Zebra 3 Public Beta Revision 20399

[Urs]

Well, I've already made some FM Monstrosities with this thing! It's a bit good

I have experienced a reproducible crash if that's of any help. I use Reason+ on MacOS. To get Reason to crash out, I open an instance of Zebra3, go to the patches window and select the 808 patch and that's it, Reason just bombs out. This does not happen in Logic, so this could be one of those really odd bugs that would normally take an age to track down. I should probably mention this to the chaps at ReasonStudios too. It could have exposed a bug in their VST Handling.

It would be great of you could send a crash log to support at u-he dot com

[exmatproton]

here a very simple patch (showcasing the mappers and MSEG's in a fast and simple setup)

[Urs]

I like the ideas regarding faster access of mod depths on modulation targets.

I also like the idea of visually greying out unused modulators. As long as they don't become invisible.

Overall visual feedback of realtime modulations in the style of Serum is not something we'd implement in a hurry. Not just because I don't like it for various reasons, but mostly because it would increase the CPU usage of the UI quite a bit. We have a large refactoring scheduled for next year where we hope to address this.

(We're just glad that the current UI works with the current system, otherwise we'd have had to postpone Z3 another year, and that we didn't want to do)

[Dirkitator]

Is it normal or just not possible ? thanks

It is not possible.

[Itinerant Ghost]

I apologize if you've already answered this, but are you accepting user made presets from the Zebra 3 user community? I'd love to make some to say thank you for giving us Zebra 3!

Always!

Our curation process is tough though, we're very strict about volume levels, controller assignments, tidiness... on top of how good it sounds and how well it fits. We've hired 20+ of the most talented sound designers we know for the factory lib, and they pull their hair out because we always find niggles.

That said, our content team *is* super busy atm... but give it a try. Email is same as for everything, support at u-he dot com

Can't wait to hear what ends up making it to the Factory Library.

[NAD]

I feel like an asshole for making suggestions because I'm so grateful for this incredible instrument as it is, but I’ll take that risk on the off chance that my feedback is of any value. Some of these suggestions have already been mentioned so consider it as just throwing another vote in the hat. And some of these relate to previous u-he products as well which I just never really considered bringing up.

Envelopes

• Segment Curves
  As many others have already commented, I would love to see individual controls for the curvature of the Attack/Decay/Release stages. The feedback variation is nice but it’s a bit of a blunt tool and doesn’t quite cut it for me.
• Fall/Rise
  I use the F/R a lot in Zebra2 and I’m kinda missing it here. Perhaps it could be added as one of the unipolar variations?
• One Shot Mode
  This looks like it could be potentially very useful but the interaction between Decay and Sustain is a bit confusing. Maybe I just need time to get used to it, but I don’t recall ever seeing anything quite like this. I’m thinking maybe adding the Hold variation is the key to getting this to work for me.

LFOs

• Smoother Random Glide
  It would be nice to have something like Random Glide except with the transition using some sort of s-curve (e.g. smooth/smootherstep, quarter raised cosine…) rather than simple linear segments. You can get something close with the slew knob but it’s not quite the same not least because it significantly reduces the amplitude at higher values. The S&H LFO in Serum2 (I know, sorry! It’s just an example..) has a “smooth” knob that morphs continuously between sharp to smooth transitions which I think is pretty nice. Vital has the “Perlin” generator which I like too (though I suspect it’s a misnomer).
• Slew
  This is more of a question rather than a suggestion. Does the Slew control act as a low-pass filter? I hate to be pedantic but I though slew-rate limiting was something slightly different, though I might be confusing terms.
• Delay+Fade
  It would be really nice to have separate controls for Delay and Fade, though I assume that real-estate is probably the limiting factor here.

Vibrato

• Vibrato Fade
  Could we please consider adding a simple fade and/or delay here?
• Triangle Vibrato
  How about an option to select between sine and triangle waves for the vibrato? I swear they sound different! Yeah, we can do it with an LFO but it’s nice to have the separate dedicated vibrato, albeit just a little more flexible. The space is there!

