I'll be interested to hear your opinions on it. I don't play guitar so I tend to just process other signals in the box. I do know that guitar weenies get obsessed about pedals and stompboxes though and would be interested on your thoughts for XMF as a guitar processor. Be sure to try the "diff" mode too, you can get some really interesting harmonics with that setting.thelizard wrote:I really love Zebrify, but you know what? I don't think I've ever tried the XMF on my guitar. I'm going to have to try that when I get back to my apartment after the holidays (I don't fly with my guitar anymore after how... ummm... "polite" the TSA is).
I agree that the shapers are a bit on the "tame" side. If you're familiar with hardware modulars, they remind me of the Doepfer A-136, which does a great job of mutating simpler waveforms from oscillators, but has trouble doing very much of interest with complex signals. The Virus runs the spectrum of aggression, and tops it off with a few stompbox algorithms as well (these were added this year, I think).[/quote]Urs has said in the past distortion and compression are two areas he doesn't feel he's a domain expert on. I recall him saying he actually hired someone else to create some distortion algs for him. Given the rough year he had + this new Amazona.de Tyrell + Uhbik-X + Bazille who knows when it'll actually come to Zebra. So unless the OP is deeply interested in the Virus' distortion or Granular synthesis modes I'd say Zebra would easily have him covered sound-wise. The price is also a nice differentiator.
Now this is something that no VST could do. That and the immediacy of the interface feedback cannot be easily replicated even with laptop+midi controller. As long as you felt it's money well invested, it is. BTW, does the TSA give you crap about the virus? I'm sure a giant, heavy, electronic device with dozens of knobs is sure to raise their eyebrows.thelizard wrote:I can use the Virus away from the computer. I once spent a vacation home with just Guitar->Virus->Headphones. That's not me saying "This is why the Virus is 'better' than VSTs". It's more or less why I've grown to use it in more situations (that, and it cost me a crapton of money )
I always forget about Runciter! It sits in my plugin folder just betting to be used too... And I thought distortion was just analog-style overdrive of the input signal. But then again, Urs calls Runciter a digital filter...So who knows. I do think it sounds very nice on drum loops.thelizard wrote:I *have* used Runciter a whole lot on guitar, more as distortion (or is it technically overdrive?) and less as a filter. That one sounds really cool when used pre-chain with Guitar Rig.