Zebra 3 Public Beta Revision 20399

[E_Anderson]

It would be neat to have a partial stereo spreader that is based on the guides or curves. Seems like the most reasonable and efficient idea to me...
If one wanted to really cut corners, I wonder if it would be even easier to just weight the stereo spread by partial frequency(low partials approach mono, with the main fundamental being completely mono, or vice versa.)

It would be good to provide multiple options for stereo spread of partials. Even/Odd, mappable, random, etc., with a parameter to mono-ize toward the low end (which may already be achievable through the mapping). Animation of the panning of partials, as in Pigments' harmonic engine, is also a pleasing sound.

I don't have much by way of unique feedback or requests to provide that haven't already been discussed, I don't think. Mostly it is the organization of modulation presentation where I see opportunity for improvement. All I have is praise for the new oscillator modes and filters (and modulation bar). It's an ocean of possibility in here, and it sounds remarkably good. The new additive features alone I think are in many ways finally able to rival (and surpass) much of what made Harmor such a uniquely powerful additive synth, but taking the whole toolkit into account, Zebra 3 is a monster! So well-done, what an exciting release.

[Quasipro]

I do like Zebra 3. I really do. But when I read the manual about the oscillator my eyes glaze over. I’m finding everything a bit more complex than I can handle. This is a drag, because the presets are really good. I look forward to “getting started” videos after the official release. …and, yes, I also have Zebralette 3 and its manual.

[PieBerger]

I do like Zebra 3. I really do. But when I read the manual about the oscillator my eyes glaze over. I’m finding everything a bit more complex than I can handle. This is a drag, because the presets are really good. I look forward to “getting started” videos after the official release. …and, yes, I also have Zebralette 3 and its manual.

There are some third-party Zebralette3 Osc videos (also applicable to Zebra3) out in the wild already, maybe they will help get you started

[E_Anderson]

I do like Zebra 3. I really do. But when I read the manual about the oscillator my eyes glaze over. I’m finding everything a bit more complex than I can handle. This is a drag, because the presets are really good. I look forward to “getting started” videos after the official release. …and, yes, I also have Zebralette 3 and its manual.

Those videos will come [edit - they're already there for Zebralette]. Until then, maybe you can lean on some beverage-based dopamine to power you through!

In case this helps, I'm assuming it's the editor section where your attention slips, but if not, hopefully one of these two points of clarification in bold might be of some use.

Curve Geometry and Curve Spectrum modes mean there are two fundamentally different ways of interpreting your wavetables (or "Curve Sets"). Selecting Curve Geometry reads each frame as a waveform, like in a normal wavetable; selecting Curve Spectrum has the engine read each frame as a direct graph of the frequency response of that frame, a map of the partials of an additive oscillator. That's why the default saw wave with Curve Spectrum selected sounds suddenly so unbalanced and heavily mid-rangey. It's a full-on additive engine! The additive rendering mode, which you can choose to use regardless of the Curve Spectrum option, replaces the Unison parameter with what is essentially a third, additive-specific Osc FX slot, and a few other additive controls.

The Osc FX section would be much easier understood if it began with a definition of what Guides (and curves) even are, before going on to reference them repeatedly as a mapping/modulation source. This really confused me. I understood "Curves", but the Guides are somewhat hidden in the main oscillator editor. Like the curve editor, Guides are a line editing tool with the same adjustable points, bendable slopes, and can be interacted with mostly identically to the Curve editor, but these are the important differences:

1. There are three Guides per oscillator, independent of what frame you are currently on. They are a tool.
2. Guides are independent from Curves. They do not actually affect the curves unless operations or modulations are performed with them, from a right-click menu specific to Guides. Thus, they can be freely manipulated for use as a modulation/mapping source without affecting your Curves.
3. Curves morph; guides do not. The engine crossfades between the three Guides when used as a modulation/mapping source. This is why they are more CPU-efficient.

So, they serve two functions: one as an editing tool, and one as a more CPU-friendly modulation source.

Some pictures or GIFs showing some of the operations like Map-O-Matic would also help explain what they're doing for those not presently at the computer while reading.

[Matty686]

OK, so I really like to make wind instruments.
Wind instruments often need to start detuned and come into tune as pressure is applied.
That’s why you can't just preview them on their default pressure instead of max pressure.

