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arcy · Post by **arcy** » Fri May 04, 2018 6:35 pm

Hi guys, I’m looking for an high quality synth for sound design. Zebra and VPS Avenger are my favorites ones, but I can buy only one $$$

I downloaded and tried both and Zebra seems to be the best sounding. Are there any technical differences between the two synths? Does u-he software use analog emulation or special DSP algorithm?
Thanks

pekbro · Post by **pekbro** » Fri May 04, 2018 8:14 pm

Uhe synths are developed utilizing 2 or 3 x as much schnitzel and beer as the leading competition.

AnX · Post by **AnX** » Fri May 04, 2018 8:18 pm

arcy wrote:Hi guys, I’m looking for an high quality synth for sound design. Zebra and VPS Avenger are my favorites ones, but I can buy only one $$$
I downloaded and tried both and Zebra seems to be the best sounding. Are there any technical differences between the two synths? Does u-he software use analog emulation or special DSP algorithm?
Thanks

Does it matter? You choose the one YOU prefer.

frizzbee · Post by **frizzbee** » Fri May 04, 2018 8:28 pm

zebra seems to be more stable and their updates seem to be tested very well in opposit to avenger...
the filters obviously differ too. avengers filter sound too clean and thin while uhe is known for their effort to build good sounding filters.

arcy · Post by **arcy** » Fri May 04, 2018 9:54 pm

AnX wrote:
arcy wrote:Hi guys, I’m looking for an high quality synth for sound design. Zebra and VPS Avenger are my favorites ones, but I can buy only one $$$
I downloaded and tried both and Zebra seems to be the best sounding. Are there any technical differences between the two synths? Does u-he software use analog emulation or special DSP algorithm?
Thanks

Does it matter? You choose the one YOU prefer.

Ok....this is valid for every aspect of the life, so? Could we close the forum?

My answer is technical, to know under the hood how theirs products works because what I heard is that u-he synth uses more CPU despite others for its high quality algorithms. And this for me is more important than what I simply like or not in terms of investment..

arcy · Post by **arcy** » Fri May 04, 2018 10:12 pm

frizzbee wrote:zebra seems to be more stable and their updates seem to be tested very well in opposit to avenger...
the filters obviously differ too. avengers filter sound too clean and thin while uhe is known for their effort to build good sounding filters.

Yes, Avenger is buggy and filters too thin. OSC in Zebra sounds more thick and round while Avenger a little more “digital”.
For me Avenger has a better mod matrix and I like the way fxs are not limited and well routed in every oscillator (not only a master and two busses like Zebra).
But Avenger has something in the sound that doesn’t attract me..

pekbro · Post by **pekbro** » Fri May 04, 2018 10:57 pm

Uhe synths are works of art, demonstrating an attention to detail and quality that is rarely matched in the industry. They often do use a lot of cpu, but there is generally a quality knob to alleviate much of that. One cannot go wrong supporting them, that much is true.

Of course, in the end you should buy what works best for you. No one can decide that for you. As for technical details, the best place to get answers for that, would be from the devs. Most else, is certainly only speculation.

-cheers

chillpill · Post by **chillpill** » Fri May 04, 2018 11:10 pm

Zebra is quite an old synth at this point in time. A lot of the original algorithms are extremely light on CPU. Some of the more recently added filter algos (derived from Diva and Tyrell iirc) are heavier on the CPU, but it's all relative, and Zebra is still more than reasonable with modern CPUs.
Beware of painting ALL u-he synths with the CPU heavy brush. It's important to look at the synth-release timeline to get the best impression of which are heavy or not.
ACE was the first CPU killer synth, but that was years ago, and a modern CPU hardly notices ACE

Diva and Bazille, then the RePros... those guys use significant CPU.
Zebra is the oldest in the stable, with Filterscape and Podolski being older and lighter.)
The one exception to the rule is Hive. That's a fairly recent synth, but it was intentionally designed to be light on CPU.

I have no experience with Avenger.

Zebra does make use of analogue modeling, but not nearly to the same degree of detail and authenticity as u-he's dedicated analogue modeling synths...Diva and RePro.

About 10 years ago Zebra would've been your first choice for authentic sounding analogue modeling VSTi, but u-he has set the bar increasingly higher since then.
You can't go wrong with Zebra if you like its sound. You're in good company with Hans Zimmer etc al. Zebra is a modern classic.

Hope this helps.

3ee · Post by **3ee** » Sat May 05, 2018 1:36 am

Don't have experience with Avenger (mainly because it's iLoked and I simply stay away from "the hassle" , yes, it does exist for some, big time! ) ..or is it eLicenser? whatever..

I do have years of experience with u-he synths in particular (besides using at least a dozen more from other companies)
... Zebra is still my go-to synth for sound design in general because of it's flexibility and sound quality..

Play with the demo of both, they are deeps synths, in time, you'll come to a conclusion what's right for you.

added: technical differences? ... maybe try some quick modulation on some key modules/parameters, like osc pitch and filter cutoff... try extremely fast envelopes or other modulation, the "poorer" synths can't really respond to very fast modulation that accurately

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Sat May 05, 2018 6:15 am

3ee wrote:Don't have experience with Avenger (mainly because it's iLoked and I simply stay away from "the hassle" , yes, it does exist for some, big time! ) ..or is it eLicenser? whatever..

Neither. It’s a hard-disk key file.

AnX · Post by **AnX** » Sat May 05, 2018 6:31 am

arcy wrote:
AnX wrote:
arcy wrote:Hi guys, I’m looking for an high quality synth for sound design. Zebra and VPS Avenger are my favorites ones, but I can buy only one $$$
I downloaded and tried both and Zebra seems to be the best sounding. Are there any technical differences between the two synths? Does u-he software use analog emulation or special DSP algorithm?
Thanks

Does it matter? You choose the one YOU prefer.
Ok....this is valid for every aspect of the life, so? Could we close the forum? My answer is technical, to know under the hood how theirs products works because what I heard is that u-he synth uses more CPU despite others for its high quality algorithms. And this for me is more important than what I simply like or not in terms of investment..

Again, if its quality you want, nobody but YOU can say which is the best. YOU try the demo versions and test for yourself how much cpu the use, its not difficult. Everyones system is different, so only YOU can make this decision.

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Sat May 05, 2018 6:36 am

arcy wrote:Are there any technical differences between the two synths?

Probably. One loads samples; the other doesn't. So there's that.

arcy wrote:Does u-he software use analog emulation or special DSP algorithm?
Thanks

Probably. But let's say you get a precise answer, which would you prefer out of the one that uses reticulated splines vs advanced guru meditation?

MFXxx · Post by **MFXxx** » Sat May 05, 2018 9:22 am

Demo...demo...demo... what fits in with your material and your ear is irrelevant to opinions outside your circle!

Technical difference - no idea, u-he has a very unparalleled commitment to excellence.

Bottom line just demo...demo...demo...

arcy · Post by **arcy** » Sat May 05, 2018 10:42 am

Thank you guys. Sorry if my question was not clear at all, I’m Italian.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Sat May 05, 2018 11:02 am

Well, of course there are technical differences. In the end, it is all DSP though, nothing "magical" going on. For judging the sound, it is relatively irrelevant, and, if you like Zebra more than Avenger, then go for Zebra.

u-he

KVR Audio

Tecnnical difference between uhe synth and others