U-HE Zebra 3 Alpha Prototype Developments

[paramita123]

The cool thing is that even though it's highly technical, it can sound very good, it will probably shape future musical hits and entertain a lot of us highly !
Thanks Urs & team for the passion. We can wait after your holidays )

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Unpopular opinion here, but do musicians really want this kind of over-the-top flexibility? It seems like a synth for people who like to tinker with sounds or maybe sound designers, but as a musician looking for solid sounds to create songs with, this looks like a good way to get lost in the details and never produce anything. I can’t imagine needing anywhere close to this level of control over the waveform. I admire Urs and some of his other synths are central to my songwriting, but this really seems like a synth made for programmers.

The benefit to all of this flexibility for people who don't need it/won't use it is this: other folks will make sounds/presets for it we can all benefit from. What's mind-blowing about Zebralette 3 is how much you can get out of this single oscillator with no filter. Some of those sounds were really quite impressive. I'm sure the preset designers are hard at work so dumb ole me can get some really killer sounds. Then it's just a matter of tweaking them to fit the song.

And with that in mind, imagine this same tech plugged into Zebra, which already has a massive preset library [what's included, the freebies on the patch library, commercial banks]. Now, Zebra3 won't be preset compatible with Zebra2, but my point is, sound designers are going to go nuts with these new waveform/modulation tools and we'll all get to reap the rewards.

[Urs]

I think so too.

We did take great care so that the "small" editors feel just like better versions of their counterparts in Z2. Anyone who's familiar with Z2 will almost immediately be familiar with Zebra 3 in most ways.

I don't think importing old presets into the new engine is going to do it justice. They won't sound the same, even if we spend six months or more on trying to write such a translator. Instead I think people with a background in Z2 sound design will achieve spectacular sounds that go way beyond anything that Z2 has to offer.

[zvenx]

Yeah, the great thing about u-he synths (apart from their fantastic sound in general) is that even the complex ones come with great presets from the factory and third party.
rsp

[Artie Fichelle]

As far as I understand, it is a fluid oscillator, not static. Pretty much the same, if we use are voice and body.
For me a synth is a toolbox for crafting instruments, each which can be used by musicians, just like a Steinway or else. To have the ability to go into the nano structure of a sound is great. But I wish we can see the osc also in Hz. Because I make many binaural sounds, where one oscillator only differs 5 to 7 Hz from the other, each panned. This stuff sounds out of mind, because the mind itself can detect the difference, which is 5 Hz, a frequency that you even cannot here in therory.

[koalaboy]

This stuff sounds out of mind, because the mind itself can detect the difference, which is 5 Hz, a frequency that you even cannot here in therory.

Hearing a 5Hz difference is completely different from hearing a 5Hz tone.

[2NDMOUSE]

I think so too.

We did take great care so that the "small" editors feel just like better versions of their counterparts in Z2. Anyone who's familiar with Z2 will almost immediately be familiar with Zebra 3 in most ways.

I don't think importing old presets into the new engine is going to do it justice. They won't sound the same, even if we spend six months or more on trying to write such a translator. Instead I think people with a background in Z2 sound design will achieve spectacular sounds that go way beyond anything that Z2 has to offer.

Hey Urs. Fantastic work on Zebralette, and I'm really looking forward to being able to use it, and Zebra 3 when it comes out.
One question though, after what you just said about presets......

Will zebra 2 legacy installers still be available in perpetuity ?
This is an example of a situation that concerns me more and more with vsts.......
You get a new computer, and you get all the important things installed....drivers, DAW, etc....etc....and you load in an older track. Let's say for example it uses zebra 2. The DAW says the vst is missing, because it hasn't been re-installed yet, so you go to u-he.com thinking it'll be easy to download Zebra 2, but the only version there is zebra 3, and you have no idea what tweaked preset the track used because the only information the DAW gives you, is that it's missing.

