a backup of the DLL file for both versions so you do not have to do a full installation.

So in other words, all I have to do is replace the dll.

[Ingonator]

So in other words, all I have to do is replace the dll.

I would first backup teh old DLL, then install the new update and then also do a backup of the new DLL.
The you only have to switch the DLL files indeed.

I had used that many times during certain beta tests for different developers and in some cases we only received the DLL file as an update during a beta whe there were no other changes to the content files (e.g. presets, wavetables etc.).

[wagtunes]

So in other words, all I have to do is replace the dll.

I would first backup teh old DLL, then install the new update and then also do a backup of the new DLL.
The you only have to switch the DLL files indeed.

I had used that many times during certain beta tests for different developers and in some cases we only received the DLL file as an update during a beta whe there were no other changes to the content files (e.g. presets, wavetables etc.).

Thanks Ingo. Appreciate the assistance.

[Ingonator]

Just a bump to ask if there are further reports concerting the v1.1 public beta.