Available now: Tone2 Icarus2.5 - Wavetable Workstation

[shorty]

Not sure if you really own Icarus...

I'm pretty sure, I actually own all of your nice plugins. And most of the expansions. I might get some more.

An internet-connection is required only for download and the installation.

Ummm, isn't this (some kind of) c/r-authorization?

User-friendly copy-protection: No dongle, no cloud, no need to be online

Yes, but there's still the need to be online for installation.
Don't get me wrong, of course there's some kind of copy protection needed. I'll skip the decade old discussion. As a customer, at the end of the day a problem still remains: How to secure my investment into a plugin, if the company goes out of business? See e.g. Z3ta+2. What if I change my setup (move to a new PC) and there's no authorization server existing anymore?

It might be completely removed with the upcoming update.

That would be nice. But how does your company protect itself from pirates then? That's the dilemma.

[Markus Krause]

You post is obsoltete.

Icarus v2.5 can be completely offline activated now also on PC.

User-friendly copy-protection: No dongle, does not install an additional 'license-manager' or driver, no cloud, no data-collection, no need to be online

Can I still use my software if Tone2 should discontinue the business?
Our company is doing well. We do not plan to discontinue our business. Since the software does not require a dongle or an online activation, it will continue to work, no matter what should happen to our company.

https://www.tone2.com/help-with-the-order.html

For given reasons I can't discuss further security-related topics in a public forum. If you got further questions send me an email.

[Markus Krause]

Markus, can you please see to the envelopes not redrawn when adjusted from a MIDI keyboard?
(I hope it's an effect of the same bug, along with not redrawn envelopes with a double-click)

I have taken care of your requests.

New features:
...
- AHDSR envelopes are animated when Midi CCs are routed to them.
...

Fixes:
...
- A double-click to a knob of an envelope now correctly redraws the display.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

i am preparing a new sounset:
'Dreams for Icarus'
It's a mixture of retro house vibe and modern experimental sound,best of both worlds so to say - for mixing and for playing.
For example yesterday made something between pad and stabb, you can control harmonics via mod wheel,but when use aftertouch it become stabb unexpected way - instead of short attack,i use short release and some other stuff so combination of these modulations is very useful and dynamic in a project or live playing .
Start demo song already and will demonstrate this presets in the beginning of it,cause it makes you dance.
Nothing so special,but really nice and fun with two modulators only.
Cheers

[Markus Krause]

The list of enhancements and new features is getting huge. Here is the current one:

Icarus 2.5 (free update)

The update is a major update that is available for free for all Icarus2 users.
Icarus 2.5 is downward-compatible with all previous versions. All existing song projects and patches can be loaded without any further steps necessary.


New features:

150 additional patches created by professional designers.
Reworked patch browser with 6 different sizes (small/normal/big + with/without keys).
Native M1 Silicon support on the Mac.
A spectrum analyser displays the frequency-response in the patch browser.
Help->'Show version info' displays the mode in which the plugin is running (ARM/Intel).
When samples are played back a red sample preview window is shown.
A vertical line shows the current sample playback position.
A double-click resets a knob to default.
Added tooltips with descriptions to the wavetable editor.
Free Soundset demos.
Extended skin support for 3 sizes.
The shape of AHDSR envelopes can now be edited by drawing in the display.
Timing info is shown in the AHDSR windows.
AHDSR envelopes are animated when Midi CCs are routed to them.
Tradtitional sample import with Tools->Load/Save->'Load Sample'.
You can load traditional samples in .wav format with drag&drop to the oscillator's waveform display.
Samples can be tuned automatically on import.
The mouse arrow changes over controls that can be edited by drawing in the display.

Enhanced sound:

Higher sound-quality in 44 kHz, 48 kHz and 88 kHz sample-rate.
More precise timing.
New microtuning algorithm that detects and enhances a wide range of chords.
Enhanced sound of Reverb. It has a more smooth rolloff and less detuning.
Enhanced sound of Ensemble effect. It has a more subtle modulation and is in-tune.
Enhanced sound of Hypersaw 10x Stereo.
Enhanced sound of Delay, Delay Wide, Delay Diffuse, Delay Band and Delay Dual.
Enhanced sound of Multitap and PingPong. They have a more subtle modulation.
Enhanced sound of Reverb Dark. It is calculated with higher precision.
Fine-tuned the default values for some effects.

