U-HE Zebra 3 Alpha Prototype Developments

[Jac459]

Lots of people who only use presets (synthesis and/or samples) will spend quite a bit of time auditioning those presets/samples. Someone might listen to dozens of basses or dozens of tom samples to find one that suits them in that project.

I'm one of those people who endlessly browses through presets, but honestly, it's exhausting, and very time consuming, and I never really get what I want in the end. At some point I really need to get into sound design, but I find classic synths are hard for me to get into because they are so abstract. I really prefer UIs that can show me graphically what is going on when I turn all those knobs. The UX of Zebralette looks fantastic!

Man.
I have been there. The key of your issue is twin 3. From Fabfilter.
It is extremely approachable.
Second is phase plant. The workflow makes so much sense it is very easy.

Learn the basics in Twin3, get the full knowledge with phase plant.

And get zebra 3 because it will be awesome.

[MrJubbly]

Choices are great. That said, I think a high quality optimized mode that might even eat a lot of cycles is always a good thing to have. I wouldn't mind an even higher quality mode for diva or repro (I think repo sounds sometimes better at 96khz sample rate, that might be a hint that there is still room for improvement by an higher quality mode).

Most of the time I just need one or two really good sounding synth tracks and that's it. In some cases it's just about the quality for me and you can also freeze. We also do record external synth. And it will help with ageing. The devine mode in diva is not that demanding nowadays.

Ever since I upgraded from my ancient PC to a more recent CPU, I haven't encountered any performance issues whatsoever in projects, like I previously did on my older device. And that was after upgrading to just a 12th gen i7 device, never mind the even newer and more powerful CPUs available.

But after a few tests, including running 200+ simultaneous instances of Hive (not that I would ever need anything close to that mind you,) without anything close to a stutter or other performance issues. I realised just what a massive difference more modern CPUs make, when running many such plugins.

Basically, I've realised that now, I never even have to think about what synths or effects I add to projects (or even how many of them). Since, I never even get close to maxing out. Unlike previously, where I would be constantly resource managing and bouncing tracks, etc.

I now always set all my plugins to the highest quality settings / oversampling, etc. and thereafter don't give it much thought, since the impact on CPU is barely even noticeable, if at all.

So I completely agree, that with the current CPUs, most plugins (including newly released modern plugins) are barely an blip on the total work load. So it might be worth focussing on adding/supporting even higher quality options moving forwards and for the future, since these modern CPUs can clearly handle it. Never mind what we'll be using in the next few years...

[Urs]

Choices are great. That said, I think a high quality optimized mode that might even eat a lot of cycles is always a good thing to have. I wouldn't mind an even higher quality mode for diva or repro (I think repo sounds sometimes better at 96khz sample rate, that might be a hint that there is still room for improvement by an higher quality mode).

Most of the time I just need one or two really good sounding synth tracks and that's it. In some cases it's just about the quality for me and you can also freeze. We also do record external synth. And it will help with ageing. The devine mode in diva is not that demanding nowadays.

There is a resolution parameter. The default setting equals the highest setting on Zebra2. There is an eco setting and one that eats up 4x the CPU of the default setting. Atm due to lack of optimisation Zebralette 3 tells Diva to "hold my beer".

Repro sometimes sounds better on higher sample rates particularly when using the poly distortion module (Repro-5, that is). We have since improved it to sound absolutely fabulous even at 44.1 kHz samplerate. We have yet to finalise some other stuff (MPE) to bring this out in the open.

[HAL76]

He's shooting himself in the foot here. That thing alone is so powerful you'd hardly need anything else.

And who the f* still needs an all in one solution tday? Just imagining seeing the same GUI all the time for three weeks

[paramita123]

Ever since I upgraded from my ancient PC to a more recent CPU, I haven't encountered any performance issues whatsoever in projects, like I previously did on my older device. And that was after upgrading to just a 12th gen i7 device, never mind the even newer and more powerful CPUs available.

But after a few tests, including running 200+ simultaneous instances of Hive (not that I would ever need anything close to that mind you,) without anything close to a stutter or other performance issues. I realised just what a massive difference more modern CPUs make, when running many such plugins.

Wow ! I'm super curious to know your PC specs and even would like to see a photo of your setup if possible
I have a decent alienware R17 but still have to manage CPU usage for every song !!

[McLilith]

Ever since I upgraded from my ancient PC to a more recent CPU, I haven't encountered any performance issues whatsoever in projects, like I previously did on my older device. And that was after upgrading to just a 12th gen i7 device, never mind the even newer and more powerful CPUs available.

