Your opinion about Zebra 2

[martinjuenke]

https://www.zebra.com/de/de.html

[Grizzellda]

Sure. Everyone prefers this or that. No question.

I guess, the common place of users to confuse individual preference for product quality has driven many developers from public forums.

Well, hey Urs Heckmann, you are still here!

And why is that, by the way?

[bk]

My opinion on Zebra 2:
After buying it MANY years ago, it has saved me a small fortune.
I can't begin to tell you how many synths I've demoed and deleted because I realized it didn't give me anything I didn't already have in Zebra 2.
Does it do everything? No, but it does a lot.
It's not the only synth I own, but it's the one I use the most.

[LeVzi]

I guess, the common place of users to confuse individual preference for product quality has driven many developers from public forums.

That would be assuming that all developers are immune to self promoting and marketing. I've yet to see a developer talk negative about purchasing and using their products. They aren't even willing to point out their weaknesses, they would rather distract or redirect the questions.

Public forums are meant for people to discuss products openly and freely without being attacked by a developer with a mission, to sell more products. If an idea doesn't fit into their road map, it's quickly brushed off with an excuse or sometimes attitude.

I would suggest that they use their own sub-forum or company forum, as it would be the best place to discuss these one sided discussions. It's probably better for developers to stay away from open discussions only to try and shut down an opposing opinion. That's not their job, back to coding works best.

I'm not saying that all developers don't know how to handle themselves in public forums, but to blame the users opinions as the common problem for quality control is plain pompous. The collection of users opinions are what makes the products better and ultimately satisfy their customer base. Without customers you wouldn't have a company and without their opinions you would only have a product that satisfies the company's needs.

Get unbiased reviews or opinions on KVR is near impossible, there is so much fanboism for certain dev's and so much hate for others, it's laughable.

As far as Zebra goes, I bought it, and while I liked some aspects of it, it was very weak in the sounds I wanted to make, and took a hell of a lot of messing to get near it. EDM is definitely not it's strong suite. This was a while ago though, things may have changed since.

If it's a u-he synth you want though, check ACE, that was better imo. Maybe not as mod'able, but the sound was powerful. CPU killer though.

[zerocrossing]

I notice with genre focused people that they tend to find a synth that someone used in a hit track and glom onto it.

This may be true for Sylenth, Massive or Serum, because tutorials. Most EDM tutorials show Sylenth, Massive and Serum. I have good friends who make a living out of making EDM tutorials, they all use those synths. So yes, EDM beginners may follow and think you need Sylenth and Serum without trying anything else. But Avenger or Rapid are not tutorials favorites AT ALL as far as I know... They're nearly secret weapons at this point...

Not that secret.

[Urs]

And why is that, by the way?

Because the position of "developers can't be trusted and need to shut up" is the exception. Most people are respectful towards the body of work of others and enjoy the exchange as much as I do.

[Urs]

I guess, the common place of users to confuse individual preference for product quality has driven many developers from public forums.

That would be assuming that all developers are immune to self promoting and marketing. I've yet to see a developer talk negative about purchasing and using their products. They aren't even willing to point out their weaknesses, they would rather distract or redirect the questions.

Public forums are meant for people to discuss products openly and freely without being attacked by a developer with a mission, to sell more products. If an idea doesn't fit into their road map, it's quickly brushed off with an excuse or sometimes attitude.

I would suggest that they use their own sub-forum or company forum, as it would be the best place to discuss these one sided discussions. It's probably better for developers to stay away from open discussions only to try and shut down an opposing opinion. That's not their job, back to coding works best.

I'm not saying that all developers don't know how to handle themselves in public forums, but to blame the users opinions as the common problem for quality control is plain pompous. The collection of users opinions are what makes the products better and ultimately satisfy their customer base. Without customers you wouldn't have a company and without their opinions you would only have a product that satisfies the company's needs.

I generally agree, but then you get your random stab like "Hans Zimmer only promotes it because he was paid off", which is a blatant lie.

