Zebra Sound Design -tips, and tricks

[mcnoone]

Hi.
Just thought I'd start a thread were users might want to post some sound design techniques that they like to use, and wouldn't mind sharing with the community.
It might be a good way to help people just learning to use Zebra, in gaining some knowledge and ability using it.
I'll post some of my own ideas regularly, and invite other users to post some tips, and tricks as well.
Thanks.

Michael

[mcnoone]

Creating a one oscillator "chord" patch

Start with 1 Oscillator. The default Saw wave is good.
For a fuller chord tone we'll use a single oscillator set to "eleven" mode.
Detune -16
Using only the Osc FX to create the chord.
Set the 1st Osc FX to "Fractalz", then move to a value of 48.00
Set the 2nd Osc FX to "Sync Mojo", then move to a value of -70.00
You now have a chord made with only one oscillator.
Odd for Even is another one to mix with the other 2 Osc FX for chords.
Positive values with Fractalz and Sync Mojo will increase the pitch.

In combination with drawing the right waveform, you can make very unique sounding chord stabs and such with only one oscillator.
Making more complex chords available with using 2 or 3 oscillators.

Have fun.

An example preset is the ZPC 03 Expressive- Saint & Sinner
You can dl that here.
http://www.u-he.com/PatchLib/zebra.html

[mcnoone]

How to get a brighter tone.

Start with only 1 oscillator in the grid.
Saw wave is good.
Try "eleven" mode for this to get a good dance sound patch.
Detune to -16
Maybe some longer 60% release time on the envelope might help.
Using the Osc FX, set the 1st one to "Brilliance" +90.00
Then set the next Osc FX to "Brilliance" also to +90.00
Add a filter to cutdown on the brightness..
You will need some kind of peak limiter, or using the built-in compressor to limit the highs. Some EQ might help.
Setting both Osc FX to "Brilliance" mode, with both set to anything above 50.00, will increase the brightness of the sound a lot.
You can also set the Osc mode form "soft" to "crisp" from the Osc tabs at the bottom of the ui, on the right side next to the wave graphic.

Here's an example preset with a filter added.
http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/1 ... -Than-You-

(note, I'll change the dl site to box-net asap)

[runray]

Wow! Thanks Michael for you tricks. Very helpful!
And here is my tip that I found recently.

Modern dance bassdrum (Kick)

Nothing to say, just look in the preset and on the picture:



The trick is the "right" settings of MSEG.

Download preset

[Howard]

One of my favourite tricks is to use an AP Allpass filter in parallel - great for hollow/etherial sounds or polyphonic phasing. There are loads of examples in the presets... scroll through them and stop wherever you see a VCF in a side chain.

[xh3rv]

The trick is the "right" settings of MSEG.

I hadn't thought of setting up an MSEG this way but it makes _perfect_ sense - this is really cool, easy to tweak!

Oh, a tip ...
Creating just a few directories to keep track of one's own patches makes all the difference in the world for keeping things organized. Justin3AM's patch bank has several variations of single patches (patch A, patch B ...) - from this I learned that doing this can be a really quick way to iterate through some ideas without losing the starting point, I usually find one of them that I like a lot more than the others (not always the last one ).

[bmrzycki]

...I usually find one of them that I like a lot more than the others (not always the last one.

+500

I often find when I explore a sound that a bit after the midpoint of exploration is where I was the happiest with the sound. Unfortunately I don't know where that midpoint is until I'm done exploring...

I always do "preset name 01" and then "preset name 02" and I save often. I can always go into explorer/finder later when I'm no longer in the right-brain creative flow and delete all the ones I don't care about.

One day our desktop OSes will have nice filesystem versioning found in ZFS and BTRFS (and somewhat in Apple's Time machine). Until then, use those 01,02,03.. names to save that creative moment!

[pdxindy]

Feed an OSC into a Comb module and put a decimate filter in between and modulate the cutoff for some fun effects...

Here is a sound example... has a couple more modulated filters after the comb module but the basic sound is using the decimate filter between the osc comb combination...
http://draigathar.org/sounds/burbang.wav

[runray]

Feed an OSC into a Comb module and put a decimate filter in between and modulate the cutoff for some fun effects...

Wow, effects are really cool! Thanks pdxindy...

[pdxindy]

Feed an OSC into a Comb module and put a decimate filter in between and modulate the cutoff for some fun effects...

Wow, effects are really cool! Thanks pdxindy...

welcome... Zebra is so much fun... !

Another thing I like doing with Zebra...

because there are independent channels, it is easy to take a copy of the sound and remake it in another channel... in this case I sent the main bass sound to bus1 and then used a modulated eq to drive a delay and create the background part. Here is the sound.
http://draigathar.org/sounds/bluarp.wav

and since it is easier to see than explain... here is the preset
http://draigathar.org/zebra/bluarp11.h2p

[pdxindy]

Okay... feeding an osc with very short env as an exciter into a comb module... It is tricky to control the sound over a few octaves... So playing with the tune of the osc and the keyscaling gives some good control. Also the Osc Sync is rather useful here and again controlling the sync amount over keyrange. Changing these is similar in sound to plucking a guitar string by the bridge or farther up the neck. Osc at eleven and osc detune at max gives more complex sound.

OscFX are useful... Trajector for example can be used to adjust the tone on the low end... Exophase can give a smooth round plucked sound or more hollow depending on the setting. Scatter can add a bit of shimmer or buzz and so on...

Also... using a modmapper set to alternate and randomized and applied to Osc Tune to add some variation gives a nice result. You can also put the modmapper on the comb damp and flavour and tone parameters. You can make every note subtly different in a pleasing way.

Here is an audio sample of the above techniques all put together...
http://draigathar.org/sounds/cande.wav

[pdxindy]

Here is one I discovered recently: using the Mod Mappers to add Glide and/or Vibrato to every 8th or 6th and 16th note (etc)... adds a nice variability. Set the mod mapper to alternate and steps to 8 or 16 or other and raise a bar or two... You get some nice note bending that is polyphonic unlike the pitch wheel. Play with the glide mod amount and range controls to taste.

Here is an example:
http://draigathar.org/sounds/detar.wav

[chardin]

pdxindy, those last 2 sounds are very nice (cande.wav and detar.wav). Any chance of getting presets for them? (please, please, please) I'm not very good at sound design and I would like to see how the comb filter and mod mappers are used.

[Exie]

I've recently found that small amounts of scrambler brighten imported analog saws in much more pleasant way than brilliance does. That's really nice on low notes, wretched 128 samples just suck there. Only positive or negative values work, depends if saw is inverted or not. This works only on saws, I still don't get what's the deal but it worths to be a separate feature

I also found useful to draw inverted saw and square in geomorph, it works great when blending synthetic zebra's waveforms with imported darker ones by syncing their phases, and most other synths have inverse saws

[mcnoone]

pdxindy, those last 2 sounds are very nice (cande.wav and detar.wav). Any chance of getting presets for them? (please, please, please) I'm not very good at sound design and I would like to see how the comb filter and mod mappers are used.

You might want to download these presets here.
Zebra Patch Contest 13: Hey Motherplucker
http://www.u-he.com/PatchLib/zebra.html

They have more than a few comb filter presets included.