So, if Zebra 3 is such a vast improvement over Zebra 2, to the point where they won't function with the same presets, can you guarantee the legacy installers will still be available to download from our account and zebra 3 isnt just going to replace zebra 2 ?

This kinda thing happens a lot with other developers, and it means part of the track is lost. It could have been a very unique sound that was crucial to the track. The only way around this that I've found, is to render every track part to stems, but then they can't be retroactively edited again if needed to do a remix or remaster of something.

[HOTF]

I think so too.

We did take great care so that the "small" editors feel just like better versions of their counterparts in Z2. Anyone who's familiar with Z2 will almost immediately be familiar with Zebra 3 in most ways.

I don't think importing old presets into the new engine is going to do it justice. They won't sound the same, even if we spend six months or more on trying to write such a translator. Instead I think people with a background in Z2 sound design will achieve spectacular sounds that go way beyond anything that Z2 has to offer.

Hey Urs. Fantastic work on Zebralette, and I'm really looking forward to being able to use it, and Zebra 3 when it comes out.
One question though, after what you just said about presets......

Will zebra 2 legacy installers still be available in perpetuity ?
This is an example of a situation that concerns me more and more with vsts.......
You get a new computer, and you get all the important things installed....drivers, DAW, etc....etc....and you load in an older track. Let's say for example it uses zebra 2. The DAW says the vst is missing, because it hasn't been re-installed yet, so you go to u-he.com thinking it'll be easy to download Zebra 2, but the only version there is zebra 3, and you have no idea what tweaked preset the track used because the only information the DAW gives you, is that it's missing.

So, if Zebra 3 is such a vast improvement over Zebra 2, to the point where they won't function with the same presets, can you guarantee the legacy installers will still be available to download from our account and zebra 3 isnt just going to replace zebra 2 ?

This kinda thing happens a lot with other developers, and it means part of the track is lost. It could have been a very unique sound that was crucial to the track. The only way around this that I've found, is to render every track part to stems, but then they can't be retroactively edited again if needed to do a remix or remaster of something.

from the website :

Zebra Legacy is Zebra2 with all our Zebra soundsets for free – including The Dark Zebra with its ZebraHZ – at the extraordinarily generous price of 99 €, allowing us to continue maintaining Zebra2 for many years to come while we focus on Zebra3 development... and beyond.

[pdxindy]

The benefit to all of this flexibility for people who don't need it/won't use it is this: other folks will make sounds/presets for it we can all benefit from. What's mind-blowing about Zebralette 3 is how much you can get out of this single oscillator with no filter.

Here's an example... 1 Osc, no Filter, no MSEG, no complex modulation and only 2 waveforms in the Osc plus one Guide curve.

https://dandelionaudio.com/sound/Z3-6.mp3

The deep editing possibilities of the Z3 Oscillator scale well. The basics are easy to use and if you want you can delve into precise details.

[muzicxs]

Is the Zebralette 3 beta already available for download?

[2NDMOUSE]

Is the Zebralette 3 beta already available for download?

Not yet. If Urs doesn't do it before he goes on vacation, it could be April. He says this in the video

[2NDMOUSE]

from the website :

Zebra Legacy is Zebra2 with all our Zebra soundsets for free – including The Dark Zebra with its ZebraHZ – at the extraordinarily generous price of 99 €, allowing us to continue maintaining Zebra2 for many years to come while we focus on Zebra3 development... and beyond.

ahhh that's perfect then. Cheers ! Now I just gotta get all the other devs to follow suit =)

[pdxindy]

Here's another Zebralette 3 example... little z3 has an impressive range of possibilities

https://dandelionaudio.com/sound/Z3-4.mp3

[Double Tap]

Is the Zebralette 3 beta already available for download?

Not yet. If Urs doesn't do it before he goes on vacation, it could be April. He says this in the video

Given the amount of forum posts he’ll have to read I doubt he’ll have time to do anything before May

[Urs]

LOL... I can still read while I'm on the road...