# So is Zebra 3 Just Vaporware? [Answered!]



## jneebz

*May 18 2022 - Link to UPDATE from Urs at KVR Forum:*
https://vi-control.net/community/threads/so-is-zebra-3-just-vaporware-answered.115662/post-5108539

*May 15 2022 - UPDATE from Urs of U-he:*
https://vi-control.net/community/threads/so-is-zebra-3-just-vaporware.115662/post-5105282

——————————————————————
[Original Post]
Anybody have information on Zebra 3 development? Seems like it just disappeared after the big push with NI...


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## doctoremmet

It was first announced in 2014 I think. Urs is still very much alive and so is U-he. At this point it is safe to say it’ll be here sooner rather than later. I do not think Native Instruments has a lot to do with the pace of development


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## Jaap

They just take their time, guess it's done when it's done. I have full faith in that one day will have it.


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## ed buller

it will arrive......until then we just have to suffer with the genius that is ZebraHZ..............

best
e


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## KEM

All I want is ZebraHZ with OTT built in, give me that with Zebra 3 and I'm set for life


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## Pier

Tell me about it! I've been waiting since 2010.

It's not vaporware, but yeah U-He has been focused on other projects.

Urs has probably already started working on it. On July this year he wrote on KVR:



> We're excessively busy still with Apple Silicon updates, a new layer for AAX later on and final work on Uhbik as well as starting Zebra3 development for real.


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## kgdrum

Jaap said:


> They just take their time, guess it's done when it's done. I have full faith in that one day will have it.


Absolutely THIS 👍

Urs and company always release totally finished working products. Yeah we all wish it was released yesterday but I’m confident when the U-he team thinks they finally have the worthy successor to Zebra 2 it will be released and we will be thrilled!
Zebra 3 is a tall order and some pretty big shoes to fill when it’s coming from a company with the integrity,pride and self worth of team U-he.
What I love and respect with everything U-he is they never release buggy 1/2 baked products or unnecessary paid updates to squeeze 💰out of customers.
A truly great developer that I trust implicitly. 👍


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## Technostica

Maybe Hans Zimmer asked 007 to steal the source code and then got Q to finish it?
So expect it to be very good at doing an epic version of the British National Anthem. 
Think Hans on stage with a keytar, a la Hendrix at Woodstock deconstructing the Star Spangled Banner.


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## R. Naroth

They locked the Zebra 3 feature suggestion thread on KVR a few weeks ago. That should give us hope..


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## kgdrum

R. Naroth said:


> They locked the Zebra 3 feature suggestion thread on KVR a few weeks ago. That should give us hope..


I didn’t notice that! GREAT NEWS hopefully………….


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## jneebz

doctoremmet said:


> I do not think Native Instruments has a lot to do with the pace of development


Sorry I meant the “Get Zebra 2 now and Zebra 3 for freeeeeee!” thing during the NI push.


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## Pier

jneebz said:


> Sorry I meant the “Get Zebra 2 now and Zebra 3 for freeeeeee!” thing during the NI push.


AFAIK this was never related to NI.

For years you've been able to purchase Zebra 2 + ZebraHZ and you will get Zebra 3 when it comes out.


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## Alchemedia

Meanwhile, if you don't have Zebra check out the recently updated Zebra CM which is an excellent freebie.


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## hoxclab

Who cares? It's unlikely to be that grand. I sold all my U-he stuff. I'm kind over them now.


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## Pier

hoxclab said:


> Who cares? It's unlikely to be that grand. I sold all my U-he stuff. I'm kind over them now.


What do you use now?


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## Alchemedia

Pier said:


> What do you use now?


Hoxclab hates everything.


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## Dirtgrain

I care, but I am patient. Urs has been transparent about the issues that delay him getting to Zebra 3.


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## jneebz

Dirtgrain said:


> I care, but I am patient.


There’s “patient” and then there’s waiting for Zebra 3 “patient”


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## hoxclab

Pier said:


> What do you use now?


Omnisphere/Keyscape/Trilian. I'v come to the realization I don't need a million synth plugins. These do me well and on top of that Harmor. I am also not using much synths in my music anymore. Sticking to a lot of samples.


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## Saxer

It seems to me that Zebra 3 is the future mega synth where all the U-He knowledge should go into. But on every new synth or update they do the knowledge is rising and so everything has to be rebuilt again.


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## KEM

Saxer said:


> It seems to me that Zebra 3 is the future mega synth where all the U-He knowledge should go into. But on every new synth or update they do the knowledge is rising and so everything has to be rebuilt again.



Zebra 3 will be the Thanos snap of soft synths


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## R. Naroth

KEM said:


> All I want is ZebraHZ with OTT built in, give me that with Zebra 3 and I'm set for life


@KEM forgive my ignorance — what does OTT do?


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## MegaPixel

All they need to build is 1 VST which can can do everything Ana2, Synthmaster 2, Phaseplant, Serum, Vital, Hive 2, Zebra 2 & Z2HZ, Diva, Harmor, Massive, Dune 3, Spire, Bitwig (phase-4, polymer & polysynth) and Falcon 3 can do... With 10,000 presets and every effect known to man that is actually useful... (rev, delay, dist etc etc)...

But most importantly of all, a decent preset browser and preset management system 

*1 VST to rule them all...*


Should be out the same time as Starcitizen is released and had it's first year of patches...


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## quickbrownf0x

R. Naroth said:


> @KEM forgive my ignorance — what does OTT do?


It's a plugin. Turns your signal output into big fat sausage rolls/compresses the sh*t out of it, really.

https://xferrecords.com/freeware

Is Zebra3 out yet? I only checked about 14 times today...


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## Megreen

KEM said:


> Zebra 3 will be the Thanos snap of soft synths


Yeah, I heard that one about like 20 synths in the last 15 years.


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## hoxclab

MegaPixel said:


> All they need to build is 1 VST which can can do everything Ana2, Synthmaster 2, Phaseplant, Serum, Vital, Hive 2, Zebra 2 & Z2HZ, Diva, Harmor, Massive, Dune 3, Spire, Bitwig (phase-4, polymer & polysynth) and Falcon 3 can do... With 10,000 presets and every effect known to man that is actually useful... (rev, delay, dist etc etc)...
> 
> But most importantly of all, a decent preset browser and preset management system
> 
> *1 VST to rule them all...*
> 
> 
> Should be out the same time as Starcitizen is released and had it's first year of patches...


Spectrasonics already have created that VST it's called Omnisphere.


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## Trash Panda

MegaPixel said:


> All they need to build is 1 VST which can can do everything Ana2, Synthmaster 2, Phaseplant, Serum, Vital, Hive 2, Zebra 2 & Z2HZ, Diva, Harmor, Massive, Dune 3, Spire, Bitwig (phase-4, polymer & polysynth) and Falcon 3 can do... With 10,000 presets and every effect known to man that is actually useful... (rev, delay, dist etc etc)...
> 
> But most importantly of all, a decent preset browser and preset management system
> 
> *1 VST to rule them all...*
> 
> 
> Should be out the same time as Starcitizen is released and had it's first year of patches...


I believe Omnisphere 2 already exists, but I may have imagined that.


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## MegaPixel

Trash Panda said:


> I believe Omnisphere 2 already exists, but I may have imagined that.


UVI Falcon 2.x - Far better


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## Trash Panda

MegaPixel said:


> UVI Falcon 2.x - Far better


PlayStation is far better than Xbox.


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## KEM

R. Naroth said:


> @KEM forgive my ignorance — what does OTT do?



Exactly what @quickbrownf0x said, it stands for Over The Top compression, it started out as a preset for Ableton’s stock multiband compressor but Xfer then took that exact preset and made a free plugin out of it, so I’d highly recommend downloading it and putting it on all your favorite synth patches to see what it does. 

One tip I’d recommend is to put the downward knob at 80% so the low end doesn’t get overly compressed and lose its weight, you’ll be able to get the most aggressive sounds you’ve ever made using it


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## Shad0wLandsUK

Trash Panda said:


> PlayStation is far better than Xbox.


Give me your Playstation and I might let you use my Commodore 64 for a day. I will use your Playstation as a stand for it, then you can have it back


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## MegaPixel

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> Give me your Playstation and I might let you use my Commodore 64 for a day. I will use your Playstation as a stand for it, then you can have it back




That or an Amiga 


Amiga Forever   

















The only way to make music


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## Pier

MegaPixel said:


> That or an Amiga
> 
> 
> Amiga Forever
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The only way to make music



I started making music in the late 90s with FastTracker 2!


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## MegaPixel

Same, loved ModTracker? and ProTracker? too I think they were, and I think there was NoiseTracker... But Octamed in the end locked me in.









And ofc I ripped many a track from many a game and then came Aminet with it's endless supply of tracks and IFF samples 









Then ended my childhood with 1 last song created using octamed on a PC (I know blasphemous)
Click to listen.


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## quickbrownf0x

Pier said:


> I started making music in the late 90s with FastTracker 2!




Awesome. I started out on the Atari - those were the days. Best time ever.


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## EvilDragon

jneebz said:


> There’s “patient” and then there’s waiting for Zebra 3 “patient”



Hey at least it won't be like Duke Nukem Forever.


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## doctoremmet

Chinese Democracy.


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## Trash Panda

EvilDragon said:


> Hey at least it won't be like Duke Nukem Forever.


I actually enjoyed that game. It felt like a prettified throwback to the 90s shooters, especially with the level design.


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## MegaPixel

Trash Panda said:


> I actually enjoyed that game. It felt like a prettified throwback to the 90s shooters, especially with the level design.


Went from:
- Manic Miner
- Paperboy
- BombJack
- BubbleBobble
- Outrun (loved that in the arcade and the songs)
- Xenon 2 Mega blast (the 1st game I loaded up on the amiga after the spectrum, what gave me the idea to look into making music on the amiga)
- R-Type
- The NewZealand Story
- Shadow of the Beast (omfg I loved the music to that game on the Amiga)
- Gods / Speedball / etc etc etc etc
- Doom (installed on collage library computers with about 500 floppy disks)
- Quake
- Unreal Tournament 2004 (setup over LAN in various companies I worked in, nothing beats pinning your boss up against the wall with a gatling gun till the bullets run out while you just stair across the office at him grinning  )


*Shadow of the beast - Amiga - Death scene music*





*Shadow of the beast - Amiga - Main game music





Gods - The Bitmap Brothers

*


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## chillbot

You kids and your "Zebra3".

Sincerely,
Stylus RMX2


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## Pier

chillbot said:


> You kids and your "Zebra3".
> 
> Sincerely,
> Stylus RMX2


To be fair Stylus RMX was released in 2004 and Zebra 2 was released in 2006 which is not that far off.


