Tone2 Audio has updated their harmonic-content-morphing synthesizer Gladiator to v4.0.
Gladiator4 is fully 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:
- GUI with 14 different sizes (with and without parameter-editor).
- Native support for WQHD, 4K, 5K and 8K UHD displays.
- Support for hardware-acceleration.
- Now all parameters can be automated in all DAWs.
- The current HCM morph-position is shown with a vertical line.
- The mousewheel can be used to quick-select patches.
- It is now possible to export waveforms or wavetables on PC and Mac as a .wav file.
- Arpeggiator-position is shown in the GUI.
- Ultrasharp graphics with enhanced HiDpi and Retina Display support.
- GUI can be scaled from 66% up to 200% by clicking in the lower right corner.
- Automatic detection of the ideal GUI size.
- Lots of other small stuff.
Higher sound-quality:
- More transparent and clear over-all sound.
- The synth 'sits better in the mix', especially when it is combined with other instruments.
- The audio-engine now uses 64-bit precision instead of 32-bit, which results in a higher sound-quality.
- The timing-resolution of the modulation is now twice as precise.
- Enhanced sound of the automatic micro-tuning. Chords can not longer get too much out-of-tune.
- More precise pitch-calculation.
- All sounds with the quality setting "very high" have a more precise and fast modulation.
- More linear frequency-response for certain configurations.
- Enhanced sound of Reverb large. It has a more transparent tail.
- Enhanced sound of Reverb small. It has a more transparent tail.
- Enhanced sound of Reverb predelay. It has a more transparent tail.
- Enhanced sound of Reverb predelay. It has a more transparent tail.
- Enhanced sound of Reverb trance. It has a more transparent tail.
- Enhanced sound of Reverb old. It has a more transparent tail.
- Enhanced sound of Super Strings. It has a higher precision rendering.
- Enhanced sound of formant-scaling.
- Higher resolution mixing.
- Sounds with quality setting "very high" have more accurate envelopes.
- Lots of other subtle enhancements.
Enhancements:
- Higher performance.
- Completely rewritten GUI code.
- Reworked big parts of the audio-code.
- Reworked and enhanced graphics.
- Several small enhancements for the patch-selector and patch-browser.
- Smoother animations and more responsive controls.
- The spectrum-displays show more details.
- The skin has some color-bleeding around the displays.
- More contrast for the spectrum-display and the filter-frequency-response.
- More contrast for the LCD displays.
- Several small enhancements for the VST3 and AU version.
- Fine-tuned some coordinates in the interface.
- The LFO waveforms are drawn with a continuous line.
- The automatic screen-size detection is smarter.
- Smarter installer.
- Reworked tool-tips.
- Re-sizing the VST3, Standalone and Audio Unit works more reliable in various DAWs.
- More beautiful font for the patch-browser for certain configurations.
- Fine-tuned some colors.
- The animations are faster and smoother.
- Enhanced stability.
- A warning message is shown when the installation is damaged.
- A warning is shown when the user accidentality selects a GUI-size that is too large for the screen.
- The installers come with a Microsoft/Apple approved certificate.
- Lots of other small improvements.
Changes:
- Removed the demo-version timeout and added a voice-over.
Fixes:
- Some DAWs could show the VST3 version on PC with an incorrect size when Windows scaling was used.
Price: €149 / $ 169.
Free upgrade: The upgrade is free for anyone who bought Gladiator directly from tone2.com after April 2023.
Upgrade with discount: Gladiator 1 and 2 and 3 owners are able to upgrade to v4.x with a big discount (€39 or $39).
Free demo download: tone2.com/download