Zebra 3 Teething Troubles

[DrWashington]

ok

[DrWashington]

Urs has already stated (more than once) that they're working on multicore support, but it's no longer as simple as you seem to think it is. If it was simple I think he'd have implemented it already, and so would Steve Duda for that matter.

In the meantime there are other ways to save cycles, like maybe running at 48kHz?

I really don't recall asking you for your advice.

I simply chimed in in this thread that multicore support is very important to me, to please add my +1 for making it a priority. Next thing I know I've got people trying to talk me out of my position for... reasons. So annoying. This is why I spend so little time on audio forums these days: the strident status quo defenders.

[orbitfold]

Urs has already stated (more than once) that they're working on multicore support, but it's no longer as simple as you seem to think it is. If it was simple I think he'd have implemented it already, and so would Steve Duda for that matter.

In the meantime there are other ways to save cycles, like maybe running at 48kHz?

I really don't recall asking you for your advice.

I simply chimed in in this thread that multicore support is very important to me, to please add my +1 for making it a priority. Next thing I know I've got people trying to talk me out of my position for... reasons. So annoying. This is why I spend so little time on audio forums these days: the strident status quo defenders.

Maybe, for a start, make sure you aren't running zebra on an efficiency core.

[ThoughtExperiment]

Urs has already stated (more than once) that they're working on multicore support, but it's no longer as simple as you seem to think it is. If it was simple I think he'd have implemented it already, and so would Steve Duda for that matter.

In the meantime there are other ways to save cycles, like maybe running at 48kHz?

I really don't recall asking you for your advice.

I simply chimed in in this thread that multicore support is very important to me, to please add my +1 for making it a priority. Next thing I know I've got people trying to talk me out of my position for... reasons. So annoying. This is why I spend so little time on audio forums these days: the strident status quo defenders.

No need to get shirty about it. I simply pointed out that multicore support is important to uHe also, because they are working on it. Actually it's important to me too, because my fairly recently-built PC struggles with some of the presets. Sorry if it looked facetious, but since Urs has stated this could take a while, in the meantime we'll need to find other ways around it.

[machinesworking]

My one question for those of you running into CPU limits is did you try lowering the buffer settings? With the introduction of Efficiency cores you can run into situations with DAWs that allow the use of them where it defaults to e cores and does not shift to Performance cores because that function is supposed to be controlled by the OS, and the OS doesn't care about audio quality.

Counterintuitively lowering the buffer settings can force the OS to allocate tracks to p cores, maybe solving your CPU issues until Z3 gets multicore support. The other one is DO NOT use the Yellow filter for polyphonic work unless you like CPU overloads! I ran into that right away until Urs pointed that out, because I prefer it, and it's a ridiculously CPU piggish filter designed for sound over CPU.

In general though, I'm running into actual bugs, so it would be nice if this thread concentrated on bugs, rather than useful feature requests. If there aren't currently solutions to running 96khz projects with CPU heavy patches in Z3 it should get it's own thread, or a dedicated feature request thread.

[exmatproton]

Indeed. This is actually a bug thread. Maybe post feature requests in the Zebra3 thread itself

[Signifier]

I found another patch apparently exhibiting clicking/popping with polyphonic/chord/sustained play:
Factory bank 04 Poly Synths, patch 'High Fidelity Pop'.
Can anyone else confirm this on their setup?
When I scroll through the various filter options it gets worse with some filter types but seems to happen with me across all the filter options, so not sure its a filter-type dependent problem like the other one I found.

I do not have any problems with that patch on my M1 Max machine at 48k and 128 buffer size. I can play the full 8 note polyphony without glitches.

I recommend that you use the built in Module Performance Meter to see if you are running into CPU issues on your system. To open that, click on the u-he badge in the top right and select it from the menu that is displayed. Click the play button in top left of the performance meter and play some notes and see what is using up your cpu and how much. See page 10 in the user manual which also contains this link to a video describing this. (And the currently removed cpu burner.)

Yeah, I'm running my interface at 96kHz which appears to be the problem here. Much better (95%) at 48kHz but still the odd click.

[tlvid]

Ableton Live 12 - Windows 11

I've searched the thread but haven't seen these posted, and some may be U-he 'quirks' I'm not familiar with

LFO polarity always shows as positive on the parameter being modulated i.e. it doesn't match bipolarity.

The modulation isn't shown live on the parameter being modulated i.e. no visualisation of where the modulation is currently.

The default preset that I saved in the local folder isn't showing in the preset browser although it did initially, and it's still there in explorer.

[tasmaniandevil]

LFO polarity always shows as positive on the parameter being modulated i.e. it doesn't match bipolarity.

Modulation depth indicators currently do not indicate polarity in all our products. It’s not as easy as one might think, since some mod sources can change polarity, either through a switch or when being modulated. It’s on our radar.

The default preset that I saved in the local folder isn't showing in the preset browser although it did initially, and it's still there in explorer.

If you named it "default" and placed it in the Local root folder, it will be invisible in the preset browser. That’s expected, as this preset is then used as the startup preset, i.e. the one that loads whenever you load the plugin.

[ckoe]

Download update button on Discord today^^ Sorry if I bother you with the icon style of the Zebra3 save button^^

Screenshot 2026-04-23 070833.png

[jrgillam]

Congratulations on the release and thank you for all your hard work on this wonderful synth.

High on my list of feature requests/UX improvements would be a more expedient way to cycle through module presets. Module presets are such a fantastic idea, but it’s currently not great to have to select them via a dropdown from a single (long and growing) list. Another idea in a similar vein would be to be able to copy/paste a module’s current settings by click and drag while holding alt/option.

[tlvid]

If you named it "default" and placed it in the Local root folder, it will be invisible in the preset browser. That’s expected, as this preset is then used as the startup preset, i.e. the one that loads whenever you load the plugin.

So at present, if I want to get back to my default preset I have to close and reopen the plugin, or drag and drop the default preset file from explorer? That is frustrating to be honest. An option to overwrite the init preset with your own would make much more sense (with the option to fully reset to factory init where needed), so you can access it at any time from the preset drop down.

[tasmaniandevil]

So at present, if I want to get back to my default preset I have to close and reopen the plugin, or drag and drop the default preset file from explorer? That is frustrating to be honest.

The “default” preset is only invisible if you store it directly in the Local root location, and if you name it exactly "default". That’s a special feature which assigns that preset as the default startup preset.

If you want your default preset to show up inside the preset browser, store it in any location other than the Local root.

User presets should ideally be saved in the User section, not in the Local section. You could create a “Templates” or “Init” folder in the User section. There you can save multiple presets you want to use as a starting point.

Making the init preset function user definable is on our list of possible future improvements.

[tasmaniandevil]

High on my list of feature requests/UX improvements would be a more expedient way to cycle through module presets.

From the list in the first post of this thread:

Currently, all module presets are displayed in a dropdown list. We’ll figure out which modules would benefit from a dedicated module preset browser and add this later on.

[tlvid]

When loading the attached preset which I created and playing E above middle C (E3) I'm getting a horrible oscillating ringing noise in the background. I've done the same set-up in Serum and Pigments and it's not occurring. Is this normal? https://www.transfernow.net/dl/202604233QYGLbp6