urs, how about a sneak peak of the zebra3 GUI concept? are you planning to keep it basically the same with updated graphics or are you trying to make the whole interface much more accessible/efficient? tbh thats the main thing keeping me from getting zebra, i love and understand the concept, but it seems like a very technical synth, more "ok lets do this" rather then "oo lets see what THIS does!" (a la Diva)

The gui in Zebra is one of the best things about it, no?

if it was i wouldnt have posted anything

it seems really sub par compared to DIVA and especially uhbik (which is the most amazing gui, makes it so much fun to play with and ive gotten amazing results from just toying with it cause its so much fun)

all im saying is that i think zebra needs to catch up with the rest of the u-he stuff gui wise

The general concept will survive the upgrade. There'll be a Grid and there'll be racks for generators and modulators. There'll also be a bottom panel with some extra stuff.

Nothing else has been decided gui-wise.

The only thing we've really decided yet is that we'll do an upgrade and we have a rough feature list that we don't want to talk about until we have tried those things

Well, we'll probably add some 3D elements. But we won't drop the workflow

It might look daunting, but the interface is already very efficient and lends itself to quick and easy experimentation. You won't regret buying it, trust me.

Interestingly enough, Zebra2 was the first synth I really learned. Consequently I find most other synths confusing because of the implied routing! If you take Zebra 2-3 modules at a time it's actually (IMO) very straightforward and easy to learn.

But to master it and find all those glorious sonic niches -- that's another issue altogether.

Would be madness to change the basic arrangement.

I personally think the interface (layout) is a stroke of genius - talk about making huge complexity manageable (without having dozens of drop-down menus or relegating all functions to the matrix)! It could do with some make-up, a buttock suction, and maybe a chin tuck, but otherwise, pleeeze don't ever change it.

+1

+1

No worries... the good news is, Zebra has been rather successful *despite* its looks. Each version has been discussed controversely for the styling, and I don't think this will ever change. We can make it a bit more Unempty Dark Horse, we can make it a bit more Howie and we can make it a bit more Ace/Diva. Nothing is ever going to please everyone.

Nevertheless, I've been working on improvements to the design workflow that make the use of Photoshop and 3D modeling tools less important and less tedious. Once these additions are fully implemented, the task will be a lesser. I'm quite sure it'll be a bliss to do future design work. And so I think that I'll be able to continue in Zebra 3 what I started with Uhbik, ACE and Diva in terms of styling, on a new level.

B'ah, I don't think it's needs 3D. With Diva it totally makes sense to model the real world look of the knobs and sliders because it mimics real hardware synths. But Zebra is a digital virtual modular synth, so I think the look makes sense. The digital software look of the knobs and everything. In fact the knobs on Zebra are much easier to see values at a glance than hardware looking knobs.

All I ask for the update is to make all the buttons automatable like the sync and phase etc.

I think in ACE we got it both.

And of course I've always thought of making it an option...

Of course. The old limitations don't apply anymore, which is also what makes a clean-cut update tempting.

Any chance of your supersaw research being added too?