Icarus 3

Extremely powerful high-end Synthesizer Workstation

Icarus is an epic synthesizer and a must-have for producers and sound designers. This award-winning workstation is incredibly versatile, offering a vast sonic range and producing both classic and unique sounds. Its audio engine features over 30 synthesis methods, a drum sequencer, vocoder, 65 filter types, a glitch sequencer, wavetable editor, and powerful oscillators. Re-synthesis can recreate any sound with a click, and the intuitive interface provides visual feedback and context-sensitive help. With over 2000 professional sounds, Icarus delivers high-end quality with low CPU usage.

Sounds

Icarus comes with over 2000 hand-picked sounds from professional designers, each meticulously crafted and pre-mastered for easy mixing. These sounds sync perfectly with your DAW’s tempo and are not sampled, saving disc space and ensuring top sound quality. The intuitive patch browser lets you quickly find and audition sounds, organize favorites, and explore additional pro soundsets. Get inspired and create unique tracks effortlessly!

Features Overview

• Patch Browser: The patch browser gives you instant access to a large and inspiring library. The patches are organized into categories to help you find the right sound quickly and easily. You can tag your favorites with a ranking system. An on-screen keyboard lets you audition the sounds. Get inspired by many signature sounds and create unique tracks quickly!

• User-friendly interface: Icarus is a versatile and user-friendly tool with a wide sonic range and animated displays that provide visual feedback. It features context-sensitive tooltips and an accessible interface, making it easy to use for all skill levels. The GUI is customizable, with 26 sizes, five scales, and the ability to hide elements. It supports WQHD, 4K, 5K, and 8K UHD displays with HiDpi and Retina Display compatibility. You can also choose from 37 color schemes for the interface.

• Synthesis: High-End Sound Quality with Low CPU Usage. Icarus synthesizer offers top-tier sound quality with minimal CPU load, powered by advanced algorithms. It supports over 30 synthesis methods, including 3D and classic wavetables, analog and subtractive synthesis, FM with up to 6 operators, hypersaw/supersaw, sample playback, additive and granular synthesis, phase-distortion, formant synthesis, and PWM with any waveform. It also features resynthesis, vocoder, waveshaping, ring-modulation, oscillator sync, noise, lo-fi, and physical modeling. Icarus stands out with exclusive and innovative synthesis modes, making it a versatile and groundbreaking instrument.

• Filters: Icarus3 features an exceptional filter section with 65 unique types from over 300 developed by Dipl. Inf. Univ. M. Krause over 15 years. Many filters are exclusive, offering unique sounds. It includes two modular stereo filter blocks with flexible routing and multi-mode options, plus two stereo distortion sections with 15 modes each. An animated display simplifies sound tweaking by showing the frequency response. The available filters include a variety of low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, and equalizer options, as well as vocal filters, comb-filters, fractal-filters, ring-modulation types, physical-modeling resonators, and LoFi effects.

• Oscillators: Icarus3 offers versatile oscillators with modes like classic wavetables, FM, additive, hypersaw, granular, and more, all of which can be combined. It features three true stereo oscillator blocks for a wider sound and supports easy import/export of custom samples and waveforms. The hypersaw mode includes up to 16 detuned oscillators with advanced stereo processing and phase control, avoiding phasing and volume issues. Additive synthesis extends the sonic range, handling any waveform without common volume peaks.

• Wavetables: Icarus3's 3D Wavetable Synthesis provides unique sound creation with a 'morph dimension' and 54 morph modes, offering exclusive synthesis methods not available elsewhere. Its advanced wavetable editor features over 100 tools for creating and tweaking wavetables, including noise reduction, spectral modification, and waveform drawing. The random generator and open WAV format ensure easy creation and compatibility, with all wavetables saved automatically within your patches and songs.

• Arpeggiator: The included arpeggiator in Icarus3 effortlessly generates inspiring melodies. Simply input notes into the Note Sequencer to get started. It features advanced options like Glides, Swing & Shuffle, Smart Note Sorting, and Matrix Integration, offering precise control over play direction and velocity. Auto Chord aids in faster production, and numerous ready-made pattern templates are available if you prefer not to program your own.

• Drums: Icarus2’s drum sequencer is an X0X-style module with diverse drum sounds, 100 professional patterns, and advanced features like swing, shuffle, and effect send. It supports sample importing, auto-stretching WAVs to match BPM, and ultra-fast envelopes for punchy tracks. Additionally, it functions as a multi-timbral synthesizer with pitch-tracking and intelligent auto accompaniment for fitting bass lines.

• Resynthesis: Icarus features a cutting-edge re-synthesis engine that rebuilds sounds with a single mouse click. Unlike traditional methods requiring complex editing and tuning, Icarus’ innovative algorithms quickly produce high-quality results. Just click 'Re-synthesize,' select a WAV file, and Icarus creates a patch matching the original sound. You can then shape the sound further with morphing, BPM synchronization, filters, and effects. It also supports traditional sample import, auto-tuning, and granular playback. All content is saved automatically within your patches and songs, eliminating concerns about missing files.

• Vocoder and vocals: Icarus makes adding vocals easy with advanced speech synthesis. Choose a vocoder patch to generate tuned, synchronized vocal chants. The 1024-band vocoder also lets you create phrases from speech WAV files, and you can further shape the sound with morphing, filters, effects, and features like formant shifting and BPM-sync.

• Effects: Icarus offers a flexible effects section with 57 effects, feedback, and a limiter, all modular and saveable. The Ducking module clears up mixes, while an equalizer with dynamic bass and real-time display enhances sound. It also includes a glitch-sequencer for modern effects and microtuning that automatically detects the key for improved chords.

• Modulation: Add dynamic movement to your tracks by dragging an LFO onto a knob to modulate parameters at audio speed. The modulation matrix allows precise linking of various sources, such as LFOs, envelopes, and MIDI signals, to any sound parameter. Icarus3 includes two versatile multistage envelope generators (MSEGs) that can function as LFOs or envelopes, supporting BPM sync, arpeggiator sync, and precise shape editing. You can create custom shapes, define loop points, and adjust parameters with ease. Additionally, Icarus3 supports MPE (Midi Polyphonic Expression) for enhanced dynamic expression and features MIDI Learn for easy CC assignment.

Mac: 

• macOS 10.12 or higher
• 64-bit
• Native support for Apple Silicon

Windows:

• Windows 7 or higher
• 64-bit