iZotope releases Iris amazing new softsynth

If you have not seen this yet check it out:
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/iris/

This is a dare I say a revolutionary new soft synth from iZotope.
This takes things into new territory as it uses the technology behind their advanced Spectragrams that appear in their RX2 and Ozone 5 products and allow you to interact with them in totally new ways.
They also make fantastic use of their Radius time stretching technology as well to create a wildly refreshing approach to sound design.
The price point also seems to be pretty good as well.

Have fun.

My good friend Philz may just get excited about this.

Wow, cool. I'd do stuff like that non-realtime in Adobe Audition's spectal editor. Audition would also let you export/import the spectral images to/from photoshop and you could get some really interesting sounds from photoshop. I'd love to be able to do it realtime.

yorolpol

You would be surprised at the number of musicians who would make use of such a synth. i know Cakewalks forums are heavily guitar based musicans, so the crowd here would have little use.  However, in dance music genres where resampling is par for the course, this has potential to be huge.

Wow, that looks pretty cool.. nice to see a fresh innovation then more of the same old with a different take on the GUI

 I like the idea that you can drop any .Wav file in there and design a new sound.....here's some info from their site:

KEY FEATURES

• Discover what's inside any sound: Load audio into Iris and explore spectral details that a regular waveform locks away.
• Highlight what intrigues you: Extract and isolate the most interesting sonic components with a full suite of visual selection tools.
• Combine the unthinkable: Layer completely diverse sound sources into totally unique combinations... what do a tattoo needle and a swamp bird and a slot machine sound like together?
• Stay musical: Rely on intelligent root note detection to help shape musical material from noise, ambient textures, soundscapes... even mistakes!
• Enhance and invigorate your sound: Apply world-class iZotope reverbs, distortions and delays, then take advantage of extended synth features like amp envelopes and LFOs.
• Get amazing sounds immediately: Spark your imagination with over 500 patches by world-class sound designers, or design your own with Iris's 4 GB library of diverse sound samples.
  

Sound advice

Iris is ideal for anyone seeking a completely fresh take on sampling and synthesis, particularly sound designers and composers working on music and sound for film, television and video games. With over 500 intensely creative patches available for immediate use, Iris is also perfect for any musician dreaming of diverse and compelling new sounds.
If your old sample libraries are looking dusty and tired, revive and rejuvenate the material by bringing it into Iris. Breathe new life into every audio file in your collection... blend the scream of raccoon with a howling wind and your favorite vintage synth pad for a sublime new texture. Take the sounds of a swarming bee hive, a rattling conveyor belt, and a sampled cello to create new musical ambiences. With Iris, you can find music in everything!

Looks interesting - I've played around with Alchemy's ability to import images and use the with the spectral synthesis editor and come up with some very interesting sounds.  Any new and interesting ways to create music is always a welcomed thing to me. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V4F92_-bHKM

I laugh so I almost peed in my pants... useful sounds....not... hahahaha...
perhaps useful if you into making songs to the neighbours dogs..... whooling.... hahaha
 
Sure I get the idea but I have Omnisphere and Spectrasonic has done this already thousand times better and more sophisticated and advanced then this product. If you don't have check out Omnisphere I recommend you do...

http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omnisphere.php

Concept : excellent ...

sounds  = Sound design  , intros , bridges ...breaks ....

Cons : some more GB lost on HDD .....

Might get it ...

I found this someone posted on the KVR forum... 

The guy first posted the samples he used and then what he did with them..
it's quite musical for all those who are saying it's only good for soundscapes etc.

http://soundcloud.com/jgeer/iris-examples

Nothing like striking while the iris is hot http://www.groove3.com/str/iris-explained.html $19.99

dubdisciple


i find it fascinating how different the reaction to this synth is contrasted to forums that have a greater diversity of musical styles. 

Yeah, we're all just a bunch of Rubes'
 
I would say, (IMNSHO) if you're not a sound designer? I echo the comments of others who've said, why not use any one of the myriad good synths out there already? Especially since we all own several... I don't need to grab a sample and twiddle this, and tweak that? I mean, "it's a synth?" Load it, and play it... And no I'm not "just a guitarist?" I play guitar (guilty) but I'm a pretty decent keys player too? I'm sure things like this are cool for some, but for most? People don't want to take (read waste) the time to get in to the guts of an interface to tweak a particular synth sound when there are "thousands" of excellent synths out there? And again, many of us have several good synths already?
 
It's just an opinion, everyone has one, and like noses? They all smell...
 
And P.S.? I'm no Izotope bigot... I have Ozone 3 and 4, and Alloy, and RX. I am a HUGE fan of Izotope SW! They rock, and they rock "HARD!" I believe Izotope makes some of the best, most essential plugs out there.
 
But it's not like getting a really really nice GUITAR! LOL!

No I didn't mean you were implying that we're all Rubes'? I'm saying we are :-) LOL! And there's no guitar, like a new "really nice" guitar! :-D If you don't play guitar? You just can't understand... All of those keyboard forums just don't get it. Guitars rule? Keyboards drewl...

I feel safe in saying that after using the full version and library for one day this is the best and easiest sound design tool I have ever seen. And that no one else is going to use it is just better for those of us who understand that. IE - we have an edge over the competition.

Some may not know about the complex inner workings of some instruments and even if you don't you can still use these instruments and use them well. But if you are someone that does, then it will become very apparent that IRIS is one such instrument that could throw a very fresh take on synthesis and how sounds are created.

Omnisphere cannot do what IRIS does (so logically therefore it is NOT 1000 times better) and so too IRIS will not be able to create sounds in the same way Omnisphere does. That is what is exciting about owning several instruments that use very different approaches to making sound. It is stupid to compare them.

Another amazing instrument is Native Prism and what is interesting about that one is that it can make some very original sounds but I have found it can sound like Omnisphere as well (some of the time!) and it does it all without using samples. The way that instrument moves the harmonic structure around is very unique. (Unlike most I am sure) We have to move into an age of creating sound in a much smarter way, we need to leave the 40Gig sample library concept behind.

Although IRIS is using samples as its raw materials I imagine the size of the library will be considerably smaller. It is going to be what you do with the programming that is going to add the interest into the sound. It is not just restricted to sound design sounds at all. It comes with a lot of straight ahead notes that can be altered in a lot of ways but still create very musical and usable sounds in normal musical contexts.

But I think the real power of IRIS is its ability to import your own raw materials and recordings etc. Something Omnisphere cannot even do. Even Alchemy can do that as well. That is one serious instrument too. I love Alchemy!

Some may think that IRIS is creating sound from an image and it is except the image originates as a sound. But I love the idea of altering that image and hearing the result and in real time too.

This is a very interesting instrument and it is a true image to sound converter. It is called Coagula. It is a very small program and it is free as well.

http://hem.passagen.se/rasmuse/Coagula.htm

The concept here is that you draw or create an image and that is rendered to an audio file. The more interesting the image the more interesting the sound. I have created breathtaking complex sounds from this instrument. If you do get into this, try rendering over much longer periods eg 100 seconds instead of 2 seconds. (start with short renders though) You can add filters to your visual creations and also import images and also render those to audio. It is also very stereophonic too. Here is something to think about. Imagine creating an incredible sound with Coagula and importing that into IRIS and take it way further. Almost unimaginable!

IRIS is not for those who want and need straight ahead sounds for straight ahead music. There are plenty of synths around that can do that well. It is going to shine for those who are prepared to put the time in and make the sounds much more interesting than that. I am going to get it for sure!