I saw a reference to the new free Zebralette pop in the fress synths thread but I thought it was deserving of it’s own thread that will obviously be helpful when the full version of Z3 finally makes an appearance. I’ll be honest, I’d sold my Z2/Dark Zebra license a few years ago as I wasn’t using all that much anymore, the interface was starting to annoy me and I wasn’t sure how fussed I would be about the new version if/when it ever surfaced.
I could be rowing back on those thoughts as the early signs with the forthcoming Zebralette look really positive. This patch sounds absolutely lovely…
I’ll likely wait for it to come out of beta before I installed it but those interested can get it here:
Lastly, Urs has a really in-depth guide to it on his channel… not watched it yet but I suspect my Saturday night will be a combo of this vid, a few light refreshments and the soccer-football higlights… rock plus roll!
Very much looking forward to trying this once I’ve finished current projects. Currently very deep in Pigments, but will absolutely give this a proper go later in the year.
I must admit that complex synth engines don’t really interest me any more, particularly when I see what the octatrack et al can do with a simple sound source and some creativity.
Give me a few nice sounding oscillators and a bit of modulation/fx and I’m a happy bunny.
Besides, while I appreciate the skill that goes into making a patch that can be an entire song with one key press, I prefer building from simpler parts. Give me something like zebra and I won’t get anything done for ages if I dig in.
I’m with you with the simplicity reasoning, but in this case… If a synth sounds good, it’s free of charge, supports Linux, comes with a bunch of presets, MPE & CLAP are planned to be released during the beta period, and it’s developed by an experienced company known for the high quality of their products… I’m running out of arguments about why shouldn’t I give it a go.
I know what you mean, it was part of the reason I sold Z2 because I was wasting too much time endlessly tweaking endless parameters. The new Zebraletter I’m keen on because it is much more limited albeit it’s one oscillator is very deep. But I’ve gotten much better at appreciating less as more. Whether that ultimately translates to upgrading to the full Z3 remains to be seen.
I just stumbled across a new Zebralette 3 beta version that’s been out since April. It’s much better on cpu usage and has a more extensive preset library:
It’s all relative of course, but I really enjoy a few dials and a wide sweet spot more than outrageous depth, menus and features. I feel Fors nails this on Ableton, in fact their interfaces make some of Ableton’s own look pretty poorly designed. If you want to have people explore a synth, make it simple to access the controls and I’m more likely to do it. I don’t particularly go in for the FM thing, but the accessible nature of it makes me use it.
I love uhe sounds and their synths are all round awesome. But gui isn’t their strong point. Diva is significantly improved with the MONA skin. What I usually end up doing is using the vast array of presets out there (sound designers love uhe!) and tweak. It’s a decent compromise I find, especially when they sound so good.
