Zebra3 Info

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Zebra

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+1

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Like always a very fair price policy from u-he.

@dlarseninclusive :hug:

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am i the only one who wants to move knob for filter cutoff on the left of the module instead of the middle? :D

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Can a person still get a crossgrade for Zebra2 and can you buy the dark night version simultaneously? I still have my 15% off voucher and I want to to try to use it one shot with Repro, Zebra + zebra hz... but I am still trying to search and see if a person can make nice Fairlight type vocal pads and lead sounds with zebra?

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surreal wrote:Can a person still get a crossgrade for Zebra2 and can you buy the dark night version simultaneously?
Yes, still available.
I am still trying to search and see if a person can make nice Fairlight type vocal pads and lead sounds with zebra?
Check Ed Harvey's Absolute Zebra and Joseph Hollo's Padsheaven. And examine Howard's factory bank: lots of that might just need tweaking...
Feel free to call me Brian.

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Elektronisch wrote:am i the only one who wants to move knob for filter cutoff on the left of the module instead of the middle? :D
I thought that was odd too. But I can roll with it.

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Elektronisch wrote:am i the only one who wants to move knob for filter cutoff on the left of the module instead of the middle? :D
I'm brandy-new to Zebra and just started the demo. The new GUI looks much, much better, but the order of the filter parameters was much more intuitive in the original skin.

Question (or feature request): is there a way to replace one module with another without first having to remove the current one? Let's say I've got a Noise source on a patch and I want to replace that with an Oscillator, I haven't figured out how to click or right-click Noise and replace it with an Oscillator. It seems like I have to remove Noise, then click on the slot to add the Oscillator, which is an extra set of steps that may not be necessary.

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I think the way cutoff knob is now is not to confuse people that those modulation knobs might be influencing resonance, when they're not...
Funkybot's Evil Twin wrote:Question (or feature request): is there a way to replace one module with another without first having to remove the current one? Let's say I've got a Noise source on a patch and I want to replace that with an Oscillator, I haven't figured out how to click or right-click Noise and replace it with an Oscillator. It seems like I have to remove Noise, then click on the slot to add the Oscillator, which is an extra set of steps that may not be necessary.
Not possible unfortunately. Similarly how it's not possible to remove a module with a key modifier (like Alt, for example)... I want that so bad sometimes :)

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I've spent less than 5 hours with Zebra in total (demoed yesterday, purchased today), so I'm still trying to make my way around it, sticking to the basics (haven't even gotten into the X/Y or Matrix yet). That said, here's my hot take on things I think Zebra 3 could benefit from, based solely on my first few hours with 2.8.

-Once a module is loaded, I should be able to replace one module with another via a right-click menu. Like ED suggested, same goes for quickly deleting. I think placing one module on top of the other should replace the old with the new. Adding it above or below the next slot should automatically move all the modules (Z2 already kinda does this, I just want the visual feedback of what's going to happen before I release the mouse). Little things like this would definitely speed up the workflow with the middle panel.

-Take something like filters...there's VCF/XCF with tons of different models within those two categories with very generic names. I'd like to see some consolidation here to clean this up and make things more clear. For instance, maybe just a LP filter module with the different LP models, and giving them long names. Maybe a more DIVA-like approach. As a newbie, what I'm thinking is: 1) do VCF and XCF really need to be different, and 2) how do I find which model I want quickly between all the LP options, 3) why are some LP options grouped together, with others at the bottom of list and all types of filters in between. I'm sure it's the order in which the modules were added, but it's not the most user friendly approach. I'm not sure what the ideal solution is but I think there's an opportunity to clear up some module confusion.

-I kinda get why VCF1 and VCF2 exist as separate entities with numbers to differentiate them...but I almost feel like just having a VCF option in the menu and having Zebra take care of what number to assign them would be a cleaner approach.

-Also, do we need to get so technical with the names? Filter (VCF) or Stereo Filter (XCF) would do. EG? Envelope. MSEG? Multi-Stage Envelope. Spelling it out and giving me the long names would be much easier IMO. Howver, changing that might require more room for the longer names, but I feel like it would help simplify Zebra for newbies.

-Drawing oscillator waveforms is very clunky, particularly in the envelope modes. I believe Urs already said he had some ideas about how to improve this going forward, but some obvious things like double click to add a point, a modifier to switch between smooth and hard transitions, and/or bezier curves, would be welcome.

-I'm not sure I love the Oscillator presets appearing in a [modal] window. Maybe an expandable collapsable browser?

-Can I tag favorite Osc Presets and MSEG presets? Seems like an obvious one for Z3 if it's not already in version 2.

-It's interesting to see how different some of these effects are compared to the later U-he synths. For Z3, I'd like to see Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, instead of just "Mod1." Maybe just one reverb with multiple modes. Same for the other effects. Assuming we're also going to see newer versions of the effects here (Velvet, Diva chorus, flanger, rotary, Bazille spring, Jaws, Drench, Lyrebird, Diva delay, etc.).