Aha! I misunderstood then, I thought you were referring to factory library presets (i.e. non-MPE presets), where "pressure to pitch" can be irritating in many cases.
What do you mean by "preview" though? This line in particular I can't grasp: "some way to preview pressure in preform view is necessary". Can you spell it out for me, please? It's been a demanding week, brain slightly tired.

Viktor
u-he team

By “preview,” I mean having a way to send a pressure signal along with the note, other than relying on an MPE keyboard or in my case looping a note with a pressure envelope in Bitwig (which is currently how I audition my custom instruments that use pressure). Having a way to simulate pressure on the included keyboard during the performance section would significantly save me time when selecting an instrument for a song. If pressure were integrated into the performance window as an adjustable parameter or even better directly on the performance window keyboard keys, I could Audition my own instruments much faster, as many of them use pressure and remain silent without a pressure signal. This could actually be a huge selling point as no other synth has this it is nice to be able to hear all your instruments the way they are ment to sound with just the mouse it in some ways I feel the MPE protocol can be a bit of a broken or at least missapplied idea because using it in songs the way you wish you could often involves destroying the ability to audition your own patches. I actually think making The performance window keyboard have MPE features is something that will eventually become normal once one person in the industry actually tries it you guys could be the first ones honestly it could be revolutionary. at the very lest you could give a switch to change the velocity property of the virtual keyboard (witch already exists in the form of were you click on the key) to pressure so I can hear my patches.

I’ve found a workaround, but I’m not sure if it’ll still work after you add the pressure envelop urs mentioned at some point. The workaround involves using the math modulator in minimum B mode, setting the velocity to B and the pressure to A. Then, I use the output as the final pressure for my instrument. As a result, I can easily preview pressure by adjusting the velocity of a note.
I am still mapping out the articulation landscape available with this synth trying to find the most optimum way to use it for hand composing in the piano role. this is an interesting development for me as not many synths support this level of math.

[TronixA872]

How long will the pre-sale last for? Can this be extended into January 2026 by chance?

[NAD]

Here's another fresh steaming pile of hot takes that nobody asked for.

Delay

• Time Range
  I often want delay times that are not synced to the host BPM, and the options provided for that in the delay module are 0.1s and 1s. From what I gather, with the ratio knob we effectively get the respective ranges of 50-200ms and 500ms-2s, which leaves out the 200-500ms range. That in my humble opinion is a rather useful range as far as delay times go. Also, 2s is plenty for me as an upper bound but I definitely wouldn't mind being able to go lower than 50ms, (especially when the feedback inversion button is practically begging for very short delay times). It's possible to get delays shorter than 50ms by using e.g. 1/64 but then we're synced to tempo which isn't what we wanted.
• Nice
  Both the Haze and Surge colors sound absolutely lovely and make me very happy.
• Cross-Feedback
  I believe cross-feedback would make this delay much more versatile. I realize there's probably an issue with real-state, so maybe as a hidden parameter? Or banish the diffusion knob to the mod-target list, I never use it anyway! (Oh, there are other users, you say? Fascinating…) If anything, I think mod-rate and noise level have more right to be on the panel than diffusion, but that's just me.
• Tap L/R
  I believe Tap L/R is described inaccurately in the manual. What it sounds like it's doing is scaling down the initial delay for the first repeat but not the overall delay time of subsequent repeats (the manual says it "scales the tempo"). BTW, can this perhaps be made bipolar, i.e. scale up as well?
• Panic Time
  A hidden parameter to control for how long the panic cuts out would be cool, but maybe a bit too esoteric.

EQ
The new EQ is wonderful, I absolutely love it. The resonator mode in particular is quite muscular. Here are some other thoughts:

• Display Size
  It's a bit teeny-tiny, isn't it? I believe it merits its own full screen editor like e.g. the mod-mappers. If not, at least hiding inactive bands would go a long way to reducing visual clutter. I know there's a bug at the moment with the curve and/or shading, but even hiding the handles would be good. Selecting an inactive band that you wish to enable from the band selector on the left might be a little less wieldy, so I guess that's a trade-off that some users (who are those?) might not like. It's tricky I realize, but I think there's potential here for some UX blue-sky here.
• Copy/Paste Bands
  Right click is already put to good use here so not sure how, but you guys are smart so…
• LP/HP Slope
  Would be handy to select 12/24dB for the low/high-pass bands. Though again, not sure where the control would go. I do not posses all the solutions! Only demands!
• Notches
  Where are they? I assume we'll get some notches in the filter module eventually but it'd be nice to have in the EQ as well. In the meantime I tried an inverted parallel band-pass but that didn't seem to work for reasons I can't quite understand. And there's the phaser, but that's a minimum of 2 notches.
• Mode Names
  "Spectral Pan" feels a bit opaque to me. In the manual it's labeled "Equalizer" mode which I think makes more sense.

