Zebralette 3 Public Beta Announcement (Revision 15573)

[pgwalsh]

Ubuntu 22.04 > Bitwig > Clap version has been flawless so far, but mostly just preset surfing and adjusting parameters. Amazing sounding and beautiful UI.

[sempondr]

Will the final version have MTS-ESP support?

[the_eraser]

Zebra is one of the very few software instruments that not only I do tolerate, but also appreciate.

This Zebralette 3 looks pretty interesting to play with, and sounds terrific so far.
I could never have "fun" with it (not everything needs to be funny, of course) but it can be rewarding nonetheless. The lack of immediacy seems to be rigorously justified – which is not obvious, especially nowadays.

I'm definitely dreaming about a collaboration between Urs Heckmann, Randy Jones and Sean Costello!

[Hanz Meyzer]

This is really inspiring stuff. Finally a really new kind of oscillator, and new worlds to explore!

I would like to suggest some little comfort functionality:

- Swap osc FX, context menu or so, so you can swap slot 1 with 2. Could be simply an additional entry in the current menu.
- Save always adds a new number to the preset, but often I simply want to resave the current edited. What about an context menu entry like "Overwrite as xyz..."? Or even a modifier on save click.

Synthesis feature suggestions:
- What about Hives "flow" phase mode?
- Would love to see a knob for drift instead a on/off button
- I know this is not part of your concept, but what about a detune curve parameter? I think it highly improves unison and makes it possible to control the interferences in a more detailed way.
- Maybe there could be more spectral compression modes, modes which respects scales or harmonics. Currently you immediately reach atonal terrority as soon as you use it. Or maybe a "reduce" mode.

Then some problem:
- In preset Minthy Breath I tried to add also the expression pedal (Control B / CC#21) via matrix to Curve Morph, too (there is the modulation wheel directly bind). But as soon as I add an amount, it already alters the base value, too. Is this intended? I can see in Renoises midi monitor that the pedal in in CC#21 value 0 position, so this seems to be stange. So Control B is set to CC#21. If I change it to CC#11 and also set my midi keyboards expression to CC#11, it works normally.

[bnz]

Amazing piece of software. I think I remember some mentioning of zebralette 3 being able to export to uhm hive formulas. This isn't included yet, right? Or am I maybe missing it among the features? When it comes, I think the reverse, a formula import would be nice as well.

Suggestion: it would be nice if there was a cursor in the osc editor timeline that visualizes where the current curph morph position is.

[drzhnn]

- Save always adds a new number to the preset, but often I simply want to resave the current edited. What about an context menu entry like "Overwrite as xyz..."? Or even a modifier on save click.

Try left-clicking on the Save button while holding Control

[Funky40]

i just like to say:
"Thank You VERY Much @Team U-HE for this wonderful piece of work !"

Plus: i´m also in the camp of those who´d like to see some enhancements vs. the colour schemes.
I personally don´t like black. I like such grey GUIs.
But some contrasts or font sizes are imho begging for some more refinement.
This would be very welcome ( i´m on a 40" UHD screen)

[NAD]

Just installed on windows and the presets folder is empty (aside from the Midi Programs folder). What am I missing?

EDIT: Didn't notice you have to check a box in the installer...

[pdxindy]

Just installed on windows and the presets folder is empty (aside from the Midi Programs folder). What am I missing?

Do you see the "beta" folder but it is empty?

[NAD]

Just installed on windows and the presets folder is empty (aside from the Midi Programs folder). What am I missing?

Do you see the "beta" folder but it is empty?

I'm not seeing a "beta" folder anywhere inside Zebralette3.data.

EDIT: Didn't notice you have to check a box in the installer...

[GruvSyco]

I'm pretty impressed with layering two instances of Zebralette 3 and just going through different presets on either instance. It really does compliment itself. I find myself being more drawn to the additive side of the synth.

Digitron is the first patch to really jump out at me. In a very subtle way it reminded me of a famous Fairlight patch but much more hifi (in an extremely pleasant way) and with a certain quality I tried to dial out to really nail the sound I was hearing. This is what ultimately lead me to layering. Breathy and percussiony sound blending. Glass Logs is another patch that layers nicely with quite a few of the other patches.

[exmatproton]

The question i have is;

Do we really need so much control over an OSC?

My answer;

uhuh, yes

[Sound Author]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like we presently cannot save oscillator presets. I'm hoping that will eventually happen so we can export them to Zebra 3.

(I apologize if this was addressed already)

[Urs]

Will the release version of Zebralette3 support exporting to WAV with spectral effects and modulation (similar to how it's done in Zebra2)? I noticed this is specifically mentioned in the original post and in the manual, so not including this functionality is intentional. I just don't see why.

The export function is part of the visual editor. It does not have a notion of the oscillator and its effects. All it knows is the Curve Set which it can render to a file.

In Zebra2 there is a function to record the oscillator into a wavetable. It is a bit half baked as it doesn’t allow for precise control over frames and movement.

If anything, an export function for Z3 would have to have precise control over Curve Morph and each parameter of the OscFX across the entire wavetable. This would require us to have more editors and more infrastructure. The decision we have to make then is, why would we want to do all this for free when we actually want people to use Zebra?

Therefore instead we will do everything we possibly can to keep CPU down in Z3 and make it the best choice for these kinds of sounds.

[ukm]

- Save always adds a new number to the preset, but often I simply want to resave the current edited. What about an context menu entry like "Overwrite as xyz..."? Or even a modifier on save click.

"ALT" + leftclick "Save" does it here.