ZebraHZ 2.8 | Stereo-Generators-to-Mono Signal Path With Diva Filters

[Xen-Arts]

ZebraHZ 2.8 pre-purchase question...

Excerpts from the standard Zebra 2.8 user guide regarding stereo signal path functionality of the various generators:

Zebra 2.8.7422 - User Guide Page 26 | OSC | MIXER | Width
If the oscillator’s STACK setting is dual, quad or eleven, this knob controls the stereo separation of the polywave. Does nothing if STACK is set to ‘single’.

Zebra 2.8.7422 - User Guide Page 33 | FMO | Mono / Stereo
Like the OSC module, the FMO can also run in stereo mode. This is hardly noticeable unless the FMO is detuned and Width is turned up because, unlike OSC modules, the phase of an FMO is always reset to zero when a note is played.
Detune
If the FMO is in mono mode, Detune lowers or raises the pitch by +/- 50 cents. In stereo mode, it is a detune spread – it sharpens the left channel and flattens the right channel at the same time. Of course you can still fine tune the FMO via Shift+Tune.

Zebra 2.8.7422 - User Guide Page 35 | Noise | Mono / Stereo
Mono / Stereo
Even the noise modules can be stereo. See Width below.
Width
Controls stereo spread if the stereo switch is on. See Mono/Stereo above.

Zebra 2.8.7422 - User Guide Page 40 | Comb | MODE
Zebra2 has what you could call a ‘multimode’ comb filter. Four delay lines connected together in various ways, but always in stereo. The options are:
Comb: A simple stereo delay tuned to the played note. In this mode, neither Tone nor Flavour have any effect.
Split Comb: Any input is summed to mono and fed to the first of two delays, which then cross-feed each other. In this mode, Tone is the ratio between the delay times and
Flavour controls the amount of input signal fed (directly) into the second delay. The output is completely split: the left channel is delay 1 and the right channel is delay 2.
Split Dual: The same as Split Comb except that input signal is not summed to mono.
Detune
For Split Comb this is normal fine tuning. In other modes it detunes in both directions.


Excerpt from ZebraHZ 2.8 user guide regarding the mono signal path for Diva filters:

ZebraHZ 2.8 | The Dark Zebra User Guide Page 4 | DIVA VCF
Important: These filters are quite CPU-intensive, and are therefore mono i.e. not stereo.


Q: What happens to the stereo generator signals when they are passed through the Diva filters: are they collapsed/summed to mono?

One might expect this to have a quite different sound from the standard stereo generator version of Zebra 2.8.

Thanks.

[drzhnn]

Summed to mono

[drzhnn]

But you can make them stereo, sort of, by splitting the incoming signal into left and right channels and then process each channel with a separate Diva filter. Like so:

[zvenx]

But you can make them stereo, sort of, by splitting the incoming signal into left and right channels and then process each channel with a separate Diva filter. Like so:

Totally OT sorry.
What gamma setting are you using?
I like how dark HZ gui is in your screenshot.
rsp

[drzhnn]

In Prefs it says "Neutral". It's default settings, I haven't changed anything. Yet

[Xen-Arts]

But you can make them stereo, sort of, by splitting the incoming signal into left and right channels and then process each channel with a separate Diva filter. Like so:

This is a good idea, and I would be inclined to make a number of INIT patches as starting points for custom sound-designs with panned dual-mono Diva filters such as you have described here.

Bearing in mind that I've only bought the standard Zebra2, and therefore have not been able to examine Howard Scarr's patch designs for ZebraHZ, I wonder to what degree his patches might feature this method for 'stereoizing' the Diva filters signal path?

What has the CPU hit been like for you with such a configuration; significantly higher?

[drzhnn]

Looks like Howard used Diva filter very occasionally in this library

Personally, I use Diva VCFs only when I really need that very specific character or when standard filters are just not enough, which is a very rare case. I use Resonator module a lot though, and honestly, I think it deserves much more attention than Diva filters.

The CPU hit could be very high, mostly when modulating Cutoff or Resonance, but I'm still rocking a rather old i7 3770K, so things could be different on newer processors. Anyway, those VCFs have global Accuracy and Offline Accuracy settings, just like in Diva.

[Xen-Arts]

Looks like Howard used Diva filter very occasionally in this library

Personally, I use Diva VCFs only when I really need that very specific character or when standard filters are just not enough, which is a very rare case. I use Resonator module a lot though, and honestly, I think it deserves much more attention than Diva filters.

