Tone2 updates Icarus to v2.5

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