KVR Audio

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:42 pm

ATS wrote:
quantum7 wrote:Finally tried Icarus yesterday. FINALLY a Tone2 synth that I actually really like the sounds of....I write mostly New Age and Soundtrack, so Tone2's prior stuff never floated my boat. My only complaint would be that I wish I could scroll through the presets using the up/down arrows on my PC keypad. Many soft-synths allow this and I find it real handy when I don't want to use a mouse or MIDI program change when scrolling through presets. Great job Tone2.

it's sort of funny you say that because to me some of the other Tone2 synths can sound a lot like this one.

+1

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:47 pm

ATS wrote:
quantum7 wrote:Finally tried Icarus yesterday. FINALLY a Tone2 synth that I actually really like the sounds of....I write mostly New Age and Soundtrack, so Tone2's prior stuff never floated my boat. My only complaint would be that I wish I could scroll through the presets using the up/down arrows on my PC keypad. Many soft-synths allow this and I find it real handy when I don't want to use a mouse or MIDI program change when scrolling through presets. Great job Tone2.

it's sort of funny you say that because to me some of the other Tone2 synths can sound a lot like this one.

Definitely. But that also holds true for about any synth developer out there. I put Electra2 and Icarus side to side, and they definitely sound different. Yes, they share some character, but, Icarus sounds more detailled, filters sound different, envelopes sound a tad different. There is surely some progression in any of their synths. Electra2 and Saurus already sounded differently. I'd actually say Icarus sounds more like Saurus, than like Electra2, for example.

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:48 pm

Does anyone know if resynthesis is different in Icarus than in Electra2?

I demoed it for the first time yesterday. I didn't like that I could only see one oscillator and one filter at a time. While the arp, effect, and mod matrix couldn't be hidden. Not a good use of screen real estate IMO.

fisherKing · Post by **fisherKing** » Sun Jul 03, 2016 5:32 pm

i've actually replaced electra2 with icarus; the new synth, is for me, clearer, rounder. brighter. i still use electra2 a bit, but am more into the sound of icarus. hopefully, over time, we'll see 3rd-party presets for it (am a player, not really a programmer).

Cinebient · Post by **Cinebient** » Sun Jul 03, 2016 6:28 pm

fisherKing wrote:i've actually replaced electra2 with icarus; the new synth, is for me, clearer, rounder. brighter. i still use electra2 a bit, but am more into the sound of icarus. hopefully, over time, we'll see 3rd-party presets for it (am a player, not really a programmer).

I´m sure. I´m no pro sound designer but it´s so much fun, easy and fast to create new sounds with it. First i thought it comes with not much wavetables but then it´s so easy to create, resynthesize and make new ones that it´s not needed here.
This thing is maybe the most interesting pad and ambient maker i played with (of course it can do much more).
I wish i could save patches right now and could open them later in the full version.....oh damn....seems i have to open my wallet in the next few days.....but please don´t tell my Mrs.

quantum7 · Post by **quantum7** » Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:34 pm

ATS wrote:
quantum7 wrote:Finally tried Icarus yesterday. FINALLY a Tone2 synth that I actually really like the sounds of....I write mostly New Age and Soundtrack, so Tone2's prior stuff never floated my boat. My only complaint would be that I wish I could scroll through the presets using the up/down arrows on my PC keypad. Many soft-synths allow this and I find it real handy when I don't want to use a mouse or MIDI program change when scrolling through presets. Great job Tone2.

it's sort of funny you say that because to me some of the other Tone2 synths can sound a lot like this one.

The other Tone2 synths "can" sound somewhat like Icarus, but to my ears they don't sound near as nice....again, this is just to my ears. I've demo'd every Tone2 synth extensively, and none have sounded special until I finally tried Icarus the other day. Again though, I'm listening from a perspective of previewing presets for my New Age and Soundtrack composing.

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Mon Jul 04, 2016 4:13 am

The 30 minute demo timeout crashed Studio One.

Fortunately, no hanging notes.

I really like the new filters on Icarus. They seem to be smoother than Electra2.

3D wavetable morphing isn't getting me excited. I also hate having osc 2 and filter 2 hidden behind tabs.

Not pulling the trigger yet.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Mon Jul 04, 2016 12:18 pm

Frantz wrote:Does anyone know if resynthesis is different in Icarus than in Electra2?

I demoed it for the first time yesterday. I didn't like that I could only see one oscillator and one filter at a time. While the arp, effect, and mod matrix couldn't be hidden. Not a good use of screen real estate IMO.

