Zebra 2. Oh dear god.

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
glitchrock-buddha
Posts: 4357
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:29 am
Location: The Ableton Live Forum

Post by glitchrock-buddha » Sat Oct 14, 2006 11:23 pm

noratronika wrote:I now own Zebra 2.0, thanks to Urs for the assistance and discount. Very happy with my "purchase".
Yep, me too!

Just picked it with the dinosaur crossgrade for 119!

Excellent fella.

Happy day! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Professional Shark Jumper.

Urs
Posts: 75
Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2003 11:12 pm
Location: Berlin
Contact:

Post by Urs » Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:06 am

melocoton wrote:I'm missing something special and probably didn't give it a fair chance.
Well, I think the strength of Zebra is not the sheer number of modules that can be wired up so or so. They can, but that's not the point.

The point lays merely in the details. Such as the effects built into the oscillators. Check out what Zebralette does, and it's basically just one oscillator and no proper filter.

Or look at the sounds you typically get out of a beast like Sculpture. Then just compare that to what you can get out of the comb modules. It's not that much of a difference, even though the comb modules in Z2 are way easier to program (and all stereo, btw).

And then put a pluck from a comb, a resonant lowpass filter and an FMO in series. Simple thing, yet not possible in any other synth out there (to my best knowledge, that is), but it does some decent sounds.

I think the strength of Z2 is its simplicity, despite the load of options.

;) Urs

dab
Posts: 162
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 2:37 am
Location: Canada

Post by dab » Sun Oct 15, 2006 5:51 pm

I also just bought Zebra2, man this things sounds good. This will definitely be the first vsti I reach for when I need inspiration... :lol:

deva
Posts: 1685
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:32 pm

Post by deva » Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:07 pm

dab wrote:I also just bought Zebra2, man this things sounds good. This will definitely be the first vsti I reach for when I need inspiration... :lol:
I have been using Zebra2 as a main synth for 6 months now (the preview version was easily stable enough to use in production) and that initial enthusiasm has not worn off. I like it even more now as I have better learned how to make use of its tools.

melocoton
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:24 pm

Post by melocoton » Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:50 pm

OK, after playing with it some more and trying to program some sounds from scratch I'm starting to see the power. I love the oscillator effects which I didn't notice at first and the wave warp stuff is pretty powerful. It also helps that I finally figured out how to turn off the effects :P

Zebralette would be perfect for me if it only had a VCF as well.

dab
Posts: 162
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 2:37 am
Location: Canada

Post by dab » Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:06 pm

I think its the last day for the $119.00US deal. I've bought vsti's that where more expensive with just a fraction of the power compared to Zebra2. I just can't stop tweaking this monster... :lol:

dab

glitchrock-buddha
Posts: 4357
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:29 am
Location: The Ableton Live Forum

Post by glitchrock-buddha » Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:45 pm

dab wrote:I think its the last day for the $119.00US deal. I've bought vsti's that where more expensive with just a fraction of the power compared to Zebra2. I just can't stop tweaking this monster... :lol:

dab
It's the last day for the 169$ deal (Instead of 199), but you can still get the dinosaur crossgrade if you have a hardware synth to "retire", which knocks off 50 bucks, making it 149 after today with the crossgrade.
Professional Shark Jumper.

Machinesworking
Posts: 11551
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2004 9:30 pm
Location: Seattle

Post by Machinesworking » Sun Oct 15, 2006 10:08 pm

glitchrock-buddha wrote:Damn the more I think about, the more I think I gotta get it. Those random notes sneak up on you so fast in the demo! It's so hard to justify buying though, what with my komplete 4 universal binary upgrade coming soon. we'll see.
glad you broke down and bought it. I was going to mention that my go to synths are almost always Zebra, Absynth, Reactor, Symptohm, and Automat.

Zebra's filters and basic sound always sits well in the mix with NI gear, NI tends towards a brittle sound where Zebra is warm at some level.... hard to explain, but they compliment themselves VERY well, no need to justify the purchase! :D

glitchrock-buddha
Posts: 4357
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:29 am
Location: The Ableton Live Forum

Post by glitchrock-buddha » Sun Oct 15, 2006 10:31 pm

Machinesworking wrote:
glitchrock-buddha wrote:Damn the more I think about, the more I think I gotta get it. Those random notes sneak up on you so fast in the demo! It's so hard to justify buying though, what with my komplete 4 universal binary upgrade coming soon. we'll see.
glad you broke down and bought it. I was going to mention that my go to synths are almost always Zebra, Absynth, Reactor, Symptohm, and Automat.

Zebra's filters and basic sound always sits well in the mix with NI gear, NI tends towards a brittle sound where Zebra is warm at some level.... hard to explain, but they compliment themselves VERY well, no need to justify the purchase! :D
Ya, with the dinosaur crossgrade plus early bird deal, it was hard to justify not getting it! It's definitely filling a nice spot in my arsenal now. It really does cut through mixes quite well, which is hugely important. Many synths, although they might sound great on their own, have trouble sitting well overlapped on themselves or other synths. Like my rp blue. Love the sound, but it doesn't sit in a mix nearly as nice as zebra. Using these together along with operator/sampler and N.I. stuff (when I get 'em back) will really cover all areas quite nicely.

I just wish I wasn't so damn busy so I could sit and play. All I want to do right now is tweak, tweak, tweak. But all I have time for is school, school, school.
:x

grb
Professional Shark Jumper.

deva
Posts: 1685
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:32 pm

Post by deva » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:57 am

school over zebra? man you have some strange priorities! :)

jesso
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:51 pm
Location: Dublin Ireland
Contact:

Post by jesso » Mon Oct 16, 2006 10:30 am

just bought it.
Anyone tell me where the presets should live? (osx)
Im a bit of a techno retard.

thanks

earthlinger
Posts: 98
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:19 pm
Location: lowlands

Post by earthlinger » Mon Oct 16, 2006 10:39 am

jesso wrote:just bought it.
Anyone tell me where the presets should live? (osx)
Im a bit of a techno retard.

thanks
Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/
----------------------------
lyingdyingwonderbody#2

jesso
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:51 pm
Location: Dublin Ireland
Contact:

Post by jesso » Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:05 am

thanks earthlinger, put them where you said..

Shouldnt they be visible when i go to presets in zebra? all im getting is a lot of empty boxes, except for the top one which says, OSC1. When i click on an empty box it gives me a choice of a few different oscillators fms and shapes.
Is it anything to do with the patch format?
I havnt quite got it yet... have i...
Thanks for any help. im a newbie.

jesso
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:51 pm
Location: Dublin Ireland
Contact:

Post by jesso » Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:50 am

not to worry got it working... it rocks!

bandbajao
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2006 4:06 am
Contact:

Post by bandbajao » Mon Oct 16, 2006 2:13 pm

This thing is unbelievable. I'm a very happy man.

BTW, instead of going all hopping mad on this forum, why don't you long term users go post some (good) reviews at KVR? There are already three out there - almost 10/10. A couple of more, and Zebra will make it to the top ratings page (they need at least 5).

AdamJay, Kodama, deva - seen you peeps campaigning :twisted: for this on every other post on VSTs...

Zebra @ KVR

Post a review

Post Reply