Blue II vs Zebra?

[Maomoondog]

Rant on brother. Rant on.


Maomoondog, you must be new here, it's just a little game we play. We egg each other on. We sometimes slap spoons on each others heads, and say 'Doh'. We are a right bunch of clowns.

ImpOSCar, Synth1, Elektro Studio? Excellent taste.

I'm not part of the crowd. I am always late to the party. But there is a fondness I have for this site.

Rave on:
You shouldn't take it so hard.

Spoons should be played, not used as a slap to the head

New to the forums, but not new to making a tune or two

Party on people

[codec_spurt]

Rant on brother. Rant on.


Maomoondog, you must be new here, it's just a little game we play. We egg each other on. We sometimes slap spoons on each others heads, and say 'Doh'. We are a right bunch of clowns.

ImpOSCar, Synth1, Elektro Studio? Excellent taste.

I'm not part of the crowd. I am always late to the party. But there is a fondness I have for this site.

Rave on:
You shouldn't take it so hard.

Spoons should be played, not used as a slap to the head

New to the forums, but not new to making a tune or two

Party on people

You playing spoons at the party would be quite the trick.
I knew someone once that could play 'I walk the line' on the spoons. That was good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHF9itPLUo4

In case your imagination is lacking.

[codec_spurt]

Mmmmmmmm...

[sfd]

It's fairly easy to make some sort of tune by adding some sequenzed or arpeggiator or envolving preset to a "four-to-the-floor" beat or a drum loop.

If this is what you want to do - synths like Zebra, ElektraX, Dune 2, Disovery Pro etc are of obvious interest.

And I believe this kind of synths also are among the more popular ones here at KVR.

There are a lot of great great synths out there. But they are not so popular here at KVR. I don't think it's because of their quality. I think it's because they don't automatically provide any motion/loops/pre-sequenzed or arpeggio parts.

It's possible to create amazing tunes with synths from Full Bucket, Elektro Studio or Benoit Serrano. But that requires a little more from the user. Both technically and musically.

At the end of the day - The source of a sound is completely irrelevant. We all know that great melody by Mozart. What instrument? Who cares.

[jsp1979]

There are a lot of great great synths out there. But they are not so popular here at KVR. I don't think it's because of their quality. I think it's because they don't automatically provide any motion/loops/pre-sequenzed or arpeggio parts.

I predict this will be a controversial comment.

[recursive one]

There are a lot of great great synths out there. But they are not so popular here at KVR. I don't think it's because of their quality. I think it's because they don't automatically provide any motion/loops/pre-sequenzed or arpeggio parts.

It's possible to create amazing tunes with synths from Full Bucket, Elektro Studio or Benoit Serrano. But that requires a little more from the user. Both technically and musically.
.

What about people who want to make their own animated sounds? I, for one, am keen on making arpeggiated, LFOed and MSEGed patches from init, it offers some creative ways of sequencing hardly possible with traditional DAW piano roll/automation, and also helps exploring a synth in depth.

Blue 2 seems to be well loved here for a reason. Well, as soon as I come up with at least three tunes worth posting in Music Cafe, i'll buy it (if it is still around by this time,lol).

[Echoes in the Attic]

You couldn't pick two more different synths in terms of sound character.

Blue does thick and lush with ease. There's full fm/pd but still it's hard to make it sound ear piercing bad. The noise/distortion tends towards a pleasant character. The sample sets also added more content of a different style than no samples synth like Zebra. But Zebra on the other hand has a bite and snap that Blue could never do. More punchy lower mids. But Zebra could not get as thick and juicy as Blue in the mid/highs.

Blue has some patches that really blow me away, however so many presets sound almost the same. Zebra I would say has more variety in presets.

[re*MD9@3!Tm^]

There are a lot of great great synths out there. But they are not so popular here at KVR. I don't think it's because of their quality. I think it's because they don't automatically provide any motion/loops/pre-sequenzed or arpeggio parts.

GUI design may play a role too.

Sound may be awesome, but when the GUI is just unergonomic (small, not readable etc.) I just cannot work with such a synth (and surely won't spend money for it.)

[kelldammit]

I have and love both...i've had blue and zebra since '06 or so. Aside from Superior, these are the only 2 synths I've owned that have made the cut for this long
Initially, I leaned more heavily toward blue...the instant gratification factor was there (the presets are very very good, and generally useful, too). As some have noted, there are some patches that are fairly subtle variants of others. As time went on, though, I tended to use zebra a lot more. Both are way deeper and more capable than I'm ever likely to really need, which is nice...the periodic surprises are a gift that keeps on giving.

Blue II is pretty new, so i don't think i've seen any expansion soundsets for it yet. Zebra has probably more than you could weed through in a lifetime. The user soundsets alone contain some real gems.
They sound different to me, but I do find both very useful...and both teams offer some of the best support i've ever experienced (and i'm a 20 year customer service/support guy).

For the sake of immediacy, I'd probably go for blue II, tbh. Zebra seems to take folks a bit of time to really make the most of, so if you have it, keep it. At some point, you'll be glad you did.

[paveloso]

My humble opinion...
The most important thing in ANY song is the actual structure of it, the lyrics (if used) the production and arrangement of the finished item. How many of the general public who listen to your music give a damn what you used to create it ?

Does it matter if it was done on a virtual instrument or a real one ? Who cares what you used ? My guess is no one!

Amen!

[quantum7]

I write a lot of New Age and soundtrack and absolutely love Zebra. It can create sounds like I've never heard on any other synth. I was never impressed all that much with Zebra until I started hearing 3rd-party material actually.