Curve Editor
I'll admit there's so much to explore here that I have yet to discover even after a year of playing around with Zebralette 3 so these following suggestions might very well have solutions I'm unaware of.

• Scale Around (X/Y) Center
  Sometimes I want to scale some selected points around their center rather than from one edge or another. Perhaps a mouse modifier with the existing scale tool is in order, otherwise a right click on the tool icon could work.
• Multiply but Different
  What I'd like to be able to do for example is let's say I have a sawtooth wave but I want to two cycles in the space of one. That's obviously simple enough to do, but if it's anything more complex it gets a bit trickier using scaling and copy/paste, especially when both edge points are selected. In ShaperBox there's the 2x button that does what I'm trying to convey here.
• Selection Tool Selection
  I'd like to be able to right click the selection tool to change the selection mode without activating the selection tool (which I honestly never use anyway). As it is, if I want to change the selection mode I need to switch back to the arrow tool which is a whole extra click! Woe is me.
• Turn Off Anti-Aliasing
  This is probably super niche, but sometimes you just want a nice crunchy oscillator waveform without all that fancy oversampling and what not. I'd be willing to bet this probably conflicts with how the entire underlying audio engine works, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right?
• Question
  The rotate handle tool seems to move handles beyond their bounds. Is this a bug?

MSEG Editor

• Loop Markers
  These confuse me. It's hard to tell when dragging a loop marker will move points and when it won't. Even when the markers are snapped/attached to points this behavior seems inconsistent. Ideally, I think dragging the loop markers should never move points. When a point is attached to a loop marker then moving the point should move the loop marker. This is the way. Also dragging between the loop markers should just move the entire loop without changing its size or moving points. Changing the loop size and moving points at the same time could be accomplished by attaching points to the markers and moving (or scaling) the points, while moving a marker would break the attachment. Thank you for your consideration on this matter.
• Disable Loop
  Sometimes you just want a one-shot kinda deal. You can attach the loop markers to the last point but it would be nice to be able to just switch off the looping entirely. In that case it might be nice to have a marker to delineate sections for the attack and release (or decay in this case) rate knobs.
• Millisecond Time Base
  For non-BPM-synced envelopes there's obviously the Seconds time base, but often you want a super snappy envelope (for e.g. a kick drum etc.) in which case you need to zoom way the hell in and the grid becomes useless. So a Milliseconds option would be nice. Also, in Seconds mode, what actually is the grid showing us? It doesn't seem to change if I change the project BPM, but it still appears to be representing note length values.
• Related question: Is Notes mode basically whole notes? In which case is it always four quarter notes or does it depend on the time signature? This could potentially be named more clearly.

FX Grid

• Mixer Knob Placement
  In Zebra2 the volume knobs for each FX lane are in-line underneath their respective tracks, which is just a bit more visually intuitive and quickly readable. I realize the interface is already more vertical than some would like, but I for one would like to see those knobs back down where they once belonged.
• Mute Buttons
  The box icons are already there at the bottom of the lanes, just make them clickable to mute lanes! (Please and thank you.)

