Hans Zimmer Loves Zebra

[bmanic]

Alan Meyerson is easily as responsible for the "epic" qualities of Hans Zimmer's (and many others') scores. Check out this great interview where he gets into some of the specific details.

Wow, that was a great program, I'm subscribing right away. Thanks for the tip!

What an awesome link!! Also subscribed right away.

Inception had ques with over 2000 tracks??!? Holy s"¤#%"! .. and the new batman movie over 4000 tracks?!

Never ever again will I complain when I get songs with way over 100 tracks.

Cheers!
bManic

[mcnoone]

I've gotten far more realistic percussion/drum sounds out of other synths than I've heard from Zebra or any other softsynth. That's because it's not the synth that's good at percussion sounds but the person programming them.
-Elhardt

Here's some stuff I did with Zebra, that I feel shows it can do many different instrument emulations.
They might not be up to your abilities, but for an average and hardly known sound designer as myself, they surely show some possibilities.
Please have a listen.
Real instrument emulations1
http://www.box.net/s/l4htahe2ggr1gjoj571x
Real instrument emulations2
http://www.box.net/s/kqggtdiyt5alzvb1rjx6

[hakey]

deleted

[adamszabo]

There is so much talk about Hans using Zebra, but I am not seeing any evidence anywhere. I wish he could post just ONE sound made with Zebra, and tell us which track it was used in so we can say "ah damn, i can hear it, so that sound was made with Zebra??"

Howard, in one of the interview videos with Hans, he mentioned that you made some sounds for him, do you think you can show us some? Or you are under contract and not allowed to share that information?

[Sascha Franck]

Real instrument emulations2
http://www.box.net/s/kqggtdiyt5alzvb1rjx6

I want the bass patch (second patch just after the banjo)!

- Sascha

[Howard]

There is so much talk about Hans using Zebra, but I am not seeing any evidence anywhere. I wish he could post just ONE sound made with Zebra, and tell us which track it was used in so we can say "ah damn, i can hear it, so that sound was made with Zebra??".
Howard, in one of the interview videos with Hans, he mentioned that you made some sounds for him, do you think you can show us some? Or you are under contract and not allowed to share that information?

Not allowed to share those patches. I could post an MP3 or two, but I don't really see the point except to prove/show what Zebra is capable of... (coming to think of it, that might be a good idea).
Re "ONE sound". Listen to e.g. the Inception soundtrack for rather more than one!

[Arksun]

Not surprised in the least Zebra's been used soo extensively by him, its such a versatile synth for creating both very electronic and also more natural timbres. I had a lot of fun making more natural sounds with it myself when I created the Zebra Soundtrack Demo mp3 for my commercial soundbank:

http://www.arksun-sound.com/music/Arksu ... k_Demo.mp3

[aMUSEd]

There is so much talk about Hans using Zebra, but I am not seeing any evidence anywhere. I wish he could post just ONE sound made with Zebra, and tell us which track it was used in so we can say "ah damn, i can hear it, so that sound was made with Zebra??".
Howard, in one of the interview videos with Hans, he mentioned that you made some sounds for him, do you think you can show us some? Or you are under contract and not allowed to share that information?

Not allowed to share those patches. I could post an MP3 or two, but I don't really see the point except to prove/show what Zebra is capable of... (coming to think of it, that might be a good idea).
Re "ONE sound". Listen to e.g. the Inception soundtrack for rather more than one!

I seem to remember Howard posting some sounds from Angels and Demons in a thread a while back - can't remember where

[pdxindy]

There is so much talk about Hans using Zebra, but I am not seeing any evidence anywhere. I wish he could post just ONE sound made with Zebra, and tell us which track it was used in so we can say "ah damn, i can hear it, so that sound was made with Zebra??".
Howard, in one of the interview videos with Hans, he mentioned that you made some sounds for him, do you think you can show us some? Or you are under contract and not allowed to share that information?

Not allowed to share those patches. I could post an MP3 or two, but I don't really see the point except to prove/show what Zebra is capable of... (coming to think of it, that might be a good idea).
Re "ONE sound". Listen to e.g. the Inception soundtrack for rather more than one!

