Tone2 releases Electra3

Tone2 Audio has updated their synthesizer-workstation Electra to v3.0, a major update that is downward-compatible with all previous versions. All existing songs and patches can be loaded without any further steps necessary and will benefit from the enhanced sound-quality.

New features - interface:

• GUI with 16 different sizes (with and without editor / effects).
• Native support for WQHD, 4K, 5K and 8K UHD displays.
• GUI can be scaled from 50% up to 300% by clicking in the lower right corner.
• Smoother animations and more responsive controls.
• Support for hardware-acceleration.
• Ultrasharp graphics with enhanced HiDpi and Retina Display support.
• The SYNTH button flashes when a layer plays a note.This makes it easier to work with several arpeggiators.
• Automatic detection of the ideal GUI size.
• A check-mark shows the last loaded custom-waveform.
• Online help with tutorial videos.

New features - synthesis:

• 118 additional patches that make use of the new features. The synth ships with 1439 patches now.
• The 8Bit noise oscillator can create lo-fi fx sounds from the past.The sound can be changed with PW and the key.
• Major and minor chords are available as additional key modes for the arpeggiator.
• The new 'Transient shaper' adds punch and presence to the sounds. It can be accessed in the 'sound mode' selector.
• The new 'Transient + Bass' mode adds presence and dynamic bass pressure to the sounds.It can be accessed in the 'sound mode' selector.
• New analog pulse oscillator types: Pulse 1/2, Pulse 2/5, Pulse 1/3, Pulse 1/4, Pulse 1/5, Pulse 1/6, Pulse 1/8.
• New analog oscillator types with inverted phase: Saw invert, Pulse invert.
• New analog oscillator types: Impulse, Sine Flip, Comb 2, Comb 3.
• New reverb-types: Cold, Theater and Hangar.
• 40 new waveforms for the custom-wave/wavetable oscillators.
• New bipolar modulation source: "Step LFO/Envelope +-".
• Monophonic LFOs that re-trigger only with the first pressed key (set the LFO mode to 'Mono').
• Monophonic STEP LFOs (set the trigger mode to 'Mono loop').

Enhancements - synthesis:

• The audio-engine now uses 64-bit precision instead of 32-bit, which results in a higher sound-quality.
• CPU usage has been lowered.
• Maximum Delay-time has been extended.
• Enhanced sound of the automatic micro-tuning: A wide range of chords are detected.
• Replaced 'Reverb Hall' with a better sounding algorithm.
• Slightly enhanced sound of the Reverb types 'Cathedral', 'Room', 'Infinity', 'Big', 'Glass', 'Plate'.
• The arpeggiator's Stack-mode has been enhanced and can handle polyphonic input and duplicate notes.
• Enhanced sound of Unison.
• Unused matrix slots are cleaned-up automatically after saving patches.

New Multistep-Envelope / LFO (available for each one of the 4 synth-layers):

• The STEP LFO has been completely rewritten.
• It can be used as a Multistep Envelope by changing trigger-mode to Envelope.
• The modulation capabilities of the synth have been extended drastically.
• Editing and sound-design is more intuitive.
• A realtime-display visualizes the current shape.
• The current play-position is shown.
• Unused parts of the LFO are faded-out.
• The STEP LFO shape and values are not longer only updated after NoteOn.
• It offers higher precision timing.
• It is able to interpolate and sounds a lot smoother.

New Multistep-Envelope / LFO waveforms:

• Linear to left: Interpoles smoothly to the step located to the left.
• Cubic to left: Interpolates with a cubic spline.
• Analog slow: Analog envelope smoothing with low cutoff.
• Analog medium: Analog envelope smoothing with medium cutoff.
• Analog fast: Analog envelope smoothing with high cutoff.
• Analog reverse: Inverted analog envelope.
• Saw down: The step ramp downwards.
• Saw up: The step ramps upwards.
• Triangle: The step ramps upwards and downwards.
• Triangle 25 %: Sloped triangle.
• Triangle 75 %: Sloped triangle.
• Pulse 0 %: The second part of the step is 0.
• Pulse 50 %: The first part of the step is 0.
• Decay 1: Slow analog decay envelope.
• Decay 2: Fast analog decay envelope.
• Attack 1: Slow analog attack envelope.
• Attack 2: Fast analog attack envelope.
• Sine / 2: Sine with half frequency.
• Cosine / 2: Cosing with half frequency.
• Sine + -: Bipolar sine.
• FM Sine: The FM modulated sine is useful for wobbles.
• FM Square: FM modulated square-wave.
• FM Saw down: The FM modulated saw is useful for wobbles.
• FM Saw up: The FM modulated saw is useful for wobbles.
• Noise: A step with noise.
• Diffusion: Noisy diffusion between steps.

Enhancements - interface:

• Completely rewritten GUI code.
• More beautiful graphics for the LCD displays.
• The animations of the filter, LFO, waveform and envelope-displays are drastically faster and smoother.
• More contrast for the knob-handles.
• Reworked many graphics.
• LFO waveform display is bigger.
• Keyboard in patch browser is hidden when editor or effects are hidden.
• Fine-tuned many coordinates in the interface.
• Fine-tuned some colors.
• More immediate control of filter cutoff and parameters.
• More tooltips with better descriptions.
• Layers are initialized with a smoothed gate shape.
• Patch browser can now also be opened by clicking on 'BROWSER' or the display on the upper left.
• A finger is shown when hovering over 'BROWSER' to indicate that the control is click - able.
• The interface gets a blue shading when drag & drop modulation is used.
• When a patch uses the STEP LFO it is show automatically after loading.
• The user is warned if he / she selects a GUI size that is too large for the screen.

Enhancements - synthesis:

• Enhanced sound quality.
• More precise pitch calculation.
• Higher precision timing of the LFOs.
• Enhanced sound of white noise.
• Enhanced sound of pink noise.
• Analog oscillators are more in-tune and have more beautiful noise.
• Step LFO shape and values are not longer updated only on NoteOn.
• Step LFO is able to interpolate and sounds smoother.

Other enhancements:

• Enhanced DAW compatibility and stability.
• Performance optimizations.
• Smarter detection of the installation path on PC to avoid duplicate installations.
• All links are now https.
• Lots of small enhancements.

Check out the product page, new features, and download the demo.

Price: $169 / €149.

Upgrade with discount: Electra2 and ElectraX v1.x owners are able to upgrade to v3.x with a big discount (€79 or $89 instead of $169).

Free upgrade: This upgrade is free for anyone who bought Electra2 after December the 12th 2022 directly from tone2.com (Tone2 sent out an email with a download-link).

Video – new features: YouTube.com/watch?v=lCJHxwB6NZU

Video – new sounds: YouTube.com/watch?v=WM87JX6Zh0k