Need something to combat summer blues (work again!) Zebra or MFM2

[TwoToneshuzz]

I'm getting already to get depressed summer is here everyone seems on holiday but me, I do outdoor work at a few gardens here in Copenhagen. That means I'm stuck in the city until September. Now I want something to take my mind of this state of thngs.

Zebra!???! does it do everything that my ACE, Diva, Filterscape, Chromaphone, Tassaman, String Studio, and so on does it do everty9ng that these don't do. And more importantly is Zebra way more CPU efficient for creating good quality usable sounds for imaginative and off the wall projects??

MFM2 is it Way better than the Uhbik D and cousins or more intuitive than Valhalla übermod!?

Which one and why?

I need to get Zebra so that Urs will know I'm serious about wanting him to allow user waveforms to be loaded for one, for the other this is the serious ElectraX killer feature...


Wade

[mcnoone]

Zebra can do a lot of sounds like from the synths you listed.
Did you try the demo out yet?
Try loading some other sounds in it besides the presets.
Try some of these out.
http://www.u-he.com/PatchLib/zebra.html
You should be able to come to a conclusion from going through different sounds, using the demo.

[TwoToneshuzz]

Zebra can do a lot of sounds like from the synths you listed.
Did you try the demo out yet?
Try loading some other sounds in it besides the presets.
Try some of these out.
http://www.u-he.com/PatchLib/zebra.html
You should be able to come to a conclusion from going through different sounds, using the demo.

That demo mode is fine but I like to hear other users opinions.

Zebra seems to have a very loyal following even after all the new kids on the block have come out..

Thanks for the imput

[Urs]

Zebra is and will be our flagship.

Zebra will never do The ACE Thing (route anything into anything) nor the exact Diva Thing (ultimate recreation of some analogue favourites for the time being). Also, FilterscapeVA has a unique weapon with its morphing EQ. Zebra3 will most likely have a slightly similar thing, but not quite the same.

Basically, the not-Zebras in our stable all do certain things that Zebra can't. But then again, non of these can touch Zebra in many, many ways and on as many levels. And you get Zebrify with it

[TwoToneshuzz]

Zebra is and will be our flagship.

Thats a good definative answer. I am actually missing a main synth engine in my arsenal, I have Surge, but that plug is basically in non development, the writing is on the wall I need a serious tool for sound experiment that is being updated.

Zebra will never do The ACE Thing (route anything into anything) nor the exact Diva Thing (ultimate recreation of some analogue favourites for the time being). Also, FilterscapeVA has a unique weapon with its morphing EQ. Zebra3 will most likely have a slightly similar thing, but not quite the same.

These speciel use tools ACE Diva and Filterscape VA are just great but I know they need a more comprehensive tool like Zebra to bring a new and balanced sound palate. I also sense that learning and understanding Zebra will help get more out of using the other synths. Zebra is perhaps like a synthesists learning workshop..

Basically, the not-Zebras in our stable all do certain things that Zebra can't. But then again, non of these can touch Zebra in many, many ways and on as many levels. And you get Zebrify with it

I'm intrigued by the many ways and levels. Complication in production is sometimes the only way to reach the result you are after. But working in many ways and levels creates more oppurtonities for interesting new timbres..

Now about the bank balance....

Regards

Wade

[hollo]

Zebra is and will be our flagship.

FilterscapeVA has a unique weapon with its morphing EQ. Zebra3 will most likely have a slightly similar thing, but not quite the same.

Any kind of Morphing EQ in Zebra - Great news!

[bmrzycki]

Zebra is and will be our flagship.

Thats a good definative answer. I am actually missing a main synth engine in my arsenal, I have Surge, but that plug is basically in non development, the writing is on the wall I need a serious tool for sound experiment that is being updated.

Surge was a great synth, it's a shame it's pretty much dead with the dev at bitwig now. Thankfully Zebra fills the hole nicely although I sometimes miss some of the plastic-y sounds Surge excelled at. I'll wait to see what the mad geniuses at u-he have in store for us with Z3 though!

[TwoToneshuzz]

Zebra is and will be our flagship.

Thats a good definative answer. I am actually missing a main synth engine in my arsenal, I have Surge, but that plug is basically in non development, the writing is on the wall I need a serious tool for sound experiment that is being updated.