Oscillators

• Phase Control
  I know this can be controlled from the mod-matrix but I actually use this quite often in Zebra2 so it would be nice to have a dedicated knob on the panel. (Also the manual suggests that Constant is a “seldom-used modulation source”. Where did you get this crazy idea?? Constant mod-source is brilliant!)
• Random Phase
  I would really love it if we could have an additional random phase mode with a ‘Seed’ knob (such as for Chaos Patterns). That way we can have a nice super-saw with a consistent attack just without the lazer effect of a full phase reset.
• Editor Button
  I often want to go straight into the main editor but there’s no way to access it directly from the rack panel. A little pencil button there would be a nice little ergonomic time-saver.
• Replace Curve with Duplicate
  I’m often starting out with a singe curve and then duplicating it and making changes to the second curve frame. If I’m starting let’s say with the default Saw-Triangle set and I draw some crazy curve in the left (saw) frame, now I have to right click an empty spot on the time line to duplicate what I created, then right click the triangle to delete it, then drag the duplicate over to the right. It would be cool to just right click on the triangle frame and go “Replace with Duplicate of Selected Curve” (the phrasing can use some work). As a side note, this wouldn’t be as much of an issue for me if we could have just one curve in the set and I would make that my default starting point, but it seems you can’t delete a curve when there are only two.
• Add Morphed Curve
  When you right click the timeline and select “Add Morphed Curve” it will add the curve based on where you clicked on the timeline. I think it makes more sense (to me at least) that it would be based on the Curve Morph knob. That way you can achieve much better precision rather than trying to click in the exact right spot.
• Set Curve Morph to Selected Frame
  It would be handy if we could right click a frame and have an option there to move the curve morph dial to that position. The audition button is not the same because it doesn’t set the actually position as a base-point for additional modulation.

Mod Matrix

• Mod-Matrix Slew Control
  Why do mod-matrix slots provide only a handful of discrete slew rates rather than have a continuous knob? I suspect there is some technical audio processing consideration here rather an intentional UX design choice.
• Mod-Matrix Transfer Curves
  Will it ever be possible to select a user editable curve rather than the compressed/linear/expanded built-in ones? This could be extremely powerful, especially considering the brilliant new curve editor. Vital has this and I like it a lot. (I like Zebra better though! )
• Mod-Matrix Quantize Terminology
  This is more of a complaint or gripe rather than a suggestion. I have a hard time understanding why the quantize options all appear to be in terms of note intervals. For modulating tuning related parameters I suppose it makes sense but for other types of parameters I can’t quite wrap my head around the metaphor.

Miscellaneous

• Control Knobs (and Modwheel?) Reset on Preset Change
  I realize this is already a topic of heated debate, I’ll just add my two cents. When browsing through the presets, I’ll be playing with the modwheel and Control A/B/C/D knobs (on the interface because my midi keyboard is garbage). Then when I switch to another preset I’ll be hearing something that’s quite far from the initial basic patch because I forgot to reset all the controllers, so it might be drenched in reverb or have some intense tremolo or something without me realizing that’s not really the patch itself as the designer probably intended it to sound out of the box. So maybe can we have the knobs reset on a preset change? Or perhaps save their positions with the patch? The experience might be different for someone who’s twiddling physical knobs and expects their position to reflect what’s on the screen.
• More Saturation Types in the Distortion
  The soft clip distortion sounds very good but it would be nice to have some more analog style saturation types like the distortion or shape modules in Zebra2. Also the pre/post tilt was nice, maybe we could have even a single knob pre/post compensated eq emphasis kinda thing? I find those very handy with distortions in general.
• Crossfader in 2in1 Mixer
  So maybe an additional mode in the 2x1 mixer to use a crossfader instead of individual volume controls. Maybe an option to select between constant power and linear (or other curves)? Maybe a selectable “transition” region like dj mixers? (Nah that’s too much, just a simple crossfade wet/dry style knob is fine…) But the 4in1 Scan dial is overkill and it's less convenient to limit the range to two inputs.
• Map Quantize/Smooth in Mod-Mapper
  Sometime Quantize is too abrupt and Smooth is too… well, smooth. A continuous control to morph between them would be just the ticket. If not then perhaps one or two intermediate options?
• Amp Source for Grid Lanes
  I love having the MSEGs here in addition to the standard envelopes, but I was wondering if it might be possible to have let’s say an MSEG or ENV through a Mod-Mapper? Or through a math modifier? I realize this raises potential problems because I assume whatever the resulting envelope is has to guarantee that it eventually fades to silence.
• Default Init Preset
  I know you can save a “default.h2p” to the preset directory root but it’s a bit cumbersome to make changes that way especially if presets are set to be saved to the user folder. Why not just have an option in the data display right click menu to “save as init” or something like that? Also disappointingly it only works for new instances, selecting “init” will still go back to the original factory default.

