u-he

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 7:12 pm

mkastrup wrote:Who you gonna call... BUG BUSTERS!! We all know Zebra is becoming an entity sooo, ill better prepare myself with holy water, mousetrap, a huge hammer and a blanket just incase something wierd pops up

My real name is "Howard the Duck", and I'll be on the lookout for those pesky "Dark Overlords"

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 5:30 pm

Normally I don't post untested betas, but this timne is an exception, i.e. due to Receptor compatibility check:

http://www.u-he.com/Zebra22b1Win.zip (VST Win installer)
http://www.u-he.com/Zebra22b1AU.zip (Mac Audio Unit UB, just the component)

Major improvement: Z2 Editor hopefully remembers its last state from before closing it, including preset browser.

Dozens of little bugs fixed. I.e. it shouldn't forget where to save/load the midimap file anymore. Scripts can be way longer...

Known issues: On Windows Z2 still forgets which preset it has loaded, but it remembers the folder...

Lemme know how it goes...

Urs

beej · Post by **beej** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 6:22 pm

Cool beans!
Quick question - does this version fix the Win MSEG bug, or is that one still outstanding..?

Off to try...

bmrzycki · Post by **bmrzycki** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:07 pm

Urs,

I have a minor request for .h2p extended mode. When saving in .h2p extended format, there's still the binary blob bottom (as of Zebra2 2.1). It'd be nice if when saving in extended format we can see all the variables. It would make scripting a lot easier to understand and do with external tools as well.

musicall · Post by **musicall** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 5:43 pm

some quick fixes that could really help

have an option for the zebra window to always be on top.

be able to delete patches from the preset window

don't have a limit on the length of patch names

be able to click anywhere in the up and down arrow box to "jump" scroll from top to bottom like in normal windows

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:32 pm

bmrzycki wrote:Urs,

I have a minor request for .h2p extended mode. When saving in .h2p extended format, there's still the binary blob bottom (as of Zebra2 2.1). It'd be nice if when saving in extended format we can see all the variables. It would make scripting a lot easier to understand and do with external tools as well.

I'd love to do that... but the file size would become enormous... 20000+ parameters for waveform/spectrum data alone. MSEGs are roughly 500 params. I'm afraid this will not do any good...

However, I've planned to put parameters that hold textual info (i.e. XY labels) into a human readable format...

Nevertheless, here's somethinmg for Win users (hopefully a compensation for their frustrating 2.2b2 build):

http://www.u-he.com/Zebra22b2Win.zip

Later,

Urs

musicall · Post by **musicall** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:36 pm

be able to collapse folders within folders in the preset window

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:40 pm

musicall wrote:be able to collapse folders within folders in the preset window

That's planned, too!

The last couple of weeks have been awefully stressful. I'm slowly eating my way through the list, but I also gotta make sure that I keep sane, so I'll take a day off or two

musicall · Post by **musicall** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:22 pm

cool...i think ive been suggesting a lot of good ideas recently...

qubie · Post by **qubie** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:35 pm

an aux in module would be nice to have. Maybe let zebra even load as an effect(would be advisable in most hosts).It would be so nice to run external sounds through those mighty filters and effects.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:07 pm

qubie wrote:an aux in module would be nice to have. Maybe let zebra even load as an effect(would be advisable in most hosts).It would be so nice to run external sounds through those mighty filters and effects.

That's gonna start as soon as VST3 comes up... an fx version of Zebra won't happen... too much stress...

bmrzycki · Post by **bmrzycki** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:36 pm

Urs wrote:I'd love to do that... but the file size would become enormous... 20000+ parameters for waveform/spectrum data alone. MSEGs are roughly 500 params. I'm afraid this will not do any good...

Hrm, good point. Well, maybe you can post the code to parse that blob somewhere. It doesn't even have to compile. Just a reference for people to learn from. Maybe on the scripting page?

dln · Post by **dln** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:19 pm

I think moving away from hierarchical preset navigation would be a good idea. After testing the new NI synths, tag/label based preset categorization and browsing really stuck out as something truly valuable and very natural.

So yeah, that's what I'd love to see... Preset tags/labels to complement hierarchy.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:39 pm

dln wrote:I think moving away from hierarchical preset navigation would be a good idea. After testing the new NI synths, tag/label based preset categorization and browsing really stuck out as something truly valuable and very natural.

So yeah, that's what I'd love to see... Preset tags/labels to complement hierarchy.

I'm not sure about that... actually, to tell you the truth... I don't really like it...

It's a huge effort. One must not underestimate the sheer work that has to go into categorization of presets / adding metadata. In my humble opinion, the concept of metadata is great - when you have someone to add it for you. But in daily use it badly fails, because no-one wants to metadata stuff for his own use. (It's hard enough to convince patch designers to add support for XY controls... they won't also write novels or click through surveys for each preset)

I also think that metadata navigation is often about having to tricksie out the computer. I compare it to the so-called intelligence of Word. One has to learn concepts to overcome the "progress" such as auto-indented lists and forcing uppercase letters after a period. My cell phone does this too and there's friggin no way to stop it.

I prefer rating systems. Those that have a *single* star or none. Not 0-5 stars. Just a single flag for "I like this preset" would be handy. These presets would automatically be copied into a folder called "Favourites". An average of 20 such presets for every softsynth one averagely owns will probably be enough for any number of albums one can ever release in his life.

And no-one prevents anyone from creating his own preset folders. For instance, drag and drop for presets into other folders would be a huge plus, almost easily done.

Seriously, it needs a lot of persuasive power to convince me of metadata for patches...

musicall · Post by **musicall** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:06 pm

no metadata for me

u-he

KVR Audio

Improvements!