KVR Audio

pummel · Post by **pummel** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:04 pm

Urs, if its not too late, can Z2 be organized in a humanistic comparitive way, rather than a programmers way?

Filterscape does it right, with all the envs on one page and all the LFO's on another (for example). But all to often I see multi-page plugs organized around something inhuman, like "everything about the OSC" X 4 pages, "everything about the filter" X 2 pages, etc.

Also, I am intrigued. With all those modules lying around, how do you decide what to leave out? Must take a lot of self discipline !!

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:42 am

pummel wrote:Urs, if its not too late, can Z2 be organized in a humanistic comparitive way, rather than a programmers way?

Filterscape does it right, with all the envs on one page and all the LFO's on another (for example). But all to often I see multi-page plugs organized around something inhuman, like "everything about the OSC" X 4 pages, "everything about the filter" X 2 pages, etc.

Also, I am intrigued. With all those modules lying around, how do you decide what to leave out? Must take a lot of self discipline !!

Hehehe, thanks, I assume you have never seen Zebra 1.5 in action?

Actually, there are no pages like you normally have. Just like Filterscape, it has *partial* pages. Every combination of stuff that you might need for a certain purpose can be made visible and accessible simultaneously in the easiest manner thinkable. In Filterscape you can make any modulator visible in combination with any modulation target. That's the whole trick. If you have to switch between Envelope and Filter, your lost.

The same principle applies to Zebra. For instance, there's that big pane on the top, it only holds a page for XY controls, one for the actual synthesis and one for the preferences. I wouldn't really call this pages, I would rather call it *modes of usage*, that's why they are labelled Performance, Synthesis and Settings.

The pane on the bottom holds the special stuff that you might need together with one of these modes. It makes sense to have the effects together with Performance and Synthesis, and so are the XY assignments, the ModMatrix and the MultiStages/Step Sequencers. Well, the additive synth stuff is mostly useful with Synthesis, but it's not a major page, it's a special thing that you only need every now and then.

Now, Synthesis holds all the stuff. You ask about the number of modules. Well, you decide. The "Modules Rack" on the left holds only as many modules as you activate. If you activate more than can fit in the rack, it starts to be scrollable. Even if you have many activated, the scrolling isn't a problem. For instance, you click a module in the Grid thing, and the Rack automatically scrolls the controls for that module in sight.

Actually, it has taken months to work this out. I think it's as accessible and usable as it can be, without squeezing stuff into many pages.

And now, as Zebra 2 will naturally get some more modules to chose from, nothing will change the way it works. It's just more options, but it doesn't require things to become more complicated.

More options doesn't necessarily mean more confusion. Using the Initialize patch as a start offers instant gratification. It dubs Zebra 1.0 with its 2 Osc - Noise - Filter scheme. If you think that you need to have a second filter, just activate it. Split the path and pan Osc1 - Vcf1 left, Osc2 - Vcf2 right and you have some stereo stuff going. You can subsequently add stuff or take it away.

And you can look at Biomechanoid's patches - even I do not understand how they work. So, that's possible as well

Cheers,

Urs

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 2:35 pm

a quick little demo of some sounds
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=80645

Beardedone · Post by **Beardedone** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 2:47 pm

This is why I love this guy. The Filterscape trypditch gave me faith that I might ber able to actually use symths and effects rather than be tied to presets. Zebra I'm sure will opearte much the same - I have heard what it sounds like and I frankly don't care if I have to hire a junior engineer to program it or even read the manual until it makes sense (I doubt I will need to though), I just want it.

Cheers,
Gordon

wrench45us · Post by **wrench45us** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:26 pm

i don't know if it's all that time in Mac World or what, but I think Urs has a special gift for human interface that would be impressive enough, but then these things sound really good as well.

it does take a long hard time to work out a usable interface -- most developers just want to get something working and don't even recognize how awkward something might be to use since their orientation is initially what's going on from the inside.

this is also why i'm lookig forward to not just Zebra but More Feedback Machine II --since mfm I is more typical of developer oriented design that exposes everything at once, but isn't really what I would call easy to work with, but i love what mfm can do. I suspect Urs was getting his feet wet back then.

Remarkable interface design since then that should be noticed by all developers.

Beardedone · Post by **Beardedone** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:37 pm

Well said chord guy!

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:54 pm

wrench45us wrote:I think Urs has a special gift for human interface

Thanks man!

Hehehe, it's not really a gift - just have studied industrial design for seven years and my official name is Dipl.-Des. Urs Heckmann

MFM was certainly a design far from optimal, but then I was very limited by what I could do. And, I was impatient to get something out to public.

My means nowadays have changed dramatically - that's good

And never forget, Zebra's visuals were designed by Cris atariboy Pearson. We worked closely on the UI concept, but all the photoshopping was solely his effort...

Cheers,

Urs

gizmo · Post by **gizmo** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:39 pm

Just want to add to the kudoes. I played with the synth last night and just groaned it sounded so good. Congrats, really strong and useable.

kanker · Post by **kanker** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 7:49 am

gizmo wrote:Just want to add to the kudoes. I played with the synth last night and just groaned it sounded so good. Congrats, really strong and useable.

Once you really get into all the routing you can do with FSVA, you'll start making some pads that will simply make you jaw drop. So many different ways to modulate parameters, so many time controls. You can make stuff that evolves in very strange and beautiful ways (and I'm a guy who generally hates pads).

suthnear · Post by **suthnear** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 1:43 pm

Urs wrote:
suthnear wrote:Some blather about lfos
Point taken!

However, the main reason for Q6' existence is, it makes that plain eqing and dynamic stuff much easier than it is in the main plugin. Almost everything that can be done in Q6 can also be done in Filterscape, if you neglect the 2 additional bands. But - and that might just be me - I think that 4 bands are enough for the heavy modulation stuff.

Point taken!

Will be buying on tuesday - the more time I spend with all 3 parts, the more impressed I am

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:35 am

*bump*

Just a reminder that the Welcome 2 Windows Weeks are gonna run out tomorrow evening...

Cheers,

Urs

rsmus7 · Post by **rsmus7** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:58 am

to all potential buyers:

still not joined the filterscapers????

do yourself a favour and join now and you´ll never regret it!!!

At this price it is much more value than money.

a top bundle

thanks urs for these great plugs.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 12:00 pm

I have to agree, Filterscape is one of THE most interesting plugins around. The concept is just pretty much refreshing and in addition you'll get one of the best sounding filters ever.

Ronny Pries · Post by **Ronny Pries** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 12:13 pm

101% bargain!

twolegstoneworks · Post by **twolegstoneworks** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 12:53 pm

arr man.. couldn't resist this anymore... oh well, kick ass software like this dont grow on trees and offers like this are too good to pass up on.. Yeeea.. cant wait for the reg-codes to arrive

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