Zebra 3 feature suggestions

[Urs]

Yep, we'll see...

[AkiraMenai]

I realize this may be the wrong place for this, but it may be the only place.

Please, anyone at u-he: If it's not impossible, how hard and/or likely would it be to get one tiny last update to Zebra2(and HZ) giving the arp the capacity to do "Previous" notes as well as "Next" in the Steps selector? Or even that plus the ability to throw in one "Random" note from a chord?

Zebra's arp is the best I've ever seen. That would just make it even more "best."

If it's a stupid suggestion, then I'll throw it in the hat for Zebra3 at least. Thanks you guys for my favorite instrument in any form.

[SoulState]

Early i wrote what i want Zebra 3 to be able to sound like "classic" hardware VA's, with some experiments i figured out what similar sound can be achieved with almost inaudible bit and samplerate reduction that adds some aliasing and digital noise, that makes some buzz and brilliance, so my feature req for this - at least 4 slots for osc fx, all modulatable, 2- for that sound character tuning, and other 2 for generic sound design.

[Shiek927]

I realize this may be the wrong place for this, but it may be the only place.

Please, anyone at u-he: If it's not impossible, how hard and/or likely would it be to get one tiny last update to Zebra2(and HZ) giving the arp the capacity to do "Previous" notes as well as "Next" in the Steps selector? Or even that plus the ability to throw in one "Random" note from a chord?

Zebra's arp is the best I've ever seen. That would just make it even more "best."

If it's a stupid suggestion, then I'll throw it in the hat for Zebra3 at least. Thanks you guys for my favorite instrument in any form.

have no fear. Zebra2 will continue to be supported even after Zebra3 is released. It's in no way getting completely abandoned.

[Shiek927]

Early i wrote what i want Zebra 3 to be able to sound like "classic" hardware VA's, with some experiments i figured out what similar sound can be achieved with almost inaudible bit and samplerate reduction that adds some aliasing and digital noise, that makes some buzz and brilliance, so my feature req for this - at least 4 slots for osc fx, all modulatable, 2- for that sound character tuning, and other 2 for generic sound design.

You may want to pay close attention to the DSP563xx emulator project. This will be right up your alley. Zebra3 will be what it will be .

[SoulState]

You may want to pay close attention to the DSP563xx emulator project. This will be right up your alley. Zebra3 will be what it will be .

I allready in it. My cpu can't handle it. The emulator is VERY cpu intensive. Any vst's (including the most recent) run smooth on my cpu (Six-Core i7). Never wanted to upgrade.

[SynthasaurusRex]

Zebra3 will be what it will be .

I believe the purpose of this thread is to express what we'd like Zebra3 to be.

[Hanz Meyzer]

Bought on early 2000 Novation Supernova hehe. Really nicely designed VA, has those Virus DSPs, too. I very like that you can do ringmod-cross-OSC, mix the ringmod amount in (it's like separate OSCs, so "ringmod 1*3", "ringmod 2*3"). Then you can switch each ringmod to FM mode, too!

Then the sync mode has a skew parameter, which gives a lot of coloration options here. There also is a formant parameter, too, still haven't figured out its purpose.

Proof that mixer should mix 100:100, not 50:50: If you put OSC2 below OSC1 on the same lane, it will be mixed 100:100, too. The mixer device causes a lot of gain loss. And mixing in the ringmod mix (not 100%) is kind of difficult.

So feature request is:

- Mixer module either 100:100 or with additional gain
- Ringmod module with mix amount, FM mode switch and additional gain
- Sync mode skew parameter
- Optional filter resonance gain compensation (and maybe drive compensation at once)
- All filter types in 12/18/24dB, also the BP

[Shiek927]

Bought on early 2000 Novation Supernova hehe. Really nicely designed VA, has those Virus DSPs, too. I very like that you can do ringmod-cross-OSC, mix the ringmod amount in (it's like separate OSCs, so "ringmod 1*3", "ringmod 2*3"). Then you can switch each ringmod to FM mode, too!

