Tone2 Icarus 1.6 Released

[SLiC]

Yes, I much prefer Icarus to Massive X (which I own through Komplete) as a wavetable manipulating synth it amazes me that people who seemed so enamoured with MX haven't even tried Icarus...maybe V2 will turn a few heads, a descent scalable GUI would certainly help. For some reason Tone2 in general seem a bit marmite but I have found them to be excellent and helpful developers who are very generous with their free updates

[jacqueslacouth]

By "Marmite" I take it you mean not quite the full Vegemite?

[Echoes in the Attic]

FYI, there's some pretty good iinfo coming out about Icarus V2 on the Tone2 forum. Apparently all 3 osc controls will be visible at once, rather than tabbed, as well as both filter controls and the whole matrix. Bigger arp, MSEGs, res and cutoff knobs switched to normal position, and other changes underway. Looking forward to V2!

That sounds very promising... for me the GUI has been the weak point of Icarus.

Any other info to share on I2?

Just that it would be totally backwards compatible and work in existing projects, so all controls will remain and be added to. More modulation sources and a bunch of new features. No more specifics than that. Oh and free upgrade for anyone who purchased after May. Otherwise it will be an upgrade fee.

[pdxindy]

I don't consider MX a wavetable synth. It's a Wompler... hehehe

The ability to resynthesize audio and import user wavetables/samples is such an overwhelming advantage for me. For that reason I'd take Icarus over Massive X without second thought. I basically like MX, but at this point I do not find it useful. Too many things that matter to me are missing.

I'd sure like it if Icarus got MPE support. Glad to hear it is gonna get MSEG's!

[pdxindy]

FYI, there's some pretty good iinfo coming out about Icarus V2 on the Tone2 forum. Apparently all 3 osc controls will be visible at once, rather than tabbed, as well as both filter controls and the whole matrix. Bigger arp, MSEGs, res and cutoff knobs switched to normal position, and other changes underway. Looking forward to V2!

That sounds very promising... for me the GUI has been the weak point of Icarus.

Any other info to share on I2?

Just that it would be totally backwards compatible and work in existing projects, so all controls will remain and be added to. More modulation sources and a bunch of new features. No more specifics than that. Oh and free upgrade for anyone who purchased after May. Otherwise it will be an upgrade fee.

Thanks... happy to pay the upgrade fee!

[zvenx]

We started to work on Icarus2. The synth will get a new interface with more controls visible at the same time, the sound engine will be even more powerful and we will add a massive amount of new features. Icarus2 will be 100% downwards compatible. You will be able to load all your existing songs and patches without any further steps necessary. We still got no release date, but the upgrade will be free for everyone who purchased Icarus after May. All other Icarus1 users will be able to upgrade with a very large discount.

The exact feature set is still not defined. That's why we still got no price for Icarus2. What i can say for sure is that existing Icarus1 users who do not get the upgrade for free will be able to upgrade with a very large discount.

....

Icarus 2 will have less tabs and a bigger GUI. MSEGs are planed.......

Icarus2 will have all features that Icarus 1.6 has + a lot more without limiting the capabilities. I think i found a very elegant solution for the user interface. Smiley

Cutoff and Reso is already switched and less GUI space will be wasted Smiley
The Arp will be also bigger and no more tabs are necessary for the oscs and matrix

cutoff and reso of both filters will be visible at the same time

I tried to copy all the relevant posts (as I see them) that Markus said on the topic.

rsp

[perfumer]

True random lfo's and a bit more serious fx - no zipping, automatable parameters, etc.

[SLiC]

We started to work on Icarus2. The synth will get a new interface with more controls visible at the same time, the sound engine will be even more powerful and we will add a massive amount of new features. Icarus2 will be 100% downwards compatible. You will be able to load all your existing songs and patches without any further steps necessary. We still got no release date, but the upgrade will be free for everyone who purchased Icarus after May. All other Icarus1 users will be able to upgrade with a very large discount.

The exact feature set is still not defined. That's why we still got no price for Icarus2. What i can say for sure is that existing Icarus1 users who do not get the upgrade for free will be able to upgrade with a very large discount.

....

Icarus 2 will have less tabs and a bigger GUI. MSEGs are planed.......

