Zebra 3 Public Beta Revision 20399

[stippenstoh]

I love Pitches.
2 oscillators to 2 pitches and just varying the calibration alone + ladder filter already replaces my Model D.

I have spent the past 5 hours answering forum posts and haven't even had breakfast yet

We just try to overload your personal CPU.

[suthnear]

To offset the negative clamour, I am a very long time Z2 user and Z3 was exactly what I was hoping for: the same paradigm but improved. I recently went through my Z2 patches and many of them are actually simple affairs with only a few modules. Zebra does a lot with a little but offers more if you need it. It's not like serum / phase plant / pigments have solved this anyway: they're just different and have different strengths and different compromises. Go to a thread about any one of those and you will find plenty of people complaining about their UIs, too. Z3 is the best sounding of the lot for me and I really like the UI. Always have

[Viktor [TUC]]

... Pressure to pitch on a Fretless Bass ...

I hear you, I think I'd still prefer that on the pitch bender just to be able to go the other direction as well. But that "pressure to pitch" in such a presets is probably something I'd keep in there if it feels good and makes sense for the patch.

[wilx]

Lots of chatter about modulation and visualisation - which comes up a lot.

My take on it is:

Hardcore synth programmers probably aren't that bothered about it.
Busy composers who use dozens of synths and plugins daily care deeply about it and need the most intuitive, well-designed interfaces to the point of choosing an intuitive plugin over a better-sounding one if it does what they need in 2 minutes rather than 10.

There are a lot of good examples of visualisation done well. My favourite two (which use different approaches) are Logic's Alchemy and Equator 2. Pigments and Serum (2) are nice too, but I think especially Pigments is too much visual overload for some.

I imagine Equator 2's approach is slightly more in line with Urs' philosophy then Alchemy's, but I would encourage the team to check out both and see how useful it is to see this stuff at a glance if you're a busy composer/producer who needs to *quickly* work out what that pulsing element is. Cutoff? FM amount? Sub osc volume? Overdrive? And is it modulated by an MSEG? LFO? If so, which one?

The synths that show this cleanly and clearly get the most use from me.

Right-clicking on a module or knob and instantly seeing what it modulates, or what's modulating it, and by how much, with the ability to instantly change those values, would be excellent.

[PieBerger]

Busy composers...

Like Hans Zimmer?

[exmatproton]

I think the MSEG's need a similar option set compared to the LFO's. Especially the trigger options. At least to be able to make use of the loop function synced with the DAW (without gate/note retriggers. Start/stop synced to tranpsport) would be very nice

[wilx]

Busy composers...

Like Hans Zimmer?

Hans is a special case - he's a synth head, very familiar with programming. And he doesn't use many other synths. And he also knows some of the best in the business when it comes to making patches for his projects!

[wilx]

And in all of that I forgot to say:

Huge congratulations to the team. It looks and sounds phenomenal and I can't wait for the full release! Well done everybody.

[Qhohi]

I was really happy to see this announcement.

It’s good to see where u-he has arrived now.
The older plugins (Filterscape, MFM and Uhbik) have been upgraded for the modern era and now the flagship is also arriving.

The uniform user experience across the various synths and effects is one of the things I like most about the u-he portfolio and that is now in a really good state.

Zebra 3 offers so much possibilities and I’m happy to be able to use it and see all the various features and developments from previous synths coming together in this one.

Also I appreciate the upgrade offer as without that I wouldn’t have been able to afford this.
At the same time I feel for everyone who missed it and didn’t have this offer on their radar (despite the open communication).

Ah and also I like the new license card it’s a charming idea.

[stippenstoh]

Right-clicking on a module or knob and instantly seeing what it modulates, or what's modulating it, and by how much, with the ability to instantly change those values, would be excellent.

+1
(I'd be fine with just seeing it, too)

[Urs]

But how to enter for example -31.77 cents?

We have produced a video about this, we'll publish it next week!

[lovelights]

I’ve been using Zebra (VST3) for two days now, and what a great synth. I’ve actually been using Zebra for 20 years, and it’s still my number one — it can create anything, and it’s always a joy to use.
At first it was crashing every time I selected a second or third new preset. I solved it by setting Ableton Live (latest version) to use a custom presets folder instead of the system folder, even though all my other synths use the system folder. After doing that, less crashes but it is still going on especially if it is a cpu heavy preset. My system is a Mac M1 with 16 GB of RAM.
The UI looks beautiful, though I do miss the XY performer. I understand Urs’ reasoning for leaving it out, and I can get used to using macros instead. It’s also been fascinating to follow the development—from the very first requests for a “Zebra 3,” which I remember starting not long after version 2 was released. It’s been a long journey, and it really shows how dedicated the u-he team is and how much work goes into creating this wonderful little monster.

[snigelx]

The verdict is in. I absolutely love this guys. The highly intuitive workflow, the new and/or improved modules and the overall design. This is one hell of a cozy software synthesizer to work within. I've been on this thing for nearly a full 24hrs and I've barely scratched the surface because I keep getting inspired by what i'm hearing and start recording. I think this is so very very important, to have a fluid workflow where even the most complex routings can just flow and you get a great usable patch without even puzzling over things for too long (unless you want that kind of session). The always excellent user guide provides a very helpful rundown on the tabs n' modules. I ALWAYS appreciate Howie's guides. The synth is as complex and deep as a designer desires it to be. It can be a simple 1 OSC synth that can get one far just on that alone (just as its predecessors). I've always felt the Grid mixer idea and the way modules appear was a mark of genius. I really love the new FX and mixer as well. It feels MUCH more cozy to work with and has a soft pleasing look. IMHO Success... all you hard work paid off and all the waiting over the years was worth it. Thank you for this one. Be proud. PS: I really dig the new voicing and triggering options and that Pitches section. And Hive's SCOPE of course!

[Nihoteph]

Hmm. Is there any way to set the starting phase on a wavetable osc? I have some wavetables that has the main transient not at the start. Also there is some latency when changing a spectral FX knob until the change is heard, I guess that is because you create a new FFT block for it. Just curios.

[PieBerger]

Hmm. Is there any way to set the starting phase on a wavetable osc? I have some wavetables that has the main transient not at the start. Also there is some latency when changing a spectral FX knob until the change is heard, I guess that is because you create a new FFT block for it. Just curios.

Change from Random to Reset and then create a new Mod Slot, assign a Ctrl like A and then drag from the source to the Random/Reset menu. This will be your phase offset, this is borrowed from Hive.

For the team,

For this purpose I/we are missing a Constant mod source, will this be added before release?