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## Snoobydoobydoo

When people start to think that you owe them something (and that appeared a lot with Zebra 3), its time do do something.

Z3 doesn’t feel real anymore, when you read that something like uhbik (I own it too, but would trade any updates for it to know there’s been worked on Z3 first) is prioritized. But its getting warmer 
Everyone prefers a polished product and is happily going to wait a bit longer for a product without flaws that are caused by a hesitated release….but Zebra III started being a ghost many years ago. Just too many years in which dozens of other Synths surprisingly were released.


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## KEM

We’ll still be able to keep Zebra2/HZ once 3 comes out right?


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## EvilDragon

Yes, Z3 will be a separate plugin installed side by side.


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## KEM

EvilDragon said:


> Yes, Z3 will be a separate plugin installed side by side.



Happy to hear that, and honestly I’m hoping 3 doesn’t happen too soon now because I really want Hans to release his Dune patches for Dark Zebra, but he said that won’t happen until after the second Dune movie comes out and I’d personally much rather have his Dune patches than 3!!


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## Pier

KEM said:


> I’d personally much rather have his Dune patches than 3!!


Blasphemy!


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## KEM

Pier said:


> Blasphemy!



I would say that I’d like to have the Dune patches on Zebra 3 but since they were made in 2 that’s very unlikely to happen, so I’ll take my Dune patches first and foremost


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## Pier

KEM said:


> I would say that I’d like to have the Dune patches on Zebra 3 but since they were made in 2 that’s very unlikely to happen, so I’ll take my Dune patches first and foremost


Maybe they were made in a new Z2 version specially made for Dune. I guess we'll know in a couple of years.


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## KEM

Pier said:


> Maybe they were made in a new Z2 version specially made for Dune. I guess we'll know in a couple of years.



I’ll take that…


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## DANIELE

Hi all, I didn't follow all the story so I'm asking: should I buy Zebra 2 + DZ now or should I wait for Zebra 3?


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## Trash Panda

DANIELE said:


> Hi all, I didn't follow all the story so I'm asking: should I buy Zebra 2 + DZ now or should I wait for Zebra 3?


If you purchase Zebra 2 + DZ you get Zebra 3 as a free update.









KVR Forum: Zebra3 Info - u-he Forum


KVR Audio Forum - Zebra3 Info - u-he Forum




www.kvraudio.com


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## kgdrum

DANIELE said:


> Hi all, I didn't follow all the story so I'm asking: should I buy Zebra 2 + DZ now or should I wait for Zebra 3?




Zebra 3 will be an entirely new and different animal than Zebra2/DZ.
Zebra 2 / DZ will not be overwritten when Z3 is finally released.
From my understanding Z2/DZ soundsets will not work or be ported to Z3 so I expect Z2 and Z3 comfortably cohabiting. Some of us have a ton of Z2 content,presets etc……
So I say go for Z2 and DZ now get 25% off and eventually when Z3 finally gets released (hopefully in the next year or two) you will get Z3 for free!
In the meantime you can use and explore Zebra / DZ and all of the available soundsets and get a ton of mileage out of a great synth that’s not being replaced. Zebra2 will still be alive ,well and quite useful even after Z3 gets released.


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## Pier

kgdrum said:


> So I say go for Z2 and DZ now get 25% off and eventually when Z3 finally gets released (hopefully in the next year or two) you will get Z3 for free!


Even better, go get Zebra at Knobcloud. There's someone selling it for $135 which is a much bigger discount than 25% (Zebra retails at $225 USD).


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## AdamKmusic

KEM said:


> Happy to hear that, and honestly I’m hoping 3 doesn’t happen too soon now because I really want Hans to release his Dune patches for Dark Zebra, but he said that won’t happen until after the second Dune movie comes out and I’d personally much rather have his Dune patches than 3!!


Where did HZ say that?


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## KEM

AdamKmusic said:


> Where did HZ say that?



Facebook!


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## Dewdman42

kgdrum said:


> (hopefully in the next year or two)


People have been saying that for years. Is it complete vapor ware? I have to say, yes probably it is. 

I bought Dark Zebra 2 years ago and people had been talking about the so called free update to Z3 for years before that. 

At this point...yes...is is utter vaporware.

That being said...U-He makes terrific sounding synth plugins..Love every one of them... I'm not sorry that I bought any of them. and IF Z3 ever materials in this century..I'm sure it will be great.... but don't hold your breath waiting.


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## DANIELE

Pier said:


> Even better, go get Zebra at Knobcloud. There's someone selling it for $135 which is a much bigger discount than 25% (Zebra retails at $225 USD).


Thank you, I didn't know that store, is it sure?


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## Pier

DANIELE said:


> Thank you, I didn't know that store, is it sure?


It's not a store. It's people like you and me selling licenses.

Personally, I've sold and bought a couple of times without issues.

Edit:

Another option is the Buy & Sell forum at KVR. I've seen Zebra pop up there from time to time.


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## Pier

Dewdman42 said:


> People have been saying that for years. Is it complete vapor ware? I have to say, yes probably it is.
> 
> I bought Dark Zebra 2 years ago and people had been talking about the so called free update to Z3 for years before that.
> 
> At this point...yes...is is utter vaporware.
> 
> That being said...U-He makes terrific sounding synth plugins..Love every one of them... I'm not sorry that I bought any of them. and IF Z3 ever materials in this century..I'm sure it will be great.... but don't hold your breath waiting.


It's not vaporware.

I give you that U-He are really slow, but Urs is 100% transparent about its development at KVR.

It was planned to be finally worked on during 2020 and released in 2021-2022. But then COVID happened which slowed down everything, and then ARM Macs which forced them to update all their plugins. This delayed Zebra 3 development to 2022 with a release for 2023-2024.

In the past decade or so U-He could have given priority to Zebra 3, but they gave priority to their other smaller products. I'm certain this was a business decision. Zebra is a massive product, very expensive to develop, and probably Hive/Repro are much more popular.


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## Dewdman42

heheh well then in 2025 we can talk again to see if it becomes anything more then vapor. Until now....vapor...


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## AdamKmusic

KEM said:


> Facebook!


Got a link or screenshot? I assume it was on the perspective group page?


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## kgdrum

Dewdman42 said:


> heheh well then in 2025 we can talk again to see if it becomes anything more then vapor. Until now....vapor...





Dewdman42 said:


> heheh well then in 2025 we can talk again to see if it becomes anything more then vapor. Until now....vapor...




Although Z3 is obviously not imminent it is moving closer to reality. Urs stated quite clearly that they will be moving forward once they finish a few things. U-he and Urs development pace is painfully slow but totally transparent.


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## Wes Antczak

They take their time with things, but at the same time what they do release something it is usually fantastic. And no... in my experience U-he has never ever been a purveyor of vapor ware.


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## thereus

jneebz said:


> Anybody have information on Zebra 3 development? Seems like it just disappeared after the big


I wonder how much more they can do with the improvements in computing since 2014… DDR5, anyone? Much faster transfer between GPU and CPU? It seems to me that we are due a bit of a synthesis revolution…

Actually, while we are on that subject, why are we still so bound by real time rendering? Maybe that’s a new thread…


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## Pier

kgdrum said:


> Although Z3 is obviously not imminent


Yeah... in fact that's the main reason I've been looking for more synths lately LOL


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## KEM

AdamKmusic said:


> Got a link or screenshot? I assume it was on the perspective group page?



If I remember correctly it was in the Global Composers Network group, I think Ashton Gleckman made a posts asking about them and Hans said he would do it after the second movie


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## KEM

Pier said:


> Yeah... in fact that's the main reason I've been looking for more synths lately LOL



Like Omnisphere


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## kgdrum

Pier said:


> Yeah... in fact that's the main reason I've been looking for more synths lately LOL



I really don’t think Z3 is that far away.Urs mentioned in a thread that they were close to finishing up the projects that needed to be resolved before they could focus on finishing Z3.
When who knows but now that Urs has actually stated in threads @kvr clearly that the focus on finishing Z3 will soon be happening,previously they never really mentioned any specific details.


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## Pier

kgdrum said:


> I really don’t think Z3 is that far away.Urs mentioned in a thread that they were close to finishing up the projects that needed to be resolved before they could focus on finishing Z3.
> When who knows but now that Urs has actually stated in threads @kvr clearly that the focus on finishing Z3 will soon be happening,previously they never really mentioned any specific details.


Yeah I know.

But U-He is still finishing up MFM2 and Ubhik 2. They will start working on Zebra 3 after releasing those two products.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but even with an optimistic estimate, I don't see Zebra 3 being released in 2022.


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## Dirtgrain

Pier said:


> But U-He is still finishing up MFM2 and Ubhik 2. They will start working on Zebra 3 after releasing those two products.


And we have to hope that Apple (or maybe Windows) doesn't muck things up between now and then.


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## rAC

jneebz said:


> There’s “patient” and then there’s waiting for Zebra 3 “patient”


Is that like waiting for Godot?


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## Crowe

rAC said:


> Is that like waiting for Godot?


I'd expect a lot more surrealism then.


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## TheUnfinished

KEM said:


> Happy to hear that, and honestly I’m hoping 3 doesn’t happen too soon now because I really want Hans to release his Dune patches for Dark Zebra, but he said that won’t happen until after the second Dune movie comes out and I’d personally much rather have his Dune patches than 3!!


He said what???!!! Haha.


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## KEM

TheUnfinished said:


> He said what???!!! Haha.



Pretty sure you’d know about that more than most lol


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## tony10000

In a recent post, Urs said development has been negatively impacted by COVID and they have lost members of their dev team who moved on.


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## KEM

tony10000 said:


> In a recent post, Urs said development has been negatively impacted by COVID and they have lost members of their dev team who moved on.



Well that sucks…


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## tony10000

His exact comments on KVR:

"Latter, and an enormous impact of the pandemic. When people leave, one can’t just replace them. Typing in chat apps takes up everyone’s air when a quick chat would’ve been enough, were people in the same room. And I can’t even begin with the psychological stuff.

"The past two years went by in slow motion. We have e.g. half a dozen soundsets which are “ready to go, pretty much”, but the “pretty much “ is an unqualifiable power that seems to hold us hostage.

"I hope this ends some day."









KVR Forum: The release of U-he Zebra 3? - Page 2 - u-he Forum


KVR Audio Forum - The release of U-he Zebra 3? - Page 2 - u-he Forum




www.kvraudio.com


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## KEM

I don’t know how to code but if they need moral support then I’m glad to assist lol


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## thereus

This makes me sad…


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## KEM

thereus said:


> This makes me sad…



What that it’s taking so long or the setbacks they’re dealing with?


