u-he

holoniverse · Post by **holoniverse** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:24 pm

Hi there

I am a linux fan. Since 1995. Really the only realm where linux is behind other platforms is pro audio.
Mostly because vendor support is low.

I am a die-hard though, and want to stick to linux as much as possible.

So looking at good synths with linux support - there's not much.
But recently someone suggested to look at u-he.

Frankly - I am impressed.

But I am also confused. There are quite a lot of synths and effects.
I would like to buy one for the time being.

First and foremost to congratulate u-he and send a signal that we linux users are very thankful for their efforts.

Secondly, I want to just buy one product first in order to make experiences with it and decide on further purchases in the future.
I have mostly looked at hive so far, due to laziness and lack of time I haven't been able to look much at the others.

I don't expect anyone to take the decision for me, but I appreciate suggestions.

I am not a very experimenting musician when it comes to software synths.
I would love to one day be able to master modular synths and be more experimental and find my own sounds. But the reality so far is that find it somewhat daunting to delve into learning this whole new universe of possibilities. It seems time consuming. But maybe there's u-he has a good trade off with a modular synth with vast presets and good potential to be a stepping stone to learn.

So for the time being let's say I am more interested in good sounding presets ready to be used right away, with occasional tinkering with filters, envelopes and effects. I am a keyboarder by training, with a past of funky/70s and a current orientation of ambient chill psy fusion with phonky elements...
I like delayed sounds, atmospheres, sequenced synths, dreamy leads.....

Wondering what folks on this forum may want to recommend to me.
Thank you in any case!

zvenx · Post by **zvenx** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:27 pm

Hi, In general I would say Zebra is the must have, the most versatile, the it can almost do anything synth.
However if you came up funky/70's with the occasional tinkering with filters, envelopes and effects I would say Repro.

rsp

martinjuenke · Post by **martinjuenke** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:29 pm

ZEBRA +1

sleepcircle · Post by **sleepcircle** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 10:27 pm

I love repro. zebra is more elaborate and you can do more with it, but repro (1 and 5 come in the same package) has raw power behind the sound which lends sonic interest to even the simplest patches.

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 10:34 pm

Hive might actually be best for your level of synth experience, it's easy to get along with right away.

I actually find that Zebra has quite a learning curve, it's not a synth I'd typically recommend to people without a lot of direct synth experience / know-how.

Same for Bazille, but the fact that you're interested in modular does make me think Bazille might be up your alley.

remember, you can demo all of these, so do it!

twisted-space · Post by **twisted-space** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 10:43 pm

Loads of good presets and the abilty to tinker with filters and envelopes and effects (and oscillators) makes me think of Diva.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 10:50 pm

u-he do a few free synths and a couple of cut-down versions of their commercial synths for Computer Music magazine, which will basically cost you £5 or somesuch for a single online issue of the magazine. Start with them; minimal outlay, good way to test compatibility, simpler feature set is easier to learn and a good springboard for the full-blown versions.

Funkybot's Evil Twin · Tue Sep 04, 2018 11:24 pm

holoniverse wrote:I am not a very experimenting musician when it comes to software synths.
I would love to one day be able to master modular synths and be more experimental and find my own sounds. But the reality so far is that find it somewhat daunting to delve into learning this whole new universe of possibilities. It seems time consuming. But maybe there's u-he has a good trade off with a modular synth with vast presets and good potential to be a stepping stone to learn.

So for the time being let's say I am more interested in good sounding presets ready to be used right away, with occasional tinkering with filters, envelopes and effects. I am a keyboarder by training, with a past of funky/70s and a current orientation of ambient chill psy fusion with phonky elements...
I like delayed sounds, atmospheres, sequenced synths, dreamy leads.....

Based on what you're saying here, I'd say you have a few options:

1. Diva - emulates a few classic analog synths in pre-wired modules. So you can mix a Moog oscillator bank with a Roland filter, etc. Lots of presets, easy to get good sounds out of. Was considered high CPU back in the day, but far less so now.

2. RePro-1/5 - exacting emulations of the Sequential Circuits Pro-One (mono) and Prophet-5. Very vintage sounding, but each synth has some added tricks to get into modern territories. These are just modern classics IMO, and I actually prefer these to Diva personally, even if Diva is capable of a wider range of sounds. For your sake, you should absolutely consider these.

