Zebralette 3 Spline Editor & UX Discussion

[seafire]

What is the difference between the parameter's default value and nothing?

I think he means, a preset may have a parameter value of 7 and default is 5, so none in this case is 7 (ie no change)

Undo/redo is OK if you are only doing it for last used parameter.

[robisme]

I mean, not between default and nothing, but between a certain value and nothing, like, to verify if this parameter brings something usefull to the patch. A/B.

[Urs]

So by "nothing" you mean the parameter as it was when a preset is loaded?

[robisme]

So by "nothing" you mean the parameter as it was when a preset is loaded?

No. I'm not english native, I may not be very clear.
Let's say you add a "sync" osc fx. You set a certain value to the fx. You want to hear between this setting and without the fx. You can set the osc fx to nothing ; is reverting to the "sync" will set it to default value, or the previous value you tweaked ? I'd like a way to A/B between no fx and a specific setting of a specific fx.
It can be an fx, or a modulator (like, a certain amount of lfo modulating a morph knob, etc.

[Urs]

Ah, ok, in this case you want an on/off switch for the OscFX. That's something we have on our list of feature requests, but I do not know if and when we'll do it.

[robisme]

Ah, ok, in this case you want an on/off switch for the OscFX. That's something we have on our list of feature requests, but I do not know if and when we'll do it.

Absolutely, and every parameter with a menu of different things and values.

[JoeLowery215]

Ah, ok, in this case you want an on/off switch for the OscFX. That's something we have on our list of feature requests, but I do not know if and when we'll do it.

Urs is it possible to decide how the Guides morph from one to the next? I'm trying to create a Guide for sample rate (sample and hold) reduction but you can't smoothly sweep from higher to lower properly.

(Also, why no sample rate reducer as an Osc FX??)

[Urs]

Ah, ok, in this case you want an on/off switch for the OscFX. That's something we have on our list of feature requests, but I do not know if and when we'll do it.

Urs is it possible to decide how the Guides morph from one to the next? I'm trying to create a Guide for sample rate (sample and hold) reduction but you can't smoothly sweep from higher to lower properly.

(Also, why no sample rate reducer as an Osc FX??)

As I explained in the bug reports thread, the Guides do not morph, they simply crossfade.

Sure, a samplerate reducer as an OscFX is an option.

[nilhartman]

I’m almost embarrassed to ask : in Curve Spectrum mode, is there a quick way to draw the harmonics of a triangle wave or a square wave ? I know I can use the Multiply tool in the editor and manually check / adapt each partial on the Harmonic grid then apply a Curve to scale everything as needed… but maybe there’s another way ?

[Howard]

I’m almost embarrassed to ask : in Curve Spectrum mode, is there a quick way to draw the harmonics of a triangle wave or a square wave ? I know I can use the Multiply tool in the editor and manually check / adapt each partial on the Harmonic grid then apply a Curve to scale everything as needed… but maybe there’s another way ?

Conversion between Waveform and Spectrum would be rather useful. Additive synthesis in Zebra 3 needs some thought – so little time, so much to do...

[nilhartman]

It'd be absolutely incredible indeed !

[wwoodard8]

The question I have here is more meta:

All the drawing tools are great, but I'm at a loss as to exactly how I would use this? If i have a specific sound in my head, how do I translate that to what I would draw in the OSC editor? Past YouTubers seems to default to "draw a squiggle and see what it sounds like". I would like to be more intentional.

Say I want a "rich sound". What kind of squiggles would make it "rich"? Or I've got something that would be good for bass, but there its not quite there yet - maybe it sounds too "bright", or unclear in some way. What do I draw to fix it?

In other words - Where do I go to learn what to draw to make the sounds in my head come to life?

[Urs]

I think your best bet is experience.

I don't think I can teach anyone to anticipate the sound of a shape, beyond the obvious - sines sound dull, sawtooth sound sharp, square waves sound hollow. There are certain rules to this, e.g. how symmetry affects sound, how vertical edges do etc., but this rules are best explored rather than told about.

But I can say that experimenting with the editors have made me aware of certain sonic properties of what happens when I bend a squeeze waveforms in certain ways. I know that now, and I can reproduce it with other waveforms.

However, if you want to anticipate sound from form, it's probably best to use the Spectrum mode rather than Waveform. It's much easier IMHO to anticipate what happens when a lot of energy in the upper harmonics moves down to lower harmonics. At least for me it does.

So a good start might be to go Spectrum, set the Grid Layout to Harmonic Grid and create some peaks and valleys which you'd move around. When you move multiple narrow peaks around you get vowels or formants. Experimenting with this has enabled people to create sounds that speak simple words, such as "I", "Am" and "Zebra" (as happened in a preset for Zebra 2). I do this sometimes as an exercise, think of a word and try to reproduce it (usually with limited success, but a great exercise nevertheless).

One usually doesn't become great at this overnight. But the toolset - I hope - is good enough to at least remove any limitation to this.

[wwoodard8]

Excellent. Thanks for the sugesstions! I'll try them out, let you know...

[pdxindy]

However, if you want to anticipate sound from form, it's probably best to use the Spectrum mode rather than Waveform. It's much easier IMHO to anticipate what happens when a lot of energy in the upper harmonics moves down to lower harmonics. At least for me it does.

I mainly use Spectrum mode for this reason.

Of course it takes some learning to get there, but now it visually makes sense to me and I find it direct and repeatable to adjust sounds. The new Z3 Osc is incredible this way. I can control both the initial sound and how it changes over time much more precisely than say using a filter.