Simple Sylenth1 patch with Zebra

[ecsmix]

Hi guys,

I am trying to do a fairly easy bass done by booka shade.

here's the sound done in Sylenth1.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/jzjrrq


It's a preset in sylenth1 bank 4 bsbooka it's name.

It uses 2 saw waves -12 semitones, has free running lfo(sine wave), retrigger,some filter envelope,phase of second oscilator is 50% diferent from the first one.

This is what the sylenth1 has one as far as controllers, I was wondering the commands in the Zebra2,Thanks.


Phase - This knob will change the starting point of the waveform. It
will only function when Retrigger is enabled.

Retrigger and Phase
The Retrigger button can be used to force all voices to start at the exact
same location on the waveform every time a new note is played. That
location can be changed using the Phase knob. If Phase is set to 0, the voices
will restart at the beginning of the waveform period. If it is set to 180
degrees, the voices will start halfway the period, while setting it to 360
degrees will make them start at the end of the waveform, which is equivalent
to the beginning.
The phase setting cannot be heard if there's only one oscillator active, but as
soon as there are two or more oscillators running at the same pitch and both
have the retrigger button enabled, you can create useful effects with it. You
can accentuate the level of bass tones for example, or create PWM-like
effects by modulating the phase of one of the oscillators.

Inv
The Inv button inverts the oscillator's output. This
can be useful when creating PWM-like sound effects.
For example, if you add two saw oscillators and
invert one of them, the resulting waveform will be a
pulse. You can then adjust the pulse width by
changing the phase of one of the oscillators.

[hakey]

I made an attempt at a Booka style bass patch (I think it's the one you're talking about, the one from "Body Language"?). I put it in this patch bank (ZebraK at the Banks and Patches section here at KVR) - it's called "Shadey".

[ecsmix]

Hey hackey thanks I will take a look, but I was looking for to do those assingments in zebra as well.
Can you help me how?

[hakey]

In Zebra clicking on the 'phase' tab of an osc module let you see the controls that you want - retrigger is labeled 'reset'.

[ecsmix]

hey hakey thanks for the presets.
Hey man I think we could try nail this sound in zebra as you can hear in my post that was done with sylenth1 preset bsbooka is the same sound as booka, yours is half way there is not close yet.
I put the config of sylenth1 so we can try to emulate in zebra.
there's something there we couldn't quite get the exactly sound, like the INV feature in Zegra and it has a lfo in free doing i don't know what.
Thanks.

[hakey]

Ok, I had another go - here. Any better? The mod wheel adds env depth to the filter and there's an XY pad too. I think a touch of mod wheel get's closer to the sound you wanted.

[ecsmix]

Hakey thanks for trying but I think it's the saw wave in zebra is not as analog as in sylenth so we can't get that analog feel quite right.
It's not a matter of opening the filter only, it's the timbre/sound is not quite there.Maybe we miss something to change in zebra but I doubt it.

zebra sounds too digital to do this sound.

[djanthonyw]

Hakey thanks for trying but I think it's the saw wave in zebra is not as analog as in sylenth so we can't get that analog feel quite right.

This is indeed the reason why Zebra doesn't sit well with me. I have tried the Zebra demo many times truly wanting to like it. My hat still goes off to Urs though, even though it's not my thing, I do realize it's greatness...

[MitchK1989]

I think your problem is that zebra sounds too analog to do the sound if you're using the reset function on the oscillators

I don't know of a single analog synth that doesn't have free running oscs... so you're obviously not trying to mimic one.

[pdxindy]

Hakey thanks for trying but I think it's the saw wave in zebra is not as analog as in sylenth so we can't get that analog feel quite right.
It's not a matter of opening the filter only, it's the timbre/sound is not quite there.Maybe we miss something to change in zebra but I doubt it.

zebra sounds too digital to do this sound.

hehehe... priceless

[amoeba]

zebra sounds too digital to do this sound.

hehehe... priceless

hehehe + 1 !!!

[hakey]

Hakey thanks for trying but I think it's the saw wave in zebra is not as analog as in sylenth so we can't get that analog feel quite right.
It's not a matter of opening the filter only, it's the timbre/sound is not quite there.Maybe we miss something to change in zebra but I doubt it.

zebra sounds too digital to do this sound.

Hmmm... Well, for a start I wasn't using a saw wave! There's just one osc in my patch and I drew my own wave - if you have a look it's sort of a cross between a pulse and a saw wave.

My computer doesn't seem to like di'ing from share it, so I couldn't hear the examples you posted - I was trying to get my patch to sound close to Booka Shade's 'Body Language' bass, not your mp3 of Sylenth's version.

BTW, I can't remember which one, but didn't Booka Shade use an almost laughably basic VST to make that original Body Language bass? Just goes to show it aint necessarily the tools one uses so much as how they're used.

Sylenth and Zebra are two very different VSTis and getting one to sound *exactly* like the other takes a fair bit of skill and patience, neither of which I have in abundance. (I'm sure that in the right hands Zebra could get vanishingly close to your Sylenth patch, or any Sylenth patch - you certainly can't say the opposite is true).

And Zebra and Sylenth are both digital synths! I've owned loads of real analog synths and Zebra doesn't sound exactly like any of them, but it does 'do' a lot of the sonic character that I liked about analogs - presence, conviction, punch, smoothness, bottom end etc - very well indeed, AND then adds so much more (digital) functionality on top.

Anyhow, I think Sylenth is OK so far as it goes, but that's not that all that far. IMO it's a bit if a one trick pony. If you prefer it to Zebra, well, it's a free world (and everybody's got a right to have the wrong opinion )

[ecsmix]

Hey Hakey, I am with you man I just wanna learn which features we have to use to achieve that sound in zebra that's all.
Booka shade said in a interview they used all software in his first cd with fairchild compressors from u.a.d. and they claim that they use a free Computer Music plug in.
That's why I think Zebra should be able to reproduce that.
We just need to find how.
Here's the original song and sounds exactly like the sylenth1 in my ears.
I could reproduce that again with another softsynth, I will post later one the results I manage to program.

[ecsmix]

Hey guys I put five synths in the game now, including our animal zebra...and all of them features a full open filter as well.

check it out and tell which one has more of an analog sound and has a similar timbre to the original booka song.
Thanks.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/lqnm9x

[hakey]

TBH, with respect I really don't see the point in either exercise - recreating the Sylenth patch, or the 'most analog' test.

I mean, the which VST sounds 'most analog' has been absolutely done to death here and, much as I love the sound of analog synths, the 'analog sound' isn't the definitive test, gold standard, whatever, by which all synths must be judged.

And why do you need to exactly replicate that Sylenth patch? If you think that Sylenth 'nails' that Booka bass then use Sylenth!

FWIW the 'Clowns' bank in the Zebra factory presets are Howard Scarr's recreations of Moog Little Phatty patches - somewhere Urs said that at one of the trade fairs - Messe? - they had a Phatty set up alongside a computer running Zebra so that punters could do blind A/B tests. Apparently people couldn't tell the difference (and you can't get much more analog than a Moog)!