Tone2 Icarus Manual
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Tone2 Icarus Manual

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Summary of Contents for Tone2 Icarus

  • Page 1 Icarus...

  • Page 2: Legal Notice & Contact

    Under the DMCA, copying and sharing copyrighted materials without a license is illegal, violations to copyright law may carry heavy civil and criminal penalties. If you have any difficulties installing or using Icarus, please contact us by visiting our website and clicking the Support button.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Table of contents........................3 Installation & authorization procedure Automatic installation for Mac & PC................4 Manual installation for PC....................5 Manual installation for Mac.....................5 Welcome to Icarus …......................6 The Icarus User Interface …....................10 Top menu......................11 Patch display......................12 Sound section......................13 Oscillator section........................19 The Wavetable Editor...................19 Oscillator top menu....................32...

  • Page 4: Installation & Authorization Procedure

    2. Install the full version of the plugin. 3. Open your host program 4. Do a plugin rescan in the host if it does not list Icarus. Detailed instructions on how to perform a rescan can be found in your host's manual 5.

  • Page 5: Manual Installation For Pc

    Icarus.dll is in. 4. Open your host program. 5. Do a plugin rescan in the host if it does not list Icarus. Detailed instructions on how to perform a rescan are found in your host's manual. 6. Open Icarus. Now the normal user interface appears. If this is not the case, close your host and go back to step 3, as most likely you did not copy the keyfile to the right place.

  • Page 6: Welcome To Icarus

    Simply click on the button - select a wav file - wait for some seconds and Icarus will automatically create a patch, which sounds very similar to the original sound. Optionally you can use the morph modes or the wavetable editor to further shape your sound.
  • Page 7 Vocoder Icarus contains a high-end quality vocoder module with 1024 bands. It's very easy to use: Simply click on 'Vocoder' and select a wav file containing speech, Icarus will analyze this file and automatically create a patch. Optionally, apply one of the morph modes to further shape your sound. Playing the sound forwards, backwards, formant shifting, time-stretching and looping is also possible.
  • Page 8 Picking the sound you want is as easy as it can be. Icarus is ready for any type of music you play! Interface The user-friendly interface makes tweaking accessible to everyone, regardless of skill level or experience.
  • Page 9 Modulation can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Icarus’ modulation system is there to provide whichever modulation routing you require to create your perfect sound. CPU load is always an important factor to consider, especially in light of today's complicated multi-track projects.

  • Page 10: The Icarus User Interface

    Icarus' controls. The Rack View shows just the patch / file management and basic sound editing functions of Icarus – if you’re just loading a patch, or browsing for inspiration, this is all you’ll ever need.

  • Page 11: Top Menu

    ◦ enhance performance and save hard disk space. Reset Midi-learn – Select this option to remove / reset all previously learned midi ◦ CC assignments. Editor button – This button switches Icarus' interface to either Rack or Editor mode. •...

  • Page 12: Patch Display

    Patch Display There are four arrow shaped buttons inside the PATCH BROWSER display window, these buttons allow you to navigate / switch to different patches or patch categories. Arrow Up (next to the Patch name) – loads the previous patch in the current patch •...

  • Page 13: Sound Section

    Browser button • Icarus comes with a comfortable patch browser that allows you to see all patches and patch categories in one window. This gives you an quick overview of all patches available, together with an on-screen keyboard to play your sounds using a mouse.
  • Page 14 Resynthesis button • Icarus comes with a powerful resynthesis feature. Resynthesis means that a sound of your choice is analyzed and reassembled within the synthesizer. Unlike conventional sampling, where the sample is just a simple copy of the original sound, the resynthesized sound is a completely new, but similar sounding patch, which is rebuilt from the scratch.
  • Page 15 As a result you get the cold sound known from additive synthesizers. Later you can use the spectral editor to change the partials and to turn Icarus TIP: into a complete additive synthesizer! ◦...
  • Page 16 Vocoder button • The vocoder module of Icarus offers the highest possible sound quality: It has over 500 bands and ultra fast envelopes. Click on the VOCODER button, select 'Easy create patch: Vocoder Poly' and select a vocal sample or a drumline in wav format.
  • Page 17 (like chords played using a sawtooth wave). If you use a voice as the modulator the output sounds like the sawtooth wave modulated by the filter created by the voice Shop button – The Shop button will take you to Tone2's sound shop, where you can •...
  • Page 18 Pitchwheel – The pitchwheel controls the amount of pitch bend (portamento) applied • to your sound. Volume – The Volume knob provides a master volume control for Icarus. • Vel – The Vel knob controls the amount of keyboard velocity applied to the volume.

