Zebra vs Absynth for ambient?
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- Banned
- 10196 posts since 12 Mar, 2012 from the Bavarian Alps to my feet and the globe around my head
Are there people who make ambient music with dongles? 
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Echoes in the Attic Echoes in the Attic https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=180417
- KVRAF
- 11055 posts since 12 May, 2008
Sure Absynth isn't the most fun to design sounds with the normal way. But there is something else very unique about Absynth when it comes to patch design. And that is the patch morphing. This function alone makes Absynth extremely fun to experiment with. The really cool thing is that you can start with some patch and then filter the massive preset library down to certain characteristics that you want in your sound, then hit the morph button and Absynth will actually morph the current preset towards the patch characteristics that are filtered on. So you can keep it in a certain area of sound and then tweak as you go. I can't even believe how many really useful and interesting sounds I've come up with using the morph in Absynth. Just amazing.woolyloach wrote:I'm really leaning towards Zebra now. As I do more research it seems Absynth is a pain to create patches for, while with Zebra I can get Dark Zebra and go from there...
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- KVRist
- 228 posts since 30 Aug, 2011 from Melbourne, Vic, Australia
You can also incorporate surround sound with Absynth.
A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians. - FZ
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- KVRAF
- 2746 posts since 13 Feb, 2012 from Amsterdam
Surprised nobody mentioned Absynth's envelopes (or maybe I've missed it). Absynth has some 64 multi segment envelopes with a nice big graph to edit them. Granted, Zebra's 4 MSEG's may cut it depending on your needs, but for big evolving ambient sounds, this may just give Absynth the edge. YMMV of course.
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- KVRAF
- 2121 posts since 10 Apr, 2002 from Saint Germain en Laye, France
absynth can do mutation to transform a basic sample into a wonderful sound
so it is not difficult to program if you love randomization and happy accident
so it is not difficult to program if you love randomization and happy accident
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- KVRAF
- 3879 posts since 28 Jun, 2009 from Wherever I lay my hat
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. That's where it outshines Zebra, but that's about it. And just wait til the Zeeb goes to 3.... I hope sample import and a new reverb module are on the list!
re: press a key and make ambient... yeah. Lame. Not everyone is a sound designer, but so much of ambient is ABOUT sound that I find it hard to respect the find a preset and press a key faction. Not that it's all that important, because you can hear the difference anyway. Take the ultra-complex soundscapes of Tim Hecker and contrast them with run-of-the-mill ambient and hear what I mean. The quality always shines through.
re: press a key and make ambient... yeah. Lame. Not everyone is a sound designer, but so much of ambient is ABOUT sound that I find it hard to respect the find a preset and press a key faction. Not that it's all that important, because you can hear the difference anyway. Take the ultra-complex soundscapes of Tim Hecker and contrast them with run-of-the-mill ambient and hear what I mean. The quality always shines through.
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- addled muppet weed
- 105906 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
buy one now and save for the other
as you like your fx mangling, absynth can be used as an effect and zebra comes with zebrify.
so you can put one through the other and so on until everything is mangled to beyond the universe....
as you like your fx mangling, absynth can be used as an effect and zebra comes with zebrify.
so you can put one through the other and so on until everything is mangled to beyond the universe....
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- Banned
- 254 posts since 7 Jun, 2008 from On this 1 world!
Yet i wonder why no Ambient-only-Synth has been launched on the market? Maybe devs fear its profitableness.
LinPlug Sophistry (officially No Longer Available) seems an exception.
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/sophistry_by_linplug
But CronoX3 has better sounds i.m.o.
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LinPlug Sophistry (officially No Longer Available) seems an exception.
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/sophistry_by_linplug
But CronoX3 has better sounds i.m.o.
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- KVRAF
- 2874 posts since 22 Oct, 2002 from "somewhere between digital and analog"
Not to mention it's one of the most cpu efficient synths available. And all that other stuff... That being said I would not be without both of them 
Last edited by DHR53 on Sat Jan 18, 2014 2:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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- KVRAF
- 23103 posts since 7 Jan, 2009 from Croatia
A lot of HG Fortune synths are exactly that.Delfinoverde wrote:Yet i wonder why no Ambient-only-Synth has been launched on the market? Maybe devs fear its profitableness.
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- addled muppet weed
- 105906 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
Delfinoverde wrote:Yet i wonder why no Ambient-only-Synth has been launched on the market? Maybe devs fear its profitableness.
LinPlug Sophistry (officially No Longer Available) seems an exception.
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/sophistry_by_linplug
But CronoX3 has better sounds i.m.o.
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anything can be used in ambient, from real world soundscapes to actual instruments and melodies to long drones to vocal sounds....
im not sure what an "ambient only synth" would even be?
