Your opinion about Zebra 2

[Michey]

When is the Berlin Modular being released

Like so many things, dead due to Diva's success.

So, we might as well call BM : "CoViD-X" (Conceptual Virtual instrument Discontinued [@year X])

I think if u-He was granted 1$ for every time a track played with Zebra and the "Broken4rotate" preset - they could have retire LONG LONG time ago

Vintage ? dunno... I do feel however it (Z2) earned a "cult" status. which - for me - is more than just "vintage"

[Dombaeb]

So, after one year of usage, I can say that I'm using Zebra almost exclusively for crafting organic percussion. I don't have any other synth that contains all the tools for these delicate tasks.

I didn't like synthesized percussion until I met Zebra because they never inspired me. Usually, synthesized transient sounds are remarkable and lifeless (for me). But, with Zebra I can make organic hits that aren't sound synthesized. That's why I love Zebra a lot.

However, Zebra sound almost never inspired me to make other types of sounds, mostly because I'm on a psychedelic sound-design side. Other synths like Falcon or even Serum give me better options for unusual, "like nothing other" sounds.

[telecode]

I wonder if its too soon to call Zebra a "vintage" synth.

My personal view on U-he synths is. Diva and Repro are retro synths. Hive might be more modern sounding. Zebra I don't really know. Sort of somewhere in between. They are great sounding if you are going for retro sounds. Obviously the definition of retro is highly subjective. good luck.

[MitchK1989]

When is the Berlin Modular being released

Like so many things, dead due to Diva's success.

What do you mean by this?

[gentleclockdivider]

When is the Berlin Modular being released

Like so many things, dead due to Diva's success.

What do you mean by this?

I can't speak for urs , but I think he means the idea got shelved , iirc he also mentioned it would use to much cpu ( not sure about that )
Which is a pitty ofcourse ,I never understood why ace wasn't furher developed into an (even more) powerfull modular synth with better filters (ace filters sounds remarkably close to zebra xmf in analogue mode ) , some more esoteric features , diva filters
We're going to have to wait till cytomic drops it's modular , maybe that will re-inject some life inthe berlin modular idea

[Urs]

When is the Berlin Modular being released

Like so many things, dead due to Diva's success.

What do you mean by this?

Diva was so successful that our small team (3 peeps back then) could not handle the amount of support back then. I got stuck every day answering emails for many hours. Hence, I had to hire more staff and outsource tasks (particularly UI design) to external people. That didn't free up much time, because now I had to manage things. All the things I wanted to do were replaced by the things I had to do - which I yet couldn't do. Then of course people left, new people came and the company grew twice the size within a bit more than a year. So we had to move to new offices. At the same time cost went up and thus we had to release new software that we could come up with quickly rather than software that we wanted to do. A good example was Hive, which I almost literally developed on weekends as a way to escape the daily business. Positive side effect: Hive, like many other new releases featured technology I had envisioned for Zebra3 and Uhbik 2.

But more software also meant more maintenance, so when we had to do global updates, we had more work and stuff. Think annual Apple updates or the advent of 8-core machines and 4k monitors. One thing comes to the other, until at some point releasing even a seemingly simple new product becomes a huge task with all that is involved (Repro-5 had us postpone the Cat indefinitely). There was no time anymore to even think about projects which do not fall into the category of quick and easy, such as Zebra3, Uhbik 2, Drum modelling or Berlin Modular. Until two years ago, when the first sale with NI happened, and we didn't need to do quick things anymore and could start working on the things we actually always wanted to. I consider Hive 2.0 the start of a new era for us as we start "finishing up" on things we had to leave behind. Then Uhbik, then Zebra3.

Once I find the time to finish Uhbik and Zebra3, we'll decide on Berlin Modular, Cat and the necessity of a Diva update. But given that Diva has been selling better year after year, the answer is probably quite obvious. I recently ventured into a new weekend project briefly that had me put probes in a vintage synth...

[Urs]

When is the Berlin Modular being released

Like so many things, dead due to Diva's success.

What do you mean by this?

