Tone2 Audio has updated their wavetable-workstation Icarus to v2.5. The update is a major update that is available for free for all Icarus2 users.
New features:
- 161 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.
- Added a VST3 version for Mac.
- Added a standalone version for 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.
- Traditional sample import with Tools->Load/Save->'Load Sample'.
- Added feature descriptions 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 mouse-wheel can be used to switch through wavetables.
- Tooltips can be hidden or shown in the Config section.
- It is possible to record automation with the effect sliders.
- 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 coordinates 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.
- Tooltips were not properly readable in some DAWs under Big Sur with Dark Mode.
- Workaround for a bug of Ableton and FL Studio which do not properly stick to the AudioUnit2 standard and did not display the AudioUnit.
- Workaround for a bug of Reaper which does not display automation parameters incorrectly.
- Workarounds for many DAWs which did not resize the VST3 plugin properly.
Changes:
- AudioUnit is now an AUv2 plugin.
- AudioUnit and VSTi are now a Universal Binary for 64-bit Intel and M1.
- Apple's development tools are unable to build 32-bit 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 'Reverb Swirl'.
Download (free demo and update): tone2.com
Video: Icarus 2.5 - new features