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## proxima

My impression from KVR was that Z3 will come only after U-he can make it a primary focus for a while. I'm curious if they'll tell us if that has begun in earnest. That would give me the most optimism, otherwise it's just a guessing game any given year. 

I decided not to wait until Z3 to pull the trigger on buying Zebra because I kept hearing soundsets from the Unfinished that I found really amazing. I haven't yet clicked with it for designing my own patches (Omnisphere remains more inspiring to me), but I think for intermediate to advanced sound designers (that is, beyond my skill level), Zebra is clearly an amazing sandbox to play in. For all its age, I still find its UI (in modern Z2 form or Zebra HZ) more pleasant than many others.


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## KEM

proxima said:


> My impression from KVR was that Z3 will come only after U-he can make it a primary focus for a while. I'm curious if they'll tell us if that has begun in earnest. That would give me the most optimism, otherwise it's just a guessing game any given year.
> 
> I decided not to wait until Z3 to pull the trigger on buying Zebra because I kept hearing soundsets from the Unfinished that I found really amazing. I haven't yet clicked with it for designing my own patches (Omnisphere remains more inspiring to me), but I think for intermediate to advanced sound designers (that is, beyond my skill level), Zebra is clearly an amazing sandbox to play in. For all its age, I still find its UI (in modern Z2 form or Zebra HZ) more pleasant than many others.



Honestly there’s no reason NOT to buy Zebra and ZebraHZ because all owners will automatically get Zebra3 for free, so anyone thinking about “waiting” for Zebra3 to come out might as well just buy Zebra and ZebraHZ right now


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## José Herring

proxima said:


> My impression from KVR was that Z3 will come only after U-he can make it a primary focus for a while. I'm curious if they'll tell us if that has begun in earnest. That would give me the most optimism, otherwise it's just a guessing game any given year.
> 
> I decided not to wait until Z3 to pull the trigger on buying Zebra because I kept hearing soundsets from the Unfinished that I found really amazing. I haven't yet clicked with it for designing my own patches (Omnisphere remains more inspiring to me), but I think for intermediate to advanced sound designers (that is, beyond my skill level), Zebra is clearly an amazing sandbox to play in. For all its age, I still find its UI (in modern Z2 form or Zebra HZ) more pleasant than many others.


I seem to recall that Uhe demo'd a alpha version of Zebra3 and explained some of the changes. The changes are not insignificant and don't quote me on this, but I seem to remember him saying that even the patches aren't compatible( not sure about this though). 

So if Zebra3 comes out it seems like it will be a different synth than Zebra in its current state and frankly for a while I feel people will be using both like Massive and Massive X.

If he offers up Zebra3 for free to current ZebraHZ owners it just proves that he's a very kind man.


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## Pier

proxima said:


> My impression from KVR was that Z3 will come only after U-he can make it a primary focus for a while. I'm curious if they'll tell us if that has begun in earnest. That would give me the most optimism, otherwise it's just a guessing game any given year.


Urs has been very transparent about what they're working on for years. I'm certain once they start working on Zebra 3 we'll know about it.

Right now their main roadmap is (roughly) the next version of MFM, then Ubihk 2, and then Zebra 3. Also I've read they're working on Filterscape, but I'm not sure where it fits that.


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## Pier

José Herring said:


> So if Zebra3 comes out it seems like it will be a different synth than Zebra in its current state and frankly for a while I feel people will be using both like Massive and Massive X.


Definitely. It's going to be a different product and there will be no backwards compatibility. Plus people have tons of Zebra 2 libraries.



José Herring said:


> If he offers up Zebra3 for free to current ZebraHZ owners it just proves that he's a very kind man.


He is, but I think there are other factors in this decision.

Zebra 3 has been "around the corner" for almost a decade now. It would hurt Zebra 2 sales if people couldn't easily upgrade to Zebra 3.

Zebra 2 has been extremely influential in certain circles like media composers. By giving Zebra 3 to current loyal customers it's going to create a massive hype all over the internet. It's going to be U-He's biggest product launch ever.

I also think maybe Urs feels he owes us one after failing to deliver Zebra 3 for such a long time. I literally have a conversation with him from 2010 where he said Zebra 3 would be ready by 2014 or so.


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## proxima

KEM said:


> Honestly there’s no reason NOT to buy Zebra and ZebraHZ because all owners will automatically get Zebra3 for free, so anyone thinking about “waiting” for Zebra3 to come out might as well just buy Zebra and ZebraHZ right now


Well for me, it was a matter of Zebra/ZebraHZ being worth the money on its own without really factoring in a whole lot of value for a nebulous Z3 release. In addition, there's an investment of time in the Z2 interface and workflow that I'm sure will change somewhat in Z3. 

I'm going to treat it like a very lovely bonus whenever it does come out.


----------



## KEM

proxima said:


> Well for me, it was a matter of Zebra/ZebraHZ being worth the money on its own without really factoring in a whole lot of value for a nebulous Z3 release. In addition, there's an investment of time in the Z2 interface and workflow that I'm sure will change somewhat in Z3.
> 
> I'm going to treat it like a very lovely bonus whenever it does come out.



Basically that’s what it is, to me Zebra3 isn’t really even a new synth but more of an update to ZebraHZ, which is fine with me


----------



## proxima

Pier said:


> Urs has been very transparent about what they're working on for years. I'm certain once they start working on Zebra 3 we'll know about it.
> 
> Right now their main roadmap is (roughly) the next version of MFM, then Ubihk 2, and then Zebra 3. Also I've read they're working on Filterscape, but I'm not sure where it fits that.


Interesting. Is there some potential for crossover between Zebra and new development with MFM and Ubihk? While I've spent some time learning about all of u-he's synths, I honestly haven't looked into their standalone effects at all...


----------



## KEM

proxima said:


> Interesting. Is there some potential for crossover between Zebra and new development with MFM and Ubihk? While I've spent some time learning about all of u-he's synths, I honestly haven't looked into their standalone effects at all...



I’m sure the developments towards their other products will factor into what they’ll do with Zebra3, which is only a good thing honestly


----------



## Pier

proxima said:


> Interesting. Is there some potential for crossover between Zebra and new development with MFM and Ubihk? While I've spent some time learning about all of u-he's synths, I honestly haven't looked into their standalone effects at all...


I don't know, but I hope it means they will put all the Uhbik stuff into Zebra 

Even if Zebra 3 was "just" ZebraHZ + Uhbik 2 + UI improvements it would be killer. And I'm guessing there will be other surprises like maybe stuff borrowed from Bazille, Repro... who knows.


----------



## Dan Light

I'm really hoping they introduce a granular engine with Zebra 3. A bit like in Pigments how you can load an audio sample in. Now THAT would be amazing.


----------



## KEM

Dan Light said:


> I'm really hoping they introduce a granular engine with Zebra 3. A bit like in Pigments how you can load an audio sample in. Now THAT would be amazing.



There will be no sampling within Zebra3, already confirmed


----------



## tony10000

Follow this thread: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=518010&hilit=zebra+3


----------



## kgdrum

Urs just posted an interesting bit of info when a customer asked about the possibility of utilizing samples with Zebra and from all indications Zebra 3 is going to be an entirely new beast of a synthesizer!









 KVR Forum: Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3 - u-he Forum


KVR Audio Forum - Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3 - u-he Forum




www.kvraudio.com




Question: Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3

Urs answer: On it. They'll be transformed to wavetables though.


“Why, yes. I must clarify though, it won't happen for Zebra2 anymore.

But it might be common knowledge that - for me - the redesign of the waveform editor in Zebra is the main motivation to do version 3. As it happens, this is what I'm working on right now (and the reason KVR and Facebook haven't seen much of me lately). Furthermore a way to import and convert samples/.wav is part of that concept. I can't yet say how well this will work because I haven't fully implemented it yet: I can convert hand drawn waveforms to Zebra3 waveform geometry, and also anything formula based, but I'm waiting for a colleague to implement .wav drag'n'drop before I start testing that. And maybe another colleague has to figure out pitch detection in order to get it right.

However, as things progress, more and more ways to interface with Hive come up. Wavetable export to Hive/Serum/whatsoever is certainly a top priority, and we already use a language extension to .uhm as one kind of internal representation for Zebra3 waveforms. Latter, .uhm, is our text-based mathematical wavetable description and manipulation language built into Hive. I think there's going to be quite some synergy between Zebra3 wavetable creation and Hive's .uhm scripting.

I'm very excited about this.

I might add, I'm still not keen on sample playback itself. Instead, we hope that the things we've planned for Zebra3 render sample import more or less moot.”


----------



## KEM

kgdrum said:


> Urs just posted an interesting bit of info when a customer asked about the possibility of utilizing samples with Zebra and from all indications Zebra 3 is going to be an entirely new beast of a synthesizer!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KVR Forum: Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3 - u-he Forum
> 
> 
> KVR Audio Forum - Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3 - u-he Forum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.kvraudio.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Question: Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3
> 
> Urs answer: On it. They'll be transformed to wavetables though.
> 
> 
> “Why, yes. I must clarify though, it won't happen for Zebra2 anymore.
> 
> But it might be common knowledge that - for me - the redesign of the waveform editor in Zebra is the main motivation to do version 3. As it happens, this is what I'm working on right now (and the reason KVR and Facebook haven't seen much of me lately). Furthermore a way to import and convert samples/.wav is part of that concept. I can't yet say how well this will work because I haven't fully implemented it yet: I can convert hand drawn waveforms to Zebra3 waveform geometry, and also anything formula based, but I'm waiting for a colleague to implement .wav drag'n'drop before I start testing that. And maybe another colleague has to figure out pitch detection in order to get it right.
> 
> However, as things progress, more and more ways to interface with Hive come up. Wavetable export to Hive/Serum/whatsoever is certainly a top priority, and we already use a language extension to .uhm as one kind of internal representation for Zebra3 waveforms. Latter, .uhm, is our text-based mathematical wavetable description and manipulation language built into Hive. I think there's going to be quite some synergy between Zebra3 wavetable creation and Hive's .uhm scripting.
> 
> I'm very excited about this.
> 
> I might add, I'm still not keen on sample playback itself. Instead, we hope that the things we've planned for Zebra3 render sample import more or less moot.”


Very cool!!

One feature I really want to see is subdivisions in the arpeggiator, that way I can do TENET style rhythms and stuff like that, hopefully that’ll happen


----------



## kgdrum

I primarily lurk at KVR to get U-he news and information as that’s where team U-he resides. FYI the linked thread @kvr is continuing with some interesting info and comments from Urs so you all might want to check it out.









