Zebra 3 Public Beta Revision 20399

[midi_transmission]

I just need to express this one time ...I know it’s probably against the design philosophy, but I wish it had modulation slots instead of fixed modulation module.

So you could add a certain number of MSEG, LFO etc. to your liking. I get the appeal of limitation and I know that there are many possibilities and workarounds, but the simplicity of "brute-forcing" modulation on many parameters with simple LFO and Envelopes is something I really enjoy.

[Urs]

We try to hit the sweet spot of options. I believe that sound design quality vs. feature density make up a bell curve. That is, if feature density is too low, sound design quality is limited. But feature density can also get too high, and then sound design quality deteriorates. The best overall sound quality lies in the middle somewhere.

But there is another aspect, and that is the concept of the synth, and particularly its workflow. I think that for Zebra's concept, we're hovering pretty close to that sweet spot, because "a lot more of each" is going to make things a lot less manageable. That is maybe the advantage of layered synths, where you can have as much as you'd ever want, but then you just don't get layers to interact much. So Zebra is "a lot of different things at once, but then not too many of each" whereas layered synths are usually "loads of similar things in some sort of parallel structure".

For Zebra we're thinking of introducing a few more module types in the future, maybe some that extend LFOs and envelopes. But we're not keen on doubling numbers, because it's just going to make sound design harder and, IMHO, probably not better.

[moss]

Hi Urs,

a little usability thing: it would be nice if the module gets selected when clicking on it in the left column as well and not only in the grid in the center.

Cheers!

[Linux_User]

I've installed Zebra 3 when I heard about it and registered it with the Beta Tester license.
I've bought it a few days ago and received the license picture. I've imported it and it's registered to my name.
But when I select a new instance of Zebra 3, it still says it's registered to Beta Tester, every time I open a new instance of Zebra 3, even within the same Reaper session.
So, for every instance I need to import that PNG license again, if I want it to be registered as myself.

It's not really an issue, as everything is perfectly functional, but I was wondering: are more users affected by that? I am a Linux user and use Reaper as my DAW.
And maybe it gets solved when the Beta Tester license expires.

[Urs]

You can contact our support team about it, it's just so that the beta license probably has a newer date, and once removed or expired, your actual license will take hold. Our support team can help you find and delete the beta license card.

We'll probably code something that'll put beta tester licenses on a lower priority than actual ones, it's just something that I hadn't thought about during the hustle and bustle of the beta release.

[Linux_User]

You can contact our support team about it, it's just so that the beta license probably has a newer date, and once removed or expired, your actual license will take hold. Our support team can help you find and delete the beta license card.

We'll probably code something that'll put beta tester licenses on a lower priority than actual ones, it's just something that I hadn't thought about during the hustle and bustle of the beta release.

Thanks for your quick response, Urs.

[Linux_User]

Oh, wow! I saw that license file in my .u-he folder in my home directory. Removed that, restarted Reaper and now it's licensed to me directly.
If I knew it was that easy to fix, I wouldn't have bothered to write my post.
Thanks anyway, it is much appreciated!

[muki]

a little usability thing: it would be nice if the module gets selected when clicking on it in the left column as well and not only in the grid in the center.

+1

[ehgdae]

+1 for moss

(While waiting for the Launchcontrol XL3 to be recognised by Moss for Reaper...)

Zebra3 behaves strangly behaviour with Ableton Live:
- it's right with simple MIDI Learn (but value scaling in takeover mode don't work with Zebra3, values jumps)
- so, what is really surprising:
when I configure the instant mapping in the device of Live for Zebra3 (also similar problems with Zebralette2), some parameters don't works on the Novation Launchcontrol XL3. For example, if I configure Vol of OSC1 then Vol of OSC2, only Vol of OSC1 works. If I start with OSC2 and then OSC1, it is only OSC2 that works. Same with other parameters of the OSCs. Same behaviour with the envelope modules and so on. Sometimes it's more erratic than that, difficult to explain.

Maybe a bug by Novation? But only Zebra make this behaviour.

Anyway, thank you Urs

[wolb1]

Will Ctrl A-D be automatable parameters in the release version?

[Fannon]

Very likely (I hope). Urs is thinking about how to handle that best.

Depending on DAW, you can help yourself with some tricks. See NAD and my posts on page 77, viewtopic.php?p=9179209#p9179209

Just updated it slightly for Bitwig: Z3 Controls

[aMUSEd]

Very likely (I hope). Urs is thinking about how to handle that best.

Depending on DAW, you can help yourself with some tricks. See NAD and my posts on page 77, viewtopic.php?p=9179209#p9179209

Just updated it slightly for Bitwig: Z3 Controls

Thanks but not working for me - I presume you made this with the beta?

Would have been nice to use along with my Zebra 3 remote controls

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tqdekjeb ... vf1ug&dl=0

[midi_transmission]

We try to hit the sweet spot of options. I believe that sound design quality vs. feature density make up a bell curve. That is, if feature density is too low, sound design quality is limited. But feature density can also get too high, and then sound design quality deteriorates. The best overall sound quality lies in the middle somewhere.

But there is another aspect, and that is the concept of the synth, and particularly its workflow. I think that for Zebra's concept, we're hovering pretty close to that sweet spot, because "a lot more of each" is going to make things a lot less manageable. That is maybe the advantage of layered synths, where you can have as much as you'd ever want, but then you just don't get layers to interact much. So Zebra is "a lot of different things at once, but then not too many of each" whereas layered synths are usually "loads of similar things in some sort of parallel structure".

For Zebra we're thinking of introducing a few more module types in the future, maybe some that extend LFOs and envelopes. But we're not keen on doubling numbers, because it's just going to make sound design harder and, IMHO, probably not better.

As said, I understand the design idea. And your point is true, I think in layers and not so much about interaction. 6 LFOs and 2 MATH would fit better for me just as an example. That why I love semi-modular things. Fully modular is often too much for me to get results.

But many thanks for the in-depth explanation!

[stippenstoh]

Imo it is the equivalent of After Effects vs Nuke/Fusion in video post production. Former is layer based, latter are node based. People prefer one over the other depending on how their brains work.

My brain struggles with nodes and thus with modular synths. But I don't think there is a way to unleash Zebra's endless possibilities any other way and it is fun to work myself into it.

[ThomasHelzle]

IMO this doesn't need to be fully either/or, I guess it depends mostly on the internal structure and paradigms.

Synthmaster 3 is mostly layer based, but modulators are unlimited per layer and there is a semi-modular way to interconnect oscillators and filters per layer.

Vital also allows to have many modulators, although otherwise it's kind of layer based.

I don't need that many modulators most of the time, but like to be able to have them when I do, so I like a non-fixed-number setup generally.

But yeah, I can usually work around it in the few cases I hit the limit.

Cheers,

Tom