Zebra 3 Public Beta (final beta)

[Teksonik]

Here's something I've wanted to bring up and it has a high probability that it's my lack of full understanding of the Wavetable Editor.

INIT a Patch
Hand draw some waveforms in the 6 available slots or frames.
Export the Wavetable
Drag the Wavetable onto a new instance of Z3 (right click/import would be a nice addition)

The WT now imports into 10 frames instead of 6 and doesn't sound quite like the original 6 frames that were exported when I sweep the WTs using the Curve Morph knob.

It seems to me that an exported WT should sound exactly the same when imported. Now it could just be user error and I'm missing a step or using the wrong option, etc.

Here's what pops up when I drag in a saved WT:

Z3 WT 031226-2.png

[Touch The Universe]

Forgot you could export wavetables. Also, I happen to like how zebralette is laid out, a lazor focus on the oscillator, hoping to see a gui in the FUTURE at some point similar scheme.

[pdxindy]

Well said and I concur.

One thing I hope for is that an Arp in Zebra 3 comes as a module rather than a Mode as it is now in Zebra 2.

I think I understand what you mean, I own a few flagship Synths and all have Arps built in, some Synths like Ana2 have excellent Arps with chord memories so yeah it does seem strange that currently Zebra 3 is reliant on msegs

Zebra 3 will not have an arp with the 3.0 release. It's feature complete for 3.0. It will get an arp down the road. They have to get the initial release out. Also, because the synth has so many ways to create patterns, they wanted to see how an arp would/could work with all the other tools in Z3 and not just throw something in there.

[pdxindy]

Here's something I've wanted to bring up and it has a high probability that it's my lack of full understanding of the Wavetable Editor.

INIT a Patch
Hand draw some waveforms in the 6 available slots or frames.
Export the Wavetable
Drag the Wavetable onto a new instance of Z3 (right click/import would be a nice addition)

The WT now imports into 10 frames instead of 6 and doesn't sound quite like the original 6 frames that were exported when I sweep the WTs using the Curve Morph knob.

It seems to me that an exported WT should sound exactly the same when imported. Now it could just be user error and I'm missing a step or using the wrong option, etc.

Zebra 3 osc's are not classic wavetables. In Z3, you are drawing spline curves which morph, not generating wavetables which are audio samples.

It's easy to export an accurate audio wavetable from the spline set. When you try to import a regular wavetable into Zebra 3, it can only do a poor approximation of representing it as curves. Apparently, the devs put in a lot of effort to create an accurate converter and it wasn't feasible.

Also, the Z3 Osc doesn't have 6 curves. It can have anywhere from 2-12 or more.

[Super Piano Hater 64]

and it has a high probability that it's my lack of full understanding of the Wavetable Editor.

In the Osc tabs at the bottom of the plugin interface, there's a "v" icon in the upper left corner. Click on that and you can copy and paste between oscillators. If you do it this way, it's lossless, without the downsampling that happens when you export a wavetable.

[Teksonik]

Zebra 3 osc's are not classic wavetables. In Z3, you are drawing spline curves which morph, not generating wavetables which are audio samples.

A rose by any other name.......

Z3 031326-1.png

Also, the Z3 Osc doesn't have 6 curves. It can have anywhere from 2-12 or more.

The INIT patch defaults to 6 which was the amount used in the test. Obviously it can have more as noted in my post above.

It's easy to export an accurate audio wavetable from the spline set. When you try to import a regular wavetable into Zebra 3, it can only do a poor approximation of representing it as curves.

Once again as clearly explained in my post, the report is that a wavetable created and saved in Z3 is not then imported back into Z3 in the same manner making the act of saving it somewhat pointless.

Anyway my post was aimed at U-he so I'll wait for their response.

[Teksonik]

and it has a high probability that it's my lack of full understanding of the Wavetable Editor.

In the Osc tabs at the bottom of the plugin interface, there's a "v" icon in the upper left corner. Click on that and you can copy and paste between oscillators. If you do it this way, it's lossless, without the downsampling that happens when you export a wavetable.

Yes but again that doesn't address the fact that a WT created and saved in Z3 does not import back into Z3 in the same way.