KVR Forum: Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3 - u-he Forum


KVR Audio Forum - Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3 - u-he Forum




www.kvraudio.com





👍


----------



## Pier

kgdrum said:


> Urs just posted an interesting bit of info when a customer asked about the possibility of utilizing samples with Zebra and from all indications Zebra 3 is going to be an entirely new beast of a synthesizer!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KVR Forum: Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3 - u-he Forum
> 
> 
> KVR Audio Forum - Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3 - u-he Forum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.kvraudio.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Question: Feature request: PCM Sample import for Hive 2/Zebra 2/3
> 
> Urs answer: On it. They'll be transformed to wavetables though.
> 
> 
> “Why, yes. I must clarify though, it won't happen for Zebra2 anymore.
> 
> But it might be common knowledge that - for me - the redesign of the waveform editor in Zebra is the main motivation to do version 3. As it happens, this is what I'm working on right now (and the reason KVR and Facebook haven't seen much of me lately). Furthermore a way to import and convert samples/.wav is part of that concept. I can't yet say how well this will work because I haven't fully implemented it yet: I can convert hand drawn waveforms to Zebra3 waveform geometry, and also anything formula based, but I'm waiting for a colleague to implement .wav drag'n'drop before I start testing that. And maybe another colleague has to figure out pitch detection in order to get it right.
> 
> However, as things progress, more and more ways to interface with Hive come up. Wavetable export to Hive/Serum/whatsoever is certainly a top priority, and we already use a language extension to .uhm as one kind of internal representation for Zebra3 waveforms. Latter, .uhm, is our text-based mathematical wavetable description and manipulation language built into Hive. I think there's going to be quite some synergy between Zebra3 wavetable creation and Hive's .uhm scripting.
> 
> I'm very excited about this.
> 
> I might add, I'm still not keen on sample playback itself. Instead, we hope that the things we've planned for Zebra3 render sample import more or less moot.”


Interesting.

I actually asked Urs the same question about a year ago and he just said that it wouldn't happen.

I guess he changed his mind seeing that the whole market of synths is moving towards a hybrid model. Either importing audio as wavetables or just like a regular sampler.

Dune, PhasePlant, Vital, Rapid, etc.


----------



## kgdrum

Pier said:


> Interesting.
> 
> I actually asked Urs the same question about a year ago and he just said that it wouldn't happen.
> 
> I guess he changed his mind seeing that the whole market of synths is moving towards a hybrid model. Either importing audio as wavetables or just like a regular sampler.
> 
> Dune, PhasePlant, Vital, Rapid, etc.




I totally agree and Z3 will be an entirely different type of synth than Z2/HZ the decision by team U-he to make sure people understand Zebra2 is not retiring so both Zebras will coexist and we can use and continue to enjoy Zebra 2 and 3.
Soundsets created for Zebra2 & DZ will not port to Z3 so I suspect no matter how awesome Z3 will be there will still be a strong community of dedicated Z2/DZ users that will continue using Z2/DZ along with Z3 🦓 🦓 🦓


----------



## Pier

kgdrum said:


> I suspect no matter how awesome Z3 will be there will still be a strong community of dedicated Z2/DZ users that will continue using Z2/DZ along with Z3 🦓 🦓 🦓


It's possible.

Although, personally, I don't think I will ever touch Z2 again once Z3 is released. Even if Z3 is only Z2 with a new UI closer to what U-He have been doing in their last products. And I imagine we'll get tons of new stuff like oscillators, filters, effects, modules, etc.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> It's possible.
> 
> Although, personally, I don't think I will ever touch Z2 again once Z3 is released. Even if Z3 is only Z2 with a new UI closer to what U-He have been doing in their last products. And I imagine we'll get tons of new stuff like oscillators, filters, effects, modules, etc.



We need subdivisions in the arpeggiator!!


----------



## D Halgren

KEM said:


> We need subdivisions in the arpeggiator!!


Kids these days 🤣


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> We need subdivisions in the arpeggiator!!


You can't make a shorter note but you can make longer notes.

You can setup the clock of the arp to be 1/16 but then configure a step to be 1/8 or 1/4 if you want.


----------



## D Halgren

@KEM 
I'm just kidding with you, but seriously, I really think that he was doing that with the Hive shape sequencer.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> You can't make a shorter note but you can make longer notes.
> 
> You can setup the clock of the arp to be 1/16 but then configure a step to be 1/8 or 1/4 if you want.



Sounds more complicated than it needs to be!!


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> Sounds more complicated than it needs to be!!


It's the same thing 😂

Instead of dividing you multiply.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> It's the same thing 😂
> 
> Instead of dividing you multiply.



Yeah but that’s an extra step!!


----------



## D Halgren

KEM said:


> Yeah but that’s an extra step!!


There is a Zebra 3 feature suggestion topic on their KVR forum. Drop it on there. I think Urs said he is going to put the shape sequencer in Z3 as well.


----------



## ryan-Phayder

The original reason (before the pandemic) Zebra 3 was delayed so long is that Zebra 2 was increasing in sales from year to year. So it would make better business sense to put resources into new/other projects.


----------



## Pier

ryan-Phayder said:


> The original reason (before the pandemic) Zebra 3 was delayed so long is that Zebra 2 was increasing in sales from year to year. So it would make better business sense to put resources into new/other projects.


Do you have a source for this?


----------



## Dirtgrain

One reason Zebra 3 was put on the backburner--and do note that Zebra 2 has gotten updates now and then--is all the things u-he had to do to maintain their software for various Apple OS versions of late. Then there are their priorities. Hive was a big project--and they chose to develop that more. They have prioritized updating some other plugins, as well, and there is the hardware thing that they have been working on. Mix in coders with expertise in this or that leaving at inopportune times and also Covid, and here we are. 

Urs has said he needed at least a good six months to focus on Zebra 3, and he hasn't found that time yet. IIRC Uhbik and their feedback plugin are being worked on now. Maybe he gets the time soon--he has been discussing ideas on KVR, and it is fun to think about the possibilities.

That whole "buy Zebra HZ and then later Zebra 3 update will be free" was a bad move, and he has expressed regret, IIRC. We can speculate how much that might have disincentivized making Zebra a priority. Given how long it has taken, maybe some other sort of discount could be offered to those who bought Zebra HZ. 

I'm not too concerned myself, as Zebra HZ is pretty cool, and I got a lot of use out of Zebra 2.


----------



## Bee_Abney

If Zebra 3 is not backwards compatible, and Zebra 2 continues to be maintained, then, in a way, there will be no Zebra 3. It will be a new synth, building on the philosophy and purposes of Zebra 2.

I wonder if it might be somewhat freeing for U-he to severe the connection between them that the naming suggests. But perhaps the promise of a free upgrade to ZebraHZ owners makes that more than difficult.

In any case, I, for one, would rather be looking forward to something completely new. 

U-he Honey Badger, available (not) soon!


----------



## kgdrum

Bee_Abney said:


> If Zebra 3 is not backwards compatible, and Zebra 2 continues to be maintained, then, in a way, there will be no Zebra 3. It will be a new synth, building on the philosophy and purposes of Zebra 2.
> 
> I wonder if it might be somewhat freeing for U-he to severe the connection between them that the naming suggests. But perhaps the promise of a free upgrade to ZebraHZ owners makes that more than difficult.
> 
> In any case, I, for one, would rather be looking forward to something completely new.
> 
> U-he Honey Badger, available (not) soon!



Urs has stated numerous times that Z3 will not replace Z2/DZ and that Z2/DZ will still be an actively supported current product.
Urs has also said Z3 will not overwrite Z2 and there will be no backwards compatibility. 
Just because a new generation of Zebra will eventually get released doesn’t change the quality,usefulness of what Zebra currently is. I expect both generations of Zebra to be still be used by a ton of users as two different but great synths. I even suspect preset developers like the Unfinished will continue to release soundsets for Zebra2/DZ as well as release soundsets for Z3 when it eventually gets released.


----------



## Bee_Abney

kgdrum said:


> Urs has stated numerous times that Z3 will not replace Z2/DZ and that Z2/DZ will still be an actively supported current product.
> Urs has also said Z3 will not overwrite Z2 and there will be no backwards compatibility.
> Just because a new generation of Zebra will eventually get released doesn’t change the quality,usefulness of what Zebra currently is. I expect both generations of Zebra to be still be used by a ton of users as two different but great synths. I even suspect preset developers like the Unfinished will continue to release soundsets for Zebra2/DZ as well as release soundsets for Z3 when it eventually gets released.



I understand, thanks. What's nice is the organic approach they are taking. There's a unifying idea connecting Zebra 3 to Zebra 2, but they are approaching it as a distinct project that is shaped differently.

But they should still call it Honey Badger. Or possibly Axolotl.


----------



## kgdrum

Bee_Abney said:


> I understand, thanks. What's nice is the organic approach they are taking. There's a unifying idea connecting Zebra 3 to Zebra 2, but they are approaching it as a distinct project that is shaped differently.
> 
> But they should still call it Honey Badger. Or possibly Axolotl.




IMO by the time U-he feels they have a new Zebra 3 ready for release they might actually find the release so uniquely different than originally intended & find that it indeed merits a totally different name. Truth be told anything U-he releases gets my attention whatever the name is but Honey Badger?


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

kgdrum said:


> Urs has also said Z3 will not overwrite Z2 and there will be no backwards compatibility.


As long as the situation won’t come out like Massive and the half assed Massive X, everybody will surive.
But that can’t happen, it’s a Zebra and not an Ass. 




kgdrum said:


> IMO by the time U-he feels they have a new Zebra 3 ready for release they might actually find the release so uniquely different than originally intended & find that it indeed merits a totally different name. Truth be told anything U-he releases gets my attention whatever the name is but Honey Badger?


Yea and by that time every Zebra on earth could be extinct…(ahh now that whole dinosaur synth trade in makes sense).

Zebra, its last three letters are coldly targeted at a special audience, and you know that „Ze“ is how germans speak „the“. 

Things are only successful by name. Dune implied a steep learning curve by name, but people were suprised that its easy to use and bought it with a smile. 
Vital sounds so fresh and active that you will cancel your gym subscription easier and go with the Vital one. 
Im still avoiding Phaseplant until i can skate properly. Hospital bills and paying for every little thing there,…yea they got their name right.


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

Bee_Abney said:


> But they should still call it Honey Badger. Or possibly Axolotl.


Actually Axolotl is a proper name. It wont see daylight until you make it a working trend in Japan.