Dear God this is probably the longest post I’ve ever written. If you’ve gotten this far thanks for reading! And thank you to Urs and everyone at u-he for Z3! (Still can’t believe it’s finally happening )

[stippenstoh]

Quick (noob) question, is there an equivalent to Phase/PW from the OSC module of Zebra2?

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[Urs]

Quick (noob) question, is there an equivalent to Phase/PW from the OSC module of Zebra2?

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Phase is a "hidden" modulation target. You can set and modulate it through the Matrix, which is a concept we have explored in Hive, and which seems widely accepted. We're happy to put this in the UI for the Wave Renderer, but it does not apply to the Additive Renderer. Feedback is welcome!

The PWM mode is not present, nor is Sync, because that is now baked into the OscFX, which is what makes it usable for the Additive Renderer.

[atmelcool]

Shouldn't drop-down menus and lists like the one above follow Zebra 3's color scheme? White menus (when the plug-in itself is not white) feel kind of jarring and very disconnected.

Kind of reminds of Cubase with its still old-style menus, even though the whole software has been visually modernized.

I think this was done on purpose so that the eyes don't get tired. Black font on a white background is familiar.

[stippenstoh]

Phase is a "hidden" modulation target (...) We're happy to put this in the UI for the Wave Renderer

Personally I'd love that. But I guess it's a question of how much it's being used by people in general.

[NAD]

Zebra 2/ legacy has a separate "zebrify" FX plugin. [...] I'm not sure if anyone else really uses it often though. I don't hear many folks here mention it often.

Me! I use Zebrify all the time! Severely underrated.

[jtsterays]

Quick (noob) question, is there an equivalent to Phase/PW from the OSC module of Zebra2?

1.jpg

Phase is a "hidden" modulation target. You can set and modulate it through the Matrix, which is a concept we have explored in Hive, and which seems widely accepted. We're happy to put this in the UI for the Wave Renderer, but it does not apply to the Additive Renderer. Feedback is welcome!

Yes please, phase knob is handy when you're layering multiple oscs.

[Urs]

Dear God this is probably the longest post I’ve ever written. If you’ve gotten this far thanks for reading! And thank you to Urs and everyone at u-he for Z3! (Still can’t believe it’s finally happening )

Wow, loads of great suggestions!

A few answers/remarks:

> Does the Slew control act as a low-pass filter?
Yep. And "Wiggle" makes it resonant.

> F/R in Envs
Many discussions at u-he HQs, might bring it back in the unipolar modifier (separate Fall, Rise)

> Env curvature
Yes, frequently requested. Need to figure out a concept that is compatible with current Envs, but also flexible and does not require too much screen estate.

> One Shot mode
Is same as in Hive, good for drums and things that trigger and run independently from Gate

A word on envelopes: There is a reason they are so simple, but I have not mentioned it yet. We have two competing concepts for future additions, to either add Envelope Followers that can be used as VCA source, or to add an option to the current envelopes to be "pressure driven", where a MIDI Controller is used to create the VCA contour. We have not yet weighed pros and cons of either concept. But adding slope control and F/R will make the pressure driven approach a lot harder to implement and grasp.

> Set Curve Morph to Selected Frame
There's a double clock option in the timeline somewhere... but yeah, makes sense as menu entry as well

> Mod-Matrix Slew Control / Transfer Curves
Yeah, it's mostly "let's not make it too complicated". We wanted all modifiers to be drop downs rather than a mix of different controls.

> VCA Amp
So if above concept swings towards envelope followers that can be VCA Sources, and I don't think it will, then maybe this is what can do a lot of tricks with transfer curves (sort of) and stuff. But I don't think this is gonna happen, just like you guessed, because VCA sources need to fall to 0.

[atmelcool]

Hey Zebra fans, have you ever used the pitch options in the oscillator other than following the keys? I'd be interested to see how others have applied these options.

[Urs]

Hey Zebra fans, have you ever used the pitch options in the oscillator other than following the keys? I'd be interested to see how others have applied these options.

Some of these options are based on a past time incidence maybe.

So we had one of the great film composers (not HZ) at the office, for, hmmm, some kind of negotiation I guess regarding Zebra 2 and preset design. The vibe was somehow weird, as we'd permanently misunderstood each other. At some point he asks something like "can it be set to go through the overtone series?" and then Howie and I said "yes, sure!". And then he said "Show me!", thinking it was just a single knob he'd have to turn and that's it. Of course it was more involved than that, but I think this was the point where we lost him and never heard back.

Won't happen in Z3.