Zebra3 Info

[ncabral]

Hoy!
Just got the dark zebra upgrade and gotta say the bandpass filter from gave me a whole new reason to live gonna go back to making new sounds it

Also trying this massive modular skin which is quite fun!

Not sure where u stand on the filter situation for Z3 (and I know u said there won't be diva filters :/ ) but it would be nice to have a good option of that type of juicy warm kind of filter. The diva bandpass sounds super nice for squelchy stuff... Would be awesome to have something of that quality 12/24/36db... just dreaming. Now I go sleep and actually dream..Zzzz

[Howard]

There are sure to be some "juicy warm kind of filters" in Z3. Guaranteed.

[Urs]

Yes to juicy and squelchy filters. There'll be plenty of options.

Update on the LFO: I got some serious woggle going now. As of now the LFO has 26 parameters (6 x knob + 5 x mod /w 5x source + bunch of options), and they all make a lot of sense. And that's before user editable waveforms. We'll probably condense it to about 20.

[SJ_Digriz]

Yes to juicy and squelchy filters. There'll be plenty of options.

Update on the LFO: I got some serious woggle going now. As of now the LFO has 26 parameters (6 x knob + 5 x mod /w 5x source + bunch of options), and they all make a lot of sense. And that's before user editable waveforms. We'll probably condense it to about 20.

[tappert]

(also, with all this stuff in mind - Zebra 2.8 is yet to come out and will not have any of these rewritten modules... now we just need to make the new GUI work on Windows... aaaargh)

I'm a bit lost, Zebra 2.8 wasn't supposed to get only a revamped GUI?

[Urs]

(also, with all this stuff in mind - Zebra 2.8 is yet to come out and will not have any of these rewritten modules... now we just need to make the new GUI work on Windows... aaaargh)

I'm a bit lost, Zebra 2.8 wasn't supposed to get only a revamped GUI?

It does have a bit more than just UI, but it doesn't have a complete rewrites of any of the modules. The oscillators, filters and stuff are still the same in 2.8. For 3.0 however they'll pretty much all be rewritten from scratch, with ten more years of experience embedded.

However, don't underestimate UI. It's not just another skin. There were many refinements under the hood, and while some may be subtile, they're still going to make for a better experience.

My comment was about some new concepts/designs that don't work properly on Windows yet. Mostly cosmetic problems but also some optimisation. It isn't my favourite task to fix those things (I could write new filters instead...), but I'll eventually get to them

[omiroad]

To be honest I expected Zebra 3 to be released at the time 2.8 will release, and I don't completely understand the point of reskinning Zebra just before the real next version, but... this is all still really cool and I'm excited for both 2.8 and the big hitter.

[EvilDragon]

Because Zebra 2 won't be discontinued when Zebra 3 is out, it's gonna be a separate product, and going forward both will be maintained separately.

[Elektronisch]

Because Zebra 2 won't be discontinued when Zebra 3 is out, it's gonna be a separate product, and going forward both will be maintained separately.

And thats how that should be. Unlike Synapse Audio abandoning Dune 1.

[Urs]

Because Zebra 2 won't be discontinued when Zebra 3 is out, it's gonna be a separate product, and going forward both will be maintained separately.

And thats how that should be. Unlike Synapse Audio abandoning Dune 1.

Actually, I thought Dune was a good example, where a legacy product becomes a cheaper alternative. This ensures that the legacy product is kept alive, e.g. when the OS changes or standards update. I don't know how much effort they put into it, but we have a good system running to keep old products alive.

That said, we have not ultimately decided how it's gonna be. I do think however, as a company we can only "buy" the cheap upgrade price for existing users by making them two separate products. As in, existing users of Zebra2 will receive the 30$ upgrade option (or free with TDZ) to Zebra3, but "Zebra legacy" will neither be included for new Z3 customers, nor will customers of "Zebra legacy" be entitled to the same upgrade options as laid out in the OP.

[Urs]

To be honest I expected Zebra 3 to be released at the time 2.8 will release, and I don't completely understand the point of reskinning Zebra just before the real next version, but... this is all still really cool and I'm excited for both 2.8 and the big hitter.

The reskinning is a bit of "testing some UI concepts for Zebra3" and seeing how much needs to be developed still.

I had wished for a release long time ago (both Z2.8 and Z3), but recent years had become very draining - testing even. That's what happens when one releases products like Diva and The Dark Zebra and suddenly one needs to go from a small team of 4 to a company of 15. One needs the manpower, but overall efficiency sinks, so one needs more products to cough up cash for wages, and then that asks for more manpower. Fast growth comes with depressing side effects.

OTOH I'm pretty much the only one who knows and understands development of Zebra modules. I can't just define some specs for a module, give it to another developer and wait for the results - works for some stuff, but not for much of it. So I had to free myself from other obligations (support, design, training, project management, communication, that kinda stuff). There's still KVR and a shitload of boss stuff on my plate, but with some luck I can do a module or two a month, while the guys can keep doing other stuff.

[Urs]

(that said, the number of modules that require a lot of work is very low... most modules can build upon recent developments. Take the chorus for example. We have meanwhile developed emulations of classic effects, we have a toolbox of reusable building blocks (efficient delay lines, buckets, filters, companders)... refurbishing a module like the Zebra2 chorus ("ModFX") is like doing so in a candy store. I'll be able to do a better job in half the time)

[dorremifasol]

Whatever comes out I'm sure it'll worth the wait. In the meanwhile I'm happy reading about the progress ; )

[Urs]

Yeah, I was thinking about starting a new thread so people can keep up with developments, but there are so many quite novel ideas, I don't want to give them away just yet. And what's a dev blog without screenshots and audio examples?

Also, I would have to keep up with people's questions and suggestions, and that would certainly drag dev time out...

[Elektronisch]

Because Zebra 2 won't be discontinued when Zebra 3 is out, it's gonna be a separate product, and going forward both will be maintained separately.

And thats how that should be. Unlike Synapse Audio abandoning Dune 1.

Actually, I thought Dune was a good example, where a legacy product becomes a cheaper alternative. This ensures that the legacy product is kept alive, e.g. when the OS changes or standards update.

Well i didnt ment keeping alive, tho junglist works ib trial and error fashion so that could be uodated. What i had in mind is modernising a little bit like for example Sylenth1 has been. I have Dune 1 and really like it but its Preset managing system is so not user friendly that i better use other synths. Modernising the browser to act it like Dune 2 would be such a big step but even in forum Synapse doesnt react this request. Like ignore. In general the times i contacted theyr communication is really bad and not clients favor at all.