The CPU hit could be very high, mostly when modulating Cutoff or Resonance, but I'm still rocking a rather old i7 3770K, so things could be different on newer processors. Anyway, those VCFs have global Accuracy and Offline Accuracy settings, just like in Diva.

Fascinating. It would be interesting to know if HZ has used the Diva filters primarily in mono, or otherwise the panned dual-mono method for maintaining the stereo generator signals.

When I saw Blade Runner 2049 and Dunkirk, the scores seemed to feature quite a bit of Diva and Zebra; perhaps it's that mono signals are preferable when panning them to discrete surround channels for theater playback (conjecture on my part TBH). Whatever the case may be, it sounded majestically huge on the IMAX systems.

Interestingly, looking again at the Resonator section of the manual, I see that it too is mono: "INPUT adjusts the signal level at the resonator’s input. Note that ZebraHZ’s resonator is strictly monophonic – stereo signals are summed to mono first."

Have you also used a similar dual-mono>mixer>panning strategy for the Resonator in your patch designs, or do you find that it's often sufficient to just use the Resonator and/or Diva filters in mono, and generally acceptable sounding for the stereo signals to be summed to mono?

FWIW: I'm not particularly averse to synths with mono output and have made music with plenty of older analog synths of this nature, but have been curious about this difference between the standard and HZ versions of Zebra, since the former is generally capable of generating stereo signals throughout.

[amillionwinters]

The "Faith Healer" patch shown in the updated image on the product page for The Dark Zebra shows this same method of 'stereoizing' the Diva filters.

[drzhnn]

Have you also used a similar dual-mono>mixer>panning strategy for the Resonator in your patch designs, or do you find that it's often sufficient to just use the Resonator and/or Diva filters in mono, and generally acceptable sounding for the stereo signals to be summed to mono?

There's only one Resonator available, so that particular trick won't work. But there are plenty of other ways. Seriously, I think you're oversaturating that mono output thing. Personally, I see it just as part of module character. It's not a limitation. It's not like the fact that they are mono, automatically puts you in the end of the food chain or something If you enjoy using Zebra and looking for ways to expand that "Zebra experience", the only available option is ZebraHZ. It won't be a Big Bang kind of expansion of your sound palette and you probably will use ZHZ specific features only occasionally, but every time you do, will make you smile That's the kind of experience you're paying for

[Xen-Arts]

Thanks for sharing your insights and experience. I'll likely purchase it soon (cc poised even now), as I've actually bought all of the U-He virtual instruments that feature microtuning with the TUN format, except for ACE, since Bazille covers everything that synth does and a lot more. ZebraHZ looks like an essential addition to the microtonal synth ensemble.

As above, not really concerned about the mono output, since I've owned or played lots of synths that have it, such as one of my first loves, the Korg MS-20. More curious about the differences than anything and am actually brimming with enthusiasm about all of the recent U-He developments. Since I'm mostly doing all custom sound-design with this suite of virtual instruments, I'm thrilled about the possibilities of the new enhancements to ZebraHZ.

FWIW: I'm hugely interested in the Resonator in ZebraHZ and resonators in general, and am really looking forward to exploring the different Colour models for their saturation characteristics. Looks amazing, as well as the polyphonic compressors, and since I've used the standard Zebra2 for designing lots of different flavors of tonal percussion timbres (even some that remind of the tabla tarang), I will be very keen to use these as well for that purpose; especially the possibilities for key-tracking compression parameters to get different sound characters across the range.

[Xen-Arts]

While logged in, I'm curious if you have explored key-follow mapping the Resonator parameters? Seems an exciting possibility.

[drzhnn]

The Resonator is only available in the Global FX grid, so it works best for monophonic and duophonic patches if you want to use key-mapping on it. I love to use it on leads and percussive FX sounds. BTW, it's not a type of resonator you'd find in Ableton for example, it's not delay/feedback based, but rather it is 4 very musical bandpass filters with which you can change the character of a sound dramatically. Also it's great for creating vocal-like sounds, from airy choirs to neurofunk growls (when followed by distortion module).

[pdxindy]

There's only one Resonator available, so that particular trick won't work.

Doesn't matter cause the resonator is stereo

[pdxindy]

While logged in, I'm curious if you have explored key-follow mapping the Resonator parameters? Seems an exciting possibility.

I haven't tried it but I suspect it would be hard to accurate keytrack the frequencies of the resonator bands.

I've for sure modulated them... some loveliness to be had there!