u-he at NAMM 25

[Urs]

Congrats on pulling together an alpha for NAMM! Looks fascinating.

My only nudge is, Will there be a 32-step note-adjustable sequencer added? I love the one in Zebra Legacy, but it needs more steps!

Like many things in Zebra 3 we don't just want to use any of our existing solutions - even if they were originally designed with Zebra 3 in mind, such as Hive's combo of Arpeggiator and Step Sequencer.

About those things in particular, something interesting happened when I went into modular synthesis. I hardly ever used traditional step sequencers. Instead, I preferred independent sources for clock, trigger and voltage sequencer. This made me question the classic approach in software synthesisers, and thus what we already have.

In addition, as a result of Uhbik development, ModMappers have optionally become sequencers. This is absolutely great fun in Zebra 3, triggering a ModMapper and an envelope by an LFO, running the ModMapper through a quantiser and sequencing polyphonic per voice.

So we still want to do a dedicated kind of sequencer. This might again get its own tab, either at the bottom like in Z2 or global like Repro-1. This sequencer needs to however integrate with the new trigger options and polyphonic sequencing options within Zebra 3's voice architecture.

Therefore, instead of hastily adding "the usual", we'll wait it out and add it at a later date, possibly somewhere around 3.1 or 3.2, but I usually decide these things once prior milestones are reached.

[GruvSyco]

About those things in particular, something interesting happened when I went into modular synthesis. I hardly ever used traditional step sequencers. Instead, I preferred independent sources for clock, trigger and voltage sequencer. This made me question the classic approach in software synthesisers, and thus what we already have.

I learned a crap-ton by getting into modular... everyone should do it even if it's just something like VCV. It's a great way to learn the actual function of the parts of a synth especially VCAs and modulation. That being said, I kinda hate the format now and haven't touched my eurorack or Buchlas in a long long time. I generally prefer software most of the time these days anyway. IMO, there's far more interesting stuff happening in software.

[Urs]

About those things in particular, something interesting happened when I went into modular synthesis. I hardly ever used traditional step sequencers. Instead, I preferred independent sources for clock, trigger and voltage sequencer. This made me question the classic approach in software synthesisers, and thus what we already have.

I learned a crap-ton by getting into modular... everyone should do it even if it's just something like VCV. It's a great way to learn the actual function of the parts of a synth especially VCAs and modulation. That being said, I kinda hate the format now and haven't touched my eurorack or Buchlas in a long long time. I generally prefer software most of the time these days anyway. IMO, there's far more interesting stuff happening in software.

Hahaha, I often think it's the other way round. IMHO the ingeniousness of Mutable Instruments - as one example - has no equivalent in software synthesis (beyond wherever software mimics the hardware).

But yeah, as for getting stuff happening, I think software has the edge.

[Alexander_D]

Ah, and yeah. The design of the new Zebra is really nice! Also ver happy, that it is the same concept as Zebra 2! It's my main synth at this moment! So excited and good lack at NAMM!

[Razzia]

The whole thing is about how to navigate types and responses. This can easily grow to 100+ algorithms at some point, and we created UI elements, meta data and stuff to keep this accessible without having to search sub menus or anything. It works similar to a good old colour picker, but for filter types. One can quickly compare different responses or different characters without getting lost in choices.

That's good news. U-he always has such nice, thoughtful ergonomic decisions and I'm sure this will be no different
Yours were either the first or among the first synths I used in which dropdown menu items could be cycled with the scroll wheel and it's made me a bit spoiled. I still find myself feeling disappointed when I try to do it in Ableton Live sometimes.

[machinesworking]

wtf dude... AU?

It might scar you for life to learn that Zebra 1 was AU only.

[machinesworking]

This is great news, I think for at least 6 years I really didn't use much besides Absynth and Zebra 2, at least those were in 90% of what I do. Looking forward to Zebra 3 and Plasmonic duets in the future.

[wilx]

Exciting to finally see something! And the other information sounds great too, very sensible choices. Any particular reason why the envelopes are sliders rather than visually represented with grabbable points, like the MSEG?

[Urs]

Exciting to finally see something! And the other information sounds great too, very sensible choices. Any particular reason why the envelopes are sliders rather than visually represented with grabbable points, like the MSEG?

Because ADSR is such an iconic and common concept, I don't think people need any additional representation.

Besides, envelope times range from few milliseconds up to a minute. So a visual representation would have to have quite a bit zoom going to adjust things. Worse if only points can be dragged (no knobs or sliders) and one always has to zoom into a short attack phase to adjust attack while zooming out to find the handle for decay/sustain and release.

So if knobs or faders have to be present to avoid necessity to zoom, a visual representation would mostly cost UI estate, and add not so much value.

[jtsterays]

I'm really interested in the physical modelling module, can you talk about it? How does it compare to something like Reason's Objekt for drum/perc design? Also any chance for a sampler/granulizer in the future, or are you still against that? (please dont).

[Hanz Meyzer]

Looks great! Though I found a bug: The mix module doesn't show the "mix mode", which can be "add", "ringmod" and "sync"

I am unable to parse the information in the posts: Will there be an alpha of Zebra 3, or a new alpha of Zebralette 3, or nothing of these, or not yet decided?

[Urs]

We'll try to release a new Zebralette 3 soon, possibly something close to a release version.

[Urs]

I'm really interested in the physical modelling module, can you talk about it? How does it compare to something like Reason's Objekt for drum/perc design? Also any chance for a sampler/granulizer in the future, or are you still against that? (please dont).

Regarding Physical Modelling, there's still a lot of work to be done. I mean, technically it's as good as ready. A few parameters need tweaking. However, some of the models might need a lot more fine tuning to get the most out of it. So that's two separated things: The mathematical and coding part is very far, but the data that represents the models is still work in progress. Which might be logical since the mathematical part needs to be there first before the models can be tested and refined.

As for sampling and stuff, my stance has not changed - Zebra is a synthesiser, not a sample playback machine. But there is a granular texture synthesiser in the effects section, something akin to Clouds by Mutable Instruments or Arbhar by Instruo in Eurorack. It is a slightly different concept than these as there are different possibilities within Zebra.

[Satch1]

Exciting to finally see something! And the other information sounds great too, very sensible choices. Any particular reason why the envelopes are sliders rather than visually represented with grabbable points, like the MSEG?

Because ADSR is such an iconic and common concept, I don't think people need any additional representation.

Besides, envelope times range from few milliseconds up to a minute. So a visual representation would have to have quite a bit zoom going to adjust things. Worse if only points can be dragged (no knobs or sliders) and one always has to zoom into a short attack phase to adjust attack while zooming out to find the handle for decay/sustain and release.

So if knobs or faders have to be present to avoid necessity to zoom, a visual representation would mostly cost UI estate, and add not so much value.

I agree. I prefer knobs or sliders for basic envelopes.

[jtsterays]

As for sampling and stuff, my stance has not changed - Zebra is a synthesiser, not a sample playback machine. But there is a granular texture synthesiser in the effects section, something akin to Clouds by Mutable Instruments or Arbhar by Instruo in Eurorack. It is a slightly different concept than these as there are different possibilities within Zebra.

How about adding sample import to the noise module? It doesn't have to be fully featured like kontakt or something. Like in Massive X for example, extremely simple, just volume and pitch (+ key track toggle). I found that part of why that synth sounds really good is the well thought out set of noises which really make the patch come alive. And that granular effect is really exciting, however ime the best granular patches often have acoustic samples as the source so hopefully we will get audio input for Z3.