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hakey - Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:02 am

Zebralette Patch Contest #2

The synth chosen this month is Zebralette and as it recently became a free synth it seems appropriate that the contest should be freestyle - that's to say that there are no constraints on the type, genre, style of patch that may be submitted.

As ever the prize for this contest is pretty good - a free choice of one nfr* software product from the u-he range!

How to enter

Get Zebralette here.
Simply create one or two patches using Zebralette.
Send your .h2p format patches to bmrzycki, either by PM through this forum (upload the .h2p files to an on-line file share site, such as box.net, and then PM bmrzycki a link), or by email to: brzycki [at] gmail [dot] com.**

Rulez and other important stuff:

A maximum of two patches per person may be submitted.
Patches should be anonymized. Putting a "?" in the "author" field when saving does the trick.
The winning patch will be decided by a vote.
In order to be eligible for the prize patch submitters must vote - no vote no prize!
Try to ensure that your patch does not exhibit significant - ideally no - audio clipping.
Please DO NOT! send any patches to me (hakey). KVR member bmrzycki collects the patches for the contest.
Please DO! carefully read through the instructions under "How to enter" and "Rulez and other important stuff".
The deadline for submissions is 14:00 UTC/GMT November 1st

*not for resale
**PMing bmrzycki is probably the more reliable method - emails have been known to get lost in transit.

The themes for these contests are decided upon by something approaching a democratic/consensual process, so if anyone has ideas for future contests, themes, or just general suggestions, please speak your brains in the "November Patch Contest: suggestions" thread which will appear within the next week or so.

___________________________________________________________________

hakey - Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:03 am

Zebralette Tips

There's a simple EQ within the ModFX unit which can be found under Effects in the bottom LH corner:

Turn ModFX 'On', EQ 'On' and Mix all the way to its left. Sweep the High and Low 'CutFreq' knobs with different amounts of 'Boost' to hear the effect. I guess that used this way they function as high and low shelf EQ stages?
Check the preset UH Resonant Pad for one way to create a swept resonant filter sound without using a filter - it's all happening within the spectromorph waveform.
If that's too complicated there are two OscFX that do conventional subtractive filtering: 'Filter' - a combination of lowpass (negative values) and highpass (positive values) filters, and 'Bandworks' - a combined bandpass (positive) and notch filter (negative).
As the patch info saved with a preset can't easily be read it might be an idea to indicate within the patch name where controller modulation has been assigned - (mw) for modwheel, (at) for aftertouch, (pw) for pitchwheel.
Unlike Zebra, Zebralette's MSEG doesn't have a speed control, but MSEG presets imported from Zebra keep the speed they were originally saved with. Look for MSEG presets with '4th', '8th' and '16th' in their names.
The MSEG can be used as a note sequencer. Set MSEG 'Value Snap' to 12 (right click within the MSEG graph) and have the MSEG selected as the Osc Tune 'Mod', also set to 12.00. Each of the 12 divisions of the MSEG Y axis will now be tuned to a different note of the octave. The effect can be enhanced by modulating volume with a synced downward-sloping saw LFO.
Apart from MSEG, you can get also rhythms by leaving a few Waves blank and modulating WaveWarp with LFO (see e.g. local preset "Gravytrain").
A crude reverb effect can be had using the multitap delay mode with very short delay times (1 to 5% at the 1 sec setting) no 'Feedback', but high (50+) 'X-back'.
The VCA can be switched to gate mode leaving the main EG for something else.
Look for interesting combinations of OSCFX + OSCFX modulations.
RTFM

Other Useful Stuff

Patch Design Tips

General Competition Tips

___________________________________________________________________

GeorgeZ - Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:14 pm

Cool, might give this one a lash again. Wasn't too impressed with my attempt with the first Zebralette comp, to the extent that I ended up not entering it... played with Zebralette a bit more since then, so game on Wink

Bronto Scorpio - Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:17 pm

This will be fun Smile

Cheers
Dennis

IrionDaRonin - Fri Oct 07, 2011 4:02 pm

Thanks for these amazing contests, U-he.

It's nice to have some oportunities, for others and me, in the musical world to get these big synths for people without money and legit.

I already sent my patches.

