So I have Zebra. Now ... What?

[Urs]

I feel like I’m in some sort of bizarro world where the owner and fans of a company are doing their best to talk someone out of buying more of their products. Have a peanut! BIZARRO!

Huh? So I'm not allowed to react to your criticism, or else you don't like our products anymore?

[Urs]

I specifically said Yamaha style FM. Zebra is great for FM, but it’s not really like a DX-7.

It's not like a DX-7, but then again, Zebra can technically do pretty much everything a DX-7 can, and then some.

You previously even said "It’s really not a Yamaha style FM (Phase modulation) synth.", but it is. Zebra's FMO modules operate on exactly the same principle, Phase Modulation. While it is true that Zebra can not do every "algorithm" present in the DX7 (IIRC think 2 out of 32 are not possible), it also adds a nearly endless number of "algorithms" and variants that are not at all possible in the DX-7. That includes using something other than a sine oscillator as operator in the signal path.

Zebra also does not produce a loft sine wave by default that is read out of a small non-interpolated table. With decades of technological progress in-between, Zebra uses a higher quality method to calculate sine waves than the old FM synths, which of course results in a different and less noisy sonic character. Latter can be approximated in Zebra by adding some loft modules such as a decimation filter between stages.

So yeah, if you want exactly the same tone and result as a DX-7, you'd take Plogue, and you'd get it out of the box. But if you want to go far beyond the DX-7 (and stereo FM FWIW), Zebra lets you combine it with additive synthesis, physical modelling, subtractive synthesis and what not, with each acting as additional operators in nearly freely routable "algorithms".

So I find it odd to say that Zebra doesn't do FM well, when in fact it does a lot more than the example that appears to do it well. Again, it's completely valid to say that it doesn't sound the same. It doesn't try to, but that doesn't change the fact that Zebra offers the actual synthesis method in a solid and deep manner.

[pdxindy]

I feel like I’m in some sort of bizarro world where the owner and fans of a company are doing their best to talk someone out of buying more of their products.

What product would that be? U-he doesn't even offer a DX style FM synth. Zebra has that covered well enough so there is no real need.

[aMUSEd]

Maybe someone needs the create a ‘Science’ type sound bank to showcase the myriad ways Zebra does FM

[gentleclockdivider]

Damn it. What on Earth else should I even bother looking at? Diva? Repro? Maybe. I've become such a fan of U-he software synths that I practically hold other developers in contempt, and only consider other U-he synths as viable side-grades. Which is probably not good and rather narrow minded.

There was a point in time when I had a single (hardware) synth. An Ensoniq TS-10. It’s basically a wavetable synth with sample playback as well. (OK, well that’s not totally true, as I also had a few different Roland GRs (ROMplers designed to work with Roland’s guitar synth system). They were not really the focus of synthesizers in my music and I didn’t really edit them much.) I had this setup for a decade and I was happy.

…OR SO IT SEEMED. I was much more guitar focused back then, and while my synthesizer setup was small, I had a lot of pedals and rack effects for my guitar. I love to experiment and explore. After a decade of that TS-10, I realized I was pretty bored with it. Maybe you’re pre-bored with just having Zebra, or maybe you’re the type of person who likes to choose a good tool and move on with your life. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s not like you didn’t choose a capable instrument.

But Zebra doesn’t do everything. Hell, U-He synths don’t do everything. You could not care about everything, but I like everything, and if it’s within my budge to get it, I will. That doesn’t mean I buy every plugin that comes out. Far from it. But I like to have my bases covered. Here’s where I think Zebra/HZ lacks…

It’s really not a Yamaha style FM (Phase modulation) synth. If you like the sound of the old DX series, you might want to find something that does this better. For an accurate emulation, I like Arturia’s DX-7 V. Some say that Plogue’s OPS7 is closer, but I’d rather sacrifice a bit of accuracy for more features, which the Arturia has. For FM that pushes things further, I like F’em.

Even though Zebra HZ has Diva’s filters, it doesn’t really do the vintage analog thing. At least not to what I consider close. Diva is good, but lacks accuracy in favor of options. Repro is great, but sacrifices options for accuracy. That said, Repro does go a lot further than the synth it emulates. Other developers that do good vintage emulations are Synapse Audio, GForce, TAL, Arturia, Softube, Roland, Brainworx… I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but those are the ones that I feel are the best.

Physical Modeling. Zebra doesn’t really do physical modeling. For this, I turn to Plasmonic.

Samples. No samples in Zebra. Kontakt, is a good workhorse, but if you want a lot of options for mangling and synthesis, Falcon is better. Then there’s granular, sampler’s cousin. Falcon has a granular engine, but there are also synths like Granite, Padshop and Quanta that focus on it. Omnisphere also has a decent granular mode (as well as samples, VA and wavetable… some FM)

Additive. I love a good additive synth, especially with resynthesis. If you’re in Apple’s Logic, you already have Alchemy, which is probably the best. I heard some great stuff from Steinberg’s Halion, but I passed on it due to them not supporting MPE or polyphonic aftertouch. (Halion’s actually multi engine, so you could kill a bunch of birds with that stone) Melda’s MSoundFactory is another multi-engine synth that covers additive and a whole lot more.

Anyway, I could go on, but I’m sure you see my point. I have no idea if any of that stuff interests you, but it definitely interests me. I’m happy to have a bunch of other options.

Zebra does Yamaha style fm ( phase modulation ) it just doesn't use a low res lookup table .
THere are countless tricks where you can use one osc to mimic a 2op serial routing , zebra sometimes requires you to think outside the box which imho you're lacking .

If you're just gonna stick with the waveforms, bread and butter PW , osc sync and some filtering , there are indeed better options but the magic lies in the osc effects .
Zebra does also physical meaning , at least in the form of a tuned delay line just like Plasmonic , altough Plasmonic takes it up a few levels.

[gentleclockdivider]

I think that many of the things you say Zebra doesn't really do, it does pretty well.

particularly FM...

I specifically said Yamaha style FM. Zebra is great for FM, but it’s not really like a DX-7.

Zebra does YAMAHA style phase modulation
Here's a file showcasing Phase modulation (yamaha FM)with three different synths ,all three played in successive order
I bet top dollar you won't guess which part is Zebra , which one is OPS7 and which one is a self made reaktor ensemble .

https://app.box.com/s/72q9f273suup3zgnurxduvu2m8icfxdg
I am not saying it will replace a dx7 but it can get you there most of the time ( except multiple operator feedback loops) .
I am confident you won't guess it right and that you're absolutely in the dark about most things you're saying .

@ urs , zebra FMO self feedback fm could be improved when driving it up right before it collapses to noise , It doesn't get as sharp .
Hope Zebra 3 improves on that

[gentleclockdivider]

I feel like I’m in some sort of bizarro world where the owner and fans of a company are doing their best to talk someone out of buying more of their products.

What product would that be? U-he doesn't even offer a DX style FM synth. Zebra has that covered well enough so there is no real need.

Bazille does