u-he

JPTinAshland · Post by **JPTinAshland** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 7:48 pm

Hello,

I'm wondering if anyone knows if there are any libraries available for Zebra 2.5 that essentially emulate the Yamaha CS-80 / Vangelis / Toto synth sounds...

Brass, strings, portamento-type washes / pads, etc...

I'm not a huge programmer, and I imagine there are people out there that have taken the time to do such work...

And... is Zebra capable of doing such sounds ? ( I don't mean to ask a silly question with this statement, but if I'm expecting too much from Zebra, please set the record straight ).... :-)

Anyway - I've heard the offerings of Howard Scarr and Michael Kastrup - what great programmers these guys are ! I'm hoping that perhaps there are others out there on the level of these wizards that have done the CS-80 thing with Zebra...

An additional reason would so that I don't have to buy yet another VI like CS-80v, if Zebra in fact, can legitimately cover the CS-80 thing in high style...

Any info would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks,
JT.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:05 pm

CS80 is quite easy to emulate on Zebra - but you really need a poly-afterouch keyboard and a ribbon controller to play it properly!

benburling · Post by **benburling** » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:37 pm

+1 for this!!!

critza · Post by **critza** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 3:27 am

Howard wrote:CS80 is quite easy to emulate on Zebra - but you really need a poly-afterouch keyboard and a ribbon controller to play it properly!

I love it when someone just steps in and says plain and simple. Yes!

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:30 am

hehe, it would be really great to hear an example of groundbreaking use of the CS-80 that is not related to Vangelis. So far 95% of requests for a CS-80 sound are based on two tracks of the Blade Runner soundtrack, the rest is based on other works of the same composer. Has anyone else used it in a way that can't be replicated by other synths?

Prunesquallor · Post by **Prunesquallor** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:35 am

critza wrote:
Howard wrote:CS80 is quite easy to emulate on Zebra - but you really need a poly-afterouch keyboard and a ribbon controller to play it properly!
I love it when someone just steps in and says plain and simple. Yes!

Without providing patches...

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:24 am

Prunesquallor wrote:
critza wrote:
Howard wrote:CS80 is quite easy to emulate on Zebra - but you really need a poly-afterouch keyboard and a ribbon controller to play it properly!
I love it when someone just steps in and says plain and simple. Yes!
Without providing patches...

Don't need to, they're too simple!

Prunesquallor · Post by **Prunesquallor** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:19 am

Howard wrote:
Prunesquallor wrote:
critza wrote:
Howard wrote:CS80 is quite easy to emulate on Zebra - but you really need a poly-afterouch keyboard and a ribbon controller to play it properly!
I love it when someone just steps in and says plain and simple. Yes!
Without providing patches...
Don't need to, they're too simple!

Hey! Not all of us are amazingly talented sound designers, Mr-knock-off-a-CS80-patch-in-his-sleep-type-guy!

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:43 am

I think... the problem is... no matter how spot on the patch is designed, there'll always be someone complaining that it's not authentic enough. Not because it isn't, but because those persons simply can't play it like Vangelis (on a ribbon controller). Thus, unless we deliver a ribbon controller with it there's literally no point in even trying.

jupiter8 · Post by **jupiter8** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 11:22 am

Prunesquallor wrote:
Howard wrote:
Prunesquallor wrote:
critza wrote:
Howard wrote:CS80 is quite easy to emulate on Zebra - but you really need a poly-afterouch keyboard and a ribbon controller to play it properly!
I love it when someone just steps in and says plain and simple. Yes!
Without providing patches...
Don't need to, they're too simple!
Hey! Not all of us are amazingly talented sound designers, Mr-knock-off-a-CS80-patch-in-his-sleep-type-guy!

There's nothing to it really. I knocked this up in like 10 minutes.
http://www.box.net/shared/y2172ogkum
It is just two saw tooth waves an octave apart with a filter opening slowly by an envelope. And that's pretty much it. I tried a few different filters but settled on the 12 db one IIRC. The CS 80 has 12 dB filters i believe but i could be mistaken about that. Trust me there's hardly any tweaking at all. Except for the filter envelope everything is pretty much default values or super obvious.

EDIT: And hefty doses of chorus/delay/reverb of course but that's a given.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 12:35 pm

jupiter8 wrote:There's nothing to it really. I knocked this up in like 10 minutes. http://www.box.net/shared/y2172ogkum

Hi Jupiter8 - that "clone" sounded nice, but it was a bit static. I think when people speak of "that Vangelis sound", they mean his articulated (bends, vibrato etc..) leads.

jupiter8 · Post by **jupiter8** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:05 pm

Howard wrote:
jupiter8 wrote:There's nothing to it really. I knocked this up in like 10 minutes. http://www.box.net/shared/y2172ogkum
Hi Jupiter8 - that "clone" sounded nice, but it was a bit static. I think when people speak of "that Vangelis sound", they mean his articulated (bends, vibrato etc..) leads.

Well there's no modulation on it what so ever. I listened to the original and there isn't that much going on. But yeah some performance stuff wouldn't hurt but as i said this was just a super quick deal to show the actual sound almost comes as default in Zebra2.

Take the init patch. Leave OSC1 as it is. Add another OSC. Transpose that 1 octave. Add filter and an envelope to control it. Adjust envelope and filter mod depth to taste. The FX was the default settings except for the Delay which i changed from 1/4 to dotted 8 on one tap. And you're like 90 % there.

As you mentioned earlier it is a very simple patch.

Prunesquallor · Post by **Prunesquallor** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:10 pm

Thanks, guys!

Note to self: Buy polyphonic keyboard with aftertouch. Acquire ribbon controller. Grow beard.)

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:27 pm

Howard wrote:
jupiter8 wrote:There's nothing to it really. I knocked this up in like 10 minutes. http://www.box.net/shared/y2172ogkum
Hi Jupiter8 - that "clone" sounded nice, but it was a bit static. I think when people speak of "that Vangelis sound", they mean his articulated (bends, vibrato etc..) leads.

True, however, less true for that CS80 brass sound, which doesn't have that much modulation or articulation. (EDIT:Jupiter8 has already commented about it. Cross-post). What it does have lots of, is reverb. HUGE amounts. So that's another production trick to think about.

But yeah, I do agree that when people talk about the 'Vangelis sound' they subconsciously refer to the performance in equal measures as the sound.

I personally love his solo sound from the early albums, which is based on a single sawtooth wave. But how expressive it is in his hands.

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:31 pm

Prunesquallor wrote:Thanks, guys!

Note to self: Buy polyphonic keyboard with aftertouch. Acquire ribbon controller. Grow beard.)

The 'grow beard' point will be the easiest.

Buying a poly keyboard, less so.

There is that new kid on the block, though, all in red, with a folding case...can't remember the company...

u-he

KVR Audio

CS-80/Vangelis/Toto Sounds on Zebra ?