I can't speak for urs , but I think he means the idea got shelved , iirc he also mentioned it would use to much cpu ( not sure about that )
Which is a pitty ofcourse ,I never understood why ace wasn't furher developed into an (even more) powerfull modular synth with better filters (ace filters sounds remarkably close to zebra xmf in analogue mode ) , some more esoteric features , diva filters
We're going to have to wait till cytomic drops it's modular , maybe that will re-inject some life inthe berlin modular idea

Doing to ACE what we did to Uhbik or Hive isn't off the table either, nor are feature updates to Bazille. All of that depends a bit on how smooth the remaining tasks for Uhbik, Arm support and a few other left over projects go.

Regarding the original Berlin Modular concept, I've developed a new framework to do Eurorack-style modular synthesis within our codebase - there's even a mini test project with simple oscillators, function generators, mixers and multiples. It wouldn't be a CPU problem anymore. Like Zebra3, the main problem is sitting down and working through a huge list of modules that need to be created and polished.

[Kongru]

When is the Berlin Modular being released

Like so many things, dead due to Diva's success.

What do you mean by this?

Diva was so successful that our small team (3 peeps back then) could not handle the amount of support back then. I got stuck every day answering emails for many hours. Hence, I had to hire more staff and outsource tasks (particularly UI design) to external people. That didn't free up much time, because now I had to manage things. All the things I wanted to do were replaced by the things I had to do - which I yet couldn't do. Then of course people left, new people came and the company grew twice the size within a bit more than a year. So we had to move to new offices. At the same time cost went up and thus we had to release new software that we could come up with quickly rather than software that we wanted to do. A good example was Hive, which I almost literally developed on weekends as a way to escape the daily business. Positive side effect: Hive, like many other new releases featured technology I had envisioned for Zebra3 and Uhbik 2.

But more software also meant more maintenance, so when we had to do global updates, we had more work and stuff. Think annual Apple updates or the advent of 8-core machines and 4k monitors. One thing comes to the other, until at some point releasing even a seemingly simple new product becomes a huge task with all that is involved (Repro-5 had us postpone the Cat indefinitely). There was no time anymore to even think about projects which do not fall into the category of quick and easy, such as Zebra3, Uhbik 2, Drum modelling or Berlin Modular. Until two years ago, when the first sale with NI happened, and we didn't need to do quick things anymore and could start working on the things we actually always wanted to. I consider Hive 2.0 the start of a new era for us as we start "finishing up" on things we had to leave behind. Then Uhbik, then Zebra3.

Once I find the time to finish Uhbik and Zebra3, we'll decide on Berlin Modular, Cat and the necessity of a Diva update. But given that Diva has been selling better year after year, the answer is probably quite obvious. I recently ventured into a new weekend project briefly that had me put probes in a vintage synth...

Nice to hear an explanation of the situation “from the horse’s mouth”. Rarely do companies ever go into detail about their internal struggles and challenges, let alone actively post on forums.

[nirm123]

When is the Berlin Modular being released

Like so many things, dead due to Diva's success.

What do you mean by this?

I can't speak for urs , but I think he means the idea got shelved , iirc he also mentioned it would use to much cpu ( not sure about that )
Which is a pitty ofcourse ,I never understood why ace wasn't furher developed into an (even more) powerfull modular synth with better filters (ace filters sounds remarkably close to zebra xmf in analogue mode ) , some more esoteric features , diva filters
We're going to have to wait till cytomic drops it's modular , maybe that will re-inject some life inthe berlin modular idea

Doing to ACE what we did to Uhbik or Hive isn't off the table either, nor are feature updates to Bazille. All of that depends a bit on how smooth the remaining tasks for Uhbik, Arm support and a few other left over projects go.

Regarding the original Berlin Modular concept, I've developed a new framework to do Eurorack-style modular synthesis within our codebase - there's even a mini test project with simple oscillators, function generators, mixers and multiples. It wouldn't be a CPU problem anymore. Like Zebra3, the main problem is sitting down and working through a huge list of modules that need to be created and polished.

Hi Urs, I'd be probably wrong about the following approach but I'm still curious to knoe why: Zebra3 has been more time in the making than any other soft synth. you said recently that you still need 6 months without distribution whici is unlikely to happen any time soon. as Zebra is a modular beast anyhow wouldn't it be better to release some new modules and continue to add stuff in time than waiting for perfecting EVERYTHING before releasing ANYTHING. you're a perfectionist, probably more than any other one in the business, and this is why the quality of your products is the best there is but I think that your aspirations for Zebra3 were so huge that combed with the mentioned perfectionism, it turned into a project which will be very difficult for it to say daylight. but some of the modules as you've mentioned are already working great in other synths such as Hive. so what do you say about the approach of releasing the ready modules and then continue to add new stuff as updates for Zebra3. there was already such a great effort resulting in other synths major improvement so can't Zebra enjoy the efforts which were originally developed for its sake but already found themselves being implrmented in other synths first ? I feel it's ok to ask, as you very honestly had shared your struggles and considerations and I thought that maybe it can be a balanced solution.

