I love Zebra

[penguinfromdeep]

I don't know, it surely sounds different than Ace (that I love) ..

[heavensdaw]

Zebra2 has a fundamental sound?

Yeah, it's the first frequency in Zebra's harmonic series. You know, that one it always makes when you hit a key.

The biggest stripe in a zebra is always his first harmonic.

Would that be the 'init' patch? Cause I love it!! (no other has an 'init' like that)



Hd

[Urs]

I don't know, it surely sounds different than Ace (that I love) ..

Unless you do serious audio rate modulation (e.g. Osc->Pulsewidth) or circular routings, any difference perceived between Zebra 2.5 and ACE is really just imagination. Zebra's Oscs don't alias much even in crisp mode and the XMF in "analogue" setting is next to identical to ACE's filter.

[penguinfromdeep]

Fair enough, I didn't test 2.5 so maybe I should give it a spin ..

[ariston]

Okay, if you don't like its fundamental sound, then don't waste your time.

Zebra2 has a fundamental sound?

I actually think it does... it always sounds brown to me, and it tends to steer you in the direction of brown sounds. With a little effort, however, there are lots of reds, greens, yellows and blues in there as well, although black is definitely not its main strength.

Any other Synesthetes around?

[rockmachine]

Okay, if you don't like its fundamental sound, then don't waste your time.

Zebra2 has a fundamental sound?

As I said in a previous post Howard,I refered to its copious sound manipulation abilities, which for me is what the potential "sound" of any synth is much more about. I don't think it has a sound, as for me Zebra is a tabula rasa . There's also a perennial debate that the unfiltered waves such as sawtooth, sine, square, etcetera, differ from one synth to the next. As Urs said, there are only a few special cases in which ACE and Zebra don't display similar characteristics.

[factorypresets]

It is time consuming to properly demo everything out there. Zebra is complex and does not immediately hit you over the head.

I went looking for something complex and powerful to replace Tera. I downloaded all the demos of synths that I had seen people raving about on forums and started to try them out.

I didn't even get around to installing Blue.

[Slinky Productions]

I was gonna start a topic just like this!

I'm demoing but wanna buy a license soon

[pdxindy]

I am working on a section of video soundtrack for a friend. He wanted a moody trumpet-like lead sound. As usual for me I turned to Zebra and here is an example of what I came up with. Zebra is a joy to work with.

http://draigathar.org/sounds/rumpass.wav

[pdxindy]

been away from audio stuff working on other projects... just was doing some audio in Zebra so here is a sample of the sound I was working on...

http://draigathar.org/sounds/grindel.wav

[Echoes in the Attic]

I am working on a section of video soundtrack for a friend. He wanted a moody trumpet-like lead sound. As usual for me I turned to Zebra and here is an example of what I came up with. Zebra is a joy to work with.

http://draigathar.org/sounds/rumpass.wav

You crazy diamond! Shine on....

[jobromedia]

Well I've heard so much about Zebra2, and I took the decision to save to afford one since I really enjoy the flexibility in it.

[mcnoone]

I need to get this off my chest here.

Urs!!!
Zebra is f'ing amazing!

okay thanks, I feel better now.
sorry, just had one of those omg I can't believe this sound moments.

[Sendy]

I need to get this off my chest here.

Urs!!!
Zebra is f'ing amazing!

okay thanks, I feel better now.
sorry, just had one of those omg I can't believe this sound moments.

I know such praise probably starts to sound like background noise after a while, but I'm still consistently amazed every time I have a proper session with Zebra. I'm not using it to anywhere near it's full potential, partly because of my computer, and partly because of my skill level with modular synths, but just the way you can bend sound around to extremes, without hearing any audible distortion or aliasing amazes me.

A lot of synths have trouble with waveshaping and phase distortion, even sync effects sometimes, in that high notes alias and ring and kind of scream. But you can load your Zebra oscillator waveform with all kinds of twists and turns and sweep the pitch up into almost supersonic range and not hear any artifacts. There are other synths with this kind of quality, but I don't think they offer the range of modules and functions, and the sheer power of being able to stack modules until you either get the sound you want or max your CPU, and STILL have clean high notes.

Another thing is that some synths have antialiasing routines which castrate the waveform, introducing weird phase issues and taking the edge off of things such as PWM effects (or even creating DC offset on some notes). Zebra's antialiasing routine doesn't seem to do this in the slightest.

Of course, some people are now complianing that it's too clean But I appreciate the option of having a smooth oscillator to work with, which you can then dirty up if you want. It's interesting that now we are entering an age where almost 100% aliasing-free digital oscillators are getting more common, synths are appearing which claim to emulate 'old school digital aliasing and distortion'!

[Howard]

Big for the last two posts. Zebra2 is the only synth I have NEVER EVER become bored with!