Zebra 3.0 released

[Ou_Tis]

I'd been spending much of the last two weeks carefully tweaking Zebra3 presets and recording pieces with different versions of them to do blind tests later.

In most synths I've used that have macro knobs and lots of presets, the macro knobs are used as a simple way to tweak presets within a complex synth. Most Zebra3 presets seemed to treat the macro knobs this way, and that's how I'd been using them. (In case it's not clear, I'm referring to the "control" knobs.)

Today I tried going back to one of the dozens of tweaked presets I saved and realized that the macro knob positions are *not* saved with the preset. Unlike every other synth I can ever remember using.

Many hours of work wasted. And no simple way to use those macro knobs to tweak the presets and save them. Ridiculous.

Suffice it to say, I'm extremely unhappy. Maybe I should finally get around to selling all old my U-He plugins I never use.

Could you please at least provide an option in settings to save the macro knob positions with the presets---and also to map MPE Timbre to something other than one of the macro knobs (or add an extra one if we don't want to map MPE Timbre to any of the macro knobs being used by the presets)? These should be trivial to code.

[Ou_Tis]

Okay, I read the relevant section of the manual, and I see that we can "save" the effect of the knob positions by right-clicking on the knob and choosing "Bake Modulation", and then save the preset.

This is an extremely non-obvious workflow. Countless other synths (like Serum, Pigments, Phase Plant etc.) just save the knob positions with the presets. At the very least there should be some sort of warning on first using the control knobs that their settings will not be saved unless you use "Bake Modulation".

But the problem with "Bake Modulation" is that you might want to tweak the knob position slightly more later and the effect of "baking" and then tweaking may not be comparable if the knob is nonlinear.

I'm still extremely unhappy and I don't think I'll buy anything else from U-He in the future because of this.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Okay, I read the relevant section of the manual, and I see that we can "save" the effect of the knob positions by right-clicking on the knob and choosing "Bake Modulation", and then save the preset.

This is an extremely non-obvious workflow. Countless other synths (like Serum, Pigments, Phase Plant etc.) just save the knob positions with the presets. At the very least there should be some sort of warning on first using the control knobs that their settings will not be saved unless you use "Bake Modulation".

But the problem with "Bake Modulation" is that you might want to tweak the knob position slightly more later and the effect of "baking" and then tweaking may not be comparable if the knob is nonlinear.

I'm still extremely unhappy and I don't think I'll buy anything else from U-He in the future because of this.

See here:
viewtopic.php?t=629796

[pdxindy]

I'm still extremely unhappy and I don't think I'll buy anything else from U-He in the future because of this.

Perhaps read the release notes before you get so upset...

[Ou_Tis]

I'm still extremely unhappy and I don't think I'll buy anything else from U-He in the future because of this.

Perhaps read the release notes before you get so upset...

I lost more than 20 hours of work because of this... that's what I'm so upset about.

[pdxindy]

I lost more than 20 hours of work because of this... that's what I'm so upset about.

Here's from the release notes:
Ctrl A-D macro feature is experimental, the parameter values are currently not saved.

It was also discussed at length here in the forum that the A-D controls are a work in progress.

[suice7]

Is anyone using Zebra3 on a touch surface like Surface Pro 11 (Intel)? Would that be a good idea? @Urs: is a native Windows on ARM version planned by any chance?

[Urs]

@Urs: is a native Windows on ARM version planned by any chance?

We want to update installers for it, but as long as the translated version runs fine, we have more pressing projects (e.g. hardware acceleration for the UI)

[suice7]

@Urs: is a native Windows on ARM version planned by any chance?

We want to update installers for it, but as long as the translated version runs fine, we have more pressing projects (e.g. hardware acceleration for the UI)

Thank you! Zebra is incredible!

[exmatproton]

I'm still extremely unhappy and I don't think I'll buy anything else from U-He in the future because of this.

Perhaps read the release notes before you get so upset...

I lost more than 20 hours of work because of this... that's what I'm so upset about.

So..now you learned the hard way that you should read release notes first...

[Ou_Tis]

So..now you learned the hard way that you should read release notes first...

If it had still been in beta maybe I'd have some sympathy for that argument.

But I waited until it was out of beta to start using it. Suggesting that people should be expected to search for and read the release notes for a new synth that's not in beta seems ridiculous.

[Viktor [TUC]]

Indeed, but it's also explained in the user guide that comes with the synth. The user guide also explained that in the 3.0 release, these aren't macros, they're just UI representations of those extra performance controls, like the modwheel and pitchbend elements left of the keyboard.
I understand it's not ideal in its current form, it'll be improved at some point.

[mcbpete]

@urs: Is this even remotely true ? I'm sceptical at the best of times but this sounds .... well it sounds like something that never actually happened:

https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.ph ... stcount=88

Z2 was hyped to no end, but it always sounded sterile and generic – something U-he admitted to me themselves a long time ago ... U-he themselves told me in a conversation that my impression was correct. Z2 had a generic sound right from the start and, after 10 years at the latest, a hopelessly outdated engine that clearly needed a complete overhaul; something that wasn’t possible at the time for internal reasons.

[pdxindy]

Suggesting that people should be expected to search for and read the release notes for a new synth that's not in beta seems ridiculous.

What more do you expect?
1- u-he put it in the release notes which are directly on the main Zebra 3 product page.
2- It was stated on the first post of the various beta threads here in the forum during the beta phase.
3- It has been openly and extensively talked about in multiple threads here on KVR and on other forums.
4- It's in the User Guide.

IMO, u-he has fulfilled whatever obligation they have to inform users about how those controls work and that they are a work in progress.

[pdxindy]

@urs: Is this even remotely true ? I'm sceptical at the best of times but this sounds .... well it sounds like something that never actually happened:

Urs has mentioned many times that Zebra 2 was intended to have a neutral sound, which can then be shaped in various different directions... as opposed to something like Repro which has it's own 'built-in' character.

The quote you posted is manipulative in that it takes such a statement made by Urs and adds their own negative terms like "sterile" on top of it.

Anyway, who cares what some random poster on Gearspace said about Zebra 2? Especially since we have the absolutely amazing Zebra 3 in hand to explore!!