Available now: Tone2 Icarus3

[zerocrossing]

I don't currently own any Tone2 plugins other than the CM Icarus 1.6 ATM, although I've owned almost all of them in the past and have had some correspondence concerning some different things (re:sales/resales) but not support since they all worked great for me. What I can easily say is they've always been polite and professional with great integrity in my dealing with them.

I have all the Tone2 instruments except for that old one that they reissued… I can’t think of the name of it, anyway, rarely had any issues but the few times I had a minor problem the customer service was excellent. Markus even added my beloved polyphonic aftertouch to Icarus for me after I requested it.

The truth is, Tone2 plugins sound great. If I were to have a criticism about them, it would be that their presets are not really to my liking, but I honestly don’t care that much as I’ve never had a hard time coming up with my own, or modifying the ones I don’t like.

For me it's all come down to preset management. Being able to discard the majority of those more suitable to genre/styles I don't care to do. Finding a handful that I love and removing those I don't makes a plug-in more efficient to me. The plugins who's overall character I didn't get along with were Nemesis and ElectraX. And I do think they're great,. Just not for my tastes.

Over the years, I’ve learned how to take a preset that I don’t like and convert it into one I love. It’s almost always about turning off trance gates and arpeggiators. Annoying sounding super saw lead sounds can become amazing pads with the right filtering and envelope settings. What I like about making patches this way is that it forces me to work from someone else’s perspective. It leads to results that I don’t think I’d discover on my own from an init patch.

[Teksonik]

Without super saws, trancegates and arpeggiators life would be pretty dull for me. We'd be stuck with boring analog sounds that got stale decades ago.

Anyway, taking super saws, gates, and arps from Icarus would be like taking the wheels off of a Ferrari.

[Tone2 Synthesizers]

Uplifting Trance - Project Overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BiOfINfyvo

Sound Design - Supersaw Lead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9uOZq2aOcY

Thanks to MYR for his great patches and videos!

[Caine123]

Without super saws, trancegates and arpeggiators life would be pretty dull for me. We'd be stuck with boring analog sounds that got stale decades ago.

Anyway, taking super saws, gates, and arps from Icarus would be like taking the wheels off of a Ferrari.

i cannot remember anymore but when i started with music i read some interviews and someone said something like a track consists always with reverb and stuff or i cannot remember. yeah when i check my stuff there is maybe not one without a reverb involved

[seafire]

That trance track is awful, proper cheese fest

[Teksonik]

That trance track is awful, proper cheese fest

Can we hear one of your tracks?

Anyway supersaws aren't just for Trance. What I like to do in all the synths I own is set unison voices to 7, set detune between 9 and 10 O'clock, apply full spread, add some amp release time, and *boom* instant lush synth patch that is usable in many genres. Add some amp attack time for a pad patch. Yes when detune is overdone supersaws can sound a bit grating but when applied sensibly detune brings depth and life to patches, even ones that could be considered typical analog sounds.

I don't do trance but supersaws are a foundation of the music I do make and Icarus 2.5 has a ton of options already. I'm really excited for the new supersaw features in version 3:

"Icarus3 has been extended with many new Hypersaw modes. Unlike competing synthesizers ours do not occasionally sound ugly. We developed smart algorithms that carefully tweak the phase allignment to prevent occasional 'phasing' and huge volume peaks.
We are convinced, that Icarus3 has the best sounding "hypersaws" and "supersaws" available on the market. The following new modes are available in the list-selector above the DETUNE knob:

"MegaSaw 6" plays 6 detuned oscillators with a special, very pleasant phase allignment. It is useful for lush pads.
"MegaStereo 6" plays 6 detuned oscillators with stereo spread. It is useful for lush pads.
"MegaStereo 12" plays 12 detuned oscillators with stereo spread.
"SuperSaw 5" plays 5 detuned oscillators. It is inspired by the JP8000.
"SuperStereo 10" plays 10 oscillators with stereo spread. It has a silky signature.
"SuperStereo 14" plays 14 oscillators. It is useful for lush pads and very fat sounds.
"Drift 1x" emulates the oscillator detuning of analog synthesizers.
"Drift 2x" sounds like an analog synthesizer playing with 2x unison.
"Drift 4x" sounds like an analog synthesizer playing with 4x unison.
"Drift 8x" sounds like an analog synthesizer playing with 8x unison.
"Drift Stereo 2x" sounds like an analog synthesizer playing with 2x unison and stereo spread.
"Drift Stereo 4x" sounds like an analog synthesizer playing with 4x unison and stereo spread.
"Drift Stereo 8x" sounds like an analog synthesizer playing with 8x unison and stereo spread.

