Zebra 3 and Zebra Legacy

[dayjob]

some dork is going to write a thesis on zebra 3 and zebra legacy update policy. jfc. just accept the facts and move on. or go tell it on a mountain.

[Urs]

I'd be happy to provide background information for that thesis

[ahanysz]

I'd be happy to provide background information for that thesis

Well, "oral history" theses have become trendy in musicology. If someone can get funding for "oral history of software synthesis" (aka spend lots of time talking to Urs and then write down all the cool stories), that sounds like a win all round.

[sl23]

Is there any kind of release date for zebra3 yet? I'm just wondering whether to wait or get the zebra legacy bundle! If all zebra2 patches will work on zebra3 I would rather wait tbh. I don't have a large expendable income and am happy to wait, especially after just purchasing Diva, Hive and Uhbik.

[dayjob]

Is there any kind of release date for zebra3 yet? I'm just wondering whether to wait or get the zebra legacy bundle! If all zebra2 patches will work on zebra3 I would rather wait tbh. I don't have a large expendable income and am happy to wait, especially after just purchasing Diva, Hive and Uhbik.

as per this thread.. zebra3 is a new synth and older presets won't work in it.. unless something new has been posted about this in the last couple pages?? w/zebra legacy you get such a huge package of presets.

zebra2 will be maintained and updated for compatibility but as i understand it it's a feature complete synth. right?

as for release date.. it's mentioned a few times in this thread that Urs needs like 6+ months of uninterrupted work on it or something.. so my guess would be 6-12+ months? no idea really. it's here when it's here.

[sl23]

Ah ok, so if it's not backwards compatible, I'll get the legacy version then! Thanks.

[soundof]

some dork is going to write a thesis on zebra 3 and zebra legacy update policy. jfc. just accept the facts and move on. or go tell it on a mountain.

Don't worry, nobody is going to write a thesis, far more important things in life!
I am glad u-He have updated the Zebra Legacy product page near the top with the disclaimer about the upgrade path to Zebra 3 for new and existing Zebra users, that is ALL that was being asked!

Recently, via the NI site, I went and bought Diva and Hive 2 too.

[Der Tatortreiniger]

Look, I think the user posting previously in this thread is off-base, but I honestly find the brand loyalty of some of the u-he fans here a little bizarre.

People like me bought TDZ years ago believing that we would receive Z3 (which was part of the TDZ purchase agreement) at most a year or two later, and that the funds u-he raised from sales of TDZ would directly support Z3 development. Instead, u-he turned around and used the cash to do everything but work on development of Z3: they produced a compressor plugin, a tape plugin, updates to MFM, a programming language for Hive waveform generation, support for unusual DAW protocols, a fancy website, even Eurorack modules. Meanwhile the line today is exactly the same as it was way back then: "we have some unfinished prototypical stuff for Z3, and real development will commence in half a year or so". I'm a fan of Z2 and I have bought most of u-he's products (as well as many of its soundsets), but I really can't stand for this and I probably won't buy anything from u-he in the future.

I expect u-he will merge with Valve Software soon and Zebra 3 will be released as DLC for Half-Life 3, whenever that is finally released.

[Urs]

We haven't deliberately stalled Zebra3 development. I think no-one is more sad about the everlasting delays than Howard and myself.

[Fleer]

We haven't deliberately stalled Zebra3 development. I think no-one is more sad about the everlasting delays than Howard and myself.

Sweet Howard. Loved meeting him in Frankfurt, when the Musikmesse was still the Musikmesse ...

[Sound Author]

It has always made perfect sense to me that Zebra 3 would take a very long time to bring to the table. Zebra 1.0 was released almost 20 years ago. Zebra 2 was released just 3 years later. Let that sink in. We're still using a synth engine that was originally coded 17 years ago. There aren't too many synths I can think of that were released 17 years ago that people are still using today. For that reason, Zebra 3 needs to be something we'll still be using 17 years from now. That's a very tall order considering how competitive the market has become. So, keeping that in mind, I am more than happy to wait however long it takes u-he to create Zebra 3, which I'm very certain will blow our minds in the same way Zebra 2 blew our minds in 2006.

