KVR Audio

Xenos · Post by **Xenos** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:26 pm

I vote both. Absynth is definitely _MADE_ for exotic ambient/experimental soundscapes, and has the advantage of mangling your own samples, but it has one hell of a nasty learning curve. Zebra, on the other hand, is much easier to use, yet is still quite a powerful beast. It'll still make just about any non-sample-based sound you can imagine.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:05 am

A few Zebra sounds (each 1 preset)

http://draigathar.org/sounds/Solardrop.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/Sitoz.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/rapt2.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/ZTrain.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/DroneA.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/Zdisto.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/emerging1.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/Zebra75.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/Zebraz1.mp3

hollo · Post by **hollo** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 3:53 am

Great stuff pdxindy!

OK then. If you are still lazy enough to finish your Zebra soundset,
- i will buy many of them from you for the next Padsheaven bank.

Deal?

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 6:46 pm

hollo wrote:Great stuff pdxindy!

OK then. If you are still lazy enough to finish your Zebra soundset,
- i will buy many of them from you for the next Padsheaven bank.
Deal?

I've been busy banging my head against the wall on a wordpress development project... learning how to customize stuff when I'm not a coder

Sparky77 · Post by **Sparky77** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 7:13 pm

Sendy wrote:Just an aside... Is there something inherent about ambient type music which makes using presets seem kinda lame? Given that ambient tracks aren't so much about what notes you play (a drone for example is just a note or interval held down for minutes) but rather the design of the sounds and the impact created with their combination and layering.

I knew someone who wanted to make an ambient album using all the presets in Absynth. They were like "I can just hold down this key and make an ambient track" and I was like "OMG that's lame, learn sound design or don't bother", because really what's the point in making something anyone else can make?#

Sure, if a preset drone fits your work, use it.. and if you're making traditional instrumental music you're bringing novelty to the table by what notes you use, and how you use them. But for ambient music using lots of presets seems... wrong somehow.

Good Point.

Sparky77 · Post by **Sparky77** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 7:24 pm

pdxindy wrote:
ariston wrote:Absynth's finest ambient chops are to be found in its granular processing and fx section - it's got a certain airy, luminous quality that's great for ambient textures.

I'm just not that thrilled with granular in general. It has a distinctive character and I find myself trying to escape it. Granular is a really easy way to create an evolving drone, but the easily recognizable synthesis method is the downside for me. Plus it is not particularly predictable or controllable. So I hardly use granular synthesis at this point.

I suppose one should refine ones own meaning to ambient... The classic granular/time stretched, slowly evolving washes of sound are not it for me... for me, ambient as an area of interest has some of that, but is more the character of an analogue modular... with some edge, and sharp textures not all smoothed out by granular stretching and lots of effects.

I particularly like sounds that are ambiguous in their origins. Absynth (great name for it!) is such an obviously digital fx synth. It is well made and innovative and I appreciate it, but it does not tickle my fancy soundwise. Take away the granular and effects, and it is less exciting besides being not so easy to work with.

I find Zebra a more fruitful playground for the types of sounds I most like... organic, expressive and tonally versatile without immediately relying on effects. Plus I consider it to have a higher sound quality.

But for someone else, Absynth may be just the ticket. I had to buy both before I discovered which I would use more.

I have to agree, granular just doesn't seem like its completely worked out or something.
Good idea, maybe not completely developed.

ariston · Post by **ariston** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 8:55 am

Sparky77 wrote: I have to agree, granular just doesn't seem like its completely worked out or something.
Good idea, maybe not completely developed.

It's in the way that you use it. I mean, it's easy to go overboard with granular processing, but if used carefully, you can obtain really unique AND musical results with it. And it's absolutely great for getting sounds whose origins are strangely familiar and yet ambiguous in their origins. You don't have to go for the standard, stretched-out washes, granular sounds can be anything. I did a track (maybe I'll post it here, have to upload it first) that uses the sound of a bottle cap being twisted as a melodic and rhythmic base for the intro. I couldn't have gotten that sound by any other means.

As for not being completely worked out... whut? It's a pretty old technique by now (as far as synthesis goes, that is). I'd say it's pretty complete. A poor workman blames his tools and so on and so forth.

CrystalWizard · Post by **CrystalWizard** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:18 am

ariston wrote: ........................................

As for not being completely worked out... whut? It's a pretty old technique by now (as far as synthesis goes, that is). I'd say it's pretty complete. A poor workman blames his tools and so on and so forth.

+1

bydavidrosen · Post by **bydavidrosen** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 5:41 pm

Both are great but I would give the edge to Absynth just on usability. Plus there are a handful of patches in Absynth that I find myself using over and over in different ways and I just couldn't imagine life without

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:05 am

I came to Absynth from a LOT of programming DX7, ie., a lot of experience with Yahama aka Chowning FM. And programming way-out stuff through it.

I was not around for the later incarnations of that technology; what I wanted was to do the same thing of modulating a carrier, as I came to know things about it, but using something more than sines.
So this is a definite basis for me in Absynth, and why its paradigm was easy to get on with.

The envelopes is the thing about it; this has been copied in other things I've noticed. What I typically want is something that, off of one or very few note-ons, will become a significant event. Evolvers.
Also the three 'oscillators' through the types of manipulation just in the oscillator window can give a fantastic, gigantic sound. Through the scaling and behaviors programmed through the envelopes; very particular control of the parameters of the channel (oscillator/filter/modulator with their own elaborate envelopes), a very orchestral sound in a single patch can be obtained. Such as big fat moogish tubas at the bottom, jangly/ringy/reedy middle, and high violins. with variances through velocity and other controllers.

I see a lot of people kind of being dismissive about it that never learned it. Fine, but there isn't anything that is going to run with it side-by-side per what it specifically provides. It's completely a genius piece of kit.

You can learn by investigating the presets, of which there are tons of. I'm not a very technical or mathematics-oriented person, I've found the process very intuitive; but I come from that 'this ratio means this tends to happen' kind of experience.

Proxima4 · Post by **Proxima4** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:30 am

Toothbrush vs Mouthwash for fresh breath ?

PatchAdamz · Post by **PatchAdamz** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 10:29 am

Many Ambient Presets - Lots of examples of Zebras capabilities for Ambient music.

Click to View - The Ambient Zebra Video

SuitcaseOfLizards · Post by **SuitcaseOfLizards** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:12 pm

I managed to snag a copy of Absynth3 from someone that bought Komplete, just waiting for NI to do the transfer work on their end. Will save up for Zebra once I get all my new music hardware paid off.

johnnyboy40 · Post by **johnnyboy40** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:22 pm

I'm an Absynth addict...but the key is not settling with a preset, but working and experimenting with different "mutations" and other effects to make the particular sound fit with your mix. Endless possibilities and it's always been very inspiring to me...it's basically the only soft synth that makes its way on to almost every song for me.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:36 pm

Why put them up against each other? They both work pretty differently. I would just get both.

Zebra is great but it does not have a sample playback/processing ability like Absynth does.

If your not good with synthesis then I would recommend you buy Zebra first as it is more straight forward and then once you got a good grasp on it, then maybe get Absynth. Zebra is incredibly versatile, and is a good all around production workhorse that works very efficiently in multiple instances at 24bit 96khz.

Some of the best sounding Ambient stuff I ever made was not with just one synth plugin but it was using a process of different plugins. Also some of the stuff you can get for ambient production is free!

Zebra vs Absynth for ambient?