Zebra2 randomly sounds 'different'

[Tarekith]

Ok, I know you're thinking this is a demo issue, but that's not what I'm talking about.

I'll be working on a song, when for no reason one of my Z2 patches will sound completely altered from what it was a second before. Hard to describe, but almost like someone real quick tweaked a bunch of the knobs in my patch when I wasn't looking. None of the knob positions are changed of course, just the sound itself. It's as if behind the GUI, the modules I'm using were all instantly randomized slightly. Reloading the patch doesn't solve it, but restarting my DAW (Live 6.08 ) does fix it.

I don't have any midi devices connected to the laptop, so it's not a stray controller message causing this. Just playing back a midi part assigned to Zebra2.1. Frustratingly I can't reproduce it reliably, so I'm not looking for a fix. Just curious if maybe other people are seeing this too. Here's what I do know about it:

- Happens with all patches, does not appear to be patch specific.
- Is not related to the transpose bug in Live 6 that was recently fixed.
- Restarting Live (or Logic 7, where I've seen this too) solves the problem.
- I'm only using the AU version of Z2.
- Happens very infrequenctly, like once every couple of days.
- Does not appear to be dependant on how long I'v been using the plug in during a session. It can happen within 5 minutes, or 5 hours.

Again, I know with no way to pinpoint the problem, it's going to be impossible to offer a suggestion on a fix. Just wondering if anyone else has ever had this random issue happen to them too.

[liars&ashes]

----It really sounds like a midi control message file that got saved, but I thought Urs fixed that in the last update. Anyways, if it is, all I had to do was erase one file, and it's not happened since then. That file should be in the U-he folder, or in the Zebra subfolder in your vst folder, pretty easy to find, in case you wanted to look for it and see if that's the problem. Just trying to help at any rate.

Jeff

[Tarekith]

Thanks, I've already triple checked that there are no midi messages on the track, or automation. It sounds like A LOT of controls are being turned too, not just a single one. You can still recognize the patch, but it's noticeably different sounding. Wish I could think of a better way to explain it, I'll grab some audio examples next time it happens.

[SaviorNeeded]

I've noticed the same problem on a patch. Play it by live keyboard for about a minute and suddenly it just loses everything good. Happens every time, it's unavoidable. Unhappily, I just don't have the time to spend in the studio so I can't test other patches and I can't try to figure this out. Hopefully there's a solution by the time I can get back.

(Sorry--I don't remember the patch, but I'm sure I can find it again)

Tom

[Urs]

Yo,

Tarekith... this must be an accidental midi learn... maybe on an XY? - erase App Support/u-he/Zebra2/com.u-he.Zebra2.midimap.txt

I fixed it in a way... on now has to click through a context menu and activate Midilearn... it can still happen tho...

Saviour... if it's a specific patch, it's probably that specific patch... send it over to me and I'll have a look maybe?

Urs

[Tarekith]

Thanks URS, I'll try that next.

[JeffSanders]

Just happened to me too...had the ultimate sound. Saved my project. When I re-opened it, the sound lost most of its' lower midrange and had added air. This was in REAPER.

[Urs]

Just happened to me too...had the ultimate sound. Saved my project. When I re-opened it, the sound lost most of its' lower midrange and had added air. This was in REAPER.

Hmmm, very strange, to say the least...

Please check if the midimap file has any contents...

I might as well check if Reaper does something funny, but I've got no time to debug hosts anymore...

Urs

[JeffSanders]

Happened with the SyncSaw Arp 1 patch from Transmissions...randomly it lost all of its' body. I think either the exciter or white noise got cranked.

[Urs]

Happened with the SyncSaw Arp 1 patch from Transmissions...randomly it lost all of its' body. I think either the exciter or white noise got cranked.

I've just tried this patch... couldn't get it to sound different aftewr song store/loads, neither the fx nor the nofx version...

I'm pretty sure that these things hint at accidental midi learns... maybe within some rarely used module so that it doesn't become too obvious...

Urs

[Tarekith]

I'm on a completely fresh OSX/Live?zebra2 re-install, and don't even have a midi controller hooked up to the computer that could be triggering any accidentally set midi mappings. I'll trash that file just in case though.

[mkastrup]

I have experienced something similar when browsing patches. There are 2 patches in the Oldskool soundset which can trigger this sometimes, its the Modulate Organs in Organs DIR(the modulation offset is way off) and the Stack Legacy in Stack DIR (the low string osc is not initialized and not sounding). My work around is try a few other patches with different routing.

/Michael

[Urs]

Can someone help me out here...

- create mp3 of what it should sound like
- create mp3 of the modified version
- save modified patch
- send all this along with the original patch to anybody[at]u-he[dot]com

if it's a bug, this is the easiest way to fix it...

Urs

[mkastrup]

Urs, in my case i tried save the faulty patch with a new name and it acted just as the original patch. So making a new copy wont help solve the problem in my case.

Try the Stack Legacy patch in Oldskool STACK dir, it forgets to initialize OSC 4 on some occasions.

/Michael

[HunterKiller]

mkastrup, here's a perfect name for a new patch: Ghost in the Machine or The Zebra Gremlins.