What's better for learning Zebra?

[clangorous]

Be careful when deconstructing Howard's presets. They only look simple because he uses a small handful of modules. I recommend taking time to look at each and every knob and turning them separately then resetting the patch. I also recommend disabling/enabling one module in the grid at a time and listening to the changes. Some modules add the tiniest amount of subtly while others drastically alter the sound. Learn to listen for these differences so you can apply similar techniques when you desire at a later time.

Thank you! Great suggestion. I have struggled with some deconstruction and this might be why. That last 1%...the polish...is often the difference and it can drive me crazy trying to get it (an example is Zebralette's Rhythmic|SM 4onthe 01...I can duplicate the sound and rhythm, but struggle with getting that nice "boominess"). So this will absolutely be something I start doing. Maybe also mapping XY pads to different parameters also as a way of exploring this.

Also read the video comments too. Doing the homework suggestions are quite valuable.

Agreed! Howard's comments are really helpful. So many options in Zebra. Knowing how to think about things helps.

One Howard quote I like (along the lines of your suggestion above) is "Admittedly, you have to overcome the urge to use everything at your disposal instead of concentrating on performing, exploring the limits of one simple patch." I need to remember this...

[clangorous]

One revelation I've had is that very small changes can effect a profound difference in how the patch sounds. No matter how carefully I'd follow along with a video tutorial my patch still wouldn't sound quite like the one in the vid. Zebra is very much a tweak-by-listening synth rather than any kind of cookbook approach.

My favourite sounds are usually made in the spirit of exploration, rather tham military precision. Have an idea of the "spirit" in which the sounds you want dwell, and with luck the ideas come thick and fast; often feeling more like you're an explorer looking for treasure, rather than an engineer, um, engineering treasure.

Thanks guys. Both comments are spot on for me...my brain has a tendency to try to force things into a repeatable or cookbook style as a way to have larger concepts to work with. But the ears have to be the guide and the judge. Great advice for me personally.

In the Zebra2 User guide it says:

"Making your own sounds in Zebralette is the best way to become a real Zebra2 oscillator expert, as there is zero risk of being distracted by all the other Zebra2 features.

Good call. Will also be a good way to apply the suggestions above for sure. I spent some time with Zebralette before buying Zebra 2, and it did help. Then I kind of got away from it. Thanks for reminding me to go back and do some more with it.

[clangorous]

... the creator had a clear image in their mind of what he was going to make at the start.

Actually, that's not true in my case - I seldom have a clue where a patch will eventually go! However, I try to keep patches clean so I can stay focussed and not lose the "plot" as it develops.

Very good to know! This kind of insight is perfect for me. The analogy of keeping the "plot" kind of gives the brain "permission" to explore, knowing you still have a purpose behind it all.

Just to go "out there" for a second, many of the comments here hint at "emergent" ideas coming out of experimentation rather than predicting the effects of tweaking. So it gets me thinking...of using Causal Loop Modeling for synth programming. It's something I learned from studying complex adaptive systems. It helps model the behavior of landscapes where all the variables affect each other. It can lead to some real "aha" moments, like finding lever points in systems. In the case of synths, it might lead to unique approaches or new sounds. It's not hard to do, and can give some big payoffs.

So with this kind of thinking, you can see why I really appreciate the comments here. Too easy for me to go out into the stratosphere and miss some of the foundational things in the early stages.

[bmrzycki]

... the creator had a clear image in their mind of what he was going to make at the start.

Actually, that's not true in my case - I seldom have a clue where a patch will eventually go! However, I try to keep patches clean so I can stay focused and not lose the "plot" as it develops.

I hope you didn't think I was speaking on your behalf. I didn't mean to imply that you always knew what you were doing. My attempt was to show that a few simple tools can yield complex results.

I'd definitely like to just sit and watch you make a sound some day to see where you brainstorm and where you refine/target the sound. Maybe ustream.tv some patch making? I'd pay a few dollars to watch along for an hour or two.

[clangorous]

I'd definitely like to just sit and watch you make a sound some day to see where you brainstorm and where you refine/target the sound. Maybe ustream.tv some patch making? I'd pay a few dollars to watch along for an hour or two.

Ditto!

[clangorous]

Run an oscilloscope and spectrogram (waterfall display) during your tweaking sessions. At first, the spectrogram in particular was priceless to me. Also, watching some of my favourite music and sounds through it showed me the 'shape' of the sounds and explained things in a way words or objective listening never could.

So I use a scope and FFT, but don't quite grok how to use the Waterfall Spectrogram. Any guidance you have on using the waterfall would be great. Google-ing now but so far not finding much...probably because it's assumed to be intuitive to use...

[a-type]

I would say that the best way to learn Zebra is to strike up a balance of 90% just fiddling and experimenting, and 10% looking at tutorials or the manual.

The beauty of Zebra is that once you get your head around the basic concepts of how it works with its interchangeable modules and 4 lanes, it's a remarkably easy synth to learn by just experimenting; adding this to that, turning this seeing what that does, routing that to this, maybe checking up a tutorial to see what this does, maybe reading the manual to learn the proper usage for that, etc.

Eventually you develop an understanding in your mind for ways to achieve certain textures, and slowly you become able to make sounds with specific concepts in mind, as opposed to just accidentally getting everything in a sweet spot.

That's been my experience anyway!

[clangorous]

The beauty of Zebra is that once you get your head around the basic concepts of how it works with its interchangeable modules and 4 lanes, it's a remarkably easy synth to learn by just experimenting...

After spending this week of vacation doing little else, think I am starting to see that. There does seem to be a pretty significant consensus that experimentation works for learning Zebra. The interface just begs for that. And it does seem to produce good sounds more often than not. Even if I do not get what I want, it tends to give me something I like. Never seen anything quite like it. Thanks for the reply and encouragement.

[a-type]

Even if I do not get what I want, it tends to give me something I like. Never seen anything quite like it.

Yeah, I've found that more than half of my patches are the result of accidentally stumbling on a sweet-spot with the settings, and the remaining patches are cases where I've started out with something in mind that I wanted to achieve. In most cases with other synths, that balance is the other way around. I guess this would be frustrating if you only needed to ever create sounds you had in your head, but hey... when it comes to patch programming you just save anything that sounds good.. you never know when it might come in handy.

By the way I'm sure you have realised this already, but Zebra 2 is staggeringly versatile. I do music and sfx for games, and our entire library of sfx and all the patches in the music is all done in Zebra... about the only thing we need to use something else for are the drums (which of course can be done in Zebra too, but it's just more convenient to use a dedicated drum synth for that - I use Microtonic).

Incredible synth. Can't think of anything close as far as versatility goes.