  • Page 19: Oscillator Section

    The Oscillator Section Icarus’ oscillators generate tones through a multiple of different methods which can later be shaped by the filters and effects processors. Each of the three available oscillators offer several synthesis methods along with different play modes, wavetables & wave modifiers.
  • Page 20 Icarus will load the waveform to that specific slot. You can also drag & drop several wave files which contain single cycle waveforms (2048 samples length or less) to a slot of the wavetable strip. Icarus will replace all slots, followed by this slot with the new waveforms.
  • Page 21 Drag & Drop on waveform display If you drag & drop a waveform to the large blue waveform display, Icarus will load the waveform to the currently displayed wavetable slot. You can also drag&drop several wave files which contain single cycle waveforms (2048 samples length or less) to the waveform display.
  • Page 22 Init – The Init menu contains several initialization options. • Create Wavetable: Saw Square Sine – Creates a three slot Wavetable that ◦ contains a Saw, Square and Sine wave. Create Wavetable: PWM – Creates a Wavetable using PulseWidth Modulated ◦...
  • Page 23 Undo / Redo – Use the Undo / Redo button to compare and undo changes that you • made within the editor. Copy – Copy the currently selected Wavetable slot. • Paste – Paste your copied slot to the currently selected Wavetable slot. •...
  • Page 24 Mix – The mix menu offers several mix functions, combined with a slider control to • determine how much of the function is applied. Mouse-click on the Mix button to open the Mix menu and use the slider control to set the amount. Mix with copy –...
  • Page 25 Chord 2x by value – Two stacked oscillators play a chord. (Use the value slider ◦ control to set the amount) Chord 3x by value –Three stacked oscillators play a chord. (Use the value slider ◦ control to set the amount) PW by value –...
  • Page 26 Bandpass 2oct by value – Applies a steppy spectral two octave bandwidth filter to ◦ the selection (Use the value slider control to set the amount) Bandstop 1oct by value – Applies a steppy spectral one octave bandstop filter to ◦...
  • Page 27 Waveshape by value – Waveshaping is applied to the selected wave(s) (Use the ◦ value slider control to set the amount) FM Sine by value – The selected wave(s) are FM modulated with a sine wave ◦ oscillator. (Use the value slider control to set the amount) FM Sine 2x by value –...
  • Page 28 Grunge by value – Adds additional harmonics to the selected wave(s). (Use the ◦ value slider control to set the amount) Spectrum – The Spectrum menu offers several spectrum edit functions, combined with • a slider control to determine how much of the function is applied. Mouse-click on the Spectrum button to open the Spectrum menu and use the slider control to set the amount.
  • Page 29 Phase – The Phase menu offers several phase edit functions, combined with a slider • control to determine how much of the function is applied. Mouse-click on the Phase button to open the Phase menu and use the slider control to set the amount. Set to 0 –...
  • Page 30 Resynthesis Note=C1 – Resynthesize from a sample tuned to C1 ◦ Resynthesis Note=C0 – Resynthesize from a sample tuned to C0 ◦ Granular – Creates a wavetable using granular synthesis. In granular synthesis a ◦ sample is divided into small 'grains' with a window function. Vocoder –...
  • Page 31 Wave / Spectrum / Phase Display The Wave/Spectrum/Phase Display section allows you to directly edit, as well as provide you with a visual display of, the current waveform(s) The type of editor display is switchable by either clicking on the Waveform, Spectrum or Phase button.

