U-he Zebra 3 (Alpha)

[MrJubbly]

We will however certainly try to include a light theme, but I can't yet promise anything or say when it would happen.

Is the "original" (light?) theme from Zebralette3 not going to also be carried over and available upon the initial Zebra3 release?

I remember seeing some early alpha build demos on YT showing Z3 with a similar theme to main Zebralette3 theme.

However, I have noticed that all the recent images posted of Z3 seem to be using only the "dark mode" theme. So is that going to be considered the "original" theme for Z3 instead?

Personally, I would love it if some other themes with a similar "vibe" to the Zebra2 skins could be included at some point. I like Z2's "original" and "DotEight" skins (at least with regard the overall colour schemes - I realize exact translation would not be possible, due to the new GUI design aesthetics of Z3.)

Either way, I agree it would be silly to delay public beta testing of the plugin, just because some themes were not quite ready yet and so that's perfectly reasonable. But it would be nice to know that some other theming options would be made available (perhaps, not too long) after the initial release?..

[Urs]

The complexity makes it impossible to carry two themes in parallel during the development phase.

Zebralette 3 comes with two themes, the original light one and one complementing Zebra 3 screenshots.

[MrJubbly]

I guess more people would prefer the dark theme, so it made sense to switch to that as the being primary Z3 theme (if it is more productive to just use one theme during the development phases.)

I perhaps just assumed the light one (from the Zebralette3 beta) would also be included (as it was the first one shown - during the early Z3 alpha build in the following video).




Perhaps for some future Z3 v1.x update then, once all the other more important stuff and bugs have been dealt with?

[Urs]

I can imagine that a light theme will be there for the actual release. Just not the public beta phase.

[geronimo]

Can I talk about ZEBRA 3 at Weihnachtsmann ?

[ckoe]

I don't think Zebra3 will be released in 2025. No need to save some of your money for buying Zebra3 at the moment. Maybe 2026 we will see a public beta.

[DrGonzo]

I don't think Zebra3 will be released in 2025. No need to save some of your money for buying Zebra3 at the moment. Maybe 2026 we will see a public beta.

Time is an illusion. It has already been released. It has always been released. The world is just waiting for you to catch up.

[Lbdunequest]

Will Zebra 3 have the same UI theming capabilities as the rest of u-he and maybe a couple of themes included?

This can only be answered by "Yes, but..."

We still use the same UI framework which we built and maintain ourselves. But the UI of Zebra 3 has become extremely complex. It's not like anyone can open our built-in editor, move a few things around, save and you have a new UI.

Quick check, as of now there are 1123 knobs, 748 drop downs and 1571 text labels. If someone wanted to build a theme for Zebra 3, it's gonna be a crazy complex task

It is a full time job for our design team to not lose their mind.

On a positive note, we have implemented a way to reduce the size of the UI script by introducing styles. So all the knobs and whatever else which share the same look and feel, can be edited in one place. The Zebra 3 UI as of now has 239 styles. That's more styles than Hive has individual knobs. Not sure if that makes it any easier

Another complication: People often just swap images out to change the look and feel of a UI. In Zebra 3, almost all images are SVG and almost all colours in those SVGs are customised within the script file. So changing the colours in the image does not work, one has to change them in the script file. The good thing about that is, if someone wanted to do that, they could just open the editor and poke around with the colour values - much faster than editing hundreds of image files one by one.

I think what I'm trying to say is, the Zebra 3 UI has about five times the complexity of our other plug-ins, twice as many controls as Zebra 2. Therefore, I guess, creating themes is quite a challenge.

We will however certainly try to include a light theme, but I can't yet promise anything or say when it would happen.

Thanks for explaining. An idea:

If its possible to edit color values, maybe worth to make a universal settings inside Zebra 3 where you can change colors of the synth, for ex panel colors, knob colors, background ect.

Sometimes colouring is enough.

From my practice: PhasePlant is an awesome synth but GUI colors by default are depressing. I found out i can just change color code in config file via txt. I changed to the one suit me: bought full bundle and happily using the synth.

[Urs]

You can do that, we just haven't properly documented it.

[ThoughtExperiment]

Urs, once again I admire your patience. I can't believe where this thread is going atm- speaking for myself what I'm excited about is listening to all the new sounds and trying to get my head around the new techniques. As long the UI isn't actually invisible I don't much care what the alpha version looks like, or even the public beta.

[MrJubbly]

Urs, once again I admire your patience. I can't believe where this thread is going atm- speaking for myself what I'm excited about is listening to all the new sounds and trying to get my head around the new techniques. As long the UI isn't actually invisible I don't much care what the alpha version looks like, or even the public beta.

What's so hard to believe? Suggesting patience is required to tolerate standard queries about a synth's GUI is rather condescending.

This recent discussion about the appearance of a plugin's user interface, have all been valid queries/requests, imho. Or should only features which personally matter to yourself be considered?

Look! We're all excited about the imminent and long-awaited release of Z3 and we also fully understand that not all features will be initially ready within the first public betas. That however, doesn't negate any prior discussion thereof.

There have been plenty of suggestions submitted from other members, which don't personally interest me. However, I'm happy for those to whom such features are important to likewise discuss them. As these are also completely valid.

Just try to understand there are a lot of people in the world, some with needs that may differ from only yourself. For example, there are many musicians suffering with mild-to-severe visual impairments, to whom, such UI theme/colour customisation options are an important accessibility feature. So it's not just about superficial or aesthetic reasons. Albeit, they too are valid, since how a synth looks can affect mood/inspiration/legibility/workflow.

Urs has kindly responded regarding such queries, that hopefully, once the synth has been officially launched, there may also be a light theme included. This is important information that will be greatly appreciated by many such users.

Additionally the revelation that it will at least be possible to manually theme/skin Z3, albeit it may be a rather more complex or time-consuming task to do so, at the early stages, than previous u-he synths have been, is also very useful information for anyone who may be considering/hoping, to create their own custom Z3 skins in the future. If this didn't matter, then third-party skins would not have be as popular for other synths, as they have been for so many years.

Finally, almost everything else about Z3 has been discussed to death about the imminent Z3 beta releases, so why not also query the look/themes at this point?

Apologies if you had to patiently tolerate reading/skipping past such comments. Just think of it as another "Thought Experiment"

[wagtunes]

You know, I tend to take u-He synths for granted. Today I finished a song and decided to put a splash of Hive on it, which admittedly I hadn't used in a while. Well, it was just the spice the track needed.

Getting Zebra 3 will be my best Christmas present this year.

[daily patcher]

You know, I tend to take u-He synths for granted. Today I finished a song and decided to put a splash of Hive on it, which admittedly I hadn't used in a while. Well, it was just the spice the track needed.

Getting Zebra 3 will be my best Christmas present this year.

To me Hive still has the most pleasing UI and satisfying workflow of all synths.. still my gold standard. And yes not to mention the sound and different filters available are fantastic. I wish uhm scripting was more popular, though now with LLMs I'm having a field day doing sound design with my personal "scripter" generating endless uhm wavetables.

[Urs]

with LLMs I'm having a field day doing sound design with my personal "scripter" generating endless uhm wavetables.

[Vortifex]

To me Hive still has the most pleasing UI and satisfying workflow of all synths..

I sold Hive 2 because I just couldn't get on with the UI. The mirroring of controls was inconsistent and I could never get a quick at-a-glance sense of where everything was or what was going on with a patch. It was decent in every other respect though.