The idea is to create a collection of WTs to use in future patches (as I've done with many other synths).

But as a user it seems illogical that a WT created and saved from within Z3 does not re-import correctly back into Z3.

If that's the way it's designed to work then so be it but it will remain illogical behavior to me. If that's not the way it's supposed to work then it may be a bug report......

[Andreya_Autumn]

and it has a high probability that it's my lack of full understanding of the Wavetable Editor.

In the Osc tabs at the bottom of the plugin interface, there's a "v" icon in the upper left corner. Click on that and you can copy and paste between oscillators. If you do it this way, it's lossless, without the downsampling that happens when you export a wavetable.

Yes but again that doesn't address the fact that a WT created and saved in Z3 does not import back into Z3 in the same way.

The idea is to create a collection of WTs to use in future patches (as I've done with many other synths).

But as a user it seems illogical that a WT created and saved from within Z3 does not re-import correctly back into Z3.

If that's the way it's designed to work then so be it but it will remain illogical behavior to me. If that's not the way it's supposed to work then it may be a bug report......

I think the export wavetable feature is intended for the case when you wanna use the wave in other synths, not really as a storage format for Z3 itself as the round trip is indeed lossy.

Saving oscillator presets is probably what you want to do. Though now I think of it, that includes other oscillator settings as well which might not be what you want. Perhaps there is a way to save the curve alone for re-use in Z3, which I'm not aware of. But I'm pretty sure export to wavetable is not it.

[Teksonik]

Saving oscillator presets is probably what you want to do.

I want to save a Wavetable or Spline Curve Set or whatever the nomenclature is and import it back in just as it was saved, for use in future patches or we can share them amongst ourselves as one shares presets.

Seems like if Z3 can create such a thing it should be able save/reload it as well. I see no technical reasons as to why it shouldn't be able to do so although there may be philosophical reasons for the developer not to include such a feature. Again I await comment from U-he on the subject.

At any rate this is the Zebra 3 Beta thread and all I'm doing is testing it as I would in normal use.

[Andreya_Autumn]

Yeah sorry, what I meant is "this is probably the best option for now". But I agree it would be useful to save/recall the curve without the oscillator settings.

[pdxindy]

Saving oscillator presets is probably what you want to do.

I want to save a Wavetable or Spline Curve Set or whatever the nomenclature is and import it back in just as it was saved, for use in future patches or we can share them amongst ourselves as one shares presets.

The Zebra 3 Oscillator is not a Wavetable Oscillator. Zebra 3 does not use wavetables at all. Using the Export Wavetable function, converts the Z3 Spline Curve Set to a wavetable sample for export to wavetable synths like Hive, etc.. That is a lossy process and doesn't work in the other direction (Import).

To do what you want, go to the Osc in Z3, and in the left top corner, left of the Osc name (Osc 1), there is a down arrow. Click that for a menu and there you have the option "Save Oscillator 1 Settings". That will save an osc preset that contains the Curves (and oscFX settings).

There is also a "Show in Finder" (Mac) menu option and from there you can copy/share/organize your curve sets and later import them back into Z3.

[pdxindy]

Yeah sorry, what I meant is "this is probably the best option for now". But I agree it would be useful to save/recall the curve without the oscillator settings.

Agreed... it would be useful to have an option when loading a saved Osc, to load only the curves.

[Andreya_Autumn]

Yeah. Either that or a separate export option next to export wavetable.

[Urs]

We’re working on that but I can’t say when…

[Teksonik]

The Zebra 3 Oscillator is not a Wavetable Oscillator.

If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck...it's a duck.

WT.png

A series of waveforms which can be scanned or swept to create complex morphing timbres:

Z3 031526-2.png

The nomenclature behind the process is irrelevant to the resulting sound. Does Z3 also go beyond traditional WT synthesis? Yes but that's a whole different discussion.

To do what you want

That is not what I want but Urs said they are working on it so it's all good. Meanwhile I'll keep testing Zebra3 and report what I find in the.....Zebra 3 Public Beta Testing thread since that's why it exists.....