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Tone2 Icarus 2.5

Tone2 Icarus small

Tone2 Audio has updated Icarus to v2.5. Icarus is one of the most powerful, full-featured and versatile synthesizers available on the market. 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 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.
  • Tooltips were not properly readable in some DAWs under BugSur 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 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'.

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