3. Hive - more modern, dance oriented synth. Low CPU, easy to program, modern GUI.

4. Zebra - semi-modular, steep-ish learning curve, but something like 14,000+ presets available between the factory content and U-he patch library (Note: these presets are not tagged). Probably capable of the widest range of sounds in the U-he catalog, but also a little long in the tooth in some areas (waveform drawing is a little clunky for example). Reason to buy? It does just about everything soundwise (can even do convincing acoustic instruments in many examples), sounds fantastic, and when Zebra3 eventually comes out (likely next year), you'll get a huge discount. You can use it to learn some more modular type synthesis, without having to go fully modular.

Those would be the four I'd recommend checking out anyway.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 4:00 am

On Linux?

I'd get Bitwig as a DAW... it has some synths and a now solid sampler... and then add 1 u-he synth... Diva or RePro which will complement Bitwig well...

You would be set for years right there...

spacepluk · Post by **spacepluk** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:12 am

My main machine runs Arch Linux 99.9% of the time

For my pro-audio tasks I bought Bitwig, Renoise, Zebra and Repro. All of them are worth every penny! Notice that you can also use some Windows VSTs using airwave, native support is better but it works really well.

You can spend a lot of time tweaking Zebra, from what you say I think you'll enjoy more with Repro or Diva. Hive has a more modern/digital sound. You probably should spend some time with the demos before you buy.

Kypresso · Post by **Kypresso** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:40 pm

whyterabbyt wrote:u-he do a few free synths and a couple of cut-down versions of their commercial synths for Computer Music magazine, which will basically cost you £5 or somesuch for a single online issue of the magazine. Start with them; minimal outlay, good way to test compatibility, simpler feature set is easier to learn and a good springboard for the full-blown versions.

Computer Music magazine plugins are only for pc or mac, at least all the dvd's i have from them are like this.

akira2 · Post by **akira2** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:09 pm

You should definitively begin with U-he Tyrell N6
It's free and really great.

https://www.amazona.de/freeware-synth-tyrell-n6-v3-03/

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:09 pm

Kypresso wrote:
whyterabbyt wrote:u-he do a few free synths and a couple of cut-down versions of their commercial synths for Computer Music magazine, which will basically cost you £5 or somesuch for a single online issue of the magazine. Start with them; minimal outlay, good way to test compatibility, simpler feature set is easier to learn and a good springboard for the full-blown versions.
Computer Music magazine plugins are only for pc or mac, at least all the dvd's i have from them are like this.

S'funny then that U-he's product pages explicitly state that they're available for Linux. If they didnt, I wouldnt have mentioned them.

https://u-he.com/products/zebracm/Requirements wrote:
Mac OS X 10.5 or newer
or
Windows XP/Vista or newer
or
Linux

https://u-he.com/products/bazillecm/#linuxbeta wrote:
Requirements

Mac OS X 10.5 or newer
or
Windows XP/Vista or newer
or
Linux

holoniverse · Post by **holoniverse** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:50 pm

Wow guys, thanks for the numerous responses!!!
I am very positively impressed about this forum.

In fact I bought bitwig as well. I am very confident that with a u-he synth I will have a setup I will have some fun with

But the decision will be hard.

I invested the time yesterday for playing with the demos.

The laptop I am currently using for music making is a couple of years old. I do have 8GB of RAM.
With Zebra2, some sounds did cross my CPU limit, resulting in awful crackling, noises and Xruns (I use jack, 96 kHz, with an external PresSounds StudioLive AR12 USB mixer).
I hoped I was not pressed to upgrade my laptop anytime soon...
I am not that much interested in Repro nor Diva.
So Hive is the alternative.

I *DID* like Zebra2 better, but it's too heavy on my CPU. I do like Hive, but as I am going to invest, I would prefer the one I like better...

So some thinking ahead.
Thanks everyone!
Further comments always welcomed

holoniverse · Post by **holoniverse** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 3:04 pm

This is a bit off-topic, I apologize

@spacepluk I am wondering what's your need to run bitwig AND renoise

u-he

KVR Audio

u-he synths buying recommendation?