leveraging z2's modularity

[kuniklo]

There's a pretty sizable patch library for Z2 now, enough to start making some general conclusions about the success of the architecture in the field. The sounds out there clearly demonstrate two things, IMO:

1. Z2 is flexible enough to do a huge range of sounds, as expected.
2. The vast majority of the current patches could have been implemented on a fixed-path synth.

#2 accords with what I've seen from most other modulars - a few users really push the modular options to the limit but mostly they patch together things that look a lot like a more conventional synth. Keith Emerson's Minimoog-patched giant Moog Modular is a particularly infamous example. This kind of thing is particularly likely to happen in a synth like Z2 in which a single oscillator alone is such a complex sound source.

Makes me think Urs should consider a stripped down, one-page synth that puts Z2's oscs and filter in a simple package with no context menus or subpages (not Zebralette).

[hellleutel]

no he shouldn't

[Urs]

Hey,

I think you're right that a lot can be achieved with a few standard routings. On the other hand, the variety is so big that you can't put them all in one stripped down version - just think of the Comb modules...

Technically the modularity doesn't hurt at all... you wouldn't get a technical benefit from a "hard wired" stripped down version. Vice versa, having to maintain more plugins in more formats... no go!

My idea here is:

- eventually implement support for user interface skins
- create all-in-1-page skins for certain templates/layouts (like ZebraCM)

This way, one could i.e. still load wavetables even though they are not editable (that can be done best in a Zebralette with bigger skin).

What do you think?

Urs

[kuniklo]

no he shouldn't

discuss...

Of course, he first has to finish the drum machine he promised me.

[Urs]

Of course, he first has to finish the drum machine he promised me.

Naturally!

[kuniklo]

Technically the modularity doesn't hurt at all... you wouldn't get a technical benefit from a "hard wired" stripped down version. Vice versa, having to maintain more plugins in more formats... no go!

My idea here is:

- eventually implement support for user interface skins
- create all-in-1-page skins for certain templates/layouts (like ZebraCM)

Would this allow for different views of an oscillator, for instance?

A more specific example of what I'm talking about:

My z2 patches tend to be oscillator-centric. I use a lot of the sub-parameters like oscillator fx, sync, phase etc and direct modulation of these params. In the current UI this means I do a *lot* of clicking back and forth between the subpages and it means that it's very difficult at a glance to figure out what's going on in a patch. I'd love to have the option of expanding the whole osc out so everything is visible at once. Also, currently a lot of z2 params are exposed as long context menus, which I think is cumbersome. A more focused UI could push some of these into more explicit widgets.

While I've got your attention - one more thing that I think would be wicked is a recordable modulation source like the recordable envelopes in Reaktor's Carbon 2 and Photone or the step modulators in the Korg Radias. Just click "record", wiggle the knob in realtime, and then assign the recorded sequence like any other modulator. I'd honestly use this a lot more than the MSEGs.

I understand your reluctance to support multiple plugins though. If some of this could be accomplished within the current z2 framework then all the better.

[hellleutel]

discuss...

sorry I was a bit short. i mean a one man show like mighty u-he company has to focus... and I like him to focus on what suits me best. Zebra, that is, haha. And MFM.