Tone2 released Electra 3, a major upgrade for its multi-layer multi-engine Synthesizer plugin with new oscillators, effects, modulations, and more.
In March 2024, the Tone2 developers announced they would no longer develop new plugins. However, the German company is not going out of business and will continue to maintain its plug-ins. This is also the case for the Electra 3 multi-engine Synthesizer.
Tone2 has today released Electra 3.3, a free update with new features and improvements.
Tone2 Electra 3 Update 3.3
Electra 3.3 is a free update for existing Electra 3 users. It’s downward compatible with all previous versions. The new features are not major but handy additions to the multi-engine synth.
The user interface now has two additional sizes: Zoom 83% (1500 x 825) ” and Zoom 88% (1575 x 866). Then, you can explore new functionality in the sound browser. A new function improves the visibility of installed sound sets, which are now marked in blue.
Electra 3.3 also now includes hints on how to use the sounds. On the engine side, you can now automate the sustain of the envelopes and the insert and master effects parameters. The ability to modulate effect parameters is a nice extension.
It’s also now possible to install only the VST3 version on Windows. Plus, you benefit from better naming of the automation parameters. According to Tone2, they also slightly enhanced the performance of Electra 3 in version 3.3. Plus, there are various bug fixes.
As already mentioned, it’s not a major update, but it’s positive that the existing plugins are being further developed and maintained.
Tone2 Electra 3.3 is available now as a free download for existing Electra 3.0 users.
Update From May 4, 2024
Good news for Tone2 Electra 3 users. The new free update 3.2 is out now with two new features. It comes with new fat tune clean and fat tune soft functions that make chords sound better.
There also many enhancements, including an improved engine that now sits better in the mix with other instruments. Other improvements are:
- microtuning-range is now limited and can no longer run ‘out-of-tune.
- stability and robustness.
- GUI performance with drag & drop.
- the blue shadow that appeared with drag & drop did confuse some users. It was removed.
- range-clipping makes the envelopes more stable when extreme modulation settings are used.
- enhanced microtuning modes: Analog Heavy, Analog Light and Fat tune soft
- broken patches with invalid dropdown menu values get fixed automatically.
- enhanced parameter-smoothing.
- the mousewheel is more responsive with knobs on the Mac.
- buggy DAWs can not longer crash the plugin by sending garbage midi-note values.
- several small enhancements.
The update 3.2 is now available for existing users.
Article from February 10, 2023
Germany is a big country. One that also has many Synthesizer companies. Among others Waldorf Music, U-he, Nonlinear Labs, and others. Deep in Bavaria, where white sausage and beer are at home, Tone2 has its headquarters.
Besides the somewhat exotic synth Rayblaster, they also sell Electra 2, a multi-engine Synthesizer with a very round “finished” sound mainly popular in EDM productions. Good news: Electra 3 is now ready, a further development with many new features and improvements.
Tone2 Electra 3
Electra 3 continues the concept and instrument where v2 left off. It’s a major update that is fully downward compatible with all previous versions. So you can load all existing projects without problems and benefit from the new features and enhanced sound quality.
In the interface as well as on the synthesis side, the plugin has been significantly expanded. Let’s start with the interface updates.
Interface
Electra 3 features a completely rewritten GUI code giving you 16 different sizes, GUI scaling up to 300%, hardware acceleration, and native support for WQHD, 4K, 5K, and 8K UHD displays. It also has smoother animations, more responsive controls, and ultrasharp graphics, says Tone2.
Nice, the SYNTH button flashes when a layer plays a note. This makes it easier to work with several arpeggiators. Many small improvements give the synth a better, more modern overall look. Also new is an improved patch browser that can be opened by clicking on “browser” or the display on the upper left.
Synthesis
Electra 3 also includes a wide range of new synthesis features that make the plugin more extensive and versatile. The audio engine now uses 64-bit precision instead of 32-bit, which results in higher sound quality while it consumes less CPU.
It ships with new oscillator types, including an 8-bit noise generator, 40 new waves for the custom oscillator, and fresh analog-style oscillators (pulse, saw invert, pulse invert, impulse, sine flip, comb…).
There are also new effects. First, you get two new transient-focused effects: a transient shaper that adds punch and presence and a transient+bass mode that adds presence and dynamic bass presence. Secondly, you can benefit from new reverb types (cold, theater, and hangar). Tone2 also says that they replaced the hall reverb with a better-sounding algorithm and tweaked the other algos to enhance the sound quality.
Then, the modulation engine got a significant makeover. For each of the 4 synth layers, you can now work with a rewritten multistep envelope/LFO with a wide range of waveforms (linear and cubic to left, analog style, sine, cosine, FM, and more.
The built-in arpeggiator also benefits from new major and minor chords as additional key modes, and the stack mode can now handle polyphonic input and duplicate notes. And much more. That was a little summary of what the Electra 3 upgrade includes. The complete list can be found on the developer’s website.
Alongside the new features, Electra 3 ships with 118 additional patches that use the new features. This increase the number of presets to 1439.
A solid upgrade for the Electra synth with a good set of new features. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether the upgrade price is worth it or not.
Tone2 Electra 3 is available now for 149€/$169 USD. Electra 2 and Electra X v1.x owners can upgrade for 79€/$89 USD. The upgrade is free for anyone who bought Electra 2 after December 12th, 2022, directly from the official website.
More information: Tone2
Available at my partner
I’ve used this synth for years, very solid reliable plug in i think.. easy to use the four synths to make interesting layered patches – glad to see it getting an update – which i’ll get when i get some money – and time to make tunes : ))
Electra 3 is a great and unearthly synthesizer with a monumental final sound if you use samples. The waves passed through Electra sound with that Waldorf color, immeasurable quality and a rounded sound like the best Roland synthesizers of the 90’s. Excellent, inexpensive, easy to program and very light to use many instances together, it will surprise you.
i would have preferred a free update for electra 2 users or somewhere around 40-50usd. Its a bit pricey with other alternatives available.