----------



## Pier

Bee_Abney said:


> Axolotl


You know these in the UK? 😂


----------



## Double Helix

Pier said:


> You know these in the UK? 😂


Famous short story of that name by Julio Cortazar so "Axolotl" might be known across the globe.

"Julio Cortazar’s short story “Axolotl,” from his collection _Final del juego (End of the Game, and Other Stories),_ has disturbed, perplexed, and delighted a growing number of devoted readers and critics since its publication in 1956. One of Cortazar’s most famous stories, it is told by a man who has been transformed into an axolotl, a species of salamander, after spending many hours watching axolotls in an aquarium. As an axolotl, the man still sees the human he used to be and hopes the human will write a story about a man who becomes an axolotl. Many critics find the axolotl’s final comment to be the pervading theme of Cortazar’s short fiction—that through art one can become another and communicate on behalf of all creatures, so that none may feel the terror of isolation and imprisonment."


----------



## Bee_Abney

Pier said:


> You know these in the UK? 😂



We worship them as gods.


----------



## Pier

Double Helix said:


> Famous short story of that name by Julio Cortazar so "Axolotl" might be known across the globe.


Oh wow I had never heard of the Axolotls (and other local stuff) until I moved to Mexico.


----------



## Bee_Abney

Pier said:


> Oh wow I had never heard of the Axolotls (and other local stuff) until I moved to Mexico.



Interesting. But then, most axolotls aren't into techno. So you hung out in different scenes.


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

Pier said:


> Oh wow I had never heard of the Axolotls (and other local stuff) until I moved to Mexico.


Strange and i had never heard of Mexico until an Axolotl told me when he moved from there.


Bee_Abney said:


> Interesting. But then, most axolotls aren't into techno. So you hung out in different scenes.


I met some technoid ones, but their style was so underground, it made you feel like living in a cave.


----------



## Pier

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> I met some technoid ones, but their style was so underground,


Or you might say... underwater.

_Let me show myself out..._


----------



## Trash Panda

Hallucigenia > Axolotls


----------



## gsilbers

Dirtgrain said:


> One reason Zebra 3 was put on the backburner--and do note that Zebra 2 has gotten updates now and then--is all the things u-he had to do to maintain their software for various Apple OS versions of late. Then there are their priorities. Hive was a big project--and they chose to develop that more. They have prioritized updating some other plugins, as well, and there is the hardware thing that they have been working on. Mix in coders with expertise in this or that leaving at inopportune times and also Covid, and here we are.
> 
> Urs has said he needed at least a good six months to focus on Zebra 3, and he hasn't found that time yet. IIRC Uhbik and their feedback plugin are being worked on now. Maybe he gets the time soon--he has been discussing ideas on KVR, and it is fun to think about the possibilities.
> 
> That whole "buy Zebra HZ and then later Zebra 3 update will be free" was a bad move, and he has expressed regret, IIRC. We can speculate how much that might have disincentivized making Zebra a priority. Given how long it has taken, maybe some other sort of discount could be offered to those who bought Zebra HZ.
> 
> I'm not too concerned myself, as Zebra HZ is pretty cool, and I got a lot of use out of Zebra 2.


Kinda wierd uhe changed so much hive. initally seem to be intended to compete against sylenth1 when sylenth1 was not updating to 64bit. And have be a simpler synth. hive2 is hella of a synths so dunno.
thats my impression at least.. and im not going to read 400 pages at kvraudio to know why uhe changed it up so much and spent so much time there instead of zebra3.
Im thinking zebra2 had more a follwoing but if hive sold a lot more then that mgith make sense.

uhe also said that zebra2 patches wont be compatible with zebra3 so a lot of use doing suondsets are a bit on the fence on new ones. 

And this is another example of one those things apple says in marketing and its different in real life. most info said that developers just open it up on the coding app and do a save as and done. or something alone those lines to make it apple silicon compatible.


----------



## Pier

gsilbers said:


> Kinda wierd uhe changed so much hive. initally seem to be intended to compete against sylenth1 when sylenth1 was not updating to 64bit. And have be a simpler synth. hive2 is hella of a synths so dunno.
> thats my impression at least.. and im not going to read 400 pages at kvraudio to know why uhe changed it up so much and spent so much time there instead of zebra3.
> Im thinking zebra2 had more a follwoing but if hive sold a lot more then that mgith make sense.
> 
> uhe also said that zebra2 patches wont be compatible with zebra3 so a lot of use doing suondsets are a bit on the fence on new ones.
> 
> And this is another example of one those things apple says in marketing and its different in real life. most info said that developers just open it up on the coding app and do a save as and done. or something alone those lines to make it apple silicon compatible.


The EDM market is much larger than the media composer market. It makes sense that U-He would spend so much time improving Hive. I think Hive, Zebra, and MFM are the only U-He plugins that got a v2.

The idea of Hive probably started as "let's make a better Sylenth" but when it was was finally released Serum was taking over the whole EDM market by storm. I imagine the popularity of Serum had an influence on adding wavetables and more filters to Hive.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> The EDM market is much larger than the media composer market. It makes sense that U-He would spend so much time improving Hive. I think Hive, Zebra, and MFM are the only U-He plugins that got a v2.
> 
> The idea of Hive probably started as "let's make a better Sylenth" but when it was was finally released Serum was taking over the whole EDM market by storm. I imagine the popularity of Serum had an influence on adding wavetables and more filters to Hive.



And wasn’t Sylenth based off the Virus? So that means Hive would be a spiritual successor to the Virus then…


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> And wasn’t Sylenth based off the Virus? So that means Hive would be a spiritual successor to the Virus then…


Could be, but I think Sylenth was more inspired by analog mono synths. Dune or Spire are closer to the Virus sound.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> Could be, but I think Sylenth was more inspired by analog mono synths. Dune or Spire are closer to the Virus sound.



Dune3 is next on my list, I'll be picking it up as soon as I possibly can


----------



## Robo Rivard

KEM said:


> Dune3 is next on my list, I'll be picking it up as soon as I possibly can


I'm a big fan of U-He Diva and Repro. I wonder if Dune 3 is in the same league.


----------



## Pier

Robo Rivard said:


> I'm a big fan of U-He Diva and Repro. I wonder if Dune 3 is in the same league.


Dune 3 is not an analog emulation, but it has some excellent analog modeled filters up there with anything by U-He.

I mean, Richard from Synapse Audio made The Legend which is at least as good as Diva if not even closer to the real thing.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> Dune 3 is not an analog emulation, but it has some excellent analog modeled filters up there with anything by U-He.
> 
> I mean, Richard from Synapse Audio made The Legend which is at least as good a Diva if not even closer to the real thing.



Hans did say The Legend is the closest sounding soft synth to a real Moog, and I trust his word


----------



## kgdrum

KEM said:


> Hans did say The Legend is the closest sounding soft synth to a real Moog, and I trust his word




I’m obviously not Hans but to my old drummer ears Synapse is right there along U-he,GForce etc……. Wth some of the best sounding soft synths in existence. 👍


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> Hans did say The Legend is the closest sounding soft synth to a real Moog, and I trust his word


Here is @Kevin Schroeder comparing The Legend with HZ's actual Moog if I'm not mistaken.



This video compares all the emulations in the market. This guy really knows his shit regarding analog synths.




He did a video later on comparing The Legend with Softube Model 72. He basically said they are both the best in the market right now.


----------



## zvenx

I think Hans's MiniMoog is at u-he, unless of course he has more than one or has collected it.

Hive indeed started out to compete with the likes of Sylenth (and there was another S synth, forgot which), but u-he realised that a lot of their users were not using it for EDM stuff but other stuff that they did not anticipate, they added wavetables in I think 1.2, then I think two things happened... it became a 'sounding board' of sorts for new stuff that he planned to put in Zebra 3, and some new features were required for the Matrix 3 patches..

Well that is my recollection of the events, I could have misremembered parts.

I think Model 72 by Softube is a better Minimoog than the Legend, but then again no two Minimoog's sound identical so I guess it depends which minimoog specifically you are trying to emulate.

rsp


----------



## Pier

zvenx said:


> I think Model 72 by Softube is a better Minimoog than the Legend, but then again no two Minimoog's sound identical so I guess it depends which minimoog specifically you are trying to emulate.


Here's the video from Starsky Carr I mentioned before comparing both.


----------



## Bee_Abney

Trash Panda said:


> Hallucigenia > Axolotls



Dude!


----------



## Trash Panda

Bee_Abney said:


> Dude!


Sweet!


----------



## EvilDragon

But what does mine say?


----------



## zvenx

Pier said:


> Here's the video from Starsky Carr I mentioned before comparing both.



I had seen that.. why I made my conclusion? In a mix. There is something about the Model 72 that for me makes it sit better in almost any mix like the physical minimoogs do than the Legend for me.
rsp


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

Trash Panda said:


> Hallucigenia > Axolotls


Ever licked an Axolotl? Mexican Axolotl Adrenochrome farms were trendy among
early Synth Progammers when it was discovered that you can develop perfect pitch hearing when tripping. You know, its all about a vibrations philosophical meaning, its holy fractal biomechanical core that you can hear deep within a simple waveform.
Thats the reason old synths sounded somehow organic and living.
A Moogs signature croaking sound evolved from those LSD Toads btw. 

Ever hallucinated with your ears instead of going the Disney visual route? Its all about repetition, going on forever, making copies of itself by itself. Axolotls can live forever if undisturbed, they delay time. See?


----------



## KEM




----------



## Man_on_the_Moon

KEM said:


>



Is this official?


----------



## KEM

Man_on_the_Moon said:


> Is this official?



Absolutely, look at the account that posted it


----------



## Man_on_the_Moon

KEM said:


> Absolutely, look at the account that posted it


oof didn't even notice! thanks for the post :D


----------



## KEM

Man_on_the_Moon said:


> oof didn't even notice! thanks for the post :D



I wish I could take credit for it, but it’s extremely exciting nonetheless!! Hopefully we’ll see it within the next year


----------



## Man_on_the_Moon

KEM said:


> I wish I could take credit for it, but it’s extremely exciting nonetheless!! Hopefully we’ll see it within the next year


oh yeah, definitely hope so. 🙂👍


----------



## DivingInSpace

KEM said:


> I wish I could take credit for it, but it’s extremely exciting nonetheless!! Hopefully we’ll see it within the next year


That's probably very optimistic. If i am not totally mistaken, they just started the actual development a year or two ago? I might be wrong though.


