Available now: Tone2 Icarus v3.2

[TheMaestro]

I further want to point out that Icarus 3 and all our other synths are rock solid. We did not receive a single valid crash report since over one year. So there is no need at all to over-dramatize, bean-counter, whine or argue here

I very much agree and was thinking the same thing. A bug report should simply be that, a report about the facts without any emotion. It’s great that you made an effort to fix the trackpad issue. Too bad it didn’t work out and I did say it was disappointing but it’s still an amazing synth and not the end of the world that trackpad scrolling doesn’t work. Massive X doesn’t have trackpad scrolling at all so at least you tried!

Great back-handed "thank you".

[Touch The Universe]

Keeps getting better - I second that notion, the breadth of possible sounds, bread and butter to wildy unique, are remarkable.

Just in case anyone hasn't checked out my Icarus banks yet, I'm throwing in a 30% off code (TTUSUMMER) in case that may help, to coincide even with the smaller release. Really big fan of this synth!

[e-musician]

[...] Is there any way to edit the backgrounds of the other skins such as "Dark Blue (Popular)" etc?

Regarding Windows: Yes, there is (can't say anything about Mac, though).

This is how Markus describes the procedure in the Tone2 forum.

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PC:

1) Open Icarus in your DAW and go to 'setup'. Select 'Default' as skin.

2) Close all instances of Icarus in your DAW

3) Find Icarus_data folder inside your VST-Folder. Create a file called Icarus3SkinLarge.png within your Icarus_data directory. The size must be 2505 x 1470 pixels.
You can use one of the default skins as a template:
https://www.tone2.com/mypic/bmp00252.png
https://www.tone2.com/mypic/bmp00255.png

Unistall: To deinstall the skin just delete "Icarus3SkinLarge.png" from the Icarus_data folder.
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In order to edit the background of the "Dark Blue (Popular)" skin, for example, you only have to select this one in STEP 1 (instead of "Default"). Then procede with STEPs 2 and 3.

In other words, it all depends on the skin that you select before closing Icarus and pasting a new image into the Icarus_data folder. So, this way, you can change the colours of the displays, graphs, etc.

[...] is it possible [...] to make entirely new skins with custom knobs etc? [...]

Regarding Windows: Yes, it is (again, can't say anything about Mac). However, what you can't do is change the overall layout of displays and knobs etc.

In STEP 1, you MUST select one of the "Elegant" skins. The "Elegant" skins only have pointers as knobs, the knobs themselves are part of the background image (and so are the labels). So, your newly created background image must contain both the knobs and the labels.

Have a try: There are these two skins for Icarus 2 - Pulse and Polar. Just choose the large PNGs to put into the Icarus_data folder (make sure to rename them to "Icarus3SkinLarge.png"). They should work with Icarus 3 as well.

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/icarus ... /downloads


PS 1: Markus has also provided the default pictures for the other skins here (for you to use as starting points): https://www.tone2.org/forum/index.php?topic=3034.0

PS 2: This is what I came up with after a couple of minutes. It's not perfect or flawless and nothing to write home about, just wanted to try the new skinning feature. It's basically an inverted version of the factory skin with a few tweaks.

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ICARUS 3.png

[satYatunes]

PS 2: This is what I came up with after a couple of minutes. It's not perfect or flawless and nothing to write home about, just wanted to try the new skinning feature. It's basically an inverted version of the factory skin with a few tweaks.

So, the metal knobs cannot be replaced? Plus the colors of waveform, etc. are fixed. Basically, design the background around all these elements. hmm.

[e-musician]

So, the metal knobs cannot be replaced? Plus the colors of waveform, etc. are fixed. Basically, design the background around all these elements. hmm.

The metal knobs CAN be replaced and the colours of the waveforms etc. CAN be changed.

But in order to use custom knobs, you have to select one of the "Elegant" skins in STEP 1.
And then your own image must contain the knobs themselves.


Have a look at how this is done in the Pulse or in the Polar skin for Icarus 2.
[NB: The "Elegant" skin in Icarus 3 is actually an edit of that Pulse skin.]

This is the background image for the Polar skin:
[---]

Polar Skin.png

And the colours are also determined by the skin that you selected in STEP 1. For example, if you want them to be red, select "Red". Or, for a different colour, "Aqua" or "Opaque".

>>> Just read my post above again. <<<

The skin I posted has these metal knobs because I deliberately selected one of the Default/Metal/Plastic skins in STEP1 [I think it was "Plastic opaque"].

[Teksonik]

In other words, it all depends on the skin that you select before closing Icarus and pasting a new image into the Icarus_data folder. So, this way, you can change the colours of the displays, graphs, etc.

Okay thanks. The link Markus gave earlier only had the default skin pngs. I've got the other ones now so will tinker with them as well. His instructions only mentioned loading the default skin and not others so I didn't know if it was possible.

So am I correct in saying that we can only have one custom skin at a time, determined by what skin was last chosen inside Icarus?

That's not a problem as we can just keep separate files for each of the skins outside of the data folder and manually switch them out as we wish.

Like I said I don't have the skills to make custom images, only to edit existing ones but there are people here who do have those skills. (such as SatYatunes)

I like the edit you've done since I'm a huge fan of neutral grey skins as they tend to be easy on my eyes for long periods of viewing.

[e-musician]

So am I correct in saying that we can only have one custom skin at a time, determined by what skin was last chosen inside Icarus?