[Shiek927]

Look, I think the user posting previously in this thread is off-base, but I honestly find the brand loyalty of some of the u-he fans here a little bizarre.

People like me bought TDZ years ago believing that we would receive Z3 (which was part of the TDZ purchase agreement) at most a year or two later, and that the funds u-he raised from sales of TDZ would directly support Z3 development. Instead, u-he turned around and used the cash to do everything but work on development of Z3: they produced a compressor plugin, a tape plugin, updates to MFM, a programming language for Hive waveform generation, support for unusual DAW protocols, a fancy website, even Eurorack modules. Meanwhile the line today is exactly the same as it was way back then: "we have some unfinished prototypical stuff for Z3, and real development will commence in half a year or so". I'm a fan of Z2 and I have bought most of u-he's products (as well as many of its soundsets), but I really can't stand for this and I probably won't buy anything from u-he in the future.

I expect u-he will merge with Valve Software soon and Zebra 3 will be released as DLC for Half-Life 3, whenever that is finally released.

If you read the very first page of this thread, you'll see why Z3 has taken as long as it did.

I'm not being a fanboy nor am I an employee of u-he. There are very distinct reasons that it's taken so long from the company massively growing due the runaway success of Diva (Zebra2 famously being used by Hans Zimmer on Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" trilogy and becoming his go-to synth also likely played a part), employees coming and going, needing to pay for the electricity which entails making new projects which then require their own maintaining, new operating system upgrades, not to mention life itself. The whole world is still recovering from a global pandemic, after all.

I've said this in a previous post (viewtopic.php?p=8283539#p8283539), but u-he hasn't been resting on their laurels. I'm sure it's been as frustrating for them that Z3 has taken as long as it has - more-so, even. But Urs has also frequently stated that everything since Z2 -- Bazille, Hive, Repro-5, and so-on -- have all essentially been technological experiments to fuel what will be funneled into Zebra3. If you've liked the supersaws in Hive, the FM in Bazille, the analogue sound of Repro-5 and so on, you've basically played with a WIP of Zebra3.

It's all in the first page, my guy. Give it a read, sometime.

It has always made perfect sense to me that Zebra 3 would take a very long time to bring to the table. Zebra 1.0 was released almost 20 years ago. Zebra 2 was released just 3 years later. Let that sink in. We're still using a synth engine that was originally coded 17 years ago. There aren't too many synths I can think of that were released 17 years ago that people are still using today. For that reason, Zebra 3 needs to be something we'll still be using 17 years from now. That's a very tall order considering how competitive the market has become. So, keeping that in mind, I am more than happy to wait however long it takes u-he to create Zebra 3, which I'm very certain will blow our minds in the same way Zebra 2 blew our minds in 2006.

I believe HZ recently used Zebra2 on the Dune soundtrack. It'd be one thing if we were talking about a Roland Juno or some other classic analogue synth, but what other digital synth -- a software synth -- from over a decade ago is used as frequently as it is on major blockbusters to this day?

[Urs]

Obviously, The Dark Zebra was pretty much the initial set of presets HZ has created (with HS) for himself. In the meantime his library must have grown to thousands of sounds.

So the question is not really ”why does he still use Z2?“, it’s more like “why wouldn’t he?”

[Urs]

Also, I think the people who are sometimes characterized as “fanboys” (which I perceive as an unnecessarily derogative term) are simply people who have followed our journey through the ups and downs over the years.

I chose to communicate on forums, and this one in particular, because I don’t need to repeat myself over and over as other media requires. Information “lingers” here.

However, as our customer base has grown and as “everything u-he” has become incredibly complex, a lot of information does get buried. So I’m glad and eternally grateful that this is such a vibrant community where people dig things up when others might have missed it.

[carrieres]

I believe HZ recently used Zebra2 on the Dune soundtrack. It'd be one thing if we were talking about a Roland Juno or some other classic analogue synth, but what other digital synth -- a software synth -- from over a decade ago is used as frequently as it is on major blockbusters to this day?

Dune3 from Synapse audio with Kevin Schroeder as sound designer