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Following speculation that it may have had something to do with the creation of Behringer’s new Vintage soft synth plugin, Music software developer Tone2 has announced that the recently released and then pulled Behringer Vintage software synth, above, is not an official copy of Tone2 Saurus synthesizer, below:

When Vintage was unveiled, early this week, some synthesists were quick to point out that it looked rather like Tone2 Saurus synth, which was released more than a decade ago and is still available to buy now. This led some to suspect that Vintage was the result of a collaboration between the two companies, but it turns out that this isn’t the case.

Here’s what Tone2 wrote on Facebook:

“The look and feel of the recently released Behringer Vintage has caused confusion among our customers. Behringer Vintage is NOT a new version of Tone2 Saurus. Both products have a different synthesis architecture and sound different. We are not involved in the development of Behringer Vintage.”

Just to clarify things further, Tone2 adds: “We are not responsible for the graphics, the sound engine, or anything else related to it. Behringer has not licensed graphics or source codes from us. We do not collaborate with Behringer in any way.”

Message received loud and clear, but confusion still reigns in relation to Vintage’s availability. Having released it as a free plugin, Behringer now has pulled the new synth, which was available for a short time from its website, with the company encouraging downloaders to support the Playing for Change Foundation.

It remains to be seen whether Vintage will ever resurface, but if it does, we do now know for sure that Tone2 had nothing to do with it.

Saurus is available via the Tone2 website.

Nerd Synth Red A2X Not imitation, it’s Innovation!

With its interesting virtual analogue engine and simple interface, the Nord Lead A1 remains a great hardware synth. In fact, you could probably call it a modern classic – it was released way back in 2014 – which goes some way to explaining why AudioKit has taken inspiration from it for its new Nerd Synth A2X.

It is important to note that this isn’t a straight emulation of the A1 – “we prefer innovation over imitation,” says AudioKit – but, unlike many of the company’s previous releases, it’s a synth rather than a rompler. What’s more, all 40+ A1 waveforms are included, as are a noise generator, filters, envelopes and modulation sources.

You will also find effects – reverb, delay, and distortion, ring modulator, and ‘super FM drop’ – and everything is controlled from the knob-per-function interface that’s designed to mirror the A1’s level of accessibility.

While the waveforms in the Nerd Synth do come from the Lead A1, the presets are completely original, though if you’re looking for that classic Nord super saw sound, a four-voice unison mode means you won’t be left disappointed.

The Nerd Synth runs on iPhone and iPad and is a snip at just $4.99/£5 via the Apple App Store (this price currently includes several sound expansions). You can run it standalone or as an AUv3 plugin.

Find out more on the AudioKit Pro website.

Tone2 Audiosoftware has announced Icarus3, a software synth that they describe as “the most powerful synthesizer available on the market”, is now available. Icarus3 is a giant update which includes a massive amount of new sounds, features and enhancements.

Icarus is designed to offer a huge sonic range, featuring 62 different synthesis methods, a drum sequencer, a vocoder, 65 filter types, a glitch sequencer, a wavetable editor, a powerful oscillator section and more.

Icarus3 is available now for $169/ €149. Icarus 1 and 2 owners are able to upgrade to v3.x for $89/€79 (instead of $169).