Actually the Resynthesi in Ucarus is different and also superior. In Icarus a whole wavetable with up to 256 waveforms will be created from the imported sample.
In Electra 2 the Resynthesis picks a single waveform (either the sample only was a single one or it picks it fro m the center of a longer sample). With te PW knob you could then change teh symmetry of teh imported waveform. This could result in different and intersting sounds too but is not comparable to Icarus.
In Icarus you could get a comparable result using a single waveform and use the "PhaseDist PW" Osc Morph Mode (shape adjusted with the "Morph" knob).

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Mon Jul 04, 2016 10:50 pm

Ingonator wrote: Actually the Resynthesi in Ucarus is different and also superior. In Icarus a whole wavetable with up to 256 waveforms will be created from the imported sample.

Yes, the resynthesis in Icarus is excellent! I am finding the sound quality of Icarus to be the best of all the Tone2 synths.

I bought it for 149 EUR using PayPal which was converted to 165.55 USD. I saved 33.45 USD using this trick.

The UI has some usability issues. Why on earth did Markus grey out the label of the active tab? Half of the time, I am editing the wrong oscillator.

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:26 am

Frantz wrote:
Ingonator wrote: Actually the Resynthesi in Ucarus is different and also superior. In Icarus a whole wavetable with up to 256 waveforms will be created from the imported sample.
Yes, the resynthesis in Icarus is excellent! I am finding the sound quality of Icarus to be the best of all the Tone2 synths.

I bought it for 149 EUR using PayPal which was converted to 165.55 USD. I saved 33.45 USD using this trick.

The UI has some usability issues. Why on earth did Markus grey out the label of the active tab? Half of the time, I am editing the wrong oscillator.

There are quite some weird niggles on the icarus ui. The one you wrote down is one of them. Luckily, that one is easily fixed.
Some weird stuff that is harder to fix;

No coarse pitch at the osc's (using the matrix for coarse tuning??????)

No volume or pan knobs at the filters (again, using the matrix for these basic functions??????)

No per lfo settings for free, fixed, beat, etc........

No free asigning of the fx chain (only 3 route options.....)

Some of these are so basic, that i wonder what the thought behind the synth was......weird stuff.

I like the synth though. Lots of tweaking options on the level of the wave, which is fun. But it does some stuff really inefficiënt (usage of a small matrix is necessary for basic stuff, which is weird).

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:32 am

exmatproton wrote: No volume or pan knobs at the filters (again, using the matrix for these basic functions??????)

Indeed, how do I balance the output of two filters if they are running in parallel? Only via mod matrix?

Generally I agree with all exmatproton said.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 11:46 am

recursive one wrote:
exmatproton wrote: No volume or pan knobs at the filters (again, using the matrix for these basic functions??????)
Indeed, how do I balance the output of two filters if they are running in parallel? Only via mod matrix?

Generally I agree with all exmatproton said.

The "Volume" filter Drive mode allows setting the output volume of the filter with the "Drive" knob which is quite useful when using teh filters in parallel mode.

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 11:49 am

Ingonator wrote:
recursive one wrote:
exmatproton wrote: No volume or pan knobs at the filters (again, using the matrix for these basic functions??????)
Indeed, how do I balance the output of two filters if they are running in parallel? Only via mod matrix?

Generally I agree with all exmatproton said.
The "Volume" filter Drive mode allows setting the output volume of the filter with the "Drive" knob which is quite useful when using teh filters in parallel mode.

Thanks, but what if I want to use other filter drive mode?

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 12:38 pm

recursive one wrote:
Ingonator wrote:
recursive one wrote:
exmatproton wrote: No volume or pan knobs at the filters (again, using the matrix for these basic functions??????)
Indeed, how do I balance the output of two filters if they are running in parallel? Only via mod matrix?

Generally I agree with all exmatproton said.
The "Volume" filter Drive mode allows setting the output volume of the filter with the "Drive" knob which is quite useful when using teh filters in parallel mode.
Thanks, but what if I want to use other filter drive mode?

Combining both the output volume seting and anotehr drive mode is not possible in the same filter.
Anyway you could still use another Drive in one filter while you use the Volume Drive mode in the other one to set a volume balance of both filters.
FWIW multiple Drive modes are also available in the FX section

BTW i do not really comment on if the current solution is perfect i just tell what is possible at the moment...

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 12:55 pm

Yeah, I see, thanks. But is it at least possible to have filter output volume as a target in the modmatrix? Selecting "constant" as the source and setting the mod amount could probably be a workaround (I'm not at my DAW now).

Tone2 will release Icarus - 3D WaveTable Synthesizer