Live 6 + Zebra 2 = my new dream team!

TheAnimal · Post by **TheAnimal** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:48 pm

When I used Live for the first time I almost immediately thought: This is it! Now I finally found a synth where that same thing happened and it's Zebra 2 ( www.zebrasynth.com ).

Just wanted to let you know how happy I am ...

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:11 pm

Welcome to the fold

Contra · Post by **Contra** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:24 pm

hey whut a coincidence, the animal owns a zebra.

enjoy.

Frederik654 · Post by **Frederik654** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:41 pm

The only thing we still need is the possibility to control more than a thousand parameters in live .. and yes we can midimap in Zebra itself but than record enable must be on ..

How long till ..

Per Boysen · Post by **Per Boysen** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:19 pm

The Animal,

Are you happy with the sound of Zebra? I checked out the demo when Zebra was new and thought it sounded too thin and too "laptop-ish". That was some time ago and maybe Zebra's audio engine has improved?

I'm comparing it to other virtual instruments like my favorites: Arturia Moog Modular V2, Chameleon 5000 and Logic's Sculpture.

TheAnimal · Post by **TheAnimal** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:48 pm

Per Boysen wrote: Are you happy with the sound of Zebra?

Absolutely! That's why I bought it. I'm not a sound designer. When I use a synth I usually need quick results. So I usually choose something from the presets section and then tweak a bit. My way is to try learning from the presets.

(I used Operator for a while. And although I like it's simplicity I was never able to get sounds out of it that I really liked to use in a song. It just seems that Ableton doesn't give a lot of love to Operator - at least as far as presets are concerned.)

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:59 pm

Yo,

you will love to hear that the design of the long rumoured cross modulation filter (XMF also dubbed Xtreme MothFucka) is basically finished.

http://www.u-he.com/music/XMFdemo.mp3 (8 x dry Zebras + 1 x Limiter)

It's a highly cpu-optimized filter module that was inspired by the Moog Little Phatty I just bought. It exceeds this though in terms of stereo operation, bandpass mode and extended parameter ranges for FilterFM, Resonance and Overload. And can be played polyphonic, naturally!

Oh... and it self-oscillates even without any input...

Mac users can already preview it here:

http://www.u-he.com/Z2AUXMF.zip

(works best @44.1kHz, self oscillation has yet to be tuned to other samplerates)

Now tell me this sounds thin

Cheers,

Urs

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:29 pm

Urs wrote: Now tell me this sounds thin

Sounds great! Maybe I really can replace my Virus with Zebra now?

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:51 pm

kuniklo wrote:
Urs wrote: Now tell me this sounds thin
Sounds great! Maybe I really can replace my Virus with Zebra now?

You gotta try it...

To me the Virus still sounds very different (Virus A, that is, without the Moog filter simulation). But I'm on that case as well, it'll just take some more time until it's there...

Urs

mission · Post by **mission** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:01 pm

Urs wrote:
kuniklo wrote:
Urs wrote: Now tell me this sounds thin
Sounds great! Maybe I really can replace my Virus with Zebra now?
You gotta try it...

To me the Virus still sounds very different (Virus A, that is, without the Moog filter simulation). But I'm on that case as well, it'll just take some more time until it's there...

Urs

hey i think i made the connection...

are you a friend of hochi's (dave from san francisco/diego)? months ago he was pushing your filter (you make a filter, right?) on me in that it was the one i needed. never had a chance to try it tho.

edit: filterscape! yes i HAVE tried it! it sounds ridiculously good! the modulation matrix allows me to get very very close to emu-style z-planes.

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:09 pm

Urs wrote: To me the Virus still sounds very different (Virus A, that is, without the Moog filter simulation). But I'm on that case as well, it'll just take some more time until it's there...

Urs

It's not actually the Virus filter in particular I'm after, but something with a similar weight/thickness/buzz. The Virus is the only VA I've found that really nails it. Fabfilter Twin comes pretty close too when overdriven slightly. I don't always want that sound but for a lot of bass & pad sounds I like to use it's essential. If Zebra had a filter like that I really wouldn't need any other synths and it sounds like you're heading that direction with this new filter.

While you're obsoleting my expensive hardware you wanna take a crack at a Machinedrum killer?

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:37 pm

Yo Mission, I think I had briefly exchanged emails with Hoichi...

Kuniklo, well, what I didn't like about the Virus A was its aggressive presence, when it added that inevitable "bite" to each and every sound (which to some extend is also a property of the FabFilter, where I actually find it quite pleasing). Although I already got some algorithms that go into that direction, it's hard to motivate myself to keep on working here... that's why there's more concentration on the analogueish side of things. The XMF as it is now (Moog-style filter) is just the beginning. I hope to find time to add more modes (i.e. Matrix12, MS20 etc.) over the next couple of months, to be released in subsequent updates of Zebra and Filterscape.

Believe me or not, I just bought some J-M Jarre albums... very inspiring when doing filter design

Urs

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:03 pm

Urs wrote:that's why there's more concentration on the analogueish side of things. The XMF as it is now (Moog-style filter) is just the beginning. I hope to find time to add more modes (i.e. Matrix12, MS20 etc.) over the next couple of months, to be released in subsequent updates of Zebra and Filterscape.

That sounds perfect. The stock Zebra 2 filters are good for the typical VA filter but some more analog-modeled filters would be a huge, huge plus. From what I hear in the XMF patches it sounds like you're on the right track.

Believe me or not, I just bought some J-M Jarre albums... very inspiring when doing filter design

I find that very reassuring.

Supposedly most of his signature sounds are factory presets, but what presets!

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:13 pm

kuniklo wrote:Supposedly most of his signature sounds are factory presets, but what presets!

Uhm... I'm talking Oxygene, Equinoxe and Magnetic Fields... there were no factory presets for ARP 2600s and Moog System 55s

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:18 pm

Urs wrote:
kuniklo wrote:Supposedly most of his signature sounds are factory presets, but what presets!
Uhm... I'm talking Oxygene, Equinoxe and Magnetic Fields... there were no factory presets for ARP 2600s and Moog System 55s

I'm thinking more of that big string machine sound, which I've read was a preset. Maybe I'm mistaken. Great stuff though.