Ableton Forum

XSIMan wrote:Sounds like a - if it's not got dub step presets its not got any good presets. Howard Scar made the presets for the last two bat man movies. He's at the top of his game.

Oh indeed, he's a master synthesist. The Dark Zebra's presets sounds superb. Going through some Zebra presets now, I just think many of the current factory presets of non-DZ sound a bit cartoony, bar a large handful of exceptions. They are expertly put together, but just not to my taste. Kind of like Steve Vai, or the Dream Theater guys, are master players, but I cannot listen to their soulless wanking.

This is a terrible analogy...I really don't want to lump Howard Scarr in with that lot...too much respect for him. I'm sure you understand what I mean.

Then again, nothing has presets that cater overwhelmingly to my taste, including Bazille's - the presets I do like from Bazille I just like more than the ones I like from the other synths. ...I suppose many of them are just examples of the various timbres and sounds they're capable of, which is fine.

Zebra² previous 2.1 Factory Bank found here if one scrolls down http://www.u-he.com/PatchLib/zebra.html is a little bit more to my liking compared to the current factory presets, probably because it has more than one person providing them all. No dubstep in sight as far as I'm aware (not sure if you were referring to me...I don't care for dubstep presets).

Going through some of Diva's now - I take back what I said about them...it has quite a few presets I enjoy including a lot of Howard's, but this is greatly helped by Diva's amazing inherent audio quality.

In any case, who cares what I or anyone thinks about some bloody presets for some software synthesizers? I don't even use presets!

I just remembered here http://craftedsound.com/product/u-he-zebra/ is a link to Zebra 2.1 factory bank + Zebra 2.2 Howard Scarr presets + 10th Anniversary presets all racked up for Push - free for anyone who's not aware.

Disclaimer - I love Zebra, will love Diva when I finally buy it, and currently worship at the altar of Bazille. I think Howard Scarr makes some amazing presets too.

Have a good evening.

XSIMan wrote:Sounds like a - if it's not got dub step presets its not got any good presets. Howard Scar made the presets for the last two bat man movies. He's at the top of his game.

First off, I don't like dubstep, so you are simply wrong on that assumption. Secondly, I judge presets based on how they sound to me as I sit here playing them, not based on how successful their creator has been in hollywood.

Anyway since this is a U-he appreciation thread not a U-he "I don't like the presets; it sounds not as pro as a synth of a completely different synthesis style!" thread can we get back to that?

Hive is coming soon, and I'm pretty happy with that. Something about Urs's synths always struck me as 'organic' sounding, and I think him tackling a super saw synth like Sylenth, the Virus etc. is a great idea! I'm pretty certain that I'll be jumping on this as soon as it's available, and it along with all his other great synths since Filterscape makes me feel pretty sad that I got too busy to be in his inner circle beta team. I could be messing with the beta now.

and back to Bazille

http://draigathar.org/sounds/B69.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/B70.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/B72.mp3
http://draigathar.org/sounds/B73.mp3

I'm starting to balance the time spent between Bazille and Zebra. I was a bit concerned that Zebra would whither away, but after revisiting the comb filters, I've remembered what rich, tight and punchy plucks/basses/short staccato sounds can be achieved with them. Combined with its reverb set to 25% Dry and 100% Wet, and creative modulation, all sorts of wonderful soundscapes emerge. A true joy to use.

I'm happy that Zebra and Bazille play so well together, no arguments, no fights - they've each got their role, and they both excel in it.

Time to cook something.

tedlogan wrote:I'm starting to balance the time spent between Bazille and Zebra. I was a bit concerned that Zebra would whither away, but after revisiting the comb filters, I've remembered what rich, tight and punchy plucks/basses/short staccato sounds can be achieved with them. Combined with its reverb set to 25% Dry and 100% Wet, and creative modulation, all sorts of wonderful soundscapes emerge. A true joy to use.

I'm happy that Zebra and Bazille play so well together, no arguments, no fights - they've each got their role, and they both excel in it.

Time to cook something.

Absolutely no offense meant, but it's been funny to me in this thread how people are comparing synths that don't share anything in common like it's some sort of war? Zebra is a wavetable synth at heart, it does other varieties of synthesis as well but that in no way takes away from it's first calling. An example would be the hardware synths like the Xpander, it's a poly analog first and foremost, but you can do FM with it.
People seem to miss at the core a synth will have a direction, with Bazille it's a pretty unique thing, as it's an FM modular. If you're not a fan of FM or modulars there's not much hope in you liking Bazille. Same with Diva, even with it's wide acceptance there were people who didn't like it because it's not a Virus or Omnisphere...

There are call on KVR's host page for U-He to add in all kinds of digital and wavetable synthesis into Diva, completely missing IMO what makes most of his stuff so good, which is focus on a particular style or direction. It's painfully obvious that a single synth cannot do 'everything', and when it try to, some things it won't do very well.

