Zebra3 Info

[Urs]

Hehehe, I think we answered those things a couple of times.

Sample to wavetable is planned, some sort of preset search and meta sorting as well. Neither is planned in detail.

[wonshu]

Option to decouple arpeggiator from preset.

Just sayin...

[hakey]

Hehehe, I think we answered those things a couple of times.

Thought so, but 'sampling is still not our cup of tea' sounded like a no to sample-to-wavetable.

Good to know that's not the case.

[aaron aardvark]

Option to decouple arpeggiator from preset.

Just sayin...

In regular Zebra 2/HZ, I just change it from arpeggiator mode, to polyphonic mode, or some other mode. Does not that do what you want?

[Arrested Developer]

@Aaron:
Maybe he means the option to save arpeggiator patterns.

[wonshu]

@Aaron:
Maybe he means the option to save arpeggiator patterns.

I mean:

- saving arpeggiator presets and being able to step through different arpeggios with the same preset.

- having the arpeggiator run while skipping through presets and thus being able to quickly hear what the preset does with the arpeggio.

Best,
Hans

[winds350]

I mean:

- saving arpeggiator presets and being able to step through different arpeggios with the same preset.

- having the arpeggiator run while skipping through presets and thus being able to quickly hear what the preset does with the arpeggio.

Best,
Hans

That sounds really useful! How would you see it working?

Saving/loading arp presets seems straightforward. I would think something like the oscillator preset handling.

Stepping through presets using an arp seems a bit tricky, since the presets will have arp data. Maybe a function to lock the arp so that the sound preset arp settings don't load to change it? With maybe a warning if the sound preset had detailed arp settings, if that's possible?

[Urs]

Well, with Satin we also added parameter locking. In theory one can step through presets and keep the arp untouched. Locking all those parameters is tedious though.

Which is why we probably need to completely rewrite that whole thing.

[Urs]

A general piece of info that I would like to convey.

I started this thread shortly after some info came up regarding our plans for Zebra3. At that point I was concerned that some people would assume an imminent release of Zebra3 and thus postponing a Zebra purchase until its out. So I put this thread in place to ensure that people don't get hopes high for a soonish reelase and to make sure that holding off isn't an advantage.

Now, if you follow us closely, a whole year has passed by and we're still caught up in other projects. We did a giant bugfix session, we released Satin, we did AAX, we did more REs and we're still working Diva, Presswerk, Bazille and Uhbik. And I think we also have another giant bugfix/improvements session ahead, plus maybe some fun with my weekend project dubbed "Hive".

For that reason I'm a bit uncomfortable discussiong featured like backwards compatibility. All I know is, the concepts we've made are too good to sacrifice for compromises. I'm sure "normal" companies would have made a new product out of this, called it something else and cashed in twice. We are going to handle this differently. We'll keep Zebra2 around, most likely in the form of The Dark Zebra + Zebrify + ZRev. We've wrecked our brains about a solution that'll keep old projects afloat, existing soundbanks alive and everyone happy.

However, if Zebra3 can't do Zebra2 then so be it. Then a parallel installation of Zebra2 and/or ZebraHZ might be required. That's not necessarily a bad situation - to the contrary, it's the safe bet for existing customers. Whereas "Z3 plays Z2 presets" would rather be a convenience layer for new customers who want to benefit from the Zebra2 preset library. So maybe what we really need is a compromise free Zebra3 with a great library to start with.

[bmanic]

I think your strategy sounds very sensible. Keep Zebra 2 as it is with The Dark Zebra and free yourself to develop Zebra 3 as a separate product. I know there is a huge set of presets for Zebra 2 but that's not enough of a reason to compromise the development of Zebra 3, imho.

Looking forward to all of your up and coming plugins!

Cheers!
bManic

[3*s]

Yea, please don't sacrifice quality for backwards compatibility, that would be a shame, especially from a company that is known for raising the bar (or in some cases tying the bar to a rocket and launching it into outer space).

For me zebra is the workflow, it's the only synth I know of, hardware or software, with a monolithic feature set that doesn't get in it's own way. The ability to run 3 kinds of synthesis at once with modular routing, an arp, and a full set of fx is there, and it's all on one page so you can set it up pretty fast. But if all I want is one saw wave and a filter, I feel like I'm using a CS01. That's freaking brilliant and what sold me on z2.

As long as z3 retains that, upgraded or entirely different modules would be a welcome addition.

My 2 cents, I'm sure someone on here will feel the exact opposite. And on an unrelated note I can haz 4 global lfos?

[Spitfire31]

I'd imagine that the main target group for a 'Z2 Player' module in Z3 would be newcomers to the Zebra breed, who would want to avail themselves of the vast number of quality libraries for Z2.

But then, perhaps Zebra 2 could still be made available, maybe at a discounted price for new Z3 customers?

/Joachim

[3*s]

Maybe just have all of z2 loadable as a z3 module?

[wonshu]

Why not just host the Z2 plugin inside Z3?

[SJ_Digriz]

backwards compatibility is the bane of raising the bar. raising bar > backwards compatibility in my book.