KVR Audio

stimresp · Post by **stimresp** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:58 am

Don't have the Arturias. I sold my Zebra2 licence about 2 moths ago, thinking I wasn't using it enough.

Last night I had to buy a new license - this synth haunted me - I will never let it go again.

Zebra is amazing.

Syncretia · Post by **Syncretia** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:18 am

Wow. Didn't expect that much Zebra praise. I realise that people are pretty loyal to the Zebra brand. But, would I be right in saying that Zebra's analog technology is on par with or better than Arturia's? I only ask this because I am completely blown away by Minimoog V. It's by far my favourite synth at the moment. Zebra would have to be pretty damn special to top it. But, by the sounds of it, it is.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:22 am

It's better than Arturia's.

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:48 am

Kruddler wrote:Wow. Didn't expect that much Zebra praise. I realise that people are pretty loyal to the Zebra brand. But, would I be right in saying that Zebra's analog technology is on par with or better than Arturia's? I only ask this because I am completely blown away by Minimoog V. It's by far my favourite synth at the moment. Zebra would have to be pretty damn special to top it. But, by the sounds of it, it is.

demo? decide for yourself.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:00 am

ATS wrote:
Kruddler wrote:Wow. Didn't expect that much Zebra praise. I realise that people are pretty loyal to the Zebra brand. But, would I be right in saying that Zebra's analog technology is on par with or better than Arturia's? I only ask this because I am completely blown away by Minimoog V. It's by far my favourite synth at the moment. Zebra would have to be pretty damn special to top it. But, by the sounds of it, it is.

demo? decide for yourself.

And also try Xils Lab Synthix and KV331 Audio Synthmaster 2.5 for comparison...

I have sold Zebra and Arturia Jupiter 8V and don't feel bad about it so far. Still got Arturia Prophet V but only because i found no new owner so far. Like already mentioned the Arturia synths don't seem to sound really analog or like the "real thing". I still got U-He ACE because it's different and it's a NFR license.

The sound of Zebra is quite nice while i would not say it's perfect for all kind of analog emulations but what really made me selling it is that it's quite difficult to program and the interface is confusing IMO.

Zebra 2 and Arturia demos:
http://www.u-he.com/cms/zebra
http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/dow ... demos.html

----------------------------------------------------------------

About Synthmaster 2.5 and Synthix you could check the demo versions yourself:
http://www.kv331audio.com/synthmaster.aspx
http://www.xils-lab.com/pages/Synthix_C ... -demo.html
Synthmaster on Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/kv331synthmaster
http://soundcloud.com/insigna/sets/famo ... ms-series/
My own preset demos: http://soundcloud.com/ingoweidner

PS:
I must admit that the upcoming U-He Diva looks interesting:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=302792

Ingo

Sound Mechanics · Post by **Sound Mechanics** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:33 am

djanthonyw wrote:IMO Zebra does not sound analog. Like most VA synths it can emulate general analog characteristics but it still falls short when it comes to sounding like the real thing. I have never liked the Arturia stuff at all, but the closest thing to analog by far would be the Xils products, which are also developed by an ex Arturia employee. From the couple of audio demos that were recently posted by Urs, the new DIVA synth sounds like it may actually be a u-he product that I think sounds analog. Really looking forward to it. I would hold off making a decision until that one is available to try.

Where have the DIVA samples been posted?

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:46 am

Check the related DIVA topics in u-he subforum.

Fritze · Post by **Fritze** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:48 am

Bronto Scorpio wrote:
ryandfl wrote:
goldenanalog wrote:U-HE *OWNS* us, dude. We be HUGE fans.
Yeah I feel kind of goofy pumping it up so much, but I like it A Lot.
Yep! Sometimes I feel like a really annoying spam guy but REALLY like Zebra that much and I want people to know how awesome it is. I hope I don't annoy people to much

Same thing for ValhallaRoom. Zebra and VRoom are simply the best two pieces of software I ever bought

Cheers
Dennis

I think it's cool to be excited and to try to get this excitement across. I try to refrain from the opposite though ...

mcnoone · Post by **mcnoone** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:53 am

djanthonyw wrote:IMO Zebra does not sound analog.

This preset disagrees with the above statement.

L0L-A classic Zebra sound
http://www.box.net/shared/09k49bx74hv29uzbogr6

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:04 am

Ingonator wrote: The sound of Zebra is quite nice while i would not say it's perfect for all kind of analog emulations but what really made me selling it is that it's quite difficult to program and the interface is confusing IMO.