Enhancements:

More smart detection of the VST2 path.
The native M1 support results in 20% lower CPU use compared to Rosetta2 Mode.
More responsive GUI on M1 Macs.
The ideal GUI size is detected automatically.
Enhanced many graphics.
Higher performance.
The slider in the wavetable editor is more easy to handle.
The interface has more contrast.
Random Button with extended feature set (3 oscillators, creates new wavetables, etc).
Many small enhancements for the wavetable editor.
Much faster loading and saving.
Further optimisation to prevent denormalisation.
Importing .wav files with drag&drop to the oscillator displays gives much better results.
Fine-tuned the coordinates of some GUI elements.
The resynthesis with single oscillators gives much better results.
More efficient compression for image resources.
Graphics performance in wavetable editor is faster.
The Vocoder has higher default volume and is more easy to play.
Many small enhancements.
The scrollbar in the patch-browser has more contrast.

Fixes:

(Tooltips did not work with Dark Mode with Big Sur.)
Workaround for the 'unusual' designed audio architecture of FL Studio. It is not longer necessary to enable 'Use fixed size buffers' to avoid crackles.
(Workaround for a bug of Big Sur where new AudioUnits are only detected after a reboot.)
Several small compatibility fixes for MacOS 11 and MacOS 12.
The coordiantes of the context-menu for knobs were not always correct.
Fixed a rarely appearing crash in the wavetable editor.
The coordinates of the scrollbar-handle in the patch-browser could have an wrong offset.
A double-click to a knob of an envelope now correctly redraws the display.

Changes:

AudioUnit is now an AUv2 plugin.
AudioUnit and VSTi are now a Universal Binary for 64bit Intel and M1.
Apple's development tools are unable to build 32bit Intel binaries when you support M1. Sadly we had to drop support for it.
Apple's Notarisation and the M1 support requires a MacOS version higher or equal than 10.11. If you still use an older version you must stick with Icarus 2.0.
The name of 'Reverb Trance' is now 'Revereb Swirl'.

Notes:
Unlike what Apple suggests to their customers porting complex products to native M1 is not easy at all. In our case it did mean many months of additional work.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Not sure is it good idea for promotion,but i could send 10 of my favorite presets from upcoming 'Dreams' soundsets for free to Markus, if he and users are interested to include them to default library of Icarus 2.5,but without modulators,only basic sound with internal dynamics - the 'Official' release will include mod wheel and aftertouch modulators.
Have to give a reason to users to buy it when ready,cause i invest 4 years of developing 'nonlinear dynamic modulation' technology/system and that is what makes difference when need more dynamic,more alive sound,cause my experience with subtractive synthesis shows that 'typical' sound design man usually see in youtube like turn this knob to 12 o'clock is 'flat' as result and super boring inside the mix.
At some point i program 6-7 modulators,but it seems ordinary users don't use more than two, so decide to simplify and make it more fun.
These days will make a demo to show on what i spend 4 years of research a some explanations about using it.
Thanks to Markus and all hard working developers that continue to upgrade already great synths
Cheers

[Markus Krause]

During the last weeks I've worked hard especially to enhance the interface and workflow of Icarus. It seems that this was one of the weak points of the synth. Icarus has a massive amount of features, but it seems that it was not clear to the users what these features do. Noone seems to read handbooks these days :-/

Here is the current list of changes:

-----------------------------------

Icarus 2.5 (free update)

The update is a major update that is available for free for all Icarus2 users.
Icarus 2.5 is downward-compatible with all previous versions. All existing song projects and patches can be loaded without any further steps necessary.


New features:

150 additional patches created by professional designers.
Reworked patch browser with 6 different sizes (small/normal/big + with/without keys).
Native M1 Silicon support on the Mac.
A spectrum analyser displays the frequency-response in the patch browser.
Tooltips with descriptions and hints are shown when you hover over a control.
Help->'Show version info' displays the mode in which the plugin is running (ARM/Intel).
When samples are played back a red sample preview window is shown.
A vertical line shows the current sample playback position.
A double-click resets a knob to default.
Free Soundset demos.
Extended skin support for 3 sizes.
The shape of AHDSR envelopes can now be edited by drawing in the display.
Timing info is shown in the AHDSR windows.
AHDSR envelopes are animated when Midi CCs are routed to them.
Tradtitional sample import with Tools->Load/Save->'Load Sample'.
Added feature desciptions to many menus of the wavetable editor.
You can load traditional samples in .wav format with drag&drop to the oscillator's waveform display.
Samples can be tuned automatically on import.
The mousewheel can be used to switch through wavetables.
The mouse arrow changes over controls that can be edited by drawing in the display.

Enhanced sound:

Higher sound-quality in 44 kHz, 48 kHz and 88 kHz sample-rate.
More precise timing.
New microtuning algorithm that detects and enhances a wide range of chords.
Enhanced sound of Reverb. It has a more smooth rolloff and less detuning.
Enhanced sound and default settings of the Vocoder.
Enhanced sound of Ensemble effect. It has a more subtle modulation and is in-tune.
Enhanced sound of Hypersaw 10x Stereo.
Enhanced sound of Delay, Delay Wide, Delay Diffuse, Delay Band and Delay Dual.
Enhanced sound of Multitap and PingPong. They have a more subtle modulation.
Enhanced sound of Reverb Dark. It is calculated with higher precision.
Fine-tuned the default values for some effects.