  • Page 32: Oscillator Top Menu

    An Icarus wavetable is in the common wav file format (16 bit mono) and contains all waveforms in series. Each single-cycle waveform is exactly 2048 samples long. A wav file containing a wavetable with 3 waveforms has a length of 3x2048 samples.
  • Page 33 (less than 2048 samples samplelength) as a waveform to a wavetable. This can be useful to build a drum set or for transient attack sounds. Icarus supports drag & drop of one or several wav files to the 3D display of the TIP: oscillator.
  • Page 34 We have taken care of all the problems. In Icarus you don't have do care about tuning or the content that you load. Simply select a short sample of you choice in wav file format and wait for some seconds.
  • Page 35 Vocoder Morph Mode. The wavetable of the currently selected oscillator is replaced with the new one. The vocoder module of Icarus offers the highest possible sound quality: It has over 500 bands and ultra fast envelopes.
  • Page 36 – This is a very powerful feature which is unique to ◦ Icarus and not available in any other synthesizer. It allows you to apply an unlimited number of morphs to a wavetable! As a result you get an easy access to an literally unlimited number of different wavetables.
  • Page 37 Apply Morph Sweep to current Waveform – This one works similar to the ◦ previous one, but with a little different rendering parameters. The waveform which is currently selected by the WAVE knob is picked. A wavetable with many waveforms, which replaces the old one, is created.
  • Page 38 Modify Wavetable: Denoise – Noise is removed from the wavetable. Sometimes ◦ the resulting wavetable does have more 'character'. If you don't like the results you can undo it with 'Tool->Undo/Redo Wavetable TIP: edit'. Modify Wavetable: Add Noise – Adds some garbage to the wavetable. ◦...

  • Page 39: Waveform Display

    This means that the amount of beating is minimized statistically. As a result you get a sound which suffers from less gain peaks and has more bottom. The Hypersaw oscillators of conventional synthesizers use only sawtooths. In Icarus you can combine this mode with any kind of waveform or wavetable. The detune knob controls the amount of detuning.
  • Page 40 Unison 2 - Two detuned oscillators are stacked. The detune knob controls the ◦ amount of detuning. Unison 2 Stereo - Two detuned oscillators play at the same time. The left oscillator ◦ is tuned up, the right oscillator is tuned down. The detune knob controls the amount of detuning.
  • Page 41 Stack 5:3 - Two detuned oscillators are stacked. The second oscillator plays 1.66 ◦ times higher. The detune knob controls the amount of detuning. Stack 5:4 Major - Two detuned oscillators are stacked. The second oscillator plays ◦ a major third higher. The detune knob controls the amount of detuning. Stack 6:5 Minor - Two detuned oscillators are stacked.