But after a few tests, including running 200+ simultaneous instances of Hive (not that I would ever need anything close to that mind you,) without anything close to a stutter or other performance issues. I realised just what a massive difference more modern CPUs make, when running many such plugins.

I'd be very interested in knowing exactly which CPU, how much RAM, which audio interface, and which operating system you have?

My older notebook computer really struggles with some of the newer software synths. Sometimes, just a single software synth is able to bring my system to its knees. I'd like to know what systems are actually working well for other people. I need to save up some money and upgrade, but I don't know what to upgrade to yet.

[MrJubbly]

Wow ! I'm super curious to know your PC specs and even would like to see a photo of your setup if possible
I have a decent alienware R17 but still have to manage CPU usage for every song !!

I'd be very interested in knowing exactly which CPU, how much RAM, which audio interface, and which operating system you have?

My older notebook computer really struggles with some of the newer software synths. Sometimes, just a single software synth is able to bring my system to its knees. I'd like to know what systems are actually working well for other people. I need to save up some money and upgrade, but I don't know what to upgrade to yet.

Regarding my PC, it's honestly nothing that special (but clearly is good enough for my own personal requirements). I was even surprised that it managed to make such a significant difference to my own workflow, since it was just a standard off the shelf prebuilt desktop. Model: Acer Predator PO3-640. Although after a brief search, it appears that model is no longer in production and has since been replaced/update to a newer version: PO3-650.

I'm quite certain, the more technically gifted could easily construct their own WAY more powerful and cheaper custom builds themselves. But I didn't want any extra hassle, or risk of incompatibilities, etc. trying to do that.

Bear in mind, in the previous test I was referring to with Hive, that was only using a single plugin cloned a couple hundred times all playing simultaneously (just to see if it was even possible in FL Studio). So, within that narrow framework it performed extremely well, and is likely more efficient to run that kind of singular plugin test, than a more real-world project, using hundreds of completely different plugins. Which would likely be more taxing.

That being said, I never personally run into such resource management issues any more during my typical real production sessions, while using many multiple instances of dozens of different plugins.

Perhaps, it's due to all the years of being ultra-cautious on my older device. But I just don't experience those kind of issues anymore. And I doubt I will, unless/until many new released/updated plugins start placing more demands on the CPU & resources than mine currently do.

In terms of comparison, I think it also matters what system you are upgrading from. My previous device was around a decade old at the point it finally gave up the ghost and I should have probably already upgraded several years before. So to go from a really ancient device to a more modern one, yeah the difference was stark!

One caveat I would also mention however, from reading other people's accounts. It appears that many often experience bottlenecks from using multiple instances of plugins which rely upon very large sample libraries (Kontakt, etc.) Whereas, I really don't often use such plugins at all. Often opting instead, for physically modelled alternatives, such as Pianoteq, SWAM, etc. If that makes any difference?

Hopefully, that information helps. So I'll leave it there, since I'm conscious of trying not hijack or steer this thread too off topic, from the obviously more important and relevant Zebra 3-related goodness.

[McLilith]

Hopefully, that information helps. So I'll leave it there, since I'm conscious of trying not hijack or steer this thread too off topic, from the obviously more important and relevant Zebra 3-related goodness.

Thanks. That does give me some helpful info to consider for my eventual upgrade.

Now, we can get back to anticipating Zebra 3!

[midi_transmission]

Choices are great. That said, I think a high quality optimized mode that might even eat a lot of cycles is always a good thing to have. I wouldn't mind an even higher quality mode for diva or repro (I think repo sounds sometimes better at 96khz sample rate, that might be a hint that there is still room for improvement by an higher quality mode).

Most of the time I just need one or two really good sounding synth tracks and that's it. In some cases it's just about the quality for me and you can also freeze. We also do record external synth. And it will help with ageing. The devine mode in diva is not that demanding nowadays.

There is a resolution parameter. The default setting equals the highest setting on Zebra2. There is an eco setting and one that eats up 4x the CPU of the default setting. Atm due to lack of optimisation Zebralette 3 tells Diva to "hold my beer".

Repro sometimes sounds better on higher sample rates particularly when using the poly distortion module (Repro-5, that is). We have since improved it to sound absolutely fabulous even at 44.1 kHz samplerate. We have yet to finalise some other stuff (MPE) to bring this out in the open.

CPU optimisation is great course. My intention was mainly to encourage to test also the limits in terms of quality too as one mode, as long as it's usable in real time with 3 voices on a current computer.

Looking forward to the Repro-5 update!

[magog]

I'm one of those people who endlessly browses through presets, but honestly, it's exhausting, and very time consuming

Man.
I have been there. The key of your issue is twin 3. From Fabfilter.
It is extremely approachable.
Second is phase plant. The workflow makes so much sense it is very easy.

