Tone2 Rayblaster 2 Released

[exmatproton]

What's new in RayBlaster2?

RayBlaster2 is 100% downward compatible with all previous versions. All existing song projects and patches can be loaded without any further steps necessary. The upgrade is free for all customers, who purchased RayBlaster in 2016 or 2017.

New features:

- Over 500 new patches, the total number of patches has increased to 1076
- Added a comfortable patch browser
- Drag&Drop support: Drag an evnelope or lfo and drop it to a knob to create a matrix entry for modulation
- Right-click on a knob opens a menu where you can assign a massive amount of modulation sources
- Modulation depth control on top left of a knob if a source is assigned
- Sectors on knobs show the modulation amount. Clipping is shown in red.
- Hovering the mouse over a knob shows the current parameter value and the modulation source
- Added "Psychoacoustic+", a new psychoacoustic mode with enhanced presence
- The patches can be ranked by clicking on the stars in the patch browser. The rankins are stored as .rnk files within RayBaster_sounds
- Information tags (like legato, unison, etc) for every patch are shown in 'info' tab of the patch browser
- File->'Quick save patch' overwrites a patch with the new settings
- Additonal osc window functions 'Triangle','Hard square','Harder square', 'Taper', 'Sine', 'Fish', 'Add square', 'Lips'
- Responsive and smart GUI with tooltips
- Parameters can be reset to the default value with right-click->reset
- Switching the effect type now selects good default paramter values
- Edit->'Clean matrix' cleans up the mod matrix and resets unused slots
- Edit->'Reset midi learn' removes all midi CC assignments
- Midi learn support: Right-click on a knob to assign a CC
- New effect 'Reverb Ultra'. It uses the Tone2 UltraSpace algorithm. It is inspired by the Lexicon units
- New effect 'Reverb Big' which has a huge diffuse ambience
- New effect 'Reverb Infinite' which simulates an infinite large room. It is useful for ambient music
- New effect 'Reverb Trance' which has an detuned sound. It is usful for electronic music
- New effect 'Reverb Band' which has an bandlimited reverb tail. It gives a cleaner mix
- New effect 'Reverb Glass'. It damps low frequencies and has a very bright sound
- New effect 'Reverb Spring' which sounds like a vintage reverb
- New effect 'Reverb Feedb' which has a ringing sound
- New effect 'Delay Fat' is a fat sounding delay
- New effect 'Delay Diffuse' is a delay with a silky and diffuse sound
- New effect 'Delay Dual' is a double delay with independend times for left and right
- New effect 'Tape Delay' whith the sound of an analog tape with detuned Wow
- New effect 'Echo' with fixed delay times in ms
- New effect 'Resonator' with a ringing, oil-tank like sound
- New effect 'Reflections' which results in many chaotic echoes
- New effect 'Chorus 2' is an industry standard chorus
- New effect 'Hypersaw' which sounds like many detuned oscillators
- New effect 'Phaser Feedb' is a phaser with feedback
- New effect 'Phaser Stereo' is a stereo phaser with feedback
- New effect 'Flanger Feedb' is a flanger with feedback
- New effect 'Flanger Stereo' is a stereo phaser with feedback
- New effect 'Vibrato'
- New effect 'Stereo vibrato'
- New effect 'Tremolo'
- New effect 'Autopan' which pans the sound left and right
- 134 new impulse responses in wav format
- 32 bit wav file format support
- Support for exotic wav file headers (Logic X)
- Edit->'Init gate: Ramp up / down / up & down / down & up / random' initializes varius shapes for the step sequencer
- Edit->'Create random patch'
- Help->'Show version info'
- Help->'Download updates'
- Additional sound categories 'Wobble', 'Pluck', 'Pad 2' and 'Sequence'


Enhancements:

- Better sound quality by adding a high-end resampling algorithm
- Extended sonic range with more 'low-end'
- Completely reworked user interface
- More linear frequency response, especially for high frequencies
- Enhanced sound of the effects by adding oversampling
- Enhanced Init patch settings
- It's much more easy to get good results when building own sounds
- File, Edit & Help menues now pop up from beneath
- Better compatibility with older hosts
- Support for exotic mouse drivers
- More soft parameter smoothing
- Better workflow
- Higher quality waveform playback
- New knobs with enhanced performance
- Parameters are more easy to adjust
- Slighly enhanced gui skin and colors
- Legato is more easy to setup
- Many other small enhancements for the user interface
- 2x and 4x stereo unison is more easy to setup
- Category is rotating for a more comfortable patch browsing
- More precise coordinates for the layout
- Enhanced sound of 'Delay' effect by adding spline interpolation
- Enhanced sound of 'PingPong' effect by adding spline interpolation
- Enhanced sound of 'Multitap' effect by adding a lowcut filter
- More smart mousewheel support
- More chaotic behavour of the random lfo types in free mode
- Enhanced performance
- Higher quality waveform resampling
- Extended range of synced LFO phase
- Enhanced sound of unison
- Clicking on 'Next Bank' now rotates to the first entry if the last one has been reached
- Updated and extended demo version
- Reworked many existing factory sounds
- Lower CPU on Mac
- More robustness and stability


Changes:

- Matrix source 'Env1' has been renamed to 'Aux Env1'
- 'Gate' has been renamed to 'Step'
- Moved some sounds to a different category
- 'Off' window function has been renamed to 'Off/Square'


Fixes:

- Workaround for buggy hosts, which forget noteOff commands. The Arp does not longer produce a hanging note

=-=

http://www.tone2.org/forum/index.php?topic=2460.0

[Dasheesh]

new filters?

