What's better for learning Zebra?

[clangorous]

So I've had Zebra for 3 weeks and loving it. My goal is to become proficient in building sounds, especially layered cinematic style sounds.

I'm ready to pull the trigger and buy Dark Zebra on the assumption that I can learn from it...but are the patches too advanced for a Zebra newb to learn from?

What do you guys think? From a learning perspective, wondering if I should:

1. Keep working on breaking down and understanding existing patches.
2. Buy Dark Zebra to accelerate my progress.
3. Buy some other sound set first. Ex: Transmission seems geared for learning and is way cheaper.
4. Just experiment and build sounds (fun, but not paying off much yet in usable sounds except strings).
5. All of the above!

Thanks for any input!

[Kriminal]

Watch the tutorial videos on youtube. I think u-he has a few up there.

[mcnoone]

The ways you mentioned there are all good to learn sound creation.
I found the best way for me (on a hardware synth many years ago, and on Zebra as well) is to examine closely how a patch was created, as well as tweaking these patches, in order to get a feel for how different sources change the overall sound of a patch.
You can also just start with an oscillator, and a filter.
Changing settings and filter types. Just to get a good idea on how things work, and just how wide a range of tones are achievable in Zebra, just by using an osc, and filter.
Good luck with whatever methods you use to learn.

[mabian]

http://www.zebratutorials.com/

There are some very interesting free tutorials there.

And... obviously....RTFM...

- Mario

[3ee]

4. Just experiment and build sounds...

That would be it IMO.

Also try to emulate real instruments, will probably get frustrating some times but it's the best way to understand and find out some big secrets in making great sounds...

[clangorous]

Great suggestions guys, thank you. I have been working with VA synths since the 90s, and used Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook as the basis for learning how to make instrument sounds. Just have not used anything that has the wide range of capabilities that Zebra has...not sure there is anything out there that gets close to it for range of sounds. Synth's like Thor seem to have similar approaches, but no where near as vast as Zebra is...which is why I love it.

I did start with the manual and I always leave it open while using Zebra for quick reference. Did watch all of Howard's Youtube tutorials. Those are great, especially the last half of them.

But have some difficulty deconstructing complex Zebra patches. So that is why I have hesitated on buying Dark Zebra for learning. So I think I'll follow your advice, but also pick up Dark Zebra. If I can't deconstruct a lot of the patches yet, I know I'll be able to at some point...and have some great sounds with the presets in the interim.

Thanks for the ideas and encouragement!

[pdxindy]

The DZ patches aren't particularly more complex than others...

Howard's presets aren't particularly complex... Just good programming.

[clangorous]

The DZ patches aren't particularly more complex than others...

Howard's presets aren't particularly complex... Just good programming.

Better still! Not wanting to sound like anyone else as a goal, but do want to learn good methods.

[Ameyah Audio]

The DZ patches aren't particularly more complex than others...

Howard's presets aren't particularly complex... Just good programming.

the best is to start off with Howard presets, there are so many of them and they are programmed clever and sexy.
and to get some ideas how Howard programs them - take a look on the u-he channel with the Zebra tutorials, they are short and you a learn a lot from them in a short amount of time.

then i would go over to watch some youtube videos ...

and lots of playing on your own not to forget.

[Sendy]

Run an oscilloscope and spectrogram (waterfall display) during your tweaking sessions. At first, the spectrogram in particular was priceless to me. Also, watching some of my favourite music and sounds through it showed me the 'shape' of the sounds and explained things in a way words or objective listening never could.

The oscilloscope can then be used for more precise and experimental work, but there are some caveats to bear in mind when correlating sounds to waveshapes, because there are some counterintuitive 'rules' - for example two sounds that sound identical can have different waveshapes (due to partial phases), but the inverse doesn't hold true (two waveshapes that are the same always produce the same sound).

[bmrzycki]

The DZ patches aren't particularly more complex than others...

Howard's presets aren't particularly complex... Just good programming.

Better still! Not wanting to sound like anyone else as a goal, but do want to learn good methods.

Be careful when deconstructing Howard's presets. They only look simple because he uses a small handful of modules. I recommend taking time to look at each and every knob and turning them separately then resetting the patch. I also recommend disabling/enabling one module in the grid at a time and listening to the changes. Some modules add the tiniest amount of subtly while others drastically alter the sound. Learn to listen for these differences so you can apply similar techniques when you desire at a later time.

It's a bit like watching a master chef cook in his kitchen. He may only use 1 knife, 2 pans, and a mixing bowl to prepare everything which makes the process seem simple enough. What you don't see is the years of practice steering their hand and their taste buds. Few movements are wasted and the creator had a clear image in their mind of what he was going to make at the start. This mindset is much more valuable than any cooking gadget dreamed up by stores like Williams-Sonoma.

EDIT: I'm surprised no one mentioned these excellent videos.
Also read the video comments too. Doing the homework suggestions are quite valuable.

[Howard]

... the creator had a clear image in their mind of what he was going to make at the start.

Actually, that's not true in my case - I seldom have a clue where a patch will eventually go! However, I try to keep patches clean so I can stay focussed and not lose the "plot" as it develops.

[aaron aardvark]

In the Zebra2 User guide it says:

"Making your own sounds in Zebralette is the best way to become a real Zebra2 oscillator expert, as there is zero risk of being distracted by all the other Zebra2 features. Note that you can load Zebralette programmes into Zebra2. Zebralette comes bundled with the Zebra2 package, but has its own separate manual..."

I can't say I followed this advice much because I like Zebra quite a bit better than Zebralette.

[Sendy]

... the creator had a clear image in their mind of what he was going to make at the start.

Actually, that's not true in my case - I seldom have a clue where a patch will eventually go! However, I try to keep patches clean so I can stay focussed and not lose the "plot" as it develops.

My favourite sounds are usually made in the spirit of exploration, rather tham military precision. Have an idea of the "spirit" in which the sounds you want dwell, and with luck the ideas come thick and fast; often feeling more like you're an explorer looking for treasure, rather than an engineer, um, engineering treasure.

[bbaggins]

I'm in the same boat, Keith. I've been tweaking synths since the 70's and figured Zebra would be no problem. Heh. I've never struggled so much with a synthesizer!

One revelation I've had is that very small changes can effect a profound difference in how the patch sounds. No matter how carefully I'd follow along with a video tutorial my patch still wouldn't sound quite like the one in the vid. Zebra is very much a tweak-by-listening synth rather than any kind of cookbook approach.

I even went as far as to buy a couple commercial soundsets, something I'd never done before. Dissecting Joseph Hollo's excellent Padsheaven 1 & 2 has been very educational.