Zebra 3 Public Beta Revision 20399

[elizabeth lynn]

In the time from buying Zebra 2 to today I have:

• Graduated high school
• Started and graduated university
• Started a career in IT
• Survived a corporate merger
• Gotten laid off
• Had several long term relationships
• Moved three times
• Switched DAWs twice
• Transed my gender
• Experienced a single new Half-Life game

And now Zebra 3 is finally here, what a time to be alive! Thank you U-he, and especially thanks for honoring the free upgrade path from way back when you originally offered it.

Any chance of the amp models from Zebra 2's distortion unit making a return, or the XMF/shaper modules?

[sunthief01]

after a couple of hours of playing with this awesome update; here are my first 2 cents;



-16 voices -> 32 or 64

-Ctrl a,b,c,d -> make them visible to the daw for automation

-Ctrl a,b,c,d -> make 4 more (a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h)

-add a hard limiter (with on/off switch) before the output

-pitches -> add a quantize option 'post everything' so that modulation gets quantized as well (fun stuff)

-pitches -> calibration; add an extreme knob (times 10, or 100) for more effect

-fx -> make it possible to collapse the fx ui's, a la bitwig (et al)

Just quoting these suggestions for emphasis. If you've heard Exm's music, then you know he knows.

Ive only had a few minutes with it today, but the safety limiter at the end of the chain would be extremely useful - nothing fancy just a protect my speakers and ear drums setting

[The MIDI Guru]

When a module is deleted from the routing area (or from the FX panel), mod routings in the Matrix that send data to that module are not deleted. They probably ought to be deleted. There doesn't seem to be an init patch (not a problem), so I started deleting modules from a bass patch so I could look at one oscillator by itself. There are still routings in the Matrix that point to the missing modules.

[david.beholder]

Could somebody finally explain to me what with the plugin window size? Why it's so problematic to fit the UI into screen in 100% size?

Please add your screen resolution I guess.

[wagtunes]

Track I made with Zebra 3. Below are my custom patches that you can download if you like.

Here's the track

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim/real-peace

Here's the patches

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7l34hm37 ... qc12d&dl=0

Only had one crash and it wasn't Zebra 3. It was a plugin on the track. So who knows what caused it. But so far, at least on my end, this thing is pretty solid on Windows 11, Cubase 14.

Any feedback is more than welcome.

[sagetone]

Thank you Urs and team! A long awaited masterpiece dropped just in time for the holidays!!!

[machinesworking]

This is great, pretty much cements my needs for a long time. Between Zebra 3, Absynth 6, Plasmonic, Hive, Falcon, Pigments, some Kontakt libraries and the random analog emulation (mostly Atomika and Diva), I really do not need much else software instrument wise. Just opening up the patch Arcadia really shows how far it's come, John carpenter / Tangerine Dream in a box.

Setting up a template with Absynth 6 and Zebra 3 is nicely future retro.

[Viktor [TUC]]

-Ctrl a,b,c,d -> make them visible to the daw for automation
-Ctrl a,b,c,d -> make 4 more (a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h)

These are real-time performance controls like mod wheel or aftertouch, they're not the same kind of macros like Zebra2's XY fields. You'd draw their curves in the MIDI clip, not in the automation lanes.

About the 32 voices, I agree it'd be nice, but my computer can hardly play any patch with even 16 voices. I think CPUs need to catch up before that becomes anything to consider. Or do others here have no issue playing 16 voices with the included presets? Maybe it's my machine?

Viktor
u-he team

[Urs]

When a module is deleted from the routing area (or from the FX panel), mod routings in the Matrix that send data to that module are not deleted. They probably ought to be deleted. There doesn't seem to be an init patch (not a problem), so I started deleting modules from a bass patch so I could look at one oscillator by itself. There are still routings in the Matrix that point to the missing modules.

It's a dilemma. What of someone just double clicks a module in the Grid by accident, and then doesn't even realise the modulations are gone with it?