Miscellaneous

• Direct Modulation Bypass
  Just as matrix slots can be switched on or off it would be nice to have a way to temporarily disable direct modulation slots. Sometimes you just want to check something without the modulation and then bring it back without having to remember the exact value it was at.
• Key-Tracking Center Key
  It would be super handy to be able to determine at which key no modulation is applied for parameters with variable key-tracking. For example, I might want a parameter to stay put on the lowest key and to be scaled up for all higher keys based on their distance from the lowest key. I think some synths do this but I can't recall any at the moment.
• Right-Click Replace in Main Grid
  Some upstanding forum member already mentioned this and I think they deserve a Nobel peace prize. Can we please have this? It could either open up the module pallet or just the empty cell right click menu, I'm not fussy.
• Click Between Racks to Reorder
  In Zebra2 clicking between two racks swaps their order. Was this intentionally left out this time around?
• Variable Distribution of Oscillator Unison
  I think this has also been brought up a couple of times. I've seen this addressed differently in various ways but the "Unison Deune Power" in Vital (sorry!) is simple and effective. You might make this a hidden parameter to save space on the rack.
• Modulation Rings on Knobs
  Someone already mentioned that the rings could better reflect the effective range of bipolar modulators and I agree. So +1 to that. Also when the matrix slot is disabled shouldn't the rings disappear?
• Question: "Via" in the mod matrix is just multiplication, right? I.e. mod_output=primary_source_output*primary_depth*via_source_output*via_depth?
• Scroll Wheel Stepping
  On most knobs, each "click" of the mouse scroll moves the parameter by exactly 1 but on some knobs it's more than 1 (e.g. pan knob moves by 4). This makes it a bit trickier to get accurate values with the mouse wheel, which is often why I'm using the mouse wheel rather than clicking and dragging. On the other hand, shift+scroll seems to always move by 0.01 which can be a bit too fine grained when you just want to get to e.g. 0.5 quickly but I guess I'm nitpicking.
• Rapid Octave Shifting
  You often want to shift an oscillator by a whole octave (or multiples thereof) and scrolling or dragging you can easily overshoot the mark. In Vital (ugh, fanboy much?!) holding down shift will snap to octaves, but what I think is an even better idea is for the modifier to step by 12 rather than snap to multiples of 12, for example if tune is at 7 then [e.g.shift]+drag would go to -5,19,31, etc.
• Categorize Presets by Modules Used
  This is probably an unreasonable ask but I had the thought so I'll ask it. The preset browser has the 'features' tags but I though it'd be cool if factory presets could tag what modules are used (or at least the fancy ones). For example, I might be curious to see which presets use the Texture Reverb so that I might finally wrap my head around the darn thing.

And that's all I have to say about that.

[Urs]

How long will the pre-sale last for? Can this be extended into January 2026 by chance?

Definitely until NAMM in late January, if not later. Probably even February if we want to work on the best 5-10 ideas out of the hundreds that have been suggested so far.

We're currently talking about announcing a release date at NAMM. But that is not sure either, as we're going into holiday season and most of us take 2-3 weeks off.

[Urs]

The rotate handle tool seems to move handles beyond their bounds. Is this a bug?

Yes.


(thank you again for the in-depth feedback... can't answer it in detail, but we rest assured that we appreciate it and discuss everything internally)

[TronixA872]

Awesome! Thank you very much for the quick response! I look forward to purchasing this upgrade from Zebra Legacy in January. Speaking of which, is there a separate upgrade price for Legacy users or is it the same for everyone?

How long will the pre-sale last for? Can this be extended into January 2026 by chance?

Definitely until NAMM in late January, if not later. Probably even February if we want to work on the best 5-10 ideas out of the hundreds that have been suggested so far.

We're currently talking about announcing a release date at NAMM. But that is not sure either, as we're going into holiday season and most of us take 2-3 weeks off.

[Urs]

Awesome! Thank you very much for the quick response! I look forward to purchasing this upgrade from Zebra Legacy in January. Speaking of which, is there a separate upgrade price for Legacy users or is it the same for everyone?

The current pre-order offer is same for everyone. We have not decided on any deals for Zebra Legacy thereafter, but whichever it is or not, it won't be better than the current offer.

[PieBerger]

[*]Key-Tracking Center Key
It would be super handy to be able to determine at which key no modulation is applied for parameters with variable key-tracking. For example, I might want a parameter to stay put on the lowest key and to be scaled up for all higher keys based on their distance from the lowest key. I think some synths do this but I can't recall any at the moment.

You can do kind of do this already using a Mapper set to Key mode and drawing in an offset rising ramp/saw. It's arguably a bit convoluted and there's a case for a simplified version, but it's possible to achieve all the same.

[sm909]

Is it possible to set up custom feedback loops in the main grid and or FX /OUT somehow?

[atmelcool]

I can't figure out what these blue, green, and salmon-colored curves do. No matter how I try to change them, they don't affect the oscillator's sound.

[NAD]

[*]Key-Tracking Center Key
It would be super handy to be able to determine at which key no modulation is applied for parameters with variable key-tracking. For example, I might want a parameter to stay put on the lowest key and to be scaled up for all higher keys based on their distance from the lowest key. I think some synths do this but I can't recall any at the moment.

You can do kind of do this already using a Mapper set to Key mode and drawing in an offset rising ramp/saw. It's arguably a bit convoluted and there's a case for a simplified version, but it's possible to achieve all the same.

Yes, very true. It would be so cool if we ever got mappers that use the same type of curves as the oscillators and MSEGs (in addition to the stepped ones of course).