Zebra Virus Thread

[billstei]

I think what Polybius is trying to say is if your Virus hard-on thread lasts more than 4 pages please contact a Zebra programmer.

[Polybius]

I think what Polybius is trying to say is if your Virus hard-on thread lasts more than 4 pages please contact a Zebra programmer.

I will gladly supply you with an aptly progammed Beavis and Butthead "Boioioioioioioingggg" patch!

(disappears for atleast 3 months...)

[Al.Kamala]

One thing nobody speaks about is the hardware used in the computer itself, and I can believe that if you use a masterpiece like Zebra with a F****g nuts bad soundcard like you can find some on the market, then, yes, of course: you will always prefer the way your Virus sounds, and it will also be the same if your computer is not configured the way it should have to be to make good sound design. Some will tell me this is an evidence, but sometimes it is a good thing to remember those kind of evidences.

And if after that you still maintain that Virus is a borderline living I don't know what, I think you'd better choose a new dealer for what you're smoking.

[pepelogu]

Whats with the "versus"?

It's two good synths that anyone could get good use of.

If you like Zebra, buy that synth, ditto for Virus.

[ZenPunkHippy]

If there wasn't a Synth 1 vs. Synth 2 thread at least once a week, KVR would go in to meltdown. The result of the meltdown would be more song writing, but that's another story

Peace,
Andy.

[zerocrossing]

I had a Virus C for many moons and I loved it so. An hour with various soft synths (I now forget if Zebra was amoung them) and it was up on ebay. There's not a day that goes by where I think about it or miss it.

People should use what they want. Myself, I like softsynths every bit as much as hardware digital synths. More really cause softsynths are more diverse. I've owned some hardware synths and played with others. If you gave me a Virus for free I would not use it. (I'll take it and sell it though for cash) I like what I got with softsynths.

Oh, I'm not anti hardware if it's different or has some quality I don't find in software. I recently purchased a MoPHo because I found it had a kind of out of control kind of sound when the feedback was cranked up. I could get somewhat close with Olga and in some ways Olga is better than the MoPHo, but the point is they're very different. I also have a SonicCell simply because the sound design of the patches (Some coming from Spectrasonics) is awesome.

My Virus was good too... I just felt it wasn't doing anything unique enough to stay in my stable. Again, I'm talking about the C, not the TI, but the demos on the website sound, as someone else here said, "glowstichish stale" (awesome term btw) so I honestly never gave the TI much thought.

That said, I saw Thomas Dolby a little while ago and while he was using a ton of software, he also had a Virus TI up on stage with him. His entire show sounded pretty damn awesome.

[zerocrossing]

One thing nobody speaks about is the hardware used in the computer itself, and I can believe that if you use a masterpiece like Zebra with a F****g nuts bad soundcard like you can find some on the market, then, yes, of course: you will always prefer the way your Virus sounds

Good point. For a little while I'd check out vst demos using my toshiba's on board sound card on my way to work. Even with great headphones I noticed right away that they'd often sound like crap, but when I got home to my MOTU they'd sound great.

[Vectorman]

I thought the TI was a good synth for what it was when I had it last year. Despite all the "hardware just sounds better" talk, though, I honestly didn't think that it sounded inherently better than some softsynths I already owned at that point, especially when you strip away a lot of the effects to make a sound fit into the mix. For me, rather than having a big chunk of cash tied up in a mega hardware instrument, it made more sense to get a good collection of softsynths with differing sonic characters, along with some good processing tools.

Team Zebra up with some other heavy hitters like Omnisphere, ImpOSCar, Massive, Absynth, Rop Papen Blue, etc. and then add great-sounding effects like Uhbik, Filterscape, ELS Vocoder (which completely destroys the Virus' lackluster vocoder), etc. and you've got a much wider sonic palette available to you for less than the cost of a new TI. The issue of stability for live gigs that some raise in regard to software isn't that much of an issue, really - NI Kore2 seems to be a pretty stable host, and there's always the option to just get a Receptor module.

[MitchK1989]

pretty much the only things I'd want in hardware other than my apogee duet and my novation remote SL 61 are better monitors and an eventide h8000FW. Neither are likely to happen anytime soon thanks to budget constraints.

[tetsuneko]

This thread sucks sheep dongs.

It is going to be a great pleasure muting the OP.

[mcnoone]

This thread sucks sheep dongs.
It is going to be a great pleasure muting the OP.

Not a complete loss, as it did have this very useful information below. The mod mappers are amazingly useful indeed.

I would say the effects are better,

I wouldn't say so. I think the Virus only sounds good with effects. The Virus needs them. Just like many other synths out there. That's why Zebras effects were modelled to be more subtle, especially the Chrous.

But bas someone else said, you can just put some other stuff behind Zebra, no big deal. Still way, way cheaper and more flexible than the hardware solution.

the osc have random frequency change but only slightly so that they have an analog quality,

Zebra has pretty much the same random voice detune as the Virus A. Dunno about the TI.

If you need more random detune, use the Modmapper modules.

and the unison stereo width is wider than the zebra.

Classic. The Virus doesn't have enough cpu left for oscillator panning. The voices are mono, unlike Zebra's which are stereo. Hence the distribtution of multi-oscillators in Zebra was *intentional*. Because you can't do it with any other synth.

And now comes the clue: You can use 2 oscillators in Zebra and hard pan them left and right. Boom there you go, BUSTED.

So I guess if you factor in this three thats why it sounds better.

Not convinced.

[sinzero]

my micron kick ass

[michkhol]

And why always the virus?? Why don't those Arp and Moog loving people never come in here to challenge the Zebra? Is it because they don't feel threatened by the superiority of the Zebra? Or is it because they are a jolly bunch of old-skool synth elders who don't need to be justified, because they know "where it's at?".

In other words...less yappin', more zappin' !!!

I own a Moog Little Phatty and I don't even think it's in the same league as Zebra and Virus (or any other VA synth, hardware or software). It sounds different, despite all attempts to recreate it digitally. As for the Virus vs Zebra, I still have some sound clips recorded with Virus which sound more organic than all my attempts to recreate them in Zebra. On the other hand I'm not a sound designer.

[Howard]

It sounds different, despite all attempts to recreate it digitally.

Zebra can sound close enough to seriously shake analog purists' "faith" - which we demonstrated successfully at Musikmesse 2007.

[michkhol]

Zebra can sound close enough to seriously shake analog purists' "faith" - which we demonstrated successfully at Musikmesse 2007.

I believe that. Moreover, I'm sure that in a mix the analog and the "close enough" emulation will sound indistinguishable. Still below are the samples from Virus TI which I couldn't fully recreate in Zebra. So I ended up with different sounds made with Zebra

1. http://svalkafi.com/media/Motif-1.2.aif
2. http://svalkafi.com/media/Audio-32.aif