Yes, I think so. And what I have found, too, is that as soon as you switch to another (factory) skin, you cannot go back to your own skin again (there is no "Custom" skin entry in the list).

[Teksonik]

So am I correct in saying that we can only have one custom skin at a time, determined by what skin was last chosen inside Icarus?

Yes, I think so. And what I have found, too, is that as soon as you switch to another (factory) skin, you cannot go back to your own skin again (there is no "Custom" skin entry in the list).

Yes I found that too. Switching to another skin breaks the link to the custom background image until we switch back then close and reopen Icarus.

Oh well any skinning capability is better than none. Icraus is a great sounding synth so being able to make it look the way we wish within the constraints of the skinning system can only help enhance our enjoyment of the plugin. (I guess that goes for any plugin).

[e-musician]

Oh well any skinning capability is better than none. Icraus is a great sounding synth so being able to make it look the way we wish within the constraints of the skinning system can only help enhance our enjoyment of the plugin. (I guess that goes for any plugin).

Yep, that's how I see it, too.

[Tone2 Synthesizers]

So, the metal knobs cannot be replaced? Plus the colors of waveform, etc. are fixed.

The color of the waveforms and the circles around the knobs can be altered if you select one of the 'Metal' skins like 'Metal fire'. Then restart the synth.
What happens technically is that eveything including the background image is 'hue rotated'.

[Tone2 Synthesizers]

Loading factory skins:

Icarus3 comes with 27 styles/skins for the GUI you can select them in 'setup'-> 'Select skin'. Then restart the plugin.

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Creating your own skins:
Warning! You should only use custom skins this if you're experienced with graphics design and using computers. You should be aware that you can mess up things and there can be technical issues. If you decide to use custom skins do this at your own risk.
You require Icarus 3.1 or newer.

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PC:

1) Open Icarus in your DAW and go to 'setup'. Select 'Default' as skin.

2) Close all instances of Icarus in your DAW

3) Find Icarus_data folder inside your VST-Folder. Create a file called Icarus3SkinLarge.png within your Icarus_data directory. The size must be 2505 x 1470 pixels.
You can use one of the default skins as a template:
https://www.tone2.com/mypic/bmp00252.png
https://www.tone2.com/mypic/bmp00255.png


Unistall: To deinstall the skin just delete "Icarus3SkinLarge.png" from the Icarus_data folder.

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Mac:

1) Close All instances of Icarus vst used in your Daw of choice.

2) Find Icarus.vst inside your VST-Folder (/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/) and make a backup of it to your desktop or somewhere safe.

3) Right-click on Icarus.vst and choose 'Show Package Contents'. Navigate to Contents/Resources Folder.

4) Replace one of these images:
- bmp00252.png (This one if for the metal design).
- bmp00268.png (This one if for the dark design).
- bmp00255.png (This one if for the plastic design).
The size must be 2505 x 1470 pixels.
You can use one of the default skins as a template:
https://www.tone2.com/mypic/bmp00252.png
https://www.tone2.com/mypic/bmp00255.png

5) Close the Package

6) Open Icarus in your DAW and go to 'setup'. Select the desired skin.


Uninstall: To uninstall the skin just replace Icarus VST with the backup copy on your desktop (or wherever you choose to make that backup copy), or you can run the Icarus3 installer.

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Changing the colors of the waveforms and knob-circles:

The color of the waveforms and the circles around the knobs can be altered if you select one of the 'Metal' skins like 'Metal fire' instead of 'Default'. Then restart the synth.
What happens technically is that eveything including the background image is 'hue rotated'.

[satYatunes]

So, the metal knobs cannot be replaced? Plus the colors of waveform, etc. are fixed.

The color of the waveforms and the circles around the knobs can be altered if you select one of the 'Metal' skins like 'Metal fire'. Then restart the synth.
What happens technically is that eveything including the background image is 'hue rotated'.

Thank you, Markus.

[fisherKing]

3.1 is crashing logic 11.2 on opening, just reporting this. if i remove icarus from my template, i don't get the audio unit warning. where can i download the just-previous version?

1.png

2.png

EDIT: GOT IT. i deleted the VSTs for icarus (i forgot that the AU plugin uses resources from the VST). so all is well

[nordickvr]

3.1 is crashing logic 11.2 on opening, just reporting this. if i remove icarus from my template, i don't get the audio unit warning. where can i download the just-previous version?


1.png


2.png

EDIT: GOT IT. i deleted the VSTs for icarus (i forgot that the AU plugin uses resources from the VST). so all is well

Was replying to your post since it was working w/o problem over here,,,
Great that you’ve found the issue!

[Tone2 Synthesizers]

Can only the background image can be changed?

On the Mac you can replace any image that is inlcuded to the package with an own one. There are no limitations. But be careful as you can easily mess up things here.

On PC you can replace the background image and have color variations for the displays/waveforms (the 'Metal' skins. They are rendered without the knobs).

colors of waveform, etc. are fixed.

No. The color of the waveforms and the circles around the knobs can be altered if you select one of the 'Metal' skins like 'Metal fire'. Then restart the synth.
What happens technically is that eveything including the background image is 'hue rotated'.

we can only have one custom skin at a time?

Yes (PC). Your custom skin replaces the 'Metal' skins.
On Mac you can replace any image/skin. Don't forget to create a backup before you do experiments

neutral grey skins as they tend to be easy on my eyes for long periods of viewing.

This!