Surge was a great synth, it's a shame it's pretty much dead with the dev at bitwig now. Thankfully Zebra fills the hole nicely although I sometimes miss some of the plastic-y sounds Surge excelled at. I'll wait to see what the mad geniuses at u-he have in store for us with Z3 though!

I was looking and playing around with Zebra last night, I reallly like the sound quality and the workflow suits me very well, I'm a big user of Numerology Pro 3 and the open ended quality of that program is similiar in a way to Zebra.

I think the graphic design or the UI is great with the present version of Zebra so what I would wish for in Zebra 3 would be a continuation for the most part of the present look perhaps with minor visual tweeks, perhaps improvements in sound quality, multi effects chains perhaps 3x and wavetable sythesis with the ability to load user waves like ElectraX or Rapture.. I don't want Zebra 3 to become a sampler though! I use Maschine for that, eventual I will get Kontakt or Mach 5 as they have the content filled out..

Surge is a great sound maker but how long will it last? And the GUI though pretty snazzy is pretty hard to read the details as it's not possible to resize it..

Visuals are inportant for me in a Plug in and is one very important reason that I so like the slight more "adult" look of the U-he plugs. Filterscape is an exception in this Adult look modus but it's such a wonderful sound maker that the slightly back to the future look is more than forgiven...

Wade

[Urs]

No worries, Zebra 3 won't be a sampler but will import waveforms. That's the plan.

The gui will be redone, probably with an easy way to adjust the colour scheme, but preserving the general layout.

My main work atm is integrating features from photo/3d software into our gui framework. This will ease the design workflow and it'll open up possibilities that we haven't seen in plugin guis yet. Nothing fancy, but merely great features for usability, accessibility and customisation. We'll be ready for retina displays when they hit 30" monitors. I hope.

Other than that, yeah, Sascha and Clemens will refurbish quite a few modules

[Urs]

Zebra is and will be our flagship.

FilterscapeVA has a unique weapon with its morphing EQ. Zebra3 will most likely have a slightly similar thing, but not quite the same.

Any kind of Morphing EQ in Zebra - Great news!

See, what I have in mind is a proper replacement for the vowel filter. I've been sneakingly analysing a few solutions elsewhere and I think that a combined EQ/Formant filter/Resonator with a very simple morphing system would probably do, and save us a module or two, and then we could have more of these.

[TwoToneshuzz]

No worries, Zebra 3 won't be a sampler but will import waveforms. That's the plan.

The gui will be redone, probably with an easy way to adjust the colour scheme, but preserving the general layout.

My main work atm is integrating features from photo/3d software into our gui framework. This will ease the design workflow and it'll open up possibilities that we haven't seen in plugin guis yet. Nothing fancy, but merely great features for usability, accessibility and customisation. We'll be ready for retina displays when they hit 30" monitors. I hope.

Other than that, yeah, Sascha and Clemens will refurbish quite a few modules

That zebra will import waveforms is one thing I was hoping to have on board on my one general purpose production synth.

I very much like the present look of the Zebra 2 gui and also quite I'm sure it can only get better in version 3 as each new offering from u-he.com seems to be more and more refined as far as the UI visual aesthetic level is concerned, Uhbik, ACE and Diva are just unbeleavably svelt cool and refined, and MOST importantly easy on eyes, readable and logically laid out.

Integrating features for graphic work sounds like a very time consuming yet ultimately worthwhile pursuit, and I sense that this groundwork will ulitmately result in improved and faster updates of all the u-he.com plug ins, hard not to get excited about this development!

I'm working on a mid 2007 iMac and am seriously positioning my self for getting the MBP retina and parring that with a 2013? mac mini to make my computer music setup meet the high level demands of the u-he.com plug ins and my own blown up over dimensioned projects..

The morphing Formant/Vowel filter is also something that I'm missing in my synth arsenal so this would be a welcome addition, any chance for a Uhbik Vocoder?

Good luck to Urs and co on bringing all these tweeks to the product range out.


I'll be getting Zebra 2 as my consolation for being stuck once again in the City summer 2012.. (Late July) Now where is that Weed Whacker....


Regards

Wade

[TwoToneshuzz]

Well I went ahead and got an iMac lightly used with a 3.1 Ghz processor.

This ate a seriously large amount of cash. So I won't be buying Zebra 2 just yet.

I'm figuring I'll wait until early september...


Look forward to having the Zebra in my stable...

Wade