Here was a quote from Hans Zimmer on VI-Control a few days ago:

"A Very Sad Story:

I'm in the middle of doing an all synth score. We've fixed the CS 80, tuned the Oscilators on the Moog, got the PPG 300 and the Waldorf Wave to make noise again. We are using crazy expensive pre-amps and A to Ds. We are using not just one but two 'Knifoniums' and a 'Schmidt'. 8 Super Jupiters and a Roland system 700.

....and you know what? zebra sounds just as good.... "

[wagtunes]

I'm going to look at this from a different perspective. So take this for what it's worth to you.

After having used synths since 1979, I have come to realize that there is really no such thing as better or worse. Each synth has its own character and sound. Take Tone2 stuff as an example. They all have that same character regardless of what synth you get. It's like an overall tone quality for lack of a better term.

Being an owner of both Blue II and Zebra, I wouldn't say that one is better than the other. They both sound very different. And I like each one for different things. And if I want my mix to not sound like it's all coming from the same "box" I'll mix things up a bit. I might use Zebra for bass, Blue II for lead, Synthmaster for pads or strings (love its sound for resonant strings and trance stuff) and maybe Massive for a second lead. Having over 100 synth plugins to choose from, I can mix and match as I like without having to worry about my mix sounding like it's all from one instrument and thus, like a "demo track."

By using this approach I can more easily come up with some "surprises" in my mix without having to jump through programming hoops with one synth to get there. I mean when you have a track with 12 different synths that looks something like this...

Zebra 2
Synthmaster 2.5
Blue II
Massive
FM 8
Absynth 5
XILS 4
Serum
Battery 4
MS 20
Omnisphere
ImpOSCar 2

You are going to have a track that definitely has various characteristics.

So I would look at Blue II for what it can add to my sound palette. If I think it will add something significant, I'll get it. If not, I won't. There are a lot of "premium" synths that I haven't purchased because I didn't think they added anything sonically that I already didn't have.

In short, if you like the way it sounds, if it inspires you, and you think you'll get use out of it, then get it. If not, pass on it.

That's what I would do in your shoes.

[Arrested Developer]

I understand, that these two use quite different synthesis techniques, but judging from the presets in Blue II demo I can say that the range of sounds and the overal character is kinda similar between them. I have had Zebra for a while but I only now started understanding its capabilities, it's definitely not a synth for noobs. The stock presets in Blue II give me instant inspiration (unlike Zebra), but i feel that it should be possible to make most of the same things with Zebra...

I think you should get Blue in addition to Zebra.
You learn a lot about the details in the sound of a specific synth if you have some other synths as comparison.
And of course you should invest some time in programming Zebra.
Watching the great youtube-tutorials of Howard is really useful; the manual also is great.
And of course you could check out some 3rd party soundbanks for Zebra.

[cowby]

I owned Blue II last summer which included in Explorer III. And longing for getting Zebra (Let me take a dinosaur synth photo later to get discount). Demoing Zebra is fun and it has lots of features that let you sit and program for a whole cold afternoon. Don't fool by the number of OSCs, they sound big. Blue II has many OSCs to choose and I know some were taken from Rob's other synth, Sub Boom Bass for instance.

Let me do a non-pro personal POV.

- UI Love the UI of Blue II, clean and Neat though it retains the outlook of Blue which was released years ago. I hope they can offer me a resize button in the next release. Zebra... Haha the UI is not my fav. very old school but can be resized. Hive is more modern !

- The filter section of Zebra are top where I must say it is the weakest link of Blue II. Blue II only got those basic filter types but will be sufficient enough for most of the genre of music.

- Effect. I vote for Blue II. Delay, reverb, Gate are all top notch. But it doesn't mean Zebra is weak they are good too but only few to choose <--- correct me as I only played on the demo.

- Modulation both are sick sick sick. Lots of possibilities on both synths. Source includes Hand draw MSEG, LFO, you name it. And the "destination" of Blue II is too long to list.

- Arp. I will say I love to use Blue II for arp > Zebra. Feature rich arp and seq'er also nice to play with. You can program different wav forms (stocked) in each individual steps. Best for those who love to play one-finger-triggering. I hope Zebra can enhance this kind of features in Z3.

- CPU usage. Can't complain. Both will not collapse my i7 3 years old notebook.

- Preset management - Blue 2 > Zebra

Not to mention that both synths can do the FM stuff but Blue II is more on this subject and can do more.

I will sooner or later get Zebra and I think both synths worth to sit on your computer. Adding one drum vst with both Guys can really rock your neighbour's house.

Cheers!
Cowby

[Kinh]

My humble opinion...
The most important thing in ANY song is the actual structure of it, the lyrics (if used) the production and arrangement of the finished item. How many of the general public who listen to your music give a damn what you used to create it ?
Does it matter if it was done on a virtual instrument or a real one ? Who cares what you used ? My guess is no one!

Sorry for the slight rant, but I get sick of reading about Synth X versus Synth Y. Use what you enjoy using and make the music you enjoy doing. Screw what you used to make it, just get us dancing.

I couldn't disagree more. The production and arrangement may be a finished item but if you're showcasing yourself as a songwriter or pitching to someone and you dont demonstrate that you can also sound great then you're wasting your time even pitching these days especially if your genre is dance, electro-pop.

Production and writing go hand in hand now a days and if you have sounds or plugins that are out of date or sound crap then people listening to your stuff are gonna roll their eyes in the first few seconds before they even get to the lyrics, structure, melody of your song. You have to present your material in the best way.