Tone2 will release Icarus - 3D WaveTable Synthesizer

[AnX]

With some companies, its best to NOT believe the hype...

[EnGee]

Well, I downloaded the demo (the beta). What can I say?! It is a great synth. It is really an excellent synth, and indeed deserves the hype after all.

I have spent only little time with it (without a manual) and it was really much more than I expected! To be honest, I expected a little bit like an 'enhanced' Electra, which is fine synth, but Icarus is much better IMO and if there is one synth from Tone2 I want to buy, it is this one.

The GUI interface is nice really. I didn't feel these shiny halos like in the photos. It didn't wow me, but it is very pleasant and functional. I liked a lot the GUI indeed.

The sound is great and the presets are very good (for me). Just tweaking the filter/wave/morph gives immediate inspiration to write a dance song.

For me, it can serve well for a nice light pleasant dance music. It is not like Dune 2 or any other synth that I have really, so IMO it doesn't be redundant at all with other synths. A great match would be Synthmaster (or maybe Largo or Codex).

I will see if I don't use Dune 2 that much, maybe I can sell it and buy Icarus. Icarus is easier to program than Dune 2 and it is really very easy to comprehend even without a manual.

Great job Tone2 Congratulations for such a great synth

[exmatproton]

With some companies, its best to NOT believe the hype...

+1

But, it has to be said, it is a great tool. Lot's of options.

The sound is, again (like stated many times), Tone2-esque. And to be honest, i have enough synths from them with this kind of sound. I will pass on this one. As it isn't adding anything. For people who like this kind of sound and don't have a wavetablesynth, it could be a nice tool.

[Ingonator]

Looks like besides the public Beta Tone2 has created a link to do a preorder for Icarus (have not tested that myself):
http://www.tone2.org/forum/index.php?topic=2386.0

It seems like those who already installed the public Beta will be able to unlock it by installing the key file:

How does it work?

1) Order it by using the link. After finishing your purchase you'll receive a keyfile
2) Install the beta (if you still didn't)
3) Unlock it with the keyfile

[MillerSam]

I take a look on the vocoder feature

[db3]

Pre-order key works...couldn't resist after not being able to save some nice presets

[4damind]

It seems Icarus cannot be used as an effect plugin? Would make sense for the vocoder...

[MillerSam]

You can import samples and transform them very quickly in Vocoder sounds

[exmatproton]

The "3D wavetable" is meant if you use wavetable scanning (mmodulation of the "Wave" knob/parameter) and modulation of the "Morph" knob/parameter at the same time.

So it's 2D then

(not such an important detail, but when someone says he invented something "unique", there should always be room for some debate. But how are we supposed to discuss such things when the developer refuses to communicate on his communication platforms? Nevermind. I'll check Icarus out when it's ready. I liked Rayblaster - is that its name? - a lot and some inspiration towards wavetable synthesis is always welcome)

I really don't see the "3d" either......i can find 2 particular ways to edit a waveforms shape and fm it. I wonder what they mean by "3d"....

Rayblaster is nice indeed. Use it a lot.

[Ingonator]

The "3D wavetable" is meant if you use wavetable scanning (mmodulation of the "Wave" knob/parameter) and modulation of the "Morph" knob/parameter at the same time.

So it's 2D then

(not such an important detail, but when someone says he invented something "unique", there should always be room for some debate. But how are we supposed to discuss such things when the developer refuses to communicate on his communication platforms? Nevermind. I'll check Icarus out when it's ready. I liked Rayblaster - is that its name? - a lot and some inspiration towards wavetable synthesis is always welcome)

I really don't see the "3d" either......i can find 2 particular ways to edit a waveforms shape and fm it. I wonder what they mean by "3d"....

Rayblaster is nice indeed. Use it a lot.

Actually it seems to be quite simple IMO:
A single waveform is the first dimension, the wavetable scanning ("Wave" knob modulation) the second dimension and the modulation of the Morph knob (for the current Osc Morph mode) the third one.
Of course you could have a differnt opinion on this but IMO this is indeed something that could be called "3D".

FM and Sync is also known with other wavetable synths but Icarus has tons of different morph modes besides that.

[recursive one]

In this sence Massive can aslo be called "3D wavetable synth", as it has wavetable position and intencity controls, which may be modulated simultaneously.

However, Massive is nowhere near as capable when it comes to wavetable editing

[Ingonator]

So far this was mostly ignored when i mentioned it but IMO it could be a very poweful feature:

AFAIK no other wavetable synth has the option to render the combination of the current wavetable and the current setting of that Morph mode (with the current value of the Morph knob to be precise) to a new wavetable. This is done from the Osc "Tool" menu when clicking at "Apply Morph to wavetable". The Morph mode will the be reset to default and you could add anotehr Morph mode to the new wavetable. That could then be rendered again etc. to get a totally different result than the original table.
Most of those morph modes could be also applied within the advanced editing features in the wavetable editor (besides additional options).

[jc_vt]

By this definition Serum is also 3D

The "3D wavetable" is meant if you use wavetable scanning (mmodulation of the "Wave" knob/parameter) and modulation of the "Morph" knob/parameter at the same time.

So it's 2D then

(not such an important detail, but when someone says he invented something "unique", there should always be room for some debate. But how are we supposed to discuss such things when the developer refuses to communicate on his communication platforms? Nevermind. I'll check Icarus out when it's ready. I liked Rayblaster - is that its name? - a lot and some inspiration towards wavetable synthesis is always welcome)

I really don't see the "3d" either......i can find 2 particular ways to edit a waveforms shape and fm it. I wonder what they mean by "3d"....

Rayblaster is nice indeed. Use it a lot.

Actually it seems to be quite simple IMO:
A single waveform is the first dimension, the wavetable scanning ("Wave" knob modulation) the second dimension and the modulation of the Morph knob (for the current Osc Morph mode) the third one.
Of course you could have a differnt opinion on this but IMO this is indeed something that could be called "3D".

FM and Sync is also known with other wavetable synths but Icarus has tons of different morph modes besides that.

[Ingonator]

In this sence Massive can aslo be called "3D wavetable synth", as it has wavetable position and intencity controls, which may be modulated simultaneously.

I mostly agree but Massive has much less of such Morph modes compared to Icarus.

FWIW the FM in Icarus uses real FM as it uses a suimilar approach than Nemesis with it's NeoFM modes.

[Ingonator]

By this definition Serum is also 3D

WIthin certain limitatiosn yes (alseo check my post above about Massive). Anyway Icarus still has a lot more options in that respect.

FWIW i really do not like to participte in endless rants and/or discussions about certain terms like that "3d wavetable" but the way everything is implemented in Icarus it seems to be very powerful for me. Opposing to serum it usually does not kill your CPU and the sound is more pleaseing for my taste. Besides that overall Serum misses a lot of features included in Icarus.

Some differences to other wavetable syths could become more obvious if you created a buunch of patches wit Icarus yourself. Personlly i had used it since months and am not even close to have used every feature yet.