KVR Audio

Jay-Producer · Post by **Jay-Producer** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:35 am

Im surprised Zebra is so highly rated. I personally think its a poor synth sound wise compared to others, especially for trance music. Gladiator for me is a monster of a synth for trance.

I suppose if your not particularly making trance music then Zebra is a good bet, but I remember last week I compared Zebra to another similar synth that was way cheaper, and it was better than Zebra.

Albino I don't rate at all. Over-hyped.

casiosk1 · Post by **casiosk1** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:54 am

Can I has make trance?

Bubbamusic · Post by **Bubbamusic** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:03 am

casiosk1 wrote:Can I has make trance?

WTF?

abi · Post by **abi** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:19 am

Jay-Producer wrote:I suppose if your not particularly making trance music then Zebra is a good bet, but I remember last week I compared Zebra to another similar synth that was way cheaper, and it was better than Zebra.

Albino I don't rate at all. Over-hyped.

could you please tell us which cheaper synth you compared zebra to?

casiosk1 · Post by **casiosk1** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:21 am

Bubbamusic wrote:
casiosk1 wrote:Can I has make trance?
WTF?

I know. I enjoyed the post above mine, too.

xx JPRacer xx · Post by **xx JPRacer xx** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:39 am

pdxindy, thanks for your reply, good info.

yellowfever · Post by **yellowfever** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:52 am

Buy Computer Music magazine, download Zebra CM from the DVD and see how you get on with it. If you like it buy the full version.

djanthonyw · Post by **djanthonyw** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:00 am

...Or you could just download the demo instead of buying the magazine.

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:16 am

xx JPRacer xx wrote:I really like Zebra, the sound quality, the presets and it's semi-modular possibilities. I also like the fact that it's a u-he product, meaning that I know I'll recevied great support and free/fair priced update in the future. The problem is I don't really "get" the interface.

I felt the same way (but I got it anyway due to it's amazing set of presets plus the great commercial banks available for it) and then Urs pointed me to his youtube video tutorial. Just to go Youtube and do a search. Afterwards I hit myself in the head like some 50s sitcom character. Why did I think this was confusing? I think it has something to do with the fact that the knobs look very unknob like to me, but once you get over it you'll be programming like a madman.

Seriously. Get Zebra. It's just simply the best softsynth out there. Albino... doesn't quite do it for me (but I need to explore it better) Surge would be my second favorite. What may seem like unexciting sound is sound that fits into a mix really nicely. Also, there's something about the way it implements aftertouch that makes it feel like a great instrument. Great solid bass too.

Right now I'm not speaking to Gladiator. The demo did something I find really slimey. Buttons that have no current function... that tell you to get the expansion at the web site... and the expansion does not exist. It did this as it nagged me about the 10 minute limit... which helped ruin the 10 minutes. It's not a bad sounding instrument but what sounds like great presets are really going to need a ton of work to make fit into a song. I'm hoping they get this expansion out soon and it comes with presets that aren't gigantic techno sounds. I'm also still waiting for their Warmverb program to allow you to control the vocoder's osc via MIDI. I'm a bit stunned it doesn't.

levap · Post by **levap** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:11 pm

How come Gladiator is in this comparison list??

Should never consider to buy Gladiator BEFORE Zebra, Albino, Surge and a lot of other soft synths. It's simply a way to poor. It's like "A" team players against the "G" team, "G" have no chanse at all. DO NOT BUY GLADIATOR!

MitchK1989 · Post by **MitchK1989** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:29 pm

Yeah, I hate tone2's business model and gladiators GUI is a PITA IMHO.

It really does come down to Surge vs Zebra, and you can't lose either way. You'll probably get both eventually, even if you try to make this your last synth purchase.

DHR53 · Post by **DHR53** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:43 pm

Aspect.

warp x · Post by **warp x** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:09 pm

Just get Reaktor and be done with it.

Bobbo · Post by **Bobbo** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:07 pm

I'm having tons of fun with Synplant - the ability to make a sound that I like, plant the seed and see how far down the rabbit hole it takes me. Some of acorns don't fall far from the tree, but others, well...

The mix of predictability and unpredictability is inspiring.

djones · Post by **djones** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:12 pm

levap wrote:How come Gladiator is in this comparison list?? Should never consider to buy Gladiator BEFORE Zebra, Albino, Surge and a lot of other soft synths. It's simply a way to poor. It's like "A" team players against the "G" team, "G" have no chanse at all. DO NOT BUY GLADIATOR!

That's what I was thinking about Albino.
Its filters are just miles behind the other 3 choices.

KVR Audio

Albino vs Gladiator vs Surge vs Zebra

For my last synth purchase I should get