KVR Audio

ATN69 · Post by **ATN69** » Thu Nov 09, 2017 6:20 am

Krakatau wrote:
egbert101 wrote:New word: Zebraholics.
+1 (billion)

LOL! They have AA meetings and groups for that to?

Sound Author · Post by **Sound Author** » Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:23 am

What do I love about Zebra? ...Let me count the ways...

The sheer depth of it, I think, is unparalleled. First of all, you have what just might be the most powerful oscillator in the universe. A long list of spectral effects. FMOs. A plethora of analog modeled multi-mode filters, Cross Modulation Filters, and the Comb Filters! In addition to those extra bells and whistles: Sideband, Shaper, Ring Modulation, half a dozen different types of distortion. The Mod Mappers!

The XY Matrix provides access to the most powerful performance control system I've ever seen. The semi-modular workflow within the Main Grid allows me to create a signal flow that I could never reproduce in other instruments. And the ability to modulate various effects and Delay Ratio settings in the Mod Matrix with a daisy chain of modulation modulating modulation results in generative patches like this one...

https://soundcloud.com/bryan-lake/weird-sisters

Zebra has been my go-to for many years, and in all likelihood, will continue to be the synth I reach for whenever I want to explore strange new sonic worlds, and boldly go where no sound designer has gone before!

zvenx · Post by **zvenx** » Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:33 am

Nice!!!
rsp

digitalboytn · Post by **digitalboytn** » Sat Nov 11, 2017 9:08 am

What makes U-he Zebra so loved?

I think that it's the stripes

Ah_Dziz · Post by **Ah_Dziz** » Sat Nov 11, 2017 9:21 pm

It's easy to program, doesn't use much CPU, and there is not much you can't do with it. It's usually my first stop for a new synth sound.

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 2:41 am

Ah_Dziz wrote:doesn't use much CPU,

This has actually pleasantly surprised me recently. For the modular design, Zebra is amazingly low with its CPU consumption. I have this project on the go right now with 80 instances of Zebra loaded and my old laptop is doing just fine with the playback (although not all instances are playing at the same time and the patches are not complex, still other synths would cause me playback by now....).

Krakatau · Post by **Krakatau** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 3:11 pm

Sound Author wrote: results in generative patches like this one...

https://soundcloud.com/bryan-lake/weird-sisters

Do you mean that this track is generated by playing a single note ?

Arksun · Post by **Arksun** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 3:18 pm

Where to begin, Zebra2 was a synth 10 years ahead of its time. It's oscillator module section is still a work of genius, especially with its low cpu usage. I love its semi-modular approach too, not too messy and time consuming like a fully modular system, but still with great flexibility in the audio path, just using what modules you need.

Also I tend to find Zebra is extremely good at blending with natural real world instruments in a mix, seems to do this far better than the other waveform generating synths I have.

Zebra3 is the one synth I've been super excited about for few years now, and it looks like we might finally be seeing it in 2018, fingers n toes crossed!

Tp3 · Post by **Tp3** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 4:19 pm

I think what makes Zebra so loved is that it sounds like "The Bra" (Zee=Thee)

For me it's actually one preset... this one, very simple (I think.... Howard ?) preset, that changed everything.

Sound Author · Post by **Sound Author** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:37 pm

Krakatau wrote:
Sound Author wrote: results in generative patches like this one...

https://soundcloud.com/bryan-lake/weird-sisters
Do you mean that this track is generated by playing a single note ?

Sort of. The attack you hear at the beginning of the track is a brief snippet of white noise feeding a series of delay lines with very short delay times tuned by the Mod Mappers, which contain notes in a scale. A series of LFOs, all of which are modulating each other, randomly select those notes. On occasion, the cross-feedback of the delay produces sudden, howling resonances. You don't really have to play this patch. All you have to do is press a key and let it do its thing. The "Pitch Offset" and "Filters" XY pads in the Perform Section will make everything just a little more "weird".

Enjoy

lolilol1975 · Post by **lolilol1975** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:45 pm

Urs wrote:
hivkorn wrote:The most difficult things with zebra is the GUI , i own it 2 times in the past , i dig it a lot but everytime I don t understand how the GUI works... Something like softube modular is more easy to understand. Yes the sound is neutral , it is great to make THE sound you want. I hope Zebra 3 will have a more understable GUI.
The thing about Zebra's UI is that it requires an "a-ha moment". I've heard this many many times, people saying "I stared at it for some time and didn't get it, but suddenly, from one second to another, it became all clear!" - once this moment has happened the UI is perfectly understandable, and you will not want any major change to it.

I think we need to figure out a way to speed this process up. Maybe we need Dan Worrall for Zebra 3.

I also can't recommend enough Kenny Gioia, who makes the videos for the REAPER DAW. If you use Reaper, you probably know him already. Reaper is a complicated DAW and Kenny is a genius for explaining how it works in full depth.
Just have a look at his channel
He has made hundreds of tutorials on REAPER (pretty much 2 videos per week all along), and if you look at the comments, you'll see that users love him, because everyone learns stuff from him. So you can be pretty sure if you get him to learn Zebra, he will cover it from A to Z.

Igro · Post by **Igro** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:34 pm

Arksun wrote: Also I tend to find Zebra is extremely good at blending with natural real world instruments in a mix, seems to do this far better than the other waveform generating synths I have.

This!

plugin'd out · Post by **plugin'd out** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:41 pm

Sound Author wrote:generative patches like this one...

https://soundcloud.com/bryan-lake/weird-sisters

That's a truly amazing patch. Thanks for sharing!

diaper@ky · Post by **diaper@ky** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 8:06 pm

It sounds great on large speaker Arrays and Stage Monitors.
Makes the best Sync+Diva LPF wah-wah too.

I love it when Native synths can punch like hardware.
Very few can dish it out.
Zebra2 HZ is one of those synths.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:08 pm

Arksun wrote:Also I tend to find Zebra is extremely good at blending with natural real world instruments in a mix, seems to do this far better than the other waveform generating synths I have.

yes...