Things go both ways. Users need to handle themselves too, if they wish to get respectful support and treatment. A posting like "Meh" is not just snidely, it's also not very constructive. The same goes for people who just post false statements for the sake of sensation.

As I said, many of my colleagues and friends have not been able to cope with public pressure, people who used to post here regularly. It is in my opinion a loss for the community.

[Elektronisch]

Zebra 2 is great for EDM, just not out of the boxt because it doesnt have presets suited for EDM. But there is easy fix, add OTT and you are good to go most of the times.

What most of the time "defines" how synth is "good" for EDM are the factory presets, how they are ready out of the box to be used. Look at Nexus, Avenger presets, you basicly dont need any post processing on them, reverbs, delays, compressors are so well laid out on them that you can start build your tracks.

[marooned ufo]

I generally agree, but then you get your random stab like "Hans Zimmer only promotes it because he was paid off", which is a blatant lie.

Things go both ways. Users need to handle themselves too, if they wish to get respectful support and treatment. A posting like "Meh" is not just snidely, it's also not very constructive. The same goes for people who just post false statements for the sake of sensation.

As I said, many of my colleagues and friends have not been able to cope with public pressure, people who used to post here regularly. It is in my opinion a loss for the community.

That is also true, there are all types of opinions, but the "common problem" is how people handle them.

There are a lot of new users that take on a persona of knowing more then they really do, because of what they've read or heard somewhere. There's also the very opinionated people that are too stubborn to see things from a different perspective. Then you have the ones that wear their emotions on their sleeves and sometimes don't choose the nicest of words to make their point. And of course the worst case scenario, the combination of all of them.

The moral of the story is, there are so many diverse opinions on a subject, that generalizing a group of people is unfair and unproductive for both parties. There is always a solution that works best for the most part, unless of course you're dealing with extreme opinions that have zero room for negotiation.

I just find it a bit intrusive for employees so closely connected to the company's marketing and promotion department to be so heavily involved in what is a good idea or bad idea. Their motive is determined by their paycheck which can skew their vision based on the company's road map. It's a hard balance to be able to please every customer and deliver the product that the company envisions.

I also believe that there are a lot of products that are stemmed from the great minds of people with a genius level of creativity. But, sometimes these projects can get a bit eccentric and not very user friendly. And there should be a balance between the company's ideas and the customers' feedback. Which as you know, is easier said then done.

[Grizzellda]

And why is that, by the way?

Because the position of "developers can't be trusted and need to shut up" is the exception. Most people are respectful towards the body of work of others and enjoy the exchange as much as I do.

Alright, so it is cool that you "enjoy the exchange". Maybe KVR is good for something after all!

And if ya can dig this...I joined this place because I wanted to talk to folks about DAWs & plug-ins. But then...I also realized that there were a few developers talking on ol' KVR... and that impressed me considerably..

So you see Urs, it is of a pleasant meaning to talk sometimes, to ask questions about your products, and get straightforward answers, like direct from the factory.

Or just various stuff really, like...are you guys gonna get air conditioning next year?

Basically I am saying it is nice that you are here! Well, on KVR, right?

[Julien Unison]

Zebra 2 is great for EDM, just not out of the boxt because it doesnt have presets suited for EDM. But there is easy fix, add OTT and you are good to go most of the times.

Exactly !
It's exactly what I explained in my post some pages ago

[Urs]

Yep, that OTT thing is quite remarkable.

[Grizzellda]

Hey Urs, just wondering, when you are surfing KVR, or looking at a thread, do you really read all the posts? or simply "skim over"?

[Urs]

Hey Urs, just wondering, when you are surfing KVR, or looking at a thread, do you really read all the posts? or simply "skim over"?

Both. Depends on device, mood, schedule and tipsy-or-not

[Zexila]

Yep, that OTT thing is quite remarkable.

Indeed, it lives on my master bus now, demo turd polisher, OTT into limiter, done.