I seem to remember Howard posting some sounds from Angels and Demons in a thread a while back - can't remember where

yeah, some lovely choir sounds iirc

[xh3rv]

I remember Howard saying, for Angels And Demons, the bells in St. Peter's Basilica were Zebra?

(The real thing apparently is also available! )

On the topic of what makes Zebra good for naturalistic sounds - I think that it's something about the inherent flexibility and compactness of the modules that guarantees there's opportunity to refine from a good level of abstraction. Technically something like Reaktor (a fully complete programming environment audio-wise? never used it) should be capable of a ton of things but it's easy to get in trouble programming in a way that becomes unwieldy later on. Expertise in sound design certainly mitigates that, as well as good programming practices, but I really feel like that discipline and perspective is sort of a core feature of Zebra's design!

[pdxindy]

On the topic of what makes Zebra good for naturalistic sounds - I think that it's something about the inherent flexibility and compactness of the modules that guarantees there's opportunity to refine from a good level of abstraction.

Zebra has excellent control of the envelopes... It also has enough tools to meticulously craft sounds. For percussion, being able to draw waveforms, additive harmonics, and the oscFX as well as the SB modules (which seem to be missing from the manual?) all give good control... and of course the comb modules are there too... then you also have the FM modules...

The semi-modular nature with the 4 channels makes it easy to layer sounds like an attack on one channel and sound body on another... or use an extra osc on a second channel for a bit of metallic resonance or buzz and so on...

It is an ideal balance between power/flexibility and ease of use.

[Arksun]

On the topic of what makes Zebra good for naturalistic sounds - I think that it's something about the inherent flexibility and compactness of the modules that guarantees there's opportunity to refine from a good level of abstraction. Technically something like Reaktor (a fully complete programming environment audio-wise? never used it) should be capable of a ton of things but it's easy to get in trouble programming in a way that becomes unwieldy later on. Expertise in sound design certainly mitigates that, as well as good programming practices, but I really feel like that discipline and perspective is sort of a core feature of Zebra's design!

All about the comb filter. It's perfect for more natural stuff. Combined with feeding it with one of its powerful oscillators and its a whole world of sounds to play with.

[Howard]

...the SB modules (which seem to be missing from the manual?)...

Go to page 41 (easiest way - click on the gens then sb hyperlinks at the bottom of every page.

[mcnoone]

Real instrument emulations2
http://www.box.net/s/kqggtdiyt5alzvb1rjx6

I want the bass patch (second patch just after the banjo)!
- Sascha

You can go here.
http://www.monomo-sounddesign.com
or
pm me.

[mcnoone]

But then, achieving realism may be an interesting exercise, a challenge, or a desirable component of some other end - but as an end itself? I dunno, it's like the photorealist oil paintings that were recently posted in another thread... surely a display of considerable skill, but that's pretty much all.
_

Physical modeling or the ability to emulate acoustic instruments.
Is it useful? Yes.
One thing is a sample takes more hd space.
Another is flexibility. Altering a sample is not half as effective as altering a sound using a synth.
Responsiveness. There is something more direct about playing a synth as opposed to samples that is hard to describe. Something about how the sounds respond, or how much better it is to control certain velocity settings.
The real instrument is not available to a user, or the sample they have is not better than the synth preset, or they can't afford a good sample of strings or something.
With Zebra you also have 4 xy controls, for quick-easy tweaking to get the sound in the position and tone needed. Something that I don't know of any sampler having. Which is a great benefit to getting sounds to fit in a mix.
I have PM synths that can only do one sound right, like clavinet, but nothing else. Even String Studio, which does excellent guitar, and bass, but can't do a clavinet or sitar.
With Zebra at least it can (eventually with enough effort) nail all of those and more.
Another reason why acoustic emulation is good, is that it can be great for layering with other traditional synth sounds, such as real sounding bells with an analog sounding string thing...etc.
The best reason to go for acoustic emulation is finding a sound that sounds acoustic, and similar to something heard before, but does not quite emulate anything. Something acoustic, but never heard of before.