I find the interface extremely logical given how many features are packed into Zebra 2, but I'd agree that it's a lot to bite off if you don't have a lot of programming experience.

The nice thing about Z2 though is that you can make it simple if you want. Just toss in two oscillators and a filter and you've got a basic VA.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:17 am

kuniklo wrote: I find the interface extremely logical given how many features are packed into Zebra 2, but I'd agree that it's a lot to bite off if you don't have a lot of programming experience.

I have already done some professional sound design so that's not really my problem.

Maybe there are some others who have a different opinion but for me the workflow is not really my cup of tea and i had Zebra for some years. Maybe it's because i DON'T want to use it only as a basic 2 OSC VA synth...

Some of my favorite softsynths are Waldorf Largo, Waldorf PPG Wave 3.V, Xils Synthix, Synthmaster 2.5 and Dune which are not really "basic" synths but have a better interface IMO. Other people would maybe say those synths have a bad interface so everybody has his own taste...

Ingo

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:27 am

Well, Zebra wasn't ever meant to emulate anything in particular. It's parameter ranges are usually way beyond whatever else I knew.

Most of "analogue" boils down to the relation of signal gain between stages. To sound like a Minimoog you have to get the oscillator volume, the resonance distortion and the distortion in the VCA right, within a range of, say, 3dB. On top of that you have to add little fiddly DC offsets in the right place, and corresponding DC blockers. The miracle unfolds when distorting a highpassed signal creates a pleasant bass boost out of the blue.

Zebra's oscillators and filters operate in rather open ranges. If you want to get in Moog territory your best bet is to chain three oscillators, a HP12 (cutoff 39, resonance 10, drive 25) into TWO XMFs set to "biased" mode, with the first one being the actual filter while the second one stays fully open for distortion. This however does not attenuate the resonance below 80Hz (as seen in a real Mini but hardly in any emulation)

Or you simply wait for Zebra2.6 which will inherit a meticulously modelled transistor ladder filter from Diva

Urs

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:34 am

Urs wrote:Well, Zebra wasn't ever meant to emulate anything in particular. It's parameter ranges are usually way beyond whatever else I knew.

Most of "analogue" boils down to the relation of signal gain between stages. To sound like a Minimoog you have to get the oscillator volume, the resonance distortion and the distortion in the VCA right, within a range of, say, 3dB. On top of that you have to add little fiddly DC offsets in the right place, and corresponding DC blockers. The miracle unfolds when distorting a highpassed signal creates a pleasant bass boost out of the blue.

Zebra's oscillators and filters operate in rather open ranges. If you want to get in Moog territory your best bet is to chain three oscillators, a HP12 (cutoff 39, resonance 10, drive 25) into TWO XMFs set to "biased" mode, with the first one being the actual filter while the second one stays fully open for distortion. This however does not attenuate the resonance below 80Hz (as seen in a real Mini but hardly in any emulation)

Or you simply wait for Zebra2.6 which will inherit a meticulously modelled transistor ladder filter from Diva

Urs

After being so stupid to sell a Minimoog Model D (mint condition) back in 2005 and after trying many Moog emulations and other softsynths to get the typical Moog sound i finally ended up purchasing a Moog Slim Phaty rack which is not too expensive (799 Euros). Currently i try to use single cycles and/or samples of the Slim Phatty inside Synthmaster 2.5 to reproduce that sound.
Anyway i think that Diva could be a really nice synth once it's finished (at least we got a first GUI picture now). For monophonic sounds my "old" Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU should be able to handle it...

Ingo

uselessmind · Post by **uselessmind** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:06 am

Kruddler wrote: But, would I be right in saying that Zebra's analog technology is on par with or better than Arturia's?

No.

Imo Arturia's aproximation is worse.
Zebra is ok in that regard, though its overall the best synth i know, even beats my admiration for Fabfilter products....
Maybe look at ACE, the future u-he synths or something from XILS-Lab if you want emulation.

Echoes in the Attic · Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:10 am

Urs wrote: Or you simply wait for Zebra2.6 which will inherit a meticulously modelled transistor ladder filter from Diva

Urs

Cool. Will it be a mode in XMF rather than a whole new module?? I hope so. Since I find the XMFs can do pretty much anything I need in Zebra, I use those for control templates and such, so it's nice when new filter types are added there, rather than the old filter modules or new modules.

cheers

u-He Zebra II Vs Arturia Complete (Analog)