Zebra2 Latest Version: 2.1 - Jan 19 2007

[bluedad]

seems the midi learn x/y isnt working in Live 5 now. (pc of course) I could swear it worked in the previous version!

it is working in Mac Live

it works, I just forgot to activate the record button to the channel it's in.

[pdxindy]

http://draigathar.org/zebra/Kalimba03-shaperbug.h2p


here is a preset where the shaper seems to be behaving badly. Play a note lower on the keyboard and it can be staticy/crackly

[Urs]

When thinking about the high CPU taxing patches, I was wondering:
Is there some engine-tied reason why you have few/medium/many voices and not a specific number of voices setting?

Yes. That's because different modes (poly, monophonics, arp) have different minimum numbers of voices. (And if you say that the monophonic modes need just 1 voice, I can easily prove you wrong with a sequence of 1024th notes)

Furtherly it can vary from plugin to plugin or version to version and I wanted to avoid having to maintain different entries... in the end it's not the number that counts but the effect (cpu usage vs. polyphony) that you can *hear*...

Cheers,

Urs

[spritex]

in the end it's not the number that counts but the effect (cpu usage vs. polyphony) that you can *hear*...

That's true. Anyway, have a nice weekend all.
I am going to another town for an (more or less) electronic music festival, lots of domestic bands/DJ's plus Autechre and some others.

[fgimian]

I'll be doing some serious testing on this today to see if I can find anything. Things I notice currently...

- CPU is definitely more stable but it still jumps around more than other synths, it's not quite as bad as using a low latency convolution reverb, but it's close. My CPU is constantly jumping up and down even when holding one note. As mentioned, MUCH better than before but still happening.
- When I change locator position in my project, effect tails are cut off. I actually dislike this behaviour, reminds me of when I tried Sonar ... Cubase has a very real feel to it, tails are always left to fade out no matter what you are doing. Any idea why tails of effects are cut off when I hit play or switch locator position ?
- When using quad mode on say, 4 oscs added together, if I close and reopen the project, the first few notes sound like a flanger (something to do with phase not being set to a random position on plugin initialisation ?)
- FR: Really would like to see FM using any carrier, rather than just a sine wave. Other waveforms are much more powerful in some circumstances.
- Question: how do I connect wires across the 4 lanes ? How do I use the mixer module ? I just can't figure this out
- Question: Are there any preset waveforms ? e.g. apart from drawing a square wave, is there any way to choose one from a wave preset menu ?

Sorry this is long. I'll report back later on if I find any more things

Keep it up Urs, love your work ! I'm currently in the process of grabbing an old Roland synth to see if I can qualify for the crossgrade thingy.

Cheers
Fots

[pdxindy]

- Question: how do I connect wires across the 4 lanes ? How do I use the mixer module ? I just can't figure this out

right click on the mix module, and you can route two channels into it... input and sidechain. each can be 1-4

- Question: Are there any preset waveforms ? e.g. apart from drawing a square wave, is there any way to choose one from a wave preset menu ?

not at the moment, but you can save wavesets of your own as osc presets. So create a waveform, or a set of waveforms, save that osc and you can use it in another preset, also you can copy/paste wavesets.

To save waveforms is a bit tricky to find. On the osc just under the Wave parameter is a field with 3 dots, clicking pulls up the saved osc's, right click will save the osc.

hth

[fgimian]

- Question: how do I connect wires across the 4 lanes ? How do I use the mixer module ? I just can't figure this out

right click on the mix module, and you can route two channels into it... input and sidechain. each can be 1-4

- Question: Are there any preset waveforms ? e.g. apart from drawing a square wave, is there any way to choose one from a wave preset menu ?

not at the moment, but you can save wavesets of your own as osc presets. So create a waveform, or a set of waveforms, save that osc and you can use it in another preset, also you can copy/paste wavesets.

To save waveforms is a bit tricky to find. On the osc just under the Wave parameter is a field with 3 dots, clicking pulls up the saved osc's, right click will save the osc.

hth

Legend, thanks a lot for the info.

Here are 2 pad sounds I made with Zebra, all I can say is WOW ! I don't think I've ever created such huge pads with any synth, I used to use samples for stuff like this...

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... 666389f117

Let me know if you like

Cheers
Fots

[marzzz]

I like!

[fgimian]

sweeet !

[spritex]

Yep, nice pads! Zebra2 is just so wonderful. It's also excellent for all kinds of basses, leads, clicketyclicks, blibs, blobs and whatnot. Zebra2 is the antithesis of the "one-trick-pony". It's all about fun, control, flexibility and quality.

And when you work with it for a while, you get to know that whatever the sound is, you can tinker it like an insect surgeon to make it _exactly_ how you want it to be.

[pdxindy]

beautiful pads! just lovely!

[wonshu]

Very nice work!!!

[Janne]

Would You like to share those patches? Wonderful pads indeed...

Janne

[fgimian]

edit: I think what might be most beneficial is for me to guide you through how I did this so you can create pads of a very similar style since I plan to use these pads for some tracks soonies

I'll prepare a little tutorial now.

Cheers
Fots

[Urs]

CPU is definitely more stable but it still jumps around more than other synths

Okay... so I guess the solution I found works on the right cause, but it doesn't fully cure the sympthom... I'll optimize this a bit more when I have time to...

btw. you're comparison to convolution reverbs is pretty accurate... it's almost the same thing going on here...

When I change locator position in my project, effect tails are cut off.

D'oh... oh...

Hmm, the whole logic was added for only one host (I think it was ACID, not sure). I'll check if I can make it so intelligent that it uses whatever playback start/stop detection suits the host best...

When using quad mode on say, 4 oscs added together, if I close and reopen the project, the first few notes sound like a flanger (something to do with phase not being set to a random position on plugin initialisation ?)

Oh...

It's fixed in the Mac version, but not on Win. God, I hate to maintain different source versions only because the MS compiler can't cope with simple SSE tricks... will add the fix to Win shortly...

FR: Really would like to see FM using any carrier, rather than just a sine wave. Other waveforms are much more powerful in some circumstances.

Probably the most requested feature for FMOs... I'll do something about it...

What waveforms do you wanna see in there? - Sawtooth and Pulse are no-go because of instant aliasing... is there a chart (with pictures) of the TX81Z waveforms? Would these be what you are looking for?

I'm currently in the process of grabbing an old Roland synth to see if I can qualify for the crossgrade thingy.

It probably will

Cheers,

Urs