Icarus2 will have all features that Icarus 1.6 has + a lot more without limiting the capabilities. I think i found a very elegant solution for the user interface. Smiley

Cutoff and Reso is already switched and less GUI space will be wasted Smiley
The Arp will be also bigger and no more tabs are necessary for the oscs and matrix

cutoff and reso of both filters will be visible at the same time

I tried to copy all the relevant posts (as I see them) that Markus said on the topic.

rsp

That was very helpful, thank you.

[zerocrossing]

I don't consider MX a wavetable synth. It's a Wompler... hehehe

The ability to resynthesize audio and import user wavetables/samples is such an overwhelming advantage for me. For that reason I'd take Icarus over Massive X without second thought. I basically like MX, but at this point I do not find it useful. Too many things that matter to me are missing.

I'd sure like it if Icarus got MPE support. Glad to hear it is gonna get MSEG's!

I love Icarus too, but the current version is pretty simple compared to Massive X, in all ways except for wavetable resynthesis. I guess I get why they didn’t add that. They had a specific character they wanted it to have, and I think they did a great job of making it sound more “hybrid” (as in analog filters, filter FM, feedback and distortion) than Massive, Icarus or Serum. The only other plugin that comes as close is Dune 3. To me, Icarus sounds very digital in that way that all Tone2 synths sound. I don’t mean this in a bad way at all. I like them all a lot. I’m just happy that I’ve also got alternatives when that kind of character isn’t what I’m going for.

[zvenx]

We started to work on Icarus2. The synth will get a new interface with more controls visible at the same time, the sound engine will be even more powerful and we will add a massive amount of new features. Icarus2 will be 100% downwards compatible. You will be able to load all your existing songs and patches without any further steps necessary. We still got no release date, but the upgrade will be free for everyone who purchased Icarus after May. All other Icarus1 users will be able to upgrade with a very large discount.

The exact feature set is still not defined. That's why we still got no price for Icarus2. What i can say for sure is that existing Icarus1 users who do not get the upgrade for free will be able to upgrade with a very large discount.

....

Icarus 2 will have less tabs and a bigger GUI. MSEGs are planed.......

Icarus2 will have all features that Icarus 1.6 has + a lot more without limiting the capabilities. I think i found a very elegant solution for the user interface. Smiley

Cutoff and Reso is already switched and less GUI space will be wasted Smiley
The Arp will be also bigger and no more tabs are necessary for the oscs and matrix

cutoff and reso of both filters will be visible at the same time

I tried to copy all the relevant posts (as I see them) that Markus said on the topic.

rsp

That was very helpful, thank you.

Most welcome.
rsp

[pdxindy]

I don't consider MX a wavetable synth. It's a Wompler... hehehe

The ability to resynthesize audio and import user wavetables/samples is such an overwhelming advantage for me. For that reason I'd take Icarus over Massive X without second thought. I basically like MX, but at this point I do not find it useful. Too many things that matter to me are missing.

I'd sure like it if Icarus got MPE support. Glad to hear it is gonna get MSEG's!

I love Icarus too, but the current version is pretty simple compared to Massive X, in all ways except for wavetable resynthesis. I guess I get why they didn’t add that. They had a specific character they wanted it to have, and I think they did a great job of making it sound more “hybrid” (as in analog filters, filter FM, feedback and distortion) than Massive, Icarus or Serum. The only other plugin that comes as close is Dune 3. To me, Icarus sounds very digital in that way that all Tone2 synths sound. I don’t mean this in a bad way at all. I like them all a lot. I’m just happy that I’ve also got alternatives when that kind of character isn’t what I’m going for.

I like the sound of MX, but too many deficiencies for me to use currently. No midi learn, no parameter automation, cannot assign filter cutoff to a knob on my midi controller, etc. I have plenty of synths that emulate analog filters, filter FM, feedback and distortion well, so there is no reason for me to put up with what is currently a poorly realized synth in MX.

Also, Icarus is not simple compared to MX except for resynthesis:

Icarus can import user Wavetables... MX cannot
Icarus can play samples... MX cannot
Icarus has a full wavetable editor and user drawable waveforms... MX doesn't
Icarus has 2 complete filters (each with like 60 filter models)... MX has 1
Icarus has Midi Learn... MX doesn't
Icarus has parameter automation... MX doesn't
Icarus can do vocoder sounds... nope for MX
Icarus supports a range of midi controls such as breath and expression pedal... MX doesn't
Icarus has an Apreggiator... MX doesn't
Icarus has a functional browser (not my favorite)... MX has only the most rudimentary browser
Icarus has micro-tuning... MX doesn't (I don't remember seeing it anyway)
Icarus has individual Osc panning... MX doesn't
Icarus has Osc Unison too...