None taken - it's cool.

But you misunderstand me. What I mean when I say things like "concerned that Zebra will whither away" merely means I have a new tool/toy/instrument that is now taking up all my time (Bazille in this case), and also the fact that Bazille leans more towards my sensibilities when it comes to timbres (mainly). Simple as that. I didn't even compare the two synths to each other, just that I prefer the one over the other - a pretty normal thing to do.

There is no war here my friend. Merely not enough time. And I'm only 35, but going on 45 - I heard Niki Minaj exploring Soundcloud today and realised it's all over. Mainstream music is a festering pool of bonesoup currently.

EDIT - and all I mentioned (that I remember) in this thread is that I don't gel much with Zebra's current factory presets, that I prefer to make my own anyway, and that another guy shouldn't compare Sylenth to Bazille. So I'm at a loss why you've quoted me.

Machinesworking wrote:with Bazille it's a pretty unique thing, as it's an FM modular. If you're not a fan of FM or modulars there's not much hope in you liking Bazille. Same with Diva, even with it's wide acceptance there were people who didn't like it because it's not a Virus or Omnisphere...

There are call on KVR's host page for U-He to add in all kinds of digital and wavetable synthesis into Diva, completely missing IMO what makes most of his stuff so good, which is focus on a particular style or direction. It's painfully obvious that a single synth cannot do 'everything', and when it try to, some things it won't do very well.

Bazille is also a Phase Distortion synth... but yes, it is a particular synth.

I also agree with your point... if you go by user requests, Diva would have sampling, wavetables, FM, etc

deva wrote:Bazille is also a Phase Distortion synth

for those who are interested in such type of synthesis (and FM), to have something like Bazille is like a dream come true.

deva wrote:if you go by user requests, Diva would have sampling, wavetables, FM, etc

I also expect Diva to focus on what it does best, creative emulation of vintage analog synth with a twist. It went to the right direction, with a healthy dose of future plans.

Meanwhile, the more I'm interested with the NI Molekular, the more I'm thinking about the Uhbik-X. The Molekular is cool and all, but sounds a bit reaktor to me. Also the Nomad Magma, while interesting it has too many modules that I can't even remember. The concept of Uhbik-X is what I really gassing right now. This type of product is ideal for being developed to an extreme direction, the same with Zebra.

Shile I agree diva should not have sampling, it could have PPG style wavetables, after all is a vintage synth.

Someone pointed out at KVR that there is not a single emulation of a wavetable synth with analog filters, DIva could fill that.

login wrote:Shile I agree diva should not have sampling, it could have PPG style wavetables, after all is a vintage synth.

Someone pointed out at KVR that there is not a single emulation of a wavetable synth with analog filters, DIva could fill that.

While not a direct hardware emulation, Zebra HZ has wavetable synthesis and provides most of the analog-like filters from Diva. Just sayin...

ImNotDedYet wrote:

login wrote:Shile I agree diva should not have sampling, it could have PPG style wavetables, after all is a vintage synth.

Someone pointed out at KVR that there is not a single emulation of a wavetable synth with analog filters, DIva could fill that.

While not a direct hardware emulation, Zebra HZ has wavetable synthesis and provides most of the analog-like filters from Diva. Just sayin...

Have to agree with this, Diva is not a direct emulation as much as a modern interpretation of analog, which not surprisingly is why it IMO does a better job of emulation analog synths than the developers who try to nail an Arp 2600 for example. Plus Waldorf themselves put out a software version of the PPG, the newest version sounds really good.

I would much much rather see Urs get the Polivoks filters and oscillators in Dive, if I don't end up buying it before he completes that, then I most definitely will when he does! Matrix 12/Xpander filters would be welcome too of course, but half the reason I haven't bought Diva is because I have a Memorymoog and Xpander sitting here, so that 'sound' is covered for me. Though getting a Polivoks up and running and maintaining it considering probably a good portion of the electronics are from extinct soviet plants, would be a chore. Brutal filters on that thing (in a good way IMO), and chunky oscillators
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IMpElp0a_Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL6ffBEQGPU

http://www.waldorf-music.info/overview

Oh and I wasn't trying to single anyone out, sorry if it came off that way, just commenting that people compare synths that have nothing in common.
Reminds me I would like to pick this up some day. Their first version was pretty thin sounding, I'm assuming this is a far more accurate model

Can anyone explain to me why there's apparently a need for a dedicated supersaw synth? Zebra's 11 saw waves are not enouh?

sporkles wrote:Can anyone explain to me why there's apparently a need for a dedicated supersaw synth? Zebra's 11 saw waves are not enouh?

See my post about a single synth trying to cover all bases. Zebras 11 setting is more for basic thickening, and its their first attempt.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when it comes out. There's a lot more to the whole supersaw thing than just adding oscillators.

Plus, besides maybe crowding a market with more choices, Urs and co. certainly haven't done anything half assed.