Learn the basics in Twin3, get the full knowledge with phase plant.

And get zebra 3 because it will be awesome.

Thanks for this! Twin 3 looks exactly like my speed!

[Jac459]

I'm one of those people who endlessly browses through presets, but honestly, it's exhausting, and very time consuming

Man.
I have been there. The key of your issue is twin 3. From Fabfilter.
It is extremely approachable.
Second is phase plant. The workflow makes so much sense it is very easy.

Learn the basics in Twin3, get the full knowledge with phase plant.

And get zebra 3 because it will be awesome.

Thanks for this! Twin 3 looks exactly like my speed!

4 things are making twin 3 standout.
1. Superb sound (Fabfilter is not famous for nothing).
2. This thing is also available on iPad for lower price so you can play while in mobility.
3. YouTube channel. Twin 3 comes with excellent video presentations showing the creation of basic key sounds.
4. Obviously the UI. You have a visual response on everything you do and it does help a lot.

[audiojunkie]

I'm one of those people who endlessly browses through presets, but honestly, it's exhausting, and very time consuming

Man.
I have been there. The key of your issue is twin 3. From Fabfilter.
It is extremely approachable.
Second is phase plant. The workflow makes so much sense it is very easy.

Learn the basics in Twin3, get the full knowledge with phase plant.

And get zebra 3 because it will be awesome.

Thanks for this! Twin 3 looks exactly like my speed!

4 things are making twin 3 standout.
1. Superb sound (Fabfilter is not famous for nothing).
2. This thing is also available on iPad for lower price so you can play while in mobility.
3. YouTube channel. Twin 3 comes with excellent video presentations showing the creation of basic key sounds.
4. Obviously the UI. You have a visual response on everything you do and it does help a lot.

…but what copy protection does it use? U-he only requires a serial number.

[Jac459]

I'm one of those people who endlessly browses through presets, but honestly, it's exhausting, and very time consuming

Man.
I have been there. The key of your issue is twin 3. From Fabfilter.
It is extremely approachable.
Second is phase plant. The workflow makes so much sense it is very easy.

Learn the basics in Twin3, get the full knowledge with phase plant.

And get zebra 3 because it will be awesome.

Thanks for this! Twin 3 looks exactly like my speed!

4 things are making twin 3 standout.
1. Superb sound (Fabfilter is not famous for nothing).
2. This thing is also available on iPad for lower price so you can play while in mobility.
3. YouTube channel. Twin 3 comes with excellent video presentations showing the creation of basic key sounds.
4. Obviously the UI. You have a visual response on everything you do and it does help a lot.

…but what copy protection does it use? U-he only requires a serial number.

You just have to send them chocolates from time to time...

More seriously, I don't care about copy protection as long as you don't need to be online all the day but it is Fabfilter man. I guess you already use their plugins anyway.

[MrJubbly]

4 things are making twin 3 standout.
1. Superb sound (Fabfilter is not famous for nothing).
2. This thing is also available on iPad for lower price so you can play while in mobility.
3. YouTube channel. Twin 3 comes with excellent video presentations showing the creation of basic key sounds.
4. Obviously the UI. You have a visual response on everything you do and it does help a lot.

…but what copy protection does it use? U-he only requires a serial number.

You just have to send them chocolates from time to time...

More seriously, I don't care about copy protection as long as you don't need to be online all the day but it is Fabfilter man. I guess you already use their plugins anyway.

That's a big thing I love about both Fabfilter and u-he (other than the obvious quality and user-friendliness of their products)...

Simple serial number protection. No fuss, no muss, no distrust.

Two of the absolute best devs around, both companies knowing how to treat their customers fairly and friendly. Not like certain others, who appear to regard paying customers with distrust, to penalise with overly stringent and burdensome DRM.

Love them so much I literally purchased every product each has to sell and will continue to in the future ~ although, Zebra 3 will be a free upgrade for me (I'll probably support with buying some more preset packs, as/when they release them).

[pdxindy]

That's a big thing I love about both Fabfilter and u-he (other than the obvious quality and user-friendliness of their products)...

Simple serial number protection. No fuss, no muss, no distrust.

Two of the absolute best devs around, both companies knowing how to treat their customers fairly and friendly. Not like certain others, who appear to regard paying customers with distrust, to penalise with overly stringent and burdensome DRM.

Love them so much I literally purchased every product each has to sell and will continue to in the future ~ although, Zebra 3 will be a free upgrade for me (I'll probably support with buying some more preset packs, as/when they release them).

+1