  • Page 42: Morph Modes Menu

    No other synthesizer offers as many playback modes for wavetables as Icarus does. All morph modes are processed in realtime, which means that you hear all changes immediately and you can route any modulation source to MORPH and WAVE within the matrix.
  • Page 43 All other morph modes can be pre-rendered to the wavetable by using 'OSC- >TOOL->Apply Morph to Wavetable' and 'OSC->TOOL->Apply morph sweep to current waveform'. Formant - This mode is useful for speech synthesis, synced sounds and sweeps. ◦ The sound of the wavetable will change in a way that the frequency content sounds similar, no matter what key you press on the keyboard.
  • Page 44 - The wavetable is FM modulated with a square wave oscillator. Please ◦ note that the FM modes in Icarus are real frequency modulation, not PM (phase modulation). Nearly all conventional 'FM' synthesizers (except Tone2 Nemesis) in fact do only PM, which is more easy to process, but doesn't give musically useful sounds on complex waveforms.
  • Page 45 Sync Square Key - Applies hard sync with key tracking to the oscillator. This mode ◦ is useful for synced sounds and sharp sounding sweeps. Use the LFO2 knob to modulate it. TIP: Sync Square - Applies hard sync to the oscillator. This mode is useful for speech ◦...
  • Page 46 Highpass Fade - A spectral highpass filter with at least 80dB is applied to the ◦ wavetable. This filters is exclusive and only available in Tone2 Icarus. Use the LFO2 knob and MORPH to modulate the filter cutoff. TIP: Highpass - A steppy spectral highpass with over 120dB(!) is applied to the ◦...
  • Page 47 Sine Fade - Crossfades the waveform to a sine wave. ◦ You can use this if a waveform doesn't have enough 'bottom' or doesn't sound TIP: 'warm' enough. F0 Cut Fade - Removes the first partial. ◦ You can use this to make a waveform sound more bright. TIP: - Applies pulsewidth modulation to the oscillator.
  • Page 48 PhaseDist Square - Classic Phase Distortion which morphs a sine wave to a ◦ square wave. Select a sine wave and set the LFO2 knob to -100, MORPH to 100. TIP: PhaseDist Double - Phase Distortion which morphs a waveform to a waveform ◦...
  • Page 49 C64. MORPH controls the type of chord. We called this mode 'Jodel' because Tone2 is a company from Bavaria. Set the OCT knob to 0 or -1 to lower the speed of the chord.
  • Page 50 Spirit - The pitch of the oscillators is frequency modulated with noise. This mode ◦ gives a breathy sound. MORPH controls the amount of detuning. Use this mode to build choirs and to make voices sound more natural. TIP: Analog - The oscillator sounds like an analog one.
  • Page 51 It can also be used to build drum sets with short samples. Icarus can handle very complex waveforms. It's even possible to load short TIP: samples (less then 2048 samples samplelength) as a waveform to a wavetable.

  • Page 52: Oscillator Controls

    Oscillator controls The three oscillators have the same general controls. They are: Vol – This knob controls the volume of the oscillator. • Detune – This knob controls the amount of detuning applied to the oscillator. • Oct – knob control allows you to select the pitch octave at which the sample will be •...
  • Page 53 LFO1 – The LFO1 knob is used to determine the amount of modulation LFO1 should • apply to the Wave control. Punch button – Switches the oscillator punch mode to on/off, punch adds a kind of • artificial, zapping, percussive quality to the sound. Keybutton –...

  • Page 54: Filter Section

    The next stop on the audio route is the filter section. Icarus has two identical filters, each with an excellent range of filter types to sculpt your sound. These filter types range from traditional analog Low Pass, High Pass, Notch and Bandpass filters, up to digital ones like Vocal, Phaser, Ringmod, Comb and Fractal filters.

  • Page 55: Filter Top Menu

    Filter top menu Tool – The tool button opens a menu with filter initialization option. • ◦ Reset Filter1 – Resets Filter 1 to its default settings. ◦ Reset Filter2 - Resets Filter 2 to its default settings. ◦ Copy Filter1 to Filter2 – Copy Filter1's settings to Filter 2. ◦...

  • Page 56: Filter General Controls

    Filter general controls The controls are: The Reso (resonance) control knob increasingly alters the characteristic of the filter • the more this value is increased. In traditional analog-style filters (low pass, high pass and band pass filters), the RESO control makes the cut off point more pronounced by increasing the volume of the CUTOFF frequency.

  • Page 57: Filter Display

    This gives you immediate visual feedback on your actions and helps you to learn about the specifics of each of Icarus’ first class and versatile filters. Filter Type Select •...
  • Page 58 Here you have a selection of both classic analog-style as well as digital filters in low pass, band pass and high pass and with multiple slopes – 12dB, 18dB and 24dB. In addition to the analog filters, various EQ filters are available as well as the more unusual filter types such as the Phaser, Combs, Vocal filter, etc.
  • Page 59 12dB of harmonics per octave above the filter cut off frequency. Icarus also features a range of exotic filter types, like Vocal, Phaser, Resample, Ringmod, FM and Fractal filters. Four special Resonator filter types to be used for Physical Modeling...

