Zebra 3 - Sound design, tips & tricks

[Urs]

I was wondering if it would be possible to implement some "pitch bend modes".

Yes, we've discussed a few of these, and when time permits we'll make a plan. For now, all devs are on holiday till early/mid January though.

One of the things we want to do is a sample & hold or track & hold for each Pitch module. This would basically help to freeze/unfreeze any pitch modulation with anything that's currently a gate or a trigger. Should almost get us there.

[NAD]

man, you're a genius.

Thank you, I wholeheartedly concur! Now where's my goddamn Nobel peace prize?!

[stippenstoh]

On it, I'll call FIFA right now.

[NAD]

Figured I'd share some presets that demonstrate some (hopefully) useful tricks I've come across:

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VL-1 Piano.zip

This one has a few things going on. First, you'll notice the amp envelope for lane one is set to MSEG 2 which is just outputting a full-scale level with the Release Mode set to Continue. This is just to allow me to control the amp envelope from the direct modulation slot of the volume knob without any "normal" envelopes affecting the release portion, as MSEG 2 will continue outputting a full-scale level for longer than the duration of a note (including its release). What's effectively creating the envelope you hear is MSEG 1 routed through Mapper 1 routed through Mod Math 1. Allow me to explain: MSEG 1 is acting as a linear ADSR with a short decay and release, and the sustain itself decreasing as if using a negative Fall/Rise value in Z2's envelopes. The Adaptive release mode is useful here so that the release segment will start at whatever level the envelope was at when the note was released without jumping up. If you don't believe me, send MSEG 1 to the Scope and play some short and long notes to see what's going on. But MSEG 1 isn't creating the envelope directly, it's being used to modulate Mapper 1 which has 12 steps carefully calibrated based on measurements from this website . But even that isn't the final envelope! The mapper goes through Mod Math 1 set to "Slew with X" with X tuned to a value that smooths out the quantized steps just the right amount to my ears. This little trick itself is very useful in my opinion, and wasn't possible in Z2 as far as I know. Finally, the Mod Math is what's controlling the final envelope via the direct modulation slot for the volume knob the lane mixer. The oscillator is simply outputting a ~74% pulse without any fancy curve morphing or osc fx. The pitch is being modulated ever so slightly with Mapper 2 to mimic a subtle pitch instability I observed in a particular sample pack. Those samples were all a bit sharp, but I didn't consider it wise to emulate that. Finally, I added a couple of filters to better imitate an "analog" output stage. For me the main takeaways that I consider useful "tricks" are using Mod Math to slew the Mapper, and the Adaptive Release Mode in the MSEG to facilitate the F/R feature of Z2 envelopes. Also, I think I did a pretty good job of emulating the hardware! To me it sounds as good as the samples and emulations I've tried.

This post ended up longer than I had intended but I have some more presets/tricks which I'll share in future posts.

[robosax]

Hi,

How do we do Pulse Width Modulation in Zebra 3? I don't see any parameter for it like in Hive 2.

Thanks for your help,
robo

[jtsterays]

Hi,

How do we do Pulse Width Modulation in Zebra 3? I don't see any parameter for it like in Hive 2.

Thanks for your help,
robo

Square waveform + symmetry osc FX.

[Fannon]

Hi,

How do we do Pulse Width Modulation in Zebra 3? I don't see any parameter for it like in Hive 2.

Thanks for your help,
robo

Or have a curve set that morphs between those two states. There is one in viewtopic.php?t=626373

[Urs]

Using Zebra 3's init preset, setting the oscillator's Curve Morph to 80.00 and modulating it with a unipolar LFO is PWM.

[Fannon]

This and some other videos from the sonictales are really helpful

[robosax]

Using Zebra 3's init preset, setting the oscillator's Curve Morph to 80.00 and modulating it with a unipolar LFO is PWM.

That worked. I'm modulating with breath control from my Synthophone windcontroller. Sounds great!
Thanks, Urs !!!

[robosax]

Square waveform + symmetry osc FX.

Or have a curve set that morphs between those two states. There is one in viewtopic.php?t=626373

Thanks guys! Those solutions worked, too. I love me some PWM! lol

robo

[NAD]

Morse.zip

Here's another simple patch to demonstrate how useful it is to be able to slew the mappers with the mod math module. If you're feeling adventurous, load this preset into Zebra 3 and observe the Mod Math 1 panel on the right hand rack. Try dialing the "X" knob down to zero and hear how awful that sounds! (I don't think this was possible in Zebra 2...) Of course it sounds like shit regardless but you get what I mean. If by any chance you're turned off by the word "math", I hope you'll consider this simple example as a reminder of the module's eminently practical applications!

[Teezdalien]

Has anyone a trick for this: I randomly pan every new note via a random LFO driving the pan on the main grid. But here's what I would like to achieve as well: the higher the notes, the further to the sides the random pan range should move.

Also, it's a polyphonic sound (so I don't think the main grid pan can work)

Example: when a low and a high key are played simultaneously, the random range of the low key should stay close to the center while the random range of the high note should be further to the sides.


I am mostly worried about low frequencies moving too far from center, so using the Bass Mono Utility would do the job - but maybe there is a more elegant way?

Mapper in 'Key' mode?

Would it work if you mapped the random lfo to osc pan. Then key track modulation to the lfo depth?
Haven't really tried ghis but I guess it would work?

edit: Come to think of it. I think a square LFO would work better than random for your goal.

[Fannon]

Not sure if this is the best way, but I noticed that you can have Wow & Flutter with two LFOs by having the fast LFO (Flutter) modulate the slow LFO (Wow) Symmetry. Then you only need one LFO to modulate the target pitch, and you can nicely control the overall effect via the first LFO amplitude.

Also I think it's nice to have a bit of keytrack increasing the amplitude of this modulation, keeping lower notes more stable.

As an example, a Boards of Canada style patch attached.

[stippenstoh]

Has anyone a trick for this: I randomly pan every new note via a random LFO driving the pan on the main grid. But here's what I would like to achieve as well: the higher the notes, the further to the sides the random pan range should move.

Also, it's a polyphonic sound (so I don't think the main grid pan can work)

Example: when a low and a high key are played simultaneously, the random range of the low key should stay close to the center while the random range of the high note should be further to the sides.


I am mostly worried about low frequencies moving too far from center, so using the Bass Mono Utility would do the job - but maybe there is a more elegant way?

Mapper in 'Key' mode?

Would it work if you mapped the random lfo to osc pan. Then key track modulation to the lfo depth?
Haven't really tried ghis but I guess it would work?

edit: Come to think of it. I think a square LFO would work better than random for your goal.

Thanks, NAD also posted a nice solution, cheers.