[exmatproton]

One thing mx does have though, is a better gui, for my usage anyway. Icarus is sooo small. Luckily version2 will get a bigger ui, which should place it above mx for me again.

[Stefken]

I made a skin for Icaris that improves the gui. (Same size though).
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=523121&hilit=Wings+Icarus

Icarus also has an impressive osc section with a lot of warp and unison modes. So no simple synth...

[pdxindy]

One thing mx does have though, is a better gui, for my usage anyway. Icarus is sooo small. Luckily version2 will get a bigger ui, which should place it above mx for me again.

MX has better GUI size... yeah... Icarus is okay on my screen fortunately.

Neither Icarus or MX are favorites of mine as far as overall GUI. But MX has a bunch of limitations that compound each other. MX has no undo/redo. At least Icarus has a simple 1 undo step so if you accidentally move a parameter you can recover. Not possible in MX. Compounding the lack of undo redo in MX, it also does not display parameter values.

Icarus displays parameter values and you can also copy say Osc1 to Osc2. MX cannot do either. In fact, in MX it is impossible to duplicate an Osc from one preset to another, or from Osc1 to Osc2.

Depending on the parameter in MX, sometimes the super fine adjustment can have a large impact on the sound. 2 knobs can be set differently and be visually indistinguishable. In MX, some presets would be extremely tedious to reverse engineer (if one managed it at all).

If you want to check what parameters a macro knob is modulating, you have to click on as many as 18 tabs to be sure you found them all.

In a number of basic ways, the MX gui is one of the worst I have used.

Visually I like the MX GUI better than Icarus. MX has a clean appearance I like. Icarus, not so much. But even if it is not my favorite and can be clunky, I can always get where I want to go with Icarus. In that regard I will take it over MX any day.

[zerocrossing]

I don't consider MX a wavetable synth. It's a Wompler... hehehe

The ability to resynthesize audio and import user wavetables/samples is such an overwhelming advantage for me. For that reason I'd take Icarus over Massive X without second thought. I basically like MX, but at this point I do not find it useful. Too many things that matter to me are missing.

I'd sure like it if Icarus got MPE support. Glad to hear it is gonna get MSEG's!

I love Icarus too, but the current version is pretty simple compared to Massive X, in all ways except for wavetable resynthesis. I guess I get why they didn’t add that. They had a specific character they wanted it to have, and I think they did a great job of making it sound more “hybrid” (as in analog filters, filter FM, feedback and distortion) than Massive, Icarus or Serum. The only other plugin that comes as close is Dune 3. To me, Icarus sounds very digital in that way that all Tone2 synths sound. I don’t mean this in a bad way at all. I like them all a lot. I’m just happy that I’ve also got alternatives when that kind of character isn’t what I’m going for.

I like the sound of MX, but too many deficiencies for me to use currently. No midi learn, no parameter automation, cannot assign filter cutoff to a knob on my midi controller, etc. I have plenty of synths that emulate analog filters, filter FM, feedback and distortion well, so there is no reason for me to put up with what is currently a poorly realized synth in MX.

Also, Icarus is not simple compared to MX except for resynthesis:

Icarus can import user Wavetables... MX cannot
Icarus can play samples... MX cannot
Icarus has a full wavetable editor and user drawable waveforms... MX doesn't
Icarus has 2 complete filters (each with like 60 filter models)... MX has 1
Icarus has Midi Learn... MX doesn't
Icarus has parameter automation... MX doesn't
Icarus can do vocoder sounds... nope for MX
Icarus supports a range of midi controls such as breath and expression pedal... MX doesn't
Icarus has an Apreggiator... MX doesn't
Icarus has a functional browser (not my favorite)... MX has only the most rudimentary browser
Icarus has micro-tuning... MX doesn't (I don't remember seeing it anyway)
Icarus has individual Osc panning... MX doesn't
Icarus has Osc Unison too...

Oh, well we all know that Native Instruments released Massive X six months too early. I agree with all your points, it’s definitely not finished, but I think when it is, it will be hot.