One Synth Challenge #121: Any One Synth (Rellik Wins!)

[DavidCarlyon]

Danged... now I'm playing around with Zebra2 and....pffff... it is one of the very rare, perfectly deserving commercial synths in existence on the computer, if you asked me.....

Yeah i stayed on the fence with Zebra for ages. It is one of the few on my list that i don't yet have!

I did not find it as intuitive to program, especially for people like me who grew up with modular analog synths. You really want to read through the manual.

It is very flexible and can do a huge variety of sounds. I especially like it for simulating acoustic instruments.
My favorite for pianos, guitars, percussion, ....

Yeah i know what you mean. For me on the other hand...i am generally more confortable with that kind of synth. i spend most of the last years in falcon, Melda MXXX, Avenger etc etc

Have you tried Voltage modular? I really like it. haven't pulled the trigger yet, but plan to this month

[mclstr]

Have you tried Voltage modular? I really like it. haven't pulled the trigger yet, but plan to this month

It sounds interesting, but I only run software that runs natively on Linux. I have more software synths than I need right now and don't want to get into running stuff in a Windows or Mac, real or virtual machine at this time. Maybe in the future?

Bitwig has a lot of the features of a modular synth built in and Bazille is a pretty powerful modular style VST that I play with.

[Taron]

I've just given it a bit of a go to make a guitar with it from scratch. Certainly a work in progress, but- boy, oh, boy- it's so fun to play, too:
https://soundcloud.com/taronium/zebragu ... 01/s-AaFZS

I didn't have to look at the manual (again), but I used to hate it on account of it's GUI ideology, so to say, but now I don't mind it so much anymore for some reason. I've discovered the convenience of the Matrix, which makes it very easy to route things together in terms of control. The modular flow itself is really a bit compartmentalized in an odd way. Not like you have an OSC module and then an Amplifier module or so... it's just a bit different. But if I give it a few more days, I can see myself falling in love with it after all.

[TheNeverScene]

For anyone interested, or not , I've made some strum improvements...I used everyone's suggestions so thank you guys. I ditched using an arpeggiator and I even tried to get some pick noise and slight palm muting. It's nowhere near perfect, but I think it's good enough for me to be able to move on to the next phase.

[TheNeverScene]

I've just given it a bit of a go to make a guitar with it from scratch. Certainly a work in progress, but- boy, oh, boy- it's so fun to play, too:
https://soundcloud.com/taronium/zebragu ... 01/s-AaFZS

I didn't have to look at the manual (again), but I used to hate it on account of it's GUI ideology, so to say, but now I don't mind it so much anymore for some reason. I've discovered the convenience of the Matrix, which makes it very easy to route things together in terms of control. The modular flow itself is really a bit compartmentalized in an odd way. Not like you have an OSC module and then an Amplifier module or so... it's just a bit different. But if I give it a few more days, I can see myself falling in love with it after all.

That's crazy! Sounded like it was about to break into Yes' Roundabout...how'd ya do it?

[TheNeverScene]

I just stumbled on an article from a physical modeling master class that also mentioned the noise through a comb...tried it.......this is probably one of the most remarkable bits of synthesis I've ever laid ears on. It's like some voodoo witchcraft.

[Taron]

Yeah, it's heck of a lot of fun playing with it. Velocity and keyfollow are all very important to style the sound, control tone and so on. It has a mixture of noise and osc as impulse. If you only use noise it can get thin in the lower registers. Just as I had described it above. Zebra allows via the wavetable to morph from a full sounding sine to a thin little tick, which you then control with keyFollow. With Velocity you then control the noise's cutoff and the comb's damp parameter, while keyFollow also controls damp. Otherwise high registers flip out in brightness. It's all about taming the beast. But after that you can play around like crazy and get all sorts of beautiful things to happen.

[Taron]

Oh, the panning/separating of the guitar octaves in your track helps a lot... woohoo!
Snare sounds a bit too compressed, which makes it feel a bit synthetic at times, I find. ...still good, just that it seems like it wants to feel more real?!

[TheNeverScene]

Yeah, the snare seemed more fitting when it was trying to bash through the wall of autoharps haha, still not sure where everything is going to end up and hoping to morph into something heavier and more rockin'. Needed help big time so I had to throw it out there and ask.

I quickly realized the sine for the low end and it took me a seconde to figure out how to get things playing in lower registers. You're right about the vibrato too and man things get haywire quick!

I'm sure everybody's first combstrument is a cello, so here is my first attempt at one with Serum. This has really opened up some doors!
https://soundcloud.com/the-never-scene/ ... st/s-Gn3pw

[Taron]

Very cool!!! Has some fantastic moments in there! And in a mix, inside an arrangement, this is most certainly killer!

[TheNeverScene]

Thanks Taron, I'm still blown away by this whole thing.

[Ranoka]

After Waverazor, Zebra is a lot of fun to play around with. Much more inviting. The biggest issue I have with Zebra at the moment is lists of acronyms you need to learn - there must be better ways to visualise them. I'm having a lot of fun playing with the comb and FM, also the spectral oscillator effects.

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

https://soundcloud.com/the-never-scene/ ... st/s-Gn3pw

That was awesome.
Have you ever played around with Triple cheese by u he?

[TheNeverScene]

That was awesome.
Have you ever played around with Triple cheese by u he?

Thanks! The only time I've messed with TC was a few months back for OSC. I didn't "get it" at the time, so I spent a week in it, gave up completely, then ended up revisiting on the day of the deadline and spun a track out from scratch real quick. I still had no idea how to use it, but for some reason it's one of my favorite OSC attempts. Just started twisting things out of desperation and frustration.

I think if I went back to it now after today's lessons, I'd have a better understanding of it.

[Schweinemann]

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Those of you who haven't chosen a synth yet, Krakli Plugs (of Arminator fame and so many others) expressed some interest in getting people to consider his synths on his Facebook group. http://www.krakliplugins.com/Plugins.aspx (http://www.krakliplugins.com/Plugins.aspx).

Thank you for the tip. I didnt know him. Will give it a try.