----------



## EvilDragon

Urs was always doing bits and pieces on Z3, but now it has full steam development underway. 2023 is the year, I'm pretty sure. Urs also mentioned it's not unlikely to see a Zebralette 3 before end of this year.


----------



## Pier

PhasePlant v2 has this feature too. It's like lfo wavetables.


----------



## MegaPixel

Imagine if we had all that in something like this...

No limits, just your machine...

Each module/component taking the best and new ideas for each with larger edit windows, minimise for easy ordering and routing, all 100% vector...

Matrix by group, for easy assignments, fully dynamic outputs to daw for control there also on each.

As many Osc, FM's, Granulor outputs, LFOs, MSegs, Envelopes, Apr's, effects as you want... With each component/module done in a way that it was done right or a combination to make the ultimate module from bitwig's modules, zerba, serum, phaseplant, rapid, avenger, falcon, dune 3 etc... Each with multi screens if needed for editing something dedicated to it either within it or a popup etc...

Build your own output chains visually and infinitely.

Main window resizable, scrollable, draggable, zoom in, zoom out, expand and minimise groups within, again all 100% vector, animations on or off, for note follow through graphs etc.

Basically unreal engine blueprint editor for OSC, FM & Granular Synths.

The one VST to rule them all?




Very rough bit of photoshop, but hey, I'm not building it...


----------



## EvilDragon

Urs is a firm believer in logical constraints rather than endless instantiation of modules. You won't be seeing that sort of thing from u-he.


----------



## Bee_Abney

EvilDragon said:


> Urs is a firm believer in logical constraints rather than endless instantiation of modules. You won't be seeing that sort of thing from u-he.


Very true. I wouldn't want to. It's surely more of a Bitwig thing, or a modular system like Voltage Modular or Reaktor.


----------



## Pier

MegaPixel said:


> Imagine if we had all that in something like this...
> 
> No limits, just your machine...
> 
> Each module/component taking the best and new ideas for each with larger edit windows, minimise for easy ordering and routing, all 100% vector...
> 
> Matrix by group, for easy assignments, fully dynamic outputs to daw for control there also on each.
> 
> As many Osc, FM's, Granulor outputs, LFOs, MSegs, Envelopes, Apr's, effects as you want... With each component/module done in a way that it was done right or a combination to make the ultimate module from bitwig's modules, zerba, serum, phaseplant, rapid, avenger, falcon, dune 3 etc... Each with multi screens if needed for editing something dedicated to it either within it or a popup etc...
> 
> Build your own output chains visually and infinitely.
> 
> Main window resizable, scrollable, draggable, zoom in, zoom out, expand and minimise groups within, again all 100% vector, animations on or off, for note follow through graphs etc.
> 
> Basically unreal engine blueprint editor for OSC, FM & Granular Synths.
> 
> The one VST to rule them all?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very rough bit of photoshop, but hey, I'm not building it...


Bitwig probably wants to get there at some point in The Grid.

Another option is something like Freestyle or The Patcher in FL Studio.


----------



## Bee_Abney

Pier said:


> Bitwig probably wants to get there at some point in The Grid.
> 
> Another option is something like Freestyle or The Patcher in FL Studio.


Could Metaplugin handle this sort of thing?


----------



## Pier

Bee_Abney said:


> Could Metaplugin handle this sort of thing?


Yeah exactly.

There was also a modular environment released a couple of months ago I think that was similar to the grid but didn't host plugins IIRC. I can't remember the name but it displayed the audio signals in the cables themselves.

Edit:

Oh and there's also Audulus which works on iOS and macOS.






Audulus


A universe of sound at your fingertips.



audulus.com


----------



## Pier

Pier said:


> PhasePlant v2 has this feature too. It's like lfo wavetables.


LOL I'm an idiot 😂

I saw the video in my phone and thought this was about MSEGs but it's about OSCs waveforms.


----------



## KEM

EvilDragon said:


> Urs was always doing bits and pieces on Z3, but now it has full steam development underway. 2023 is the year, I'm pretty sure. Urs also mentioned it's not unlikely to see a Zebralette 3 before end of this year.



Does that mean Uhbik 2 is finished? I heard that was the one they wanted to get done before Zebra 3 went into full development


----------



## Dirtgrain

IIRC, they aren't all working on just one thing, but Uhbik is one they said they would release a new version for soon (still in beta).


----------



## Pier

EvilDragon said:


> 2023 is the year, I'm pretty sure.


I concur.


----------



## KEM

Zebra 3 next year would be a dream come true but I’m not holding my breath, that video did get me very excited though


----------



## KEM

Honestly I think U-He should forget the “if you own Zebra 2 and ZebraHZ you get Zebra 3 for free” deal they decided on, I will gladly pay full price for Zebra 3 and I’m sure pretty much everyone else would too. They deserve the money for the products they’re making, especially given this is their flagship product and it’s been this much of an undertaking for them


----------



## proxima

KEM said:


> Honestly I think U-He should forget the “if you own Zebra 2 and ZebraHZ you get Zebra 3 for free” deal they decided on, I will gladly pay full price for Zebra 3 and I’m sure pretty much everyone else would too. They deserve the money for the products they’re making, especially given this is their flagship product and it’s been this much of an undertaking for them


That's a quick way to burn a lot of good will in the community.

Many of those with ZebraHZ who get Zebra3 for free will on the front lines promoting it. Thinking of synths like Vital, it's clear that word-of-mouth is a huge deal. It's also telling that Zebralette 3 might be on its way even sooner.

Urs knows what he's doing.


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> Honestly I think U-He should forget the “if you own Zebra 2 and ZebraHZ you get Zebra 3 for free” deal they decided on, I will gladly pay full price for Zebra 3 and I’m sure pretty much everyone else would too. They deserve the money for the products they’re making, especially given this is their flagship product and it’s been this much of an undertaking for them


Obviously I'd pay for it full price even though I own Zebra 2 + ZebraHZ.

But it's not like U-He is giving it away for free either. Zebra 2 is not exactly cheap. I'm sure they got a lot of sales from people that justified the purchase as an investment towards Zebra 3.


----------



## axb312

KEM said:


> Honestly I think U-He should forget the “if you own Zebra 2 and ZebraHZ you get Zebra 3 for free” deal they decided on, I will gladly pay full price for Zebra 3 and I’m sure pretty much everyone else would too. They deserve the money for the products they’re making, especially given this is their flagship product and it’s been this much of an undertaking for them


No. Can't afford it, having already paid for Zebra 2 and Dark Zebra and expecting Zebra 3 as promised. Perhaps you can ask Urs about making a donation if so inclined...


----------



## KEM

Zebra 2 came out in what… 2006? I’m pretty sure that’s enough time to charge for Zebra 3 lol

They could do a grace period where if you bought it within the past year or two you’ll get it for free, but that doesn’t make much sense for someone who’s owned something for like 16 years to get the next version for free. Didn’t Urs even say he regretted saying they’d make Zebra 3 free for owners of Zebra 2 and ZebraHZ?


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> They could do a grace period where if you bought it within the past year or two you’ll get it for free


That's what they did (afaik) but Zebra 3 has been delayed and delayed for years.

Although I've been waiting for Zebra 3 since 2010, Urs knows what he's doing. U-He as a company has developed a ton of stuff in the past decade, and all that knowledge will go into Zebra 3.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> That's what they did (afaik) but Zebra 3 has been delayed and delayed for years.
> 
> Although I've been waiting for Zebra 3 since 2010, Urs knows what he's doing. U-He as a company has developed a ton of stuff in the past decade, and all that knowledge will go into Zebra 3.



I know it has and that’s why I’d be willing to pay! Don’t get me wrong, I love getting free stuff, especially something as big as Zebra 3, but it being their flagship product it would make sense to be the one thing they DO charge for


----------



## Double Helix

Honestly. . .
I am just beginning to wrap my head around the v-a-s-t programming capabilities of The Dark Zebra--If Z3 is going to be a brand new ballgame (regardless of its cool features), I might just hang with Zebra2HZ for awhile anyway. I've had it for just over a year, and I am not even close to getting bored with it.

Surely the programming denizens of VI-C can't wait to get their hands on it. Can't blame 'em.
I'll be interested to see what it'll turn out to be.


----------



## KEM

Double Helix said:


> Honestly. . .
> I am just beginning to wrap my head around the v-a-s-t programming capabilities of The Dark Zebra--If Z3 is going to be a brand new ballgame (regardless of its cool features), I might just hang with Zebra2HZ for awhile anyway. I've had it for just over a year, and I am not even close to getting bored with it.
> 
> Surely the programming denizens of VI-C can't wait to get their hands on it. Can't blame 'em.
> I'll be interested to see what it'll turn out to be.



I don’t think it’ll be a completely different synth, likely just an upgraded and expanded version of what ZebraHZ is, Zebra has its own identity and they surely won’t abandoned it


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> I don’t think it’ll be a completely different synth, likely just an upgraded and expanded version of what ZebraHZ is, Zebra has its own identity and they surely won’t abandoned it


Exactly. Same modular concept and workflow but with all the modules improved.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> Exactly. Same modular concept and workflow but with all the modules improved.



My hopes are for better/modern distortion modules, more or unlimited MSEG points, a more fleshed out arpeggiator with 32 available notes in a sequence instead of just 16, and up to 16 voices per oscillator


That’s what I can think of off the top of my head, I’d like a lot of the modern features that something like Serum comes with


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> That’s what I can think of off the top of my head, I’d like a lot of the modern features that something like Serum comes with


You *really* should check out PhasePlant.


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> You *really* should check out PhasePlant.



I’m getting it soon don’t worry!! PhasePlant and Dune 3 are my next synth purchases for sure


----------



## EvilDragon

Z3 won't be backwards compatible with Z2. Certain concepts will remain, but it will actually probably have _less_ modules than Z2, with those modules being more capable (and then obviously more modules added through time). There's been talks about modal synthesis module (remnants of the now-scrapped modelled drums project), more triggering options (separately trigger each of the four grid lanes so that you can have some semblance of multitimbrality, or just multiple voices being sequenced from a single patch etc.), but the main point is unifying the waveform editors into one - so that the wavetable, the MSEG and the LFO are all basically the same thing. Everything you see in that video you would be able to do for all those modules.

So yeah, in essence it *will* be quite a bit different synth, not really an extension of Z2, but more like Zebra reimagined/rebooted.


Also, you don't really _need_ 16 voice unison per oscillator. There's a law of diminishing returns starting around 8-9 voices there. Above that it really becomes not all that different and it burns more CPU than it should, tbh.


