ELI5... how to create a custom ZebraHZ theme on MacOS

[someone89a]

So I've been trying to mess around with creating a custom theme for ZebraHZ, but I'm stuck at the very first step:

I can't for the life of me figure out the whole "create a default.h2p and place it in the root folder" step.

I've created a default.h2p file, added the !EDITOR=YES line... and now I'm stuck. Nowhere I place it seems to work. So I'm stumped.

Anyone able to give a really detailed step by step guide on what to do just to get the editor open?

Thanks hahah

[Ploki]

i actually use a preset i made for presswerk for all u-he editor presets.

you need to reload the plugin after placing the file.

so step by step:
1 open any u-he preset/
2 add line

Code: Select all

 !EDITOR=yes 

before

Code: Select all

// Section for ugly compressed binary Data
// DON'T TOUCH THIS

3 save to Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/ZebraHZ/default.h2p

[someone89a]

That worked thank you! Not sure whether I should be celebrating though, this editor is scary, and could be one hell of a rabbit hole...

The one thing I wanted to try in creating a new skin was to see whether I could move the Diva-VCFs into the module rack. Not needing to look pretty or anything, just a "hello world" type practice thing.

Been looking through some other skins that do this and I'm not entirely sure on where the connections are between the Voice/FX grid, and the rack-panes which show the modules. I can see the Layer masking for things like OSC1, OSC2, etc (all the things that by default are accessible from the grid), but I'm unsure how some of these other skins use the grid to select which layers to show (as that seems to be whats happening?).

[someone89a]

Ahhhhh, after some investigation, I think I now I see why it's such a fiddly thing to achieve...

The racks only want a maximum of 32 layers, hence why simply adding new layers to the rack doesnt work

This is actually a fun game trying to figure out how this all works hahah

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Ahhhhh, after some investigation, I think I now I see why it's such a fiddly thing to achieve...

The racks only want a maximum of 32 layers, hence why simply adding new layers to the rack doesnt work

This is actually a fun game trying to figure out how this all works hahah

You may have better luck trying to reverse engineer the scripts themselves by reading them. I think the basic idea is:

1. Things go in Panes
2. Controls need to be defined and attached to panes
3. Controls then need to be told what graphics to apply

The scripts will dictate all of that, including the location/size of elements, etc. The editor is tricky to work with IMO but good for just quickly moving things around, renaming elements, etc. I've never gotten much luck out of it beyond that.

[someone89a]

Yeh I was doing that (for 6 hours last night, what am I doing with my life...) - and its really fun, kinda got the basic grips of most the concepts now, got a custom functional interface going, and am slowing fiddling around with it.

Currently stuck on collapsable panes. Like how you can show the extra envelope controls and the envelope pane expands to accommodate it...

[someone89a]

After a few days fiddling I finally got my head around it all! Made my first skin

Screenshot 2022-11-30 at 16.42.41.jpg

[satYatunes]

Beautiful. Simple, elegant and effective.

[someone89a]

Thanks! Although its definitely a bit of visual overload I'll admit!

[Ploki]

I'm extremely impressed you pulled this off in few days. It takes me weeks to get a working skin from concept

visually it reminds me of logic's default skins.

What i don't like about it is that it's a field of knobs.
I generally dislike plugins that are a field of knobs because i rely on visual cues to find controls a lot - i find it faster than seeking for labels of a field of knobs that all look alike.

That's why i try to make all my skins with more GUI elements in a hierarchical order, i.e. big knobs generally control what you are most likely to go for in a certain module, then smaller knobs what you don't adjust as often, and usually value boxes for things you'd want to see the exact value of at glance.
Zebra is a pain in the ass because it has a lot of parameters, I think i'll never skin zebra lol

[someone89a]

I'm extremely impressed you pulled this off in few days. It takes me weeks to get a working skin from concept

Never underestimate the power of unemployment (also I bodged it together, your skins are truly beautiful creations so I can imagine it takes much much longer!)

And yeh it’s absolutely a bit of a visual mess with all the knobs - I would love to improve the way each of the modules visually relates to the importance of each parameter. But I did this all in the editor without diving into the text files so I think the next time I feel like skinning a zebra I might use the text files to make my life a tad easier when it comes to consistency across the modules. At the end of the day though this was my practice run and I’m shocked I got as far as I did hahah

Thinking of possibly doing a really compact skin with a lot less visual noise (one module visible at once) - one day haha

[Ploki]

I generally use a combination of text + GUI editor

Repetitive things are much easier to pull off with text, Sublime with some smart regexp can make 16 instances of something like a matrix with 4 clicks with all the assignments done, while doing it via editor would take HOURS

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I'd probably have flipped the order of Modulation and Effects order in the top section, but I otherwise really like the layout in this skin. The Grid being moved out of the top section makes a lot of sense and putting the matrix up top was nice. Where does one edit Wavetables/MSEG's?

[someone89a]

I'd probably have flipped the order of Modulation and Effects order in the top section, but I otherwise really like the layout in this skin. The Grid being moved out of the top section makes a lot of sense and putting the matrix up top was nice. Where does one edit Wavetables/MSEG's?

I was actually debating which order to put them in, I put effects on the left just because I thought I’d keep all modulation options to the right.

Both are edited in the racks (wavetables on a little drop down shelf under each oscillator)

MSEGs are in the modulation rack - but they’re a bit buggy right now (buggy enough for me not to release the skin - the loop markers don’t show up) but they’re functional!

[someone89a]

I generally use a combination of text + GUI editor

Repetitive things are much easier to pull off with text, Sublime with some smart regexp can make 16 instances of something like a matrix with 4 clicks with all the assignments done, while doing it via editor would take HOURS

Yep I realised that way too late after the text file was already an absolute nightmare to navigate hahah

So yes I did quite literally everything by hand - and having no idea how to copy and paste in the editor meant that if I placed something in the wrong pane… delete and start again hahaha