So this brings up my philosophical grievances with "Modulation on Source" vs "Modulation on Target". I always preferred modulation assignments and depths right on the their target parameter. Like, if there's an LFO and an oscillator, I'd prefer the PWM-parameter to be part of the oscillator and not part of the LFO. I could write half a book about it.

But then, even since Hive we see the benefits of ModMatrices. Which are even more mediated than either of the above, because the assignment and depth are nowhere near source or target, but in their own extra compartment. But they keep things tidy.

So what to do. We can totally hide, neglect or even delete modulations on modules that are hidden or removed. But then, what if somebody just temporarily removes that module, or even wants to remove it for educational reasons, only to bring it back later or to have it sitting there until it's needed?

I'd love some input on this, because I honestly haven't the confidence to say either this or that.

[crystalhorizon]

Crash in Cubase 15Pro, MacMiniM4 Pro, 64GB RAM, OS 15.5.

[machinesworking]

I'm just diving in, but the XY matrix is gone it looks like, what is Zebra 3 using for Macros now?
I really think every complex synth should have 8 to 64 macros for control surface capable keyboards and controllers, and that they should be absolute first in line when presented to the host.

It's something that should have IMO happed 25 years ago, but might start happening now that NI have opened the Kontrol mk3 up to plugin automation directly,

[exmatproton]

-Ctrl a,b,c,d -> make them visible to the daw for automation
-Ctrl a,b,c,d -> make 4 more (a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h)

These are real-time performance controls like mod wheel or aftertouch, they're not the same kind of macros like Zebra2's XY fields. You'd draw their curves in the MIDI clip, not in the automation lanes.

About the 32 voices, I agree it'd be nice, but my computer can hardly play any patch with even 16 voices. I think CPUs need to catch up before that becomes anything to consider. Or do others here have no issue playing 16 voices with the included presets? Maybe it's my machine?

Viktor
u-he team

Yeah, i can see they are linked to CC's indeed. In that case i think 4 or 8 macro knobs would be a very nice addition tbh (especially for DAW's that don't play nice/handy with midi).

CPU power isn't relevant to be honest. If i wanted i can bring my CPU down on it's knees with 3 notes playing in Zebra3. However, when programming carefully (and making use of the DAW's multicore support), i think 32/64 voices can be used easily.

Congrats on the beta release btw. Such a great milestone. And it truly is tons of fun (already)

[ew]

For now we like to think of Zebra 3 as being made for humans, and conscience design.

Interesting. I wasn’t aware Absynth users and anyone using similarly featured synths fell outside the ‘human’ category.

We aren't human. Trust me on this.
Congrats to you and the team, Urs!

ew

[Urs]

About the BURNER

So... here's a thing that's been bugging us ever since Apple put out M1 processors. We love them. And now Intel has something similar, where there is efficiency cores and there is performance cores. However... you simply cannot trust you CPU meters anymore.

Because something that is very light on CPU will run on an efficiency core, and use, say, 20%. But something that is heavy on CPU gets shifted onto a performance core, where it uses only 10%. But if both were to run on a performance core, the former would use 5% and be twice as fast as the one using 10%.

So I'll do a video about this asap.

Under the u-he menu we have the "Module Performance Meter". It's hot shit that lets everyone pretty accurately measure the CPU of every single module in Zebra 3 that has an impact. On Apple silicon and on modern Intel mobile processors the CPU will be all over the place.

In comes the Burner. Set it to 50-60 % CPU usage and you operating system will shift all of Zebra's workload onto performance cores. Like magic, the CPU usage of all modules will settle at a comparable level.

In other words, yes, the Burner just wastes CPU. Use it only to get accurate readings from Zebra's built-in Module Performance Meter. Also, it's great for nerdy screenshots.

[ffx]

I think the pitch detuning "Destabilize" and also "Uncalibrate" could range with 200% of the current range. That might make it even more interesting. Even at 100% it seems to be pretty subtle... Or maybe I am doing something wrong The knob could even visualize an "over-detuning", once it reaches the middle position with a mark.

Also if the compressor fx module would provide a range from 0,5:1 - 40:1, it could be also used as an expander, very helpful creating dynamic sounds, like textures maybe.