Pulsar Modular's First Instrument Zorba Semi-Modular Synth

[aMUSEd]

Got some time last night to give this a play, and unfortunately I gotta say I was pretty disappointed. The presets often didn't sound like their names (as aMUSEd noted), and were in general pretty same-y and bland. I made my own preset and was underwhelmed by the sound, although maybe further exploration would yield something more usable.

I did like the way the oscs seem to be able to "play nicely together" without obvious beating. Aside from the YouTube demo, however, much of what I've heard from Zorba seems pretty generic. As a leaper who waited ~4 years for some authentic P900 heritage, I expected more.

I've got some better patches myself now - it can sound very good. The factory presets just don't do it justice but some of the artists presets are much better

[simmo75]

This should be a $59 - $79 price for the feature set.
Really disappointing!

[zerocrossing]

Way too expensive, in my opinion.

It's funny. This is pretty much what I said and a certain person jumped all over my case. You and other people have said the same thing and its crickets.

I guess I'm just an easy target.

It's okay. I'm used to it.

The issue wasn’t about the cost, but the fact that you were comparing it with something vastly different.

[wagtunes]

Way too expensive, in my opinion.

It's funny. This is pretty much what I said and a certain person jumped all over my case. You and other people have said the same thing and its crickets.

I guess I'm just an easy target.

It's okay. I'm used to it.

The issue wasn’t about the cost, but the fact that you were comparing it with something vastly different.

Then what should I compare it to? Softube Modular. Cherry Audio Modular? In either case, they give you more bang for the buck regardless of how good this sounds. And I'm still not hearing any special sauce here. It just sounds like another good sounding synth. $225 good? No way in hell.

[JerGoertz]

I've got some better patches myself now - it can sound very good. The factory presets just don't do it justice but some of the artists presets are much better

Cool, where are you getting these artists presets?

[mambo888]

For 200+ it should come with plenty of presets, maybe 1000+, also better preset management screen. Any other synth (Omnisphere, Arturia, Softube, Nexus) have better preset library screen. For 50 USD it can come with Zero presets but not for 200+. I couldn’t find one lead sound that I liked. Then the UI: everything should fit on one screen but as a minimum the oscillators and filters. Maybe I’m too harsh but we are spoiled these days when it comes to synths.

[aMUSEd]

There are 3 artists banks installed alongside the factory bank - the good ones are the presets by Pim Schilperoort

[UltimiGiorniRecords]

It’s a really poorly executed synth. Nothing special here, even if it were free. Their FX are good, but this feels like a joke. The quality bar is getting really low nowadays with all these daily AI/vibe-coded plugins.

[VariKusBrainZ]

Odd reactions as the original synth it spawned from was raved about

[wagtunes]

Odd reactions as the original synth it spawned from was raved about

To be fair. it was raved about by a small minority. Many of us, myself included, could not even test it because of the platform. So I have no idea how good or bad P900 was.

[zerocrossing]

Way too expensive, in my opinion.

It's funny. This is pretty much what I said and a certain person jumped all over my case. You and other people have said the same thing and its crickets.

I guess I'm just an easy target.

It's okay. I'm used to it.

The issue wasn’t about the cost, but the fact that you were comparing it with something vastly different.

Then what should I compare it to? Softube Modular. Cherry Audio Modular? In either case, they give you more bang for the buck regardless of how good this sounds. And I'm still not hearing any special sauce here. It just sounds like another good sounding synth. $225 good? No way in hell.

I agree, it’s not worth the money, but suggesting that Zebra is a good alternative is silly. It’s an entirely different animal. Maybe something like Korg’s 2600 is a good alternative.

[wagtunes]

Way too expensive, in my opinion.

It's funny. This is pretty much what I said and a certain person jumped all over my case. You and other people have said the same thing and its crickets.

I guess I'm just an easy target.

It's okay. I'm used to it.

The issue wasn’t about the cost, but the fact that you were comparing it with something vastly different.

Then what should I compare it to? Softube Modular. Cherry Audio Modular? In either case, they give you more bang for the buck regardless of how good this sounds. And I'm still not hearing any special sauce here. It just sounds like another good sounding synth. $225 good? No way in hell.

I agree, it’s not worth the money, but suggesting that Zebra is a good alternative is silly. It’s an entirely different animal. Maybe something like Korg’s 2600 is a good alternative.

I own Korg's 2600. I don't think it sounds as good as this. But it's also not $225. I think Pulsar has dropped the ball with this one on price point. I think at even $149, this would sell like hotcaakes. Guess we'll never know.

[Uncle E]

I own Korg's 2600. I don't think it sounds as good as this. But it's also not $225. I think Pulsar has dropped the ball with this one on price point. I think at even $149, this would sell like hotcaakes. Guess we'll never know.

There's some stereo spread effect going on (reminds me of the "Superstereo" in Acustica's synths). If you put an effect like that on the 2600, you might hear it sound more similar.

[aMUSEd]

Please delete your plugin v1.0 and re-install the version in this shared drive folder. It takes you one day before v1.0 (v0.9.9.x)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... drive_link

On a Mac, you might need to manually uninstall, as it might not delete a version higher than the one being installed.

Make sure you install the presets in the installer package, as they are not compatible.

Backstory: A day before release, I wanted to add M. TUNE (Master Tune) to the routing matrix. The idea was to get vibrato; instead of routing LFO to each individual VCO, connect the LFO to the M. TUNE and then the mod wheel to the LFO AM.

I don’t want to go back to a beta really, Has this been fixed in the release version yet, and more importantly, will this mean everything made with v1 is going to sound different because I have already made a few patches with it?

[Teksonik]

The issue wasn’t about the cost, but the fact that you were comparing it with something vastly different.

Anyway, $225 for something that does a fraction of what Zebra 3 can do? No thanks.

But is Zebra 3 really "vastly different" ? It's got VA Oscs, Filters, is semi modular, etc so could it not be classified in the same niche as Zorba (while also begin capable of doing so much more)?

At $225 I won't even bother trying the Zorba demo. Way overpriced and underpowered on paper for my liking.

Certainly a developer has the right to set any price they wish for their product but then potential customers have a right to pass on that product because of the set price.

You could set the price of a Ford Focus the same as a Lamborghini Huracan but guess which will sell more units.

Anyway, don't mind me, I've got a doctor's appointment this morning so I'm just killing time before I have to leave.