----------



## KEM

EvilDragon said:


> Z3 won't be backwards compatible with Z2. Certain concepts will remain, but it will actually probably have _less_ modules than Z2, with those modules being more capable (and then obviously more modules added through time). There's been talks about modal synthesis module (remnants of the now-scrapped modelled drums project), more triggering options (separately trigger each of the four grid lanes so that you can have some semblance of multitimbrality, or just multiple voices being sequenced from a single patch etc.), but the main point is unifying the waveform editors into one - so that the wavetable, the MSEG and the LFO are all basically the same thing. Everything you see in that video you would be able to do for all those modules.
> 
> So yeah, in essence it *will* be quite a bit different synth, not really an extension of Z2, but more like Zebra reimagined/rebooted.
> 
> 
> Also, you don't really _need_ 16 voice unison per oscillator. There's a law of diminishing returns starting around 8-9 voices there. Above that it really becomes not all that different and it burns more CPU than it should, tbh.



If the MSEG/LFO is more along the lines of Serum I’ll be very happy, I love the Serum LFO


----------



## EvilDragon

It's gonna be way more than that. Basically exactly what you saw in that video. Oscillator waveform editing = LFO waveform editing = MSEG waveform editing.

Serum's LFO editing is very constrained, since you don't have a flexible time axis. You cannot scroll away or zoom in/out horizontally. A big letdown IMHO.


----------



## KEM

EvilDragon said:


> It's gonna be way more than that. Basically exactly what you saw in that video. Oscillator waveform editing = LFO waveform editing = MSEG waveform editing.
> 
> Serum's LFO editing is very constrained, since you don't have a flexible time axis. You cannot scroll away or zoom in/out horizontally. A big letdown IMHO.



Now you’re getting me excited, it’ll be a game changer for sure!! And I’ll get it for free lol


----------



## KEM

I hope it has built in OTT and hard clipping in its respective compression and distortion modules


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> I hope it has built in OTT and hard clipping in its respective compression and distortion modules


Zebra 2 already has hard clipping but I doubt Zebra 3 will have OTT.

PhasePlant has the next best thing though, Multipass. You can have up to 5 bands, and use any KiloHearts effect in every band. I keep telling you man, if you like that sort of thing you really have to check PhasePlant


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> Zebra 2 already has hard clipping but I doubt Zebra 3 will have OTT.
> 
> PhasePlant has the next best thing though, Multipass. You can have up to 5 bands, and use any KiloHearts effect in every band. I keep telling you man, if you like that sort of thing you really have to check PhasePlant



I’ll probably have it before the end of the month with the way you keep talking about it!! And honestly all the distortion modes in Zebra 2 kind of suck, I’ve been spoiled by my Gainstation 2 plugin


----------



## TonalDynamics

jneebz said:


> There’s “patient” and then there’s waiting for Zebra 3 “patient”


If it was announced in 2010, it's approaching 'new TOOL album' levels of patient :O


----------



## KEM

TonalDynamics said:


> If it was announced in 2010, it's approaching 'new TOOL album' levels of patient :O



Or the djent community waiting a whole decade for the new Vildhjarta album


----------



## u-he

Let me clarify that talk about Zebra3 started in 2005, even before Zebra2 was released, and it certainly was not me or anyone associated with u-he who started it. By 2012, after The Dark Zebra was released, there was so much speculation as to how ZebraHZ and Zebra3 would relate, it kind of seemed to people that Zebra3 was something that was about to drop any day. At this point people were starting to hold off buying Zebra2 because they wanted to ensure they didn't spend money for something that'll be obsolete shortly thereafter.
So with sales dwindling due to speculations that were far from reality, we were forced to react. Hence, we posted our plans to charge 30 bucks upgrade from Z2 and free from Z2+TDZ, "should Zebra3 ever come out". This was to make sure people understand they don't waste their money if they buy Zebra2. We also said, "yes, it's something we're working on, but don't expect it anytime soon, it'll be at least so and so long until we have to something to show for". This was a mistake, because people read it as an announcement when in fact it was meant to say "this is not an announcement, we're very far from releasing anything of that kind".
I have regretted this sentence since, and circumstance (e.g. Diva's success, resulting in company growth) have made it impossible to route the resources necessary to create something as big and bold as we have envisioned back then. But with each little project, Hive in particular, we also created small building blocks towards our vision.
Meanwhile I think my team can run daily business and product maintenance while I can almost fully concentrate on Zebra. 
With the core elements shaping up nicely, we have used Superbooth to get some reactions to about five years of work on-and-off on our Osc/MSEG technology (not necessarily LFOs btw. as MSEGs also act as LFOs). That's why I made this small video, to give a glimpse at the state of these things. We're very happy with the reactions we got and several companies have asked to license this technology (They won't need to, because there'll be a free version of it that'll let people export this stuff for their wavetables).
But anyhow, as we have something to show for now, we'll soon post a roadmap and updated information on how Zebra2 and Zebra3 relate in our company forum on KVR. We'll certainly honour the original upgrade plan, but there'll be a cutoff date later this year from which things will be different.
Cheers, - U


----------



## KEM

u-he said:


> Let me clarify that talk about Zebra3 started in 2005, even before Zebra2 was released, and it certainly was not me or anyone associated with u-he who started it. By 2012, after The Dark Zebra was released, there was so much speculation as to how ZebraHZ and Zebra3 would relate, it kind of seemed to people that Zebra3 was something that was about to drop any day. At this point people were starting to hold off buying Zebra2 because they wanted to ensure they didn't spend money for something that'll be obsolete shortly thereafter.
> So with sales dwindling due to speculations that were far from reality, we were forced to react. Hence, we posted our plans to charge 30 bucks upgrade from Z2 and free from Z2+TDZ, "should Zebra3 ever come out". This was to make sure people understand they don't waste their money if they buy Zebra2. We also said, "yes, it's something we're working on, but don't expect it anytime soon, it'll be at least so and so long until we have to something to show for". This was a mistake, because people read it as an announcement when in fact it was meant to say "this is not an announcement, we're very far from releasing anything of that kind".
> I have regretted this sentence since, and circumstance (e.g. Diva's success, resulting in company growth) have made it impossible to route the resources necessary to create something as big and bold as we have envisioned back then. But with each little project, Hive in particular, we also created small building blocks towards our vision.
> Meanwhile I think my team can run daily business and product maintenance while I can almost fully concentrate on Zebra.
> With the core elements shaping up nicely, we have used Superbooth to get some reactions to about five years of work on-and-off on our Osc/MSEG technology (not necessarily LFOs btw. as MSEGs also act as LFOs). That's why I made this small video, to give a glimpse at the state of these things. We're very happy with the reactions we got and several companies have asked to license this technology (They won't need to, because there'll be a free version of it that'll let people export this stuff for their wavetables).
> But anyhow, as we have something to show for now, we'll soon post a roadmap and updated information on how Zebra2 and Zebra3 relate in our company forum on KVR. We'll certainly honour the original upgrade plan, but there'll be a cutoff date later this year from which things will be different.
> Cheers, - U



You’re awesome, Urs! Thank you very much for the clarification on everything, that small video got me incredibly hyped even with no sound, we’re all looking forward to Zebra 3


----------



## kgdrum

u-he said:


> Let me clarify that talk about Zebra3 started in 2005, even before Zebra2 was released, and it certainly was not me or anyone associated with u-he who started it. By 2012, after The Dark Zebra was released, there was so much speculation as to how ZebraHZ and Zebra3 would relate, it kind of seemed to people that Zebra3 was something that was about to drop any day. At this point people were starting to hold off buying Zebra2 because they wanted to ensure they didn't spend money for something that'll be obsolete shortly thereafter.
> So with sales dwindling due to speculations that were far from reality, we were forced to react. Hence, we posted our plans to charge 30 bucks upgrade from Z2 and free from Z2+TDZ, "should Zebra3 ever come out". This was to make sure people understand they don't waste their money if they buy Zebra2. We also said, "yes, it's something we're working on, but don't expect it anytime soon, it'll be at least so and so long until we have to something to show for". This was a mistake, because people read it as an announcement when in fact it was meant to say "this is not an announcement, we're very far from releasing anything of that kind".
> I have regretted this sentence since, and circumstance (e.g. Diva's success, resulting in company growth) have made it impossible to route the resources necessary to create something as big and bold as we have envisioned back then. But with each little project, Hive in particular, we also created small building blocks towards our vision.
> Meanwhile I think my team can run daily business and product maintenance while I can almost fully concentrate on Zebra.
> With the core elements shaping up nicely, we have used Superbooth to get some reactions to about five years of work on-and-off on our Osc/MSEG technology (not necessarily LFOs btw. as MSEGs also act as LFOs). That's why I made this small video, to give a glimpse at the state of these things. We're very happy with the reactions we got and several companies have asked to license this technology (They won't need to, because there'll be a free version of it that'll let people export this stuff for their wavetables).
> But anyhow, as we have something to show for now, we'll soon post a roadmap and updated information on how Zebra2 and Zebra3 relate in our company forum on KVR. We'll certainly honour the original upgrade plan, but there'll be a cutoff date later this year from which things will be different.
> Cheers, - U



Hi Urs-
Thanks for the informative post and clarification on the Zebra roadmap.I think I can safely say as fans of U-he we are collectively eagerly looking forward to see what you and your brilliant team comes up with!

Thanks 👍

KG


----------



## Pier

u-he said:


> Let me clarify that talk about Zebra3 started in 2005, even before Zebra2 was released, and it certainly was not me or anyone associated with u-he who started it. By 2012, after The Dark Zebra was released, there was so much speculation as to how ZebraHZ and Zebra3 would relate, it kind of seemed to people that Zebra3 was something that was about to drop any day. At this point people were starting to hold off buying Zebra2 because they wanted to ensure they didn't spend money for something that'll be obsolete shortly thereafter.
> So with sales dwindling due to speculations that were far from reality, we were forced to react. Hence, we posted our plans to charge 30 bucks upgrade from Z2 and free from Z2+TDZ, "should Zebra3 ever come out". This was to make sure people understand they don't waste their money if they buy Zebra2. We also said, "yes, it's something we're working on, but don't expect it anytime soon, it'll be at least so and so long until we have to something to show for". This was a mistake, because people read it as an announcement when in fact it was meant to say "this is not an announcement, we're very far from releasing anything of that kind".
> I have regretted this sentence since, and circumstance (e.g. Diva's success, resulting in company growth) have made it impossible to route the resources necessary to create something as big and bold as we have envisioned back then. But with each little project, Hive in particular, we also created small building blocks towards our vision.
> Meanwhile I think my team can run daily business and product maintenance while I can almost fully concentrate on Zebra.
> With the core elements shaping up nicely, we have used Superbooth to get some reactions to about five years of work on-and-off on our Osc/MSEG technology (not necessarily LFOs btw. as MSEGs also act as LFOs). That's why I made this small video, to give a glimpse at the state of these things. We're very happy with the reactions we got and several companies have asked to license this technology (They won't need to, because there'll be a free version of it that'll let people export this stuff for their wavetables).
> But anyhow, as we have something to show for now, we'll soon post a roadmap and updated information on how Zebra2 and Zebra3 relate in our company forum on KVR. We'll certainly honour the original upgrade plan, but there'll be a cutoff date later this year from which things will be different.
> Cheers, - U


That's it guys. This is the end of the thread. No, Zebra 3 is not vaporware 😂

Thanks Urs for the clarification!