Have fun making patches as i do while learning synthesis and good luck everyone. Smile

hakey - Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:24 am

@ the three previous posts Thumbs Up!

hakey - Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:25 am

If anyone has any good Zebralette specific hints and tips I'll put them in the second post.

Howard - Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:48 pm

hakey wrote:

If anyone has any good Zebralette specific hints and tips I'll put them in the second post.

A couple of "tricks" people might not have discovered:
1) The Chorus effect contains Zebralette's global "EQ" - learn how to use it well.
2) Apart from MSEG, you can get also rhythms by leaving a few Waves blank and modulating WaveWarp with LFO (see e.g. local preset "Gravytrain").

3ee - Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:28 pm

hakey wrote:

If anyone has any good Zebralette specific hints and tips I'll put them in the second post.

- Even though Zebralette doesn't have a filter, that doesn't mean you can't get a pretty cool filtered-type sound. This can be done in several ways:
1 - modulating the "filter" OSCFX.
2 - Draw waveforms and modulate the wavewarp to resemble a normal VS filtered wave. (use what oscillator mode you are familiar with atm, the result can be achieved with all oscillator wave modes)

-If this isn't obvious enough, the VCA can be switched to gate mode leaving the main EG for something else.

-To get the most of it: find cool combinations of OSCFX + OSCFX modulations.

-If possible (usually applicable), assign the Modulation Wheel or ... something to change the sound in a way or another (preferable suiting the initial patch idea or just standard pitch modulation or whatever)

-Play, have fun, avoid the "superwave" osc mode if not necessary, discover the magic of a SINGLE ZEBRA OSCILLATOR! (remember: the OSCFX are real time spectral alterations based on the waveform and wave mode... and obviously the oscillator effect Smile

)

-Usually, use the build-in effects as a final touch and don't overuse them.

-Finally, optimize the patch to better suit the patch result you are after.. i.e bass, lead, pad , keys, FX or something else, this includes some extra final " objective" tweaks and the overall patch loudness as well.

PS If you think you've done a great patch, don't just rush and submit it right away... give it some hours rest and you might fix or change something for the better once you get back.

Hope this helps a bit,
Cheers,
3ee

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:36 am

Howard wrote:

The Chorus effect contains Zebralette's global "EQ"=

Is my thinking about high and low shelf EQ stages right (see the first point in the second post)?

Howard - Sun Oct 09, 2011 1:28 am

hakey wrote:

Is my thinking about high and low shelf EQ stages right (see the first point in the second post)?

Sure - trial and error is best Smile

BTW typo "If that's two complicated" > "too"

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 1:39 am

Howard wrote:

BTW typo "If that's two complicated" > "too"

IrionDaRonin - Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:25 am

I have a doubt.
When you open your own patch, the properties text doesn't show?

I mean that zone where you put the description of the patch, etc. I can't see them when open patches.
There is any way to see them?

Have a good day Smile

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:50 am

IrionDaRonin wrote:

I mean that zone where you put the description of the patch, etc. I can't see them when open patches.
There is any way to see them?

The only way to see the patch information (author, description, usage) is by clicking on 'save patch' in the 'presets' section.

IrionDaRonin - Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:54 am

hakey wrote:

The only way to see the patch information (author, description, usage) is by clicking on 'save patch' in the 'presets' section.

Thanks Hakey Wink

Have a good day Smile

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:41 am

Looking at Zebralette .h2p files in Notepad it seems like there may be some hacking potential - stuff like LFO1 Rate, Osc1 key tracking, velocity and key tracking for the envelope stages... I'm sure there's more. Wink

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:48 am

...there is - all the MSEG controls that you see in Zebra: velocity, attack, loop, release, time unit, trigger.

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 9:02 am

Thinking about it, the easiest way to access hidden parameters is to program within Zebra using only Osc1, LFO1, LFOG1 and MSEG1, and save the results as an Oscillator preset which can then be reopened and tweaked in Z'lette.

3ee - Sun Oct 09, 2011 9:08 am

hakey wrote:

HAHA.. didn't thought that was possible!

Bronto Scorpio - Sun Oct 09, 2011 9:30 am

Awesome!

Cheers
Dennis

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:22 am

hmm... in the ModFX (#cm=ModFX1) part of an h2p file there's a Q1 and a Q2. They don't seem to match any accessible parameter in ModFX, so I wonder what they're for?

