Zebra 3 Public Beta Revision 20399

[atmelcool]

The Exciter doesn't have a "pitch (frequency)" as such (plus I don't know what you mean by "height of the pulse"), but you can modulate Stiffness i.e. the tone with e.g. KEY. Is that what you wanted?

so that the pulse sound follows the pressed key (note) and does not play the same sound whenever any key is pressed (so that it follows the scale)

[Urs]

The exciter does not really have a set frequency. In its default position it is very close to a white spectrum, which is all frequencies.

Sure, it can do bursts, but Bounce and Jitter again break any relationship to perceived frequencies.

[sarmad5]

@Urs can you please elaborate on the tricks for how retriggering can be achieved?
Intended Use: Osc 1 has Spectral Decay selected as OscFx and I want to retrigger the Osc. Thank you for the Zebra 3!

Spectral Decay can be retriggered (kind of) by briefly setting OscFX Depth to 0.00

I found spikey MSEGs to be pretty useful for this.

Simple example preset attached.

Thank you so much and especially for taking the time out to make the preset.

[Mimieux]

Hi Urs,

Would you consider adding another oscillator phase parameter that starts the phase at the highest level in the waveform cycle? This creates an extremely punchy attack that can be tamed to taste with an amp envelope, which is very useful for creating percussive sounds and punchy bass.

Logic Pro's ES2 synth offers this type of oscillator phase reset as a global parameter rather than per oscillator, which actually makes more sense when I think about it.

Personally I'm not aware of any other synth that offers this type of phase reset. There are other methods to achieve a similar effect, but having this type of osc phase reset directly within a synth is a timesaver and allows a user to quickly sharpen the attack of a sound with minimal effort/disruption to their workflow.

I've attached an audio example with two bass notes that demonstrate the effect. The first note uses a typical osc phase reset and the second uses the phase reset outlined above (in Logic ES2 this type of phase reset is named 'Hard Osc Start').

[exmatproton]

The Exciter doesn't have a "pitch (frequency)" as such (plus I don't know what you mean by "height of the pulse"), but you can modulate Stiffness i.e. the tone with e.g. KEY. Is that what you wanted?

so that the pulse sound follows the pressed key (note) and does not play the same sound whenever any key is pressed (so that it follows the scale)

I am using the noise generator (single short burst, pink) for that. Trigger that with an LFO, which can be modulated by the keyscale. You can modulated the depth of the lfo as well. Not a 100% similar result, but real fun to play around with

Or you can trigger the exciter with that Key-modulated LFO

[Urs]

You can use a normal Envelope as, well, envelope for Noise or Exciter whatsoever, and if you use the Key Scale modifier at -100.00 the envelope perfectly tracks the keyboard (chromatic).

[sarmad5]

Will there be an option to use external audio (as exciter) for modal resonator in the future?

[Urs]

Will there be an option to use external audio (as exciter) for modal resonator in the future?

We hope so. Audio Input for instruments is something we wanted to tackle for a long time. Hopefully it’s finally coming to pass.

[jtsterays]

So I got to try the bit perfect JP8000 from the usual suspects, and the thing that stood out to me besides the supersaws was the feedback osc. From what I gathered it's essentially a saw + comb filter that alias like crazy. Couldnt really replicate it with the same setup in Z3 (tried Diva too). It has this screaming quality that's really nice, so would be nice if you could add a comb mode that's similar to it.

[Rnaroth]

Urs, Any chance of bringing in Zebra2's Shape module? The ability to crank up and shape a sound in Wedge setting was so.. so useful... I've been trying to use Util (Gain) + Distortion and Folder modules but with no success.

Or.. Is there is a way to do Z2's Wedge Shaper in Z3? Can someone show how? Howard?

I think in everything else Z3 surpasses Z2 but a mile.

[Urs]

Wedge is mostly a different version of foldback distortion.

I'm happy to discuss bringing it into the fold. Not sure if we need the Edge parameter from Z2 for it, hopefully Tone is sufficient (and probably much more useful in general).

[Urs]

So I got to try the bit perfect JP8000 from the usual suspects, and the thing that stood out to me besides the supersaws was the feedback osc. From what I gathered it's essentially a saw + comb filter that alias like crazy. Couldnt really replicate it with the same setup in Z3 (tried Diva too). It has this screaming quality that's really nice, so would be nice if you could add a comb mode that's similar to it.

It's basically something like Osc -> Comb -> Distortion, well with a lot more distortion inside the comb filter. The screaming quality is probably the hard clip at the end of the bit depth.

[Milkman]

Im going to say, after a few weeks playing zebra3 (not a previous u-he customer, no idea why), this is *probably* the best sounding synth Ive heard. I have most 'significant' vst synths and a few hw synths, for about 25 years now. In my DAWs Ive been doing all the a/b/c testing (bitwig, cubase) and... zebra3 sounds like butter. It is sweet and smooth in... most presets and sound design scenarios Ive thrown at it, and this is giving me a feeling I havent felt in a while. Thanks, and happy new year.

Ive been fairly unhappy with the state of many software brands lately, and this is a breath of fresh air. Can buy it soon?

[Rnaroth]

Wedge is mostly a different version of foldback distortion.

I'm happy to discuss bringing it into the fold. Not sure if we need the Edge parameter from Z2 for it, hopefully Tone is sufficient (and probably much more useful in general).

You made my day, thank you!!

[jtsterays]

So I got to try the bit perfect JP8000 from the usual suspects, and the thing that stood out to me besides the supersaws was the feedback osc. From what I gathered it's essentially a saw + comb filter that alias like crazy. Couldnt really replicate it with the same setup in Z3 (tried Diva too). It has this screaming quality that's really nice, so would be nice if you could add a comb mode that's similar to it.

It's basically something like Osc -> Comb -> Distortion, well with a lot more distortion inside the comb filter. The screaming quality is probably the hard clip at the end of the bit depth.

Thanks, adding the dist modules helped a lot.