[exmatproton]

new filters?

[recursive one]

new filters?

Yes, a new approach to ZDF technology. They completely eliminated the delay in the filter feedback by eliminating the filters.

[Ingonator]

new filters?

The filter response in Rayblaster is based on the waveform loaded into it. It is possible to emulate existing filters that way (in a limited way) and with complex waveforms you get "fantasy" filters.
Filter responses that should emulate a certain filter must be sampled in a certain way, e.g. 30-40% (related to the knob position) of the Cutoff.

The "Formant" knob acts like a Cutoff knob.

Besides that there are no "normal" and/or fixed filters like in most other Tone2 synths.

[chk071]

new filters?

Yes, a new approach to ZDF technology. They completely eliminated the delay in the filter feedback by eliminating the filters.

[nordickvr]

new filters?

The filter response in Rayblaster is based on the waveform loaded into it. It is possible to emulate existing filters that way (in a limited way) and with complex waveforms you get "fantasy" filters.
Filter rseponses tah tshoudl eulat a certain filter must be sampled in a certain way, e.g. 30-30% (related to the knob position) of the Cutoff.

The "Formant" knob acts like a Cutoff knob.

Besides taht theer ar eno "normal" and/or fixed filters like in most othe Tone2 synths.

Just curious, is your computers keyboard broken?
I'm pretty bad at english, and you're certainly not having that problem but I was wondering
Seriously, no new filters then...

[Ingonator]

new filters?

The filter response in Rayblaster is based on the waveform loaded into it. It is possible to emulate existing filters that way (in a limited way) and with complex waveforms you get "fantasy" filters.
Filter responses that should emulate a certain filter must be sampled in a certain way, e.g. 30-40% (related to the knob position) of the Cutoff.

The "Formant" knob acts like a Cutoff knob.

Besides that there are no "normal" and/or fixed filters like in most other Tone2 synths.

Just curious, is your computers keyboard broken?
I'm pretty bad at english, and you're certainly not having that problem but I was wondering
Seriously, no new filters then...

Indeed some serious typos there. Just tried to correct it.

Actually there are TONS of filters as each waveform that is loaded creates it's onw filter response. This is what Rayblaster is mostly about.

If you asl for fixed filtres like e.g. in Icarus there are indeed none.

[starflakeprj]

I bought my license in October 2015, so no free upgrade for me. Is it known what the upgrade price will be?

[nordickvr]

...Actually there are TONS of filters as each waveform that is loaded creates it's onw filter response. This is what Rayblaster is mostly about.

If you asl for fixed filtres like e.g. in Icarus there are indeed none.

Thanks for the info.

[exmatproton]

I bought my license in October 2015, so no free upgrade for me. Is it known what the upgrade price will be?

Same here...i was waiting for a lot of these things to be implemented in the original Rayblaster, to be honest..

[egbert101]

<delete>

[Vertion]

I bought mine in 2015 too, so I missed the upgrade, guess I'll never know version 2. I'm not sure how they are making up these random upgrade date limits or why, but it's a huge deterrent to possible returning customers. I've invested a large amount of money in Tone2, and with each move like this, it further defines why I won't come back, because I know I can expect more of the same treatment. They should make the upgrade available for any customer regardless of the purchase date.

[Daags]

I bought mine in 2015 too, so I missed the upgrade, guess I'll never know version 2. I'm not sure how they are making up these random upgrade date limits or why, but it's a huge deterrent to possible returning customers. I've invested a large amount of money in Tone2, and with each move like this, it further defines why I won't come back, because I know I can expect more of the same treatment. They should make the upgrade available for any customer regardless of the purchase date.

you didn't miss the upgrade. you'll still be able to upgrade, but you will pay a fee.

anyone who bought during 2016/2017 gets the upgrade at no extra cost.

this is known as a 'grace period', and at a year & a quarter it is a pretty generous grace period - they are usually shorter.

[Ingonator]

Here are waveforms for Rayblaster i recently created from samples of the Sawtooth at diffeernt filters of my Novatiion Bass Staion II:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/532 ... eforms.zip

Here is a resonant sweeping Bass based on 2 of the waveforms:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/532 ... 1%20IW.zip

While in other synths you would be simply able to play the Saw waveform and apply a filter to it in Rayblaster within a imited range this could imltate the filters those waveforms were created with. The "Formant" parameter acts as a Cutoff then.
The waveforms also include resonant ones that could emulate the resonance behavior of the filter.
With the "PW sequences" in the Osc you could make the a Saw sound like e.g. a Square or variable Pulse ("Square<PW>Peek" PW sequence).
As a "Osc window" usually the "Soft Saw" is a good choice for emulations of an anlog filter.
As a harmonic "-1" seems to be a good choice for those waveforms.

As the waveforms were crated at a Cutoff below the half of the Cutoff knob in the original synth which is necessary to make those work as good as posible in Rayblaster those waveforms will not work that nicely in other synths where you apply a filter to them (for that case you usally need the waveform recorded at 100% Cutoff).

Usually the range where a filter could be emulated ends around the center position of the Formant knob and after that it gets closer to a Bandpass filter. Even at ranges where it no longer sounds like the filter the waveform was based on it is still possible to get interesting results.

As mentioend earier any waveform creates a filter in Rayblaster while with complex waveforms the result sounds closer to a formant and/or Comb filter. That way from complex waveforms you get a bunch of different timbres from adjusting the Formant parameter/knob.