-I totally want to be able to save individual effect presets a la Velvet. Please, please, please!

-I also really want to be able to save effect preset chains. At least for each row. I know this would be a first for a U-he synth, but Zebra really calls for it IMO!

Anyway, just my complete newb feedback coming at Zebra fresh. I'm sure Urs and co have something good cooking up with Z3 and I bet very little if any of this hasn't been discussed and considered already. I await Z3 patiently, and will be exploring/learning Z2 in the meantime!

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Thanks man, your observations are very similar to mine. I just took a few years longer to get there :lol:

Btw. Hive has presets for the whole effects chain, and also many presets for many types of modules. This is naturally going to happen for Z3.

Bringing curve editing (Osc, MSEG) to another level has always been a main incentive for Z3 development.

Consolidating XMF and VCF is very likely, as is cleaning up the filter type drop downs.

Short module names will persist and also the numbering system. But we will try to remove the numbers from the drop downs when inserting modules. And of course we'll add options to copy/paste modules.

The modal window for module preset loading is new in this skin, it is one of the things we wish to get feedback for, just like the reordered Cutoff knob.

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+1 on all the feedback above. Also very excited for Zebra 3 :) I'm also one of those who'd like the Hans Zimmer version, aka the one with 8 instead of 4 adsr's etc ;) this is mainly because I hope to use Z3 as a FM powerhouse if possible, and with FM you tend to need a lot of envelopes. Unfortunately I won't be able to use Z2.8 for a few days cause I'm away for the holidays. Merry Xmas :)

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surreal wrote:Can a person still get a crossgrade for Zebra2 and can you buy the dark night version simultaneously? I still have my 15% off voucher and I want to to try to use it one shot with Repro, Zebra + zebra hz... but I am still trying to search and see if a person can make nice Fairlight type vocal pads and lead sounds with zebra?
I did exactly that. Yesterday I purchased Zebra2 and Dark Zebra and the 15% voucher was applied to both items. For some reasons I did not unterstand Dark Zebra was cheaper than the 99€ which are announced on the u-he page, but since I saved a few bucks I did not further investigate.

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phelios2063 wrote:
surreal wrote:Can a person still get a crossgrade for Zebra2 and can you buy the dark night version simultaneously? I still have my 15% off voucher and I want to to try to use it one shot with Repro, Zebra + zebra hz... but I am still trying to search and see if a person can make nice Fairlight type vocal pads and lead sounds with zebra?
I did exactly that. Yesterday I purchased Zebra2 and Dark Zebra and the 15% voucher was applied to both items. For some reasons I did not unterstand Dark Zebra was cheaper than the 99€ which are announced on the u-he page, but since I saved a few bucks I did not further investigate.
Ah, wait... I get it now...

@Surreal: You can't combine the 15% off voucher with the Zebra Dinosaur Crossgrade. There's only ever one coupon at a time. I'd recommend to get Zebra with the Dino Crossgrade and Repro + TDZ with the 15% off coupon in a separate transaction.

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Urs wrote:The modal window for module preset loading is new in this skin, it is one of the things we wish to get feedback for, just like the reordered Cutoff knob.
I definitely don't prefer the re-ordered filter knobs. Looking at the old skin, having cutoff and resonance on the left was a much more intuitive (i.e. traditional) order. I understand why you made the change, but it feels a bit over-engineered to me honestly.

Regarding Z3 and the OSC Preset loading...I think an expandable/retractable side browser could work better. The issue with the modal window is that it's kind of in the way. If you look at the AIKO skin for Diva, there's a "mini" patch browser that you can open in the center of the GUI. A similar approach could work well for Osc/MSEG Presets. Definitely not something you guys should change for v2, but as you get into the deep design of Zebra3, it may be worth considering.

When it comes to FX presets and FX Preset Chains...I think a dropdown menu at the top would be the most obvious approach (a la Velvet). I didn't know Hive already did FX chain presets, as I only used an early beta and decided pretty quickly it wasn't for me. Sounds like you guys may already have a good approach then for handling FX chain presets.

For Z3, can we get automatable/learnable effect enable/bypass knobs too? Something I very much miss in RePro.

Also, I can't say enough about how much of an improvement the DotEight skin is over the prior skins. Going back and looking at the old skins, I'm suddenly reminded why I never really had a desire to try Zebra in the past and found it confusing. This new larger, cleaner look got you at least 1 sale already so kudos to your UI designer! Happy holidays to everyone at U-he and their respective families!
Last edited by Funkybot's Evil Twin on Sat Dec 23, 2017 6:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Oh, and one more Z3 feature request: more Undo steps please!

I rarely use the Undo/Redo functionality in any other U-he synths, but Zebra has me hitting the undo button constantly after I realize that where I was 5 minutes sounded better than where I ended up. I've run out of Undo steps a few times already.

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