Enhancements:

More smart detection of the VST2 path.
The native M1 support results in 20% lower CPU use compared to Rosetta2 Mode.
More responsive GUI on M1 Macs.
The ideal GUI size is detected automatically.
Better workflow and more intuitive use of the interface.
Enhanced many graphics.
Higher performance.
The slider in the wavetable editor is more easy to handle.
The interface has more contrast.
Random Button with extended feature set (3 oscillators, creates new wavetables, etc).
Many small enhancements for the wavetable editor.
Much faster loading and saving.
Further optimisation to prevent denormalisation.
Importing .wav files with drag&drop to the oscillator displays gives much better results.
Fine-tuned the coordinates of some GUI elements.
The resynthesis with single oscillators gives much better results.
More efficient compression for image resources.
The resynthesis menus have been cleaned up and are more straightforward to use.
The OSC Tool menu has been cleaned up. Redundant items have been removed.
Graphics performance in wavetable editor is faster.
The envelopes in the drum sequencer have a blue color.
The Vocoder has higher default volume and is more easy to play.
Added descriptions to the Resynthesis menu.
Added descriptions to the Vocoder menu.
Many small enhancements.
The scrollbar in the patch-browser has more contrast.

Fixes:

(Tooltips did not work with Dark Mode with Big Sur.)
Workaround for the 'unusual' designed audio architecture of FL Studio. It is not longer necessary to enable 'Use fixed size buffers' to avoid crackles.
(Workaround for a bug of Big Sur where new AudioUnits are only detected after a reboot.)
Several small compatibility fixes for MacOS 11 and MacOS 12.
The coordiantes of the context-menu for knobs were not always correct.
Fixed a rarely appearing crash in the wavetable editor.
A drag&drop line is not longer shown when the wavetable editor is open.
The coordinates of the scrollbar-handle in the patch-browser could have an wrong offset.
A double-click to a knob of an envelope now correctly redraws the display.

Changes:

AudioUnit is now an AUv2 plugin.
AudioUnit and VSTi are now a Universal Binary for 64bit Intel and M1.
Apple's development tools are unable to build 32bit Intel binaries when you support M1. Sadly we had to drop support for it.
Apple's Notarisation and the M1 support requires a MacOS version higher or equal than 10.11. If you still use an older version you must stick with Icarus 2.0.
The name of 'Reverb Trance' is now 'Revereb Swirl'.

Notes:
Unlike what Apple suggests to their customers porting complex products to native M1 is not easy at all. In our case it did mean many months of additional work.

[LeVzi]

That's a great update, thanks MK

[Echoes in the Attic]

Cool. Has it been released?

I do wonder whether so many sound changes could change the sound of existing projects. Or are they too minor?

By the way, Is there a stretch mode where the sample can playback at the same speed regardless of pitch? I know resynthesis does this but I mean a non-resynthesis mode or at least something that preserves noisy samples and can be repitched independent of time. Doesn’t have to be high quality. I think the normal playback mode changes the speed right?

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Sonic spectrum of Icarus is outstanding.
I would say there is hardware synths,software synths and Tone2 synths
Cyber punk is my new passion and Icarus Cyberpunk i do now is light years ahead compared to Serum and Vital let say,which are mostly used for cyberpunk.
Soon will upload something.
Have a nice day to all users:)

[tatanka]

Is it already available ? Download page still says 2.08 for the number.

[Markus Krause]

Cool. Has it been released?

I do wonder whether so many sound changes could change the sound of existing projects. Or are they too minor?

By the way, Is there a stretch mode where the sample can playback at the same speed regardless of pitch? I know resynthesis does this but I mean a non-resynthesis mode or at least something that preserves noisy samples and can be repitched independent of time. Doesn’t have to be high quality. I think the normal playback mode changes the speed right?

You can use 'granual sythesis' or 'pitch-shift / timestrech' for this.
Click on the resynthesis button and then select it

[Markus Krause]

Cool. Has it been released?

I do wonder whether so many sound changes could change the sound of existing projects.

Sorry. Forgot to answer this.

1) No. Most likely in July. The upgrade is free for all Icarus2 owners.

2) Icarus 2.5 is 100% downward-compatible with all previous versions. As usual with our products all existing song projects and patches can be loaded without any further steps necessary.

[parallax22]

Hello.
I am testing the demo version of Icarus 2 for FL Studio.
Does the full version automate reverb sliders etc (FX)? It doesn't work for me.

The sliders in the MATRIX tab are automated.

[Examigan]

It didn't work here for me using Cakewalk, but I was able add automation lanes to control the FX settings that way.