Q adjustment for the EQ? Confused

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:35 am

Haha! Just realised that you can program a user pattern for LFO1 in Zebra and then import to Z'lette inside an oscillator preset. Wink

Bronto Scorpio - Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:43 am

hakey wrote:

Haha! Just realised that you can program a user pattern for LFO1 in Zebra and then import to Z'lette inside an oscillator preset. Wink

Even more awesome Smile

Cheers
Dennis

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:50 am

scratch that last one - it doesn't work.

I thought lfo and env settings were saved with an oscillator preset, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

oh well...

hakey - Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:53 am

So here's a hack that works:

Open a Z'lette h2p file. Scroll down until you find the LFO1 parameters and change

#cm=LFO1
Sync=-2
Trig=1
Wave=8
Phse=0.00
Rate=186.00
Amp=100.00
Nstp=4
Stps=11
UWv=0
Dly=0.00
DMS1=0
DMD1=100.00
FMS1=0 change to FMS1=1
FMD1=00.00 change to eg FMD1=7.00

Mod wheel will now be routed to increase LFO rate.

Bronto Scorpio - Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:57 am

Awesome!

Thanks for the tricks hakey! Keep 'em coming! I'm way to lazy to figure them out myself HiHi

Cheers
Dennis

hakey - Sun Oct 16, 2011 12:15 pm

Two weeks to go bump!

Looks like this will be the last contest until 2012, so make the most of it. Wink

hakey - Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:42 am

10 days to go bump. Wink

If anyone's interested here's a load of oscillator wavesets I came up with whilst playing with Zebralette (feel free to use them in the contest):

Zebra Wavesets

It's a bit of a mixed bag - some 'chorded' geomorph wavesets and some mathsy experiments with harmonics in spectroblend (have I seen the "Harmonic Saws I" idea somewhere else, perhaps in one of Howards patches?).

bmrzycki - Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:43 am

We have 3 participants right now. I'm hoping to see a few more, especially since it's a free synth, anyone can make a sound!

IrionDaRonin - Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:05 am

hakey wrote:

I'm trying to do that, but it seems i got some issues with the Mod Wheel in FL Studio 10 for any reason i don't know.

I hacked one patch i made, loaded into Zebralette, but when i press up the Mod wheel in my EMU X-Board49 i can't hear or perceive any changes in the sound.

Anyone knows about this? Confused

Have a good day Smile

Sendy - Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:27 am

Haven't read the whole thread, but if this is a Zebralette patch contest, surely using Zebra is kinda-sorta cheating a little bit? I suppose it depends if the competition is for a sound that "works" in Zebralette, or a sound "made" with Zebralette.

Anyway, I'll play the competition game thingy! The last one was kinda exciting (I don't get out much).

hakey - Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:37 am

IrionDaRonin wrote:

I hacked one patch i made, loaded into Zebralette, but when i press up the Mod wheel in my EMU X-Board49 i can't hear or perceive any changes in the sound.

Anyone knows about this? Confused

Difficult to say without seeing the patch (and if it's a patch you're considering submitting for the contest don't upload it in this thread).

It might be that you've entered an amount that's not recognised, perhaps because it's beyond the normal range of values.

Try FMD of 1.50 - that's a value that works in one of my patches.

(I think FMS = Frequency Modulation Source, ie which controller is to be assigned; and FMD = Frequency Modulation Depth, ie how much modulation is applied.)

Also you may have inadvertently changed something that you shouldn't, eg by adding a space where there should be none, misplacing a decimal point etc.

Sendy - Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:38 am

Just sent my entry in via email... Hope that's OK I'll have you!

I HOPE I WYNN! hyper

hakey - Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:43 am

Sendy wrote:

I suppose it depends if the competition is for a sound that "works" in Zebralette, or a sound "made" with Zebralette.

Hmm, yeah, I think it's just a design patches for Zebralette contest, which could be interpreted either way.

TBH I can't see how using Zebra gives anyone a hugely unfair advantage (and if you're referring to some of the ideas I posted on the last page - the really interesting ones, like the extra LFO functions, don't work in Z'lette, as I went on to explain Embarassed

).