  • Page 60: Envelope Section

    The Envelope Section The envelope section has four envelopes which can be used to modify many of Icarus’ parameters. Two of the envelopes are ‘hard-wired’; the Volume Envelope is fixed to control the Amplifier and the Filter Envelope controls the Filter.
  • Page 61 Click inside the Envelope display to open a list of pre-set envelope shapes or to reset the TIP: envelope to its default settings. What is an Envelope? An envelope generator allows a synthesizer to mimic acoustic instruments’ properties of changing volume and timbre over time. Traditionally, an envelope generator produced a control voltage that varied over time which could be used to automatically change the filter cut off or amplifier volume.

  • Page 62: Lfo Section

    (20 Hertz). They are used as modulators and are assigned in the Mod Matrix. Icarus has three identical LFOs and a Step LFO. The waveform display shows a visual representation of the waveform. The Step LFO looks slightly different and will be explained separately.

  • Page 63: Steplfo

    In non-BPM Mode – The range will be shown in Hertz (Hz). The range is 0.02 Hz ◦ to 440.1 Hz Mono button – Switches the LFO into Mono Mode. • ENV button – Switches the LFO OneShot Envelope Mode on/off. •...
  • Page 64 In non-BPM Mode – The range will be shown in Hertz (Hz). The range is 0.02 Hz ◦ to 440.1 Hz Mono button – Switches the step LFO into Mono Mode. • ENV button – Switches the step LFO OneShot Envelope Mode on/off. •...

  • Page 65: Arpeggiator

    The Arpeggiator Section Almost a synth by itself, the arpeggiator section holds the key to all of your arpeggio needs. It offers a way to set up your own arpeggios that is both powerful and easy to work with. We developed smart algorithms which return melodies that are more useful musically than conventional arpeggiators.

  • Page 66: Bottom Menu

    It is released when you release the key. Make sure that you don't forget to switch to 'Polyphonic' in Icarus' Setup panel. ◦ Play mode menu – Switches the arpeggiator to a specific play mode. The following modes are available: Default –...

  • Page 67: The Pattern Sequencer

    To set which octave a step should use, click within the 4 octave vertical range of the step. To select semi notes, click-hold & drag the step up or down. Note that Icarus' value readout display (found below the Patch display, will show you which Octave / Semi note value is selected.
  • Page 68 -+ (alt down: GECE GECE) - Sets the play direction of the current slot to 'alternate down and up'. When you play a chord with three notes (C E G) it will start with the highest note G and go 'down'. After that it will continue with the middle note E. When the lowest note C is played it will change the direction to 'up' and the middle note E will follow.
  • Page 69 Special commands SL (start with the lowest note) - Forces a resorting of the notes and the lowest note is played. It can be musically useful to place this command in slot 0 or slots that you want to attenuate. As a result the melody created by the arpeggiator appears less 'chaotic'.

  • Page 70: Modulation Matrix

    (such as LFOs or envelopes) to different destinations (such as the filter, amplifier or even other modulators). Icarus’ modulation Matrix has 18 slots to allow you to make 18 modulation assignments. The procedure for assigning modulation is very simple: 1.
  • Page 71 Modulation Source Selector Menu – If you left-click on one of the modulation source • areas on the Matrix display, a selector menu appears. The menu options are: ◦ Off – No modulation source selected. This is the default selection. ◦...
  • Page 72 ◦ Random – This option selects a new random value when a key is pressed on your keyboard controller. Note that the value will be static until you play a new note when a new random value will be created. ◦...
  • Page 73 ◦ CC16-CC19 - Responds to CC#16 to CC#19 (continuous controllers) as modulation source. ◦ Key Pressed - Applies a On/Off Gate modulation; i.e, on key press its value is 1, on release it's 0. ◦ Key Pressed- - Applies a Off/On Gate modulation; i.e, on key press its value is 0, on release its 1.
  • Page 74 Destination Selection Menu - If you left-click on one of the destination areas on the • Matrix display, a selector menu appears. The menu options are: ◦ Off - No modulation destination selected. This is the default selection. ◦ Volume – The volume of the current layer. ◦...
  • Page 75 ◦ Volume 2 – Selects the Volume setting of Oscillator 2. ◦ Volume 3 – Selects the Volume setting of Oscillator 3. ◦ Pan 1 – Selects the Pan setting of Oscillator 1. ◦ Pan 2 – Selects the Pan setting of Oscillator 2. ◦...
  • Page 76 ◦ Pitch1,2,3 – Selects the Pitch control setting of Oscillator 1, 2, or 3. ◦ Detune 1 – Selects the Detune setting of Oscillator 1. ◦ Detune 2 – Selects the Detune setting of Oscillator 2. ◦ Detune 3 – Selects the Detune setting of Oscillator 3. ◦...
  • Page 77 ◦ Fx1 Par4 – Selects the FX1 Parameter 4 control as destination. ◦ Fx2 Mix – Selects the FX2 Mix control as destination. ◦ Fx2 Par1 – Selects the FX2 Parameter 1 control as destination. ◦ Fx2 Par2 – Selects the FX2 Parameter 2 control as destination. ◦...