Then the sync mode has a skew parameter, which gives a lot of coloration options here. There also is a formant parameter, too, still haven't figured out its purpose.

Proof that mixer should mix 100:100, not 50:50: If you put OSC2 below OSC1 on the same lane, it will be mixed 100:100, too. The mixer device causes a lot of gain loss. And mixing in the ringmod mix (not 100%) is kind of difficult.

So feature request is:

- Mixer module either 100:100 or with additional gain
- Ringmod module with mix amount, FM mode switch and additional gain
- Sync mode skew parameter
- Optional filter resonance gain compensation (and maybe drive compensation at once)
- All filter types in 12/18/24dB, also the BP

Ahh! I hope you enjoy!! I had a Novation Nova Desktop twice-over. My goodness, that "HARD KORE" patch just knocks my socks off each time . Mega fat synth and early 00's goodness.

[Shiek927]

What staggers me about this above track, aside from being an extremely good production, is how much is actually Zebra2 HZ. The huge bass, which I thought was a guitar at first, started life as a Zebra2 HZ patch and, after a hefty amount of post-processing and distortion plugins, ended with the result in the track.

My hope is that Zebra3 will be able to pull out tones like these fresh out of the synth without needing to pile on so much 3rd-party distortion, chorusing, waveshapers, etc. Because the tones themselves are already very impressive, but hopefully won't require so much outside help to get there in the future.

Feel free everyone to take a listen because it's a very recent example of Zebra2 heavily used throughout the track to astonishing effect.

[Howard]

Re "hefty amount of post-processing and distortion plugins": I suspect that it's easier for music producers to use familiar processing tools ("outside help") instead of tweaking presets within Zebra.

[digitalboytn]

Feature request for Zebra 3 ?

Multi coloured stripes please...

Those black and white stripes are so 60's

[rootaudio]

A sampler with granular option! (or add it in z2 )

[SynthasaurusRex]

Re "hefty amount of post-processing and distortion plugins": I suspect that it's easier for music producers to use familiar processing tools ("outside help") instead of tweaking presets within Zebra.

Agreed. Too many good, affordable effects available. However, it would be a great help to be able to save Zebra's effects presets, or at the very least make it possible to change the default settings so you can have a more familiar starting point with each effect.

[rootaudio]

Hehehe, thanks for these!

Yes, MPE is going to happen. Pretty much anything about curves, smoothing, AT whichever is gonna happen too.

I am however quite opposed to making Z3 structurally more complex. For instance, the Mod Matrix will get double target slots like Hive instead. The Grid will stay at 4 lanes, Z3 will stay a "4 of each" synth in general.

There are two structural concepts which will be more complex, but which make day-2-day tasks more simple: We'll detatch pitch control from voice parameters and wrap it into special modules. The other thing is treating gates and triggers as equals to modulation sources. This opens amazing possibilities, both for performing musicians and producers.

Individual modules will become more complex. Some will be simplified. For instance, the LFOs will drop custom waveforms, but they will get some mighty good feature additions. Oscillators will (optionally) become FM-able, naturally at the expense of CPU.

New modules will include per-voice spectral processors (EQ/Modal Synthesis/Resonators), West Coast inspired modulators and very dynamic mixing/routing modules.

I'm not fond of OSC or any such protocols (wasn't there something called Copperlan once?).

Last but not least, I do not like Sampling in synthesizers. It's the one thing I don't think I'll ever add to Zebra. There'll be .wav import for sure, but merely for stuff like wavetable/room/body extraction. Maybe not. We'll see.

In any case, Zebra3 will likely start with fewer modules than Zebra2. Simply because we'll never finish if we need to catch up first.

- U

Ahw why the hate on sampling in a synth, especially granular..? As some one doing sound design for film it's so nice to have one complex tool to do everything as often I have to swap studio rigs. If Zebra^2 would be capapble of sampling / granular it would be one thing to install and basta (often have to use PT). Right now it's just not quite the everything tool and I'm left installing Pigments which I don't like overall (looks like a toy but the granular engine is good).