Zebra 3 Public Beta Revision 20399

[stippenstoh]

Now I click on the icon with a sine wave:
init sine.png
I see a sine, but when I play, it is still the inital saw wave.

You need to double-click. But I get your point, it's confusing because the dominant waveform is not the one active (the one active is the orange one in the background).

[Urs]

The reason is very simple though: In Zebra 2 there is only the Warp (same as Curve Morph here). If you want to edit a waveform, you have to remove all modulation and set the Warp to that waveform. This, whenever you edit a waveform in Zebra 2, you have to change the settings. That always bugged me - it's a clumsy workflow.

In Zebra 3 Curve Morph is independent of the waveform (or envelope) you edit. You can always quickly set Curve Morph to the currently edited waveform (double-click), but you don't even need to do that. You can click the Pre-Listen icon instead, and then you only hear the waveform you edit. Go back to your original settings by deactivating Pre-listen. This is lot more convenient than the way it was in Zebra 2.

[ffx]

We are trying to detect whether Outputs 3/4, 5/6 or 7/8 are connected in the DAW and then automatically run Busses 1, 2 or 3 respectively to these instead of returning to main.

Very nice, that would make Zebra3 so much more convenient regarding mixing and layering. Once you have implemented this, could you add this to Zebra 2, too?

[jtsterays]

Can you guys lower the mouse sens in Env ADSR sliders? It's a tad too fast. A good reference for me is sylenth, it's slow and has some sort of smoothing to it, just feels really nice to use, like hardware sliders if that make sense.

[Lawndart78]

Can you guys lower the mouse sens in Env ADSR sliders? It's a tad too fast. A good reference for me is sylenth, it's slow and has some sort of smoothing to it, just feels really nice to use, like hardware sliders if that make sense.

Hold shift while moving them.

[jtsterays]

Can you guys lower the mouse sens in Env ADSR sliders? It's a tad too fast. A good reference for me is sylenth, it's slow and has some sort of smoothing to it, just feels really nice to use, like hardware sliders if that make sense.

Hold shift while moving them.

That's for fine tuning (extremely slow). I'm asking for the standard drag.

[Urs]

Can you guys lower the mouse sens in Env ADSR sliders? It's a tad too fast. A good reference for me is sylenth, it's slow and has some sort of smoothing to it, just feels really nice to use, like hardware sliders if that make sense.

They have a 1:1 relation of mouse position to value. This also neatly gets rounded values.

I can see how this is a shorter way than most knobs, but should we offer a higher resolution mode, it would have to be optional. Happy to look into this, but not sure when.

[wintoid]

Sorry if I missed this, but is the Zebra 3 file format documented somewhere?

[Urs]

Sorry if I missed this, but is the Zebra 3 file format documented somewhere?

The preset files? - No. But apart from the binary data at the bottom it's quite obvious when opened in a text editor.

We have no plans on documenting the binary data, but we do support open standards wherever we can (.svg, .wav, UTF-8 etc.)

[Synthosynthony]

I'm trying to find a video that shows what Zebra is better suited for than other VST synthesizers.
It's surprising, but there are tons of videos online about how to use various Zebra3 functions or tweak vector splines without any goal. But I just don't get why, what's the purpose.
Especially since twisting vectors is way more complicated than regular wavetables.
Can someone recommend interesting videos specifically for Zebra3 that show modern synth presets creation (not orchestral emulations) similar or better to Serum, Vital, Pigments, Phaseplant etc, making it clear what advantages vectors has here? Not just nerdy stuff but goal oriented?
Technically, a titanic multi-year effort has been put into it, but in terms of marketing, I still can't understand what Zebra3 is positioned for compared to Zebra2. Even though I've scoured the entire internet and watched Urs and Alchemy videos and tweak Zebralette

[Urs]

twisting vectors is way more complicated than regular wavetables.

Apart from the quality aspect...

Using regular wavetables typically means: Reuse the same wave files as everyone else. E.g. buy Galbanum, or other wavetable packs. Some people build their own from samples or mathematical scripts.

Using Zebra 3 typically means: Quickly make your own (much easier than making your own wavetable files from samples or mathematical scripts). It becomes part of the synthesis workflow. Particularly because it can also do things that wavetables can not (e.g. Spectral Decay).

Also, Zebra 3 can be used to create wavetables for other synthesizers. It is probably the most comprehensive and most professional editor for this kind of thing. Unlike Hive's mathematical scripting language (.uhm), this is pretty intuitive and easy to do in Zebra 3 (once the basics are understood).

I am confident that Zebra 3 will be the most used editor for Hive/Serum wavetables in the future because the results have much better quality than any converted samples, and it's much easier to use than .uhm. The sound quality of Zebra 3 and .uhm are on par though, and they are suited for different kinds of operations on wavetable generation.

[jtsterays]

He does have a point though, On the surface, the spline osc looks ordinary - just another wavetable with some extra draw tools, that also lost the ability to draw additive partial "pillars". Dash Glitch doesnt even know the advantages of it. You guys need to make it more clear about the main pros: really fast & easy to make complex waveforms, smooth as hell morphing and just overall superior sounding, especially the extreme high freq stuff.

[Urs]

I'm trying to find a video that shows what Zebra is better suited for than other VST synthesizers.

I am sure these will come once people with a thorough understanding weigh in. But this takes time, and the people who may have the time and patience to reach a thorough understanding will probably wait until after the initial release, once the UI is finalised.

Judging from some of the videos some people hastily made when the beta came out: Zebra 3 does not fit into the "quick bite" side of the Youtube/Tiktok economy, where there is some urgency to be "first to show & tell". Professional tools need to be learned first, before posting a rant about whether "if I can't solo this module here with a click, the whole thing is completely unusable", but, well, some people did that after just a few minutes of experimentation and without accumulating any credible knowledge

We'll also continue our little video series about Zebra 3 and what you can do with it, which is set out to casually point out features that are unique to Zebra 3.

[Urs]

He does have a point though, On the surface, the spline osc looks ordinary - just another wavetable with some extra draw tools, that also lost the ability to draw additive partial "pillars". Dash Glitch doesnt even know the advantages of it. You guys need to make it more clear about the main pros: really fast & easy to make complex waveforms, smooth as hell morphing and just overall superior sounding, especially the extreme high freq stuff.

Well, claims of "superiority" typically smell like hyperbole, and we have survived 25 years without much of any hyperbole. The biggest claim we ever made was that Diva was part of a paradigm shift, and it turned out we were right. Hehehe, even that was an understatement, but we did not know that at the time.

I would much rather spend my time making tutorial videos and content that lets the software speak for itself. If people do not immediately see the advantages, the'll come around later. I just don't feel like rubbing it into their faces through marketing campaigns.

That said, talking about the spline editor and oscillator has the lowest priority right now, as this information has been around for 3 years, with various videos made with or about Zebralette 3. Our main focus right now is Zebra's workflow and the novel modules and features that set it apart from Zebra 2. Later on we'll circle back to the oscillator.

[stippenstoh]

I'm trying to find a video that shows what Zebra is better suited for than other VST synthesizers.
It's surprising, but there are tons of videos online about how to use various Zebra3 functions or tweak vector splines without any goal. But I just don't get why, what's the purpose.
....

Are those supposed to be real questions? Because to me it kinda sounds like you registered only to vent off.
Maybe I'm wrong, so: spline curves are just a different workflow, some may prefer it over wavetables, others won't. If you don't (and you clearly don't), why bother watching hours of YT videos to change your mind?

I still can't understand what Zebra3 is positioned for compared to Zebra2.

I have both and for one, 3 simply sounds better, you may have noticed too if you tried the beta before commenting.