There's nothing in the rules saying that Zebra shouldn't be used. Shrug

hakey - Sat Oct 22, 2011 11:45 am

Sendy wrote:

Just sent my entry in via email... Hope that's OK

The good news is you've got slightly more than a week to submit another. Wink

hakey - Sat Oct 22, 2011 12:29 pm

Seeing as my post quickly got buried on the last page, here's a load of Zebra/lette wavesets I came up with: Zebra Wavesets

bmrzycki - Mon Oct 24, 2011 5:44 pm

We still only have 4 entrants. That deadline is coming up quick.

hakey - Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:23 am

bmrzycki wrote:

We still only have 4 entrants. That deadline is coming up quick.

Yep, one week to go (+4hrs) to go.

A quick show of hands: who, who hasn't already done so, thinks that they are likely to submit patches?

I'm definitely contributing two. Anybody else?

IrionDaRonin - Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:41 am

Hakey, don't worry about my Modwheel problem anymore, it's a known problem with FL Studio + external MIDI controllers, which doesn't auto-accept MIDI Modwheel thing with third party plugins (and probably with first party neither, but i didn't tested yet), so you need to make it works manually and sort a couple of things first to make it work, etc.

I will forget about to make a Mod Wheel hack thing then and i will be sticked with my actual patches Shrug

Anyway i don't have too much time this month.

I hope more people comes.
For some reason all people are very busy, even in OSC we didn't got too many entries this month for now.

Where are the people? Picnic? Mad

Have a good day Smile

hakey - Tue Oct 25, 2011 5:09 am

IrionDaRonin wrote:

I hope more people comes.
For some reason all people are very busy, even in OSC we didn't got too many entries this month for now.

I'd be surprised if we didn't get a reasonable turnout this month with Z'lette being a free synth and all.

There seem to be a good number of views for this thread, which is often a fair indication of how many people will take part. And there is still a week to go (like me, plenty leave it until the last moment to submit patches).

Gino Cortesi - Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:00 am

I missed the last contest on ACE, but I'll try to get an entry in for this one. I definitely enjoy playing with Z'lete.

Best regards,

Gino

Bronto Scorpio - Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:38 am

Wheeeee! I just finished my first Zebralette patch Smile

Maybe I'll make one more.

Cheers
Dennis

hakey - Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:02 am

Bronto Scorpio wrote:

Wheeeee! I just finished my first Zebralette patch Smile

Maybe I'll make one more.

(I have three pretty decent patches so far - should have argued more forceably for abandoning the two patch limit...)

Bronto Scorpio - Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:28 am

hakey wrote:

Bronto Scorpio wrote:

Wheeeee! I just finished my first Zebralette patch Smile

Maybe I'll make one more.

(I have three pretty decent patches so far - should have argued more forceably for abandoning the two patch limit...)

I just finished my 2nd patch Smile

I'll leave it at that now. I'll have a look at them again in a few days though. Maybe I can still improve some small things Smile

Btw: Is it already possible to choose DIVA as the prize?
I'm whining since months how much I want MFM2 HiHi

but I really want DIVA too
Confused

Not that I think that I have a chance to win (I have a feeling that there will be many awesome patches this time) but it would be nice to know nontheless!

Cheers
Dennis

hakey - Wed Oct 26, 2011 1:47 am

Bronto Scorpio wrote:

Is it already possible to choose DIVA as the prize?

I hope so. I chose it as my prize a couple of month's ago. Wink

Quote:

Not that I think that I have a chance to win

I don't see why. You came tantalizingly close last time. Smile

(Have you not won a contest yet?)

Bronto Scorpio - Wed Oct 26, 2011 1:53 am

hakey wrote:

Bronto Scorpio wrote:

Is it already possible to choose DIVA as the prize?

I hope so. I chose it as my prize a couple of month's ago. Wink

Quote:

Not that I think that I have a chance to win

I don't see why. You came tantalizingly close last time. Smile

(Have you not won a contest yet?)

I was always very close but I never won. I could have won 1 time if I remember correctly. If I'd have voted for patches wich had less points then mine but I still voted for my favorites.

If I would have "cheated" I'd feel bad every time I use my prize HiHi

Cheers
Dennis

hakey - Wed Oct 26, 2011 2:14 am

^if there was a prize for perseverance... Wink

bmrzycki - Wed Oct 26, 2011 5:37 am