  • Page 78: The Setup Section

    The Setup Section The setup section in Icarus covers the general performance settings. Setup options available are: Play Mode – The play mode sets the polyphony of the layer and how Electra2 reacts • to you playing your keyboard controller: ◦...
  • Page 79 ◦ Arp/LFO Free – Uses Free Running mode for the arpeggiator & LFO. ◦ Arp/LFO Softsync – Uses Soft Sync mode for the arpeggiator & LFO. Micro-tuning Modes – Icarus probably comes with the most advanced microtuning • section, which is currently available on the market.
  • Page 80 With classic instruments like organs it is not possible to change the tuning of the voices during playback, however this is possible in Icarus. The 'Dynamic' modes analyze your chords in realtime and detune the voices in a subtle way.
  • Page 81 Dynamic Subtle – Like 'Dynamic Silky' but with less extreme settings. ◦ Dynamic Octaves – Standard tuning with dynamic octave spreading. Thirds and ◦ Fifths are not affected. Valotti – The classic Valotti tuning one of the most popular modes for classic music ◦...

  • Page 82: Effects

    ◦ Load Effect Template – Loads an effect template from disk. ◦ Save Effect Template – Saves an effect template to disk. ◦ FX Template list – This list contains an overview of the templates available from Icarus' 'Icarus_effects' folder.
  • Page 83 1 – Switches to the FX1 slot display. • 2 – Switches to the FX2 slot display. • 3 – Switches to the FX3 slot display. • FEEDB – Switches to the Feedback display. The Feedback feature allows you to •...

  • Page 84: Effect List

    This mode can be used to assign two different effects to two different TIP: oscillators. First select two different effects for FX1 and FX2, for example a reverb and chorus. Then set the PAN knob of OSC1 to -100 to pan it left and set the PAN knob of OSC2 to +100 to pan it right.
  • Page 85 Reverb Spring – Simulates a hardware spring reverb system, which uses a ◦ transducer at one end of a spring and a pickup at the other, similar to those used in plate reverbs Reverb Trance – A reverb specifically tailored for Trance based music styles. ◦...
  • Page 86 Phaser - Creates a series of peaks and troughs in the frequency spectrum. The ◦ position of the peaks and troughs is modulated so that they vary over time creating a sweeping effect. Phaser Stereo - A stereo phaser with a vocalic sound. ◦...
  • Page 87 Waveshape – Waveshaper effect. ◦ Amp Sim - Simulates a guitar amplifier. ◦ Multiband Distortion – A multiband distortion effect. ◦ Degrader - Sample rate reduction effect. ◦ Multiband Degrader - A sample rate reduction effect that operates on multiple ◦...

  • Page 88: Eq - Limiter

    EQ – Limiter Section The EQ section gives a broad tone control over the output, the three controls gives a boost or cut over the low, middle and high frequencies. The EQ consists of six knobs to allow total control over the final output. Tool –...
  • Page 89 Limiter The limiter section applies gain reduction to attenuate (reduce) transients and dynamics, it can be used to stop the signal from clipping or distorting. Limiter controls Thresh – Sets the point (Threshold) at which the automatic volume reduction is •...

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