Does Zebra 2 sound better than ZebraCM using same preset?

[mleghorn]

I just found out that you can load Zebra CM presets into Zebra 2. So I did an A-B comparison of the same preset loaded into both synths. I switched back and forth between two tracks, one that uses Z2, and one that uses ZCM. I think I noticed a very subtle difference in the sound, but I'm not sure I could distinguish in a blind test.

What makes a synth sound good? Given two synths, generating the same sound using the same program (e.g. wave sources, filter and oscillator settings, etc..) why would one sound better than other? Is the code optimized in the better synth, i.e. written in a fast language like C++ or assembler? What are the challenges in developing a superior sounding synth that the mediocre synths don't address?

Thanks,

Mike

[Urs]

I would be *very* surprised if there's any difference between Z2 and ZCM for the same ZCM patch...

However, every note may sound different for various reasons, hence you can't use differentiation (Track A minus Track B = Silence?) to verify that the engines are identical.

Hmmm... it might be so that Zebra2 is louder than ZebraCM... the final VCA stages different because Z2 has a 4 in 3 mixer while ZCM has a 1 in 2 mix... dunno...

Cheers,

Urs

[beej]

You are comparing two synths with broadly the same internals, so they will sound basically identical.

Comparing two different synths, each part of the synth can be coded in many different ways, with different options, design decisions and compromises. One synth might use really heavy duty anti-aliasing code, which uses more CPU but sounds better, and another synth might have average anti-aliasing code.

One synth might have generic filters from a book, another might have extensively analog-modelled filters with all sorts of non-liearities built in.

It's like comparing two songs from two different artists -you can find similarities, but ultimately the two songs are different because they are the results of thousands of decisions made by different people with different experience and artistic intention.

[flowdesigner]

So, why would anyone buy anything like Vanguard when they get zebraCM for free?

I just got this synth with the october issue of computer music, and Im quite amazed . It is one of the cooles synth plugins I have tried !

Is it any drawback I havent noticed yet, it seems to good to be true !

This kind of freeware synthesizer must make other comercial synth developers nervous, at least I can not afford a new VA/wavetable plugin for a while...



Cheers

[mcnoone]

I noticed a difference in sound timbre between the two. Only in a few patches in the high end. I just played with the resolution and normal knobs in Zebra2 to get those patches to sound right.