iZotope discontinues Iris 2 Synthesizer, BreakTweaker drum machine, and Trash 2 distortion plugins and offers limited technical support.
Somehow the companies of the new company bundle Soundwide have not been so positive in media in recent times. First, NI discontinued Absynth 5, then no news about PPG plugin comebacks for 2 years, and now there is bad news from iZotope as well.
The US-based company is primarily known for its smart mixing/mastering and audio repair products. But they also have some novel instruments and effects in their range. Three of these: Iris 2, BreakTweaker, and Trash 2 have been officially discontinued today.
iZotope Discontinues Iris 2, BreakTweaker, And Trash 2
However, this step had been foreseen for a long time. There have been no updates for any of the three plugins for a long time. It’s a pity that these plugins are being dropped. All three are special and interesting sound design tools. I especially enjoy the Iris 2 and BreakTweaker plugins.
Iris 2 is a unique sample Synthesizer that combines sample playback with ideas of additive synthesis and resynthesis. It offers fours layers in which you can load an audio file. Instead of simply layer and play back files like a traditional sampler, Iris 2 had the ability to mangle audio files in a novel way.
You could paint in the audio files and play only certain spectra of a file. It looked like granular synthesis, but it was a special form of resynthesis. The results were particularly suitable for atmospheric textures.
BreakTweaker, on the other hand, is a drum machine with an experimental approach. It was developed in collaboration with BT. The core is based on wavetable synthesis and samples. The built-in sequencer is more exciting. In addition to classic TR-style sequences, you can dive deep into the step programming. As deep as I know it from any drum machine.
For example, you could program glitches, and provide steps with granular or spectral similar MIDI effects. You could design sequences that were well within the realms of experimental or IDM music. Very special and a pity that the idea was not further developed.
The Future
All three plugins have no future. iZotope has removed all three plugins from the online shop and are no longer available for purchase. Support for these products will remain in effect for 12 months from your date of purchase.
There will be support but it will be minimal. If you have purchased these products through iZotope.com within the last 12 months, they will continue to provide you with technical support and updates to address critical issues that arise for up to 12 months from your purchase date. The support period for these products will, however, end on October 27, 2023, for all users.
Furthermore, the developers will not test the plugins on new operating systems like macOS Ventura after October 27, 2022. Here is the reason why they are discontinuing the plugins:
iZotope is continually developing new products, services, and solutions to enable and innovate on journeys in audio production. We occasionally need to retire older products in order to focus our resources and development efforts on building new, innovative products and features.
Important: this step will not change anything about your licenses. Plugins remain owned here and can still be downloaded from the iZotope website. However, there are no more updates.
With this major step, three other interesting plugins die that I really like. Too bad. RIP iZotope Iris 2, BreakTweaker, and Trash 2. Hey iZotope, how about making the three plugins open-source so that we can keep them?
More information here: iZotope
fk the izotop wont buy any plugins from them anymore. I meant to buy Ozon10 changed my mind..:D
What a great idea to pass these great plugins on to enthusiasts!
Izotope has a couple of smart people at the top, and there is some real talent in the programming end of the company, but for some time now the business and support people have not impressed me as either bright or much concerned with what customers want or need. These products were release with a huge flourish, but they started feeling abandoned very early on – for no obvious reason. It seems when you’re pumping producers for money for utility and editing software with frequent marginal updates at discounted prices, there’s no time for creative products. At least, not at Izotope – which is a shame.
This isn’t about all the “new products” Izotope (or ¡Zotope!) has been developing, that is certain. It’s the cynical turn the business model took a few years ago.
If you’re not selling these plugins anymore, why not give them away. That might help restore confidence in iZotope.
They discontinue these plugins I made sacrifices to buy………I discontinue my support for Izotope and give my monbey to other developers who understand customer loyalty.
Not only did they do this, but they also binned the standalone component of ozone 10 advanced, leaving only the VST3. I tried to use the VST3 in a few DAWs and had 5 second of visual lag, on 2 different PCs.
They’ll never get another penny from me.