[gentleclockdivider]

@ Urs , do you have any idea of Sascha's future plans now he has left u-he ( assuming these are not private) ?
It's a coder I would like to follow , I love hids older stuff and all that he did for u-he, especially zebra's awesome tube distortion

edit , a quick google search shows he is now working at adam audio ( monitors etc..)

[nirm123]

@ Urs , do you have any idea of Sascha's future plans now he has left u-he ( assuming these are not private) ?
It's a coder I would like to follow , I love hids older stuff and all that he did for u-he, especially zebra's awesome tube distortion

what did Sascha work on ? I know about Satin, Presswerk and Uhbik2. anything else for which he was one of the main contributers?

[andresnol]

According to LinkedIn Sascha Eversmeier is a Software Developer at ADAM Audio

[gentleclockdivider]

@ Urs , do you have any idea of Sascha's future plans now he has left u-he ( assuming these are not private) ?
It's a coder I would like to follow , I love hids older stuff and all that he did for u-he, especially zebra's awesome tube distortion

what did Sascha work on ? I know about Satin, Presswerk and Uhbik2. anything else for which he was one of the main contributers?

Zebra tube distortion
His older stuff are the legendary digital fishphones , emagic analogue modelling effects etc..and what do you know his old site got updated a few months ago
Summary : he decided to quit the plugin game , I wish him all the best
http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php

[Urs]

Hi Urs, I'd be probably wrong about the following approach but I'm still curious to knoe why: Zebra3 has been more time in the making than any other soft synth. you said recently that you still need 6 months without distribution whici is unlikely to happen any time soon. as Zebra is a modular beast anyhow wouldn't it be better to release some new modules and continue to add stuff in time than waiting for perfecting EVERYTHING before releasing ANYTHING. you're a perfectionist, probably more than any other one in the business, and this is why the quality of your products is the best there is but I think that your aspirations for Zebra3 were so huge that combed with the mentioned perfectionism, it turned into a project which will be very difficult for it to say daylight. but some of the modules as you've mentioned are already working great in other synths such as Hive. so what do you say about the approach of releasing the ready modules and then continue to add new stuff as updates for Zebra3. there was already such a great effort resulting in other synths major improvement so can't Zebra enjoy the efforts which were originally developed for its sake but already found themselves being implrmented in other synths first ? I feel it's ok to ask, as you very honestly had shared your struggles and considerations and I thought that maybe it can be a balanced solution.

A major aspect of Zebra3 is going to be the waveform and MSEG editors (and ModMappers), which are going to be put into a consistent set of tools. That's the main thing that isn't there. A few more UI elements are pretty much in conceptual stage too. Currently there are no oscillators of filters in the project. Just some intermediate R&D things with dozens of knobs for tweaking things that are hard to explain.

But as I said, a simple release of *anything*, even a soundset, has become a big thing. Something goes wrong, we have hundreds of emails from upset people in our mailbox. Or worse, we have to reupload things with a hotfix. Therefore even the smallest of releases is planned with dozens of check lists, double checking that nothing looks half assed or acts strange. Of the things we know will act strange we develop communication strategies (aka "canned responses"). Hence, a step-by-step release is somewhat of a thing best avoided because it means double and triple work. Hence we're tending to get back to updating more stuff at the same time to leverage everyone's focus.

[fmr]

what did Sascha work on ? I know about Satin, Presswerk and Uhbik2. anything else for which he was one of the main contributers?

Zebra tube distortion
His older stuff are the legendary digital fishphones , emagic analogue modelling effects etc..and what do you know his old site got updated a few months ago
Summary : he decided to quit the plugin game , I wish him all the best
http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php

I am not aware he ever worked for Emagic (I am pretty convinced he didn't). But I am SURE he worked for Magix on Samplitude effects. The Analog Modelling Suite, Vintage Effects Suite and VariVerb were mostly his work, AFAIK.