----------



## EvilDragon

KEM said:


> I hope it has built in OTT


Pfffft, not happening at all.  Zebra is not that kind of synth.


----------



## KEM

EvilDragon said:


> Pfffft, not happening at all.  Zebra is not that kind of synth.



That’s why I want it, I’ve had to turn it into one myself


----------



## u-he

EvilDragon said:


> Pfffft, not happening at all.  Zebra is not that kind of synth.



Thing is, Z3 will most certainly inherit per-lane compressors from ZHZ. It will also most certainly be able to split frequency bands between lanes (MFM 2.5 has an elegant and useful solution for frequency splitting 2 bands for 2 x 2 delay lines). Hence, the general concept of OTT is most certainly going to be baked into Zebra3 and all it needs is a video tut and template to unleash it.


----------



## EvilDragon

Ha, pwned by the man himself.


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

u-he said:


> soon post a roadmap and updated information on how Zebra2 and Zebra3 relate in our company forum on KVR.


Already tried making a Z2HZ Preset with one LFO modulating my F5 Key, but darn it still doesn’t ouput Midi. So ill get one of these trusty tools:


----------



## TonalDynamics

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> Already tried making a Z2HZ Preset with one LFO modulating my F5 Key, but darn it still doesn’t ouput Midi. So ill get one of these trusty tools:


Pretty sure I saw one of those in Hans's Studio (museum?)


----------



## axb312

More details on KVR:









KVR Forum: Zebra 3 and Zebra Legacy - u-he Forum


KVR Audio Forum - Zebra 3 and Zebra Legacy - u-he Forum




www.kvraudio.com


----------



## KEM

axb312 said:


> More details on KVR:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KVR Forum: Zebra 3 and Zebra Legacy - u-he Forum
> 
> 
> KVR Audio Forum - Zebra 3 and Zebra Legacy - u-he Forum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.kvraudio.com



Very exciting details!!


----------



## R. Naroth

KEM said:


> Very exciting details!!


Indeed! 😊


----------



## KEM

R. Naroth said:


> Indeed! 😊



I hope to see you make a soundset for it!!


----------



## R. Naroth

KEM said:


> I hope to see you make a soundset for it!!


@KEM i can’t wait!! I was literally drooling reading Uhe’s update. 🤤


----------



## Pier

Finally some good news!!!

This sounds like a late 2023 release. Maybe early 2024.

Thanks @u-he for the update! It sounds like Zebra is going to be everything we've hoped for and more!


----------



## kgdrum

Pier said:


> Finally some good news!!!
> 
> This sounds like a late 2023 release. Maybe early 2024.
> 
> Thanks @u-he for the update! It sounds like Zebra is going to be everything we've hoped for and more!




My bet is on 2023, I can’t imagine it taking until 2024 to complete this. They didn’t start developing Z3 yesterday,they’ve been working on this quietly for a while……..


----------



## Pier

kgdrum said:


> My bet is on 2023, I can’t imagine it taking until 2024 to complete this. They didn’t start developing Z3 yesterday,they’ve been working on this quietly for a while……..


I've been waiting since 2010. I'd rather not be disappointed again 😂


----------



## kgdrum

Pier said:


> I've been waiting since 2010. I'd rather note disappointed again 😂


Well they are showing features publicly now and releasing a new Zebralette (Urs said he’s is hoping for August) tells me they are making substantial progress.
U-he usually plays their cards close to the vest and are extremely tight lipped with future release news.
My hunch 2023………


----------



## RSK

I'm just wondering what they're going to do to improve it. It's already the best synth I own besides Omnisphere.


----------



## EvilDragon

You just wait...


----------



## gruvsyco

RSK said:


> I'm just wondering what they're going to do to improve it. It's already the best synth I own besides Omnisphere.


I've learned to never underestimate what Urs can do. He's stated himself that he's learned a bit from getting involved in modular synths. It wouldn't surprise me if some of that trickles into Z3. I do kind of expect it to hurt my CPU a bit. I'm not sure if it was him (I think it was) that commented something about designing stuff that pushes the limits of current CPUs because the next gen will do so much better or something like that.


----------



## KEM

ZebraHZ is actually a pretty cpu efficient synth for what it’s capable of doing, in his KVR post Urs said he wants to make Zebra 3 less cpu intensive than Diva, so I’d expect it to stress a system about as much as it’s predecessor if not just a little bit more. But then again I do have an M1 Ultra Mac Studio, so I’m totally fine with Zebra 3 being more power hungry if it means the synth is even better, I’m sure my system can handle it


----------



## Double Helix

We're going to need a Z4 thread one of these days. . .


----------



## gruvsyco

KEM said:


> ZebraHZ is actually a pretty cpu efficient synth for what it’s capable of doing, in his KVR post Urs said he wants to make Zebra 3 less cpu intensive than Diva, so I’d expect it to stress a system about as much as it’s predecessor if not just a little bit more. But then again I do have an M1 Ultra Mac Studio, so I’m totally fine with Zebra 3 being more power hungry if it means the synth is even better, I’m sure my system can handle it


When DIVA first came out, it was quite stressful on my CPU (as was ZebraHZ) but my current CPU has no issue running many instances of either. On the PC side, I'm on a 9900, so not even the close to the latest cpu. On my mac, I have the M1 but I haven't really used it with music much... I've been waiting for companies to become M1 compliant. Not everyone is as expeditious as U-he.


----------



## KEM

gruvsyco said:


> When DIVA first came out, it was quite stressful on my CPU (as was ZebraHZ) but my current CPU has no issue running many instances of either. On the PC side, I'm on a 9900, so not even the close to the latest cpu. On my mac, I have the M1 but I haven't really used it with music much... I've been waiting for companies to become M1 compliant. Not everyone is as expeditious as U-he.



Yeah I gained a TON of respect for U-He after they basically revamped their entire product line for Apple Silicon, all developers should use them as an example for how to properly support their products


----------



## SupremeFist

u-he said:


> I have regretted this sentence since, and circumstance (e.g. Diva's success, resulting in company growth) have made it impossible to route the resources necessary to create something as big and bold as we have envisioned back then.


To be fair this is entirely your fault for making Diva so incredibly awesome. It very often happens to me that I have a line played by a much more recent softsynth and am somehow unhappy with it and then I think "hmmm, maybe Diva could do this sound well" so I load up Diva and after a couple of minutes' tweaking I'm like "Aaaaaah yes", and I'm in a warm bath of sonic bliss.

So I'm very much looking forward to Zebra 3 (as a happy user of 2/HZ) but also eventually I want a Diva 2 which is even more computationally expensive and amazing.


----------



## KEM

SupremeFist said:


> To be fair this is entirely your fault for making Diva so incredibly awesome. It very often happens to me that I have a line played by a much more recent softsynth and am somehow unhappy with it and then I think "hmmm, maybe Diva could do this sound well" so I load up Diva and after a couple of minutes' tweaking I'm like "Aaaaaah yes", and I'm in a warm bath of sonic bliss.
> 
> So I'm very much looking forward to Zebra 3 (as a happy user of 2/HZ) but also eventually I want a Diva 2 which is even more computationally expensive and amazing.



For some reason I’ve always found Diva so much harder to use than Zebra, I probably just need to spend more time with it, but the results were never as immediate as Zebra


----------



## SupremeFist

KEM said:


> For some reason I’ve always found Diva so much harder to use than Zebra, I probably just need to spend more time with it, but the results were never as immediate as Zebra


I find exactly the opposite, but they are without doubt both amazing! 🤘🏻


----------



## Dirtgrain

To some extent, we want newer VSTs to push the CPU, given that we want to take advantage of ever improving CPU power.


----------



## KEM

SupremeFist said:


> I find exactly the opposite, but they are without doubt both amazing! 🤘🏻



It’s probably just cause I know it so much better, I have heard some great sounds out of Diva that’s for sure, I just couldn’t program it as well as I can program Zebra


----------



## KEM

Dirtgrain said:


> To some extent, we want newer VSTs to push the CPU, given that we want to take advantage of ever improving CPU power.



100% agree, I want Zebra 3 to push the boundaries of what’s possible with a soft synth, and it looks like that’s part of the idea so far!


----------



## Pier

KEM said:


> For some reason I’ve always found Diva so much harder to use than Zebra, I probably just need to spend more time with it, but the results were never as immediate as Zebra


It's the same for me.

Diva is much simpler than Zebra, it should be easier, right? I don't know why but it causes me brain fog 😂


----------



## KEM

Pier said:


> It's the same for me.
> 
> Diva is much simpler than Zebra, it should be easier, right? I don't know why but it causes me brain fog 😂



Exactly! Every time I open up Diva I just stare at it like “uhhhhh… now what?” whereas Zebra I can get up and running straight away and get some cool sounds

Maybe we’re just stupid…


----------



## mscp

Pier said:


> It's the same for me.
> 
> Diva is much simpler than Zebra, it should be easier, right? I don't know why but it causes me brain fog 😂


Why's that?


----------



## Pier

mscp said:


> Why's that?


You know, I've asked myself this question many times and I can't figure it out.

First time I used Diva I had been using Zebra exclusively for a couple of years. I thought maybe it was the jump from semi modular to fixed architecture... but I haven't had this reaction with Hive, Dune, Pigments, The Legend, or any other synth.


----------



## Geoff Grace

SupremeFist said:


> I want a Diva 2 which is even more computationally expensive and amazing.



Didn‘t u-he release that awhile back?

Yes, I’m sure they did … I think it was called “Repro.” 

Best,

Geoff


----------



## mscp

Pier said:


> You know, I've asked myself this question many times and I can't figure it out.
> 
> First time I used Diva I had been using Zebra exclusively for a couple of years. I thought maybe it was the jump from semi modular to fixed architecture... but I haven't had this reaction with Hive, Dune, Pigments, The Legend, or any other synth.


Maybe the INIT