[seafire]

That trance track is awful, proper cheese fest

Can we hear one of your tracks?

Am I only allowed an opinion if my track is good in your opinion?

[mevla]

That trance track is awful, proper cheese fest

Can we hear one of your tracks?

Am I only allowed an opinion if my track is good in your opinion?

Tone2 synths are capable of so much more. I do not care at all for super saws and the like and yet I like Tone2 synths. If I want to use saws, I go in the workshop and use a Kreg track saw, a Makita circular saw, or maybe a band saw. Not to mention a Japanese ryoba hand saw. So much for saws.

I find it a bit unfortunate that the focus of the Tone2 demos is about only a certain range of sounds. Often removing anything more sensible, more nuanced. A spacey atmosphere has to include a whizzzing traveling filter to make it 'space'. All is made to impact consumers. Although I sense that by showing more subtleties (think Zebra2, Diva demos and related soundsets) the potential audience would widen substantially. People who are looking for more nuances. Tone2 synths, Icarus included, offer so much potential than what is mostly presented.

After all, when was the last time a Sci-Fi movie had a buzzing open filter sweep when showing stars and galaxies ?

This said, I use all Tone2 synths (not exclusively), have all the updates except Icarus2, and am looking forward to try out Icarus3.

If anyone asks about music I make for some reason, here's a track with synths. Guaranteed 100% uncool, not trendy :

https://soundcloud.com/nominal6/too-late-for-goodbyes

[mevla]

Without super saws, trancegates and arpeggiators life would be pretty dull for me. We'd be stuck with boring analog sounds that got stale decades ago. Anyway, taking super saws, gates, and arps from Icarus would be like taking the wheels off of a Ferrari.

Referring to the full car instead of only the wheels, and to a car ad from some time ago, without a Ferrari you'd be left with a fully functional car that can be used to bring your kids to school, do shopping, do family trips, camping, etc, life's daily core.

Ever tried going on a 3-day canoe camping trip using a Ferrari, leaving it unattended at the camping parking spot ?

Reminds me of the free documentary "Stare into the Lights, My Pretties".

[fisherKing]

seems pretty simple; if you don't like a sound, don't use it. or change it to something you do like.

full disclosure: i removed the 'wobble' folder from the icarus3 (beta) files, and all is well. i needed to do that. but if anyone still uses wobble basses, knock yourself out.

we can customize things. still, from it's starting point, icarus3 is really great. so i will enjoy using some sounds, and demolishing others

[mevla]

we can customize things. still, from it's starting point, icarus3 is really great. so i will enjoy using some sounds, and demolishing others

And that's the beauty of it. The most interesting part since Icarus offers so many ways to modify sounds and to create new ones. Except perhaps Warlock, all Tone2 synths are offering much innovative flexibility to shape sounds.

Hopefully not sounding like an advert here. I still think that if the marketing was made to include more nuances, the potential number of customers could grow.

[zvenx]

....
Hopefully not sounding like an advert here. I still think that if the marketing was made to include more nuances, the potential number of customers could grow.

Which I thought was your central point before too.
And I agree with you.
rsp

[Tone2 Synthesizers]

full disclosure: i removed the 'wobble' folder from the icarus3 (beta) files, and all is well. i needed to do that.

For some kind of similar personal reason you'll never find badly tuned violin, ocarina or recorder-flute samples in Tone2 products. If it's too much out-of-tune it must be extinguished

[Tone2 Synthesizers]

....
Hopefully not sounding like an advert here. I still think that if the marketing was made to include more nuances, the potential number of customers could grow.

Which I thought was your central point before too.
And I agree with you.
rsp

We are aware that the factory content of Icarus1 and 2 was too much dance/electro focused. The sounds were too much right-into-your face. And there were too many simple sounds which did not properly show the potential of the synth.
With Icarus3 we added mostly complex and nuanced sounds with lots of focus on detail and atmosphere.

[zvenx]

Fantastic.. (though i generally like in your face sounds)
Because I have a mac/pc system that I like to keep 'parallel' to work.. the minute the pc beta or final is available I am buying this upgrade.
(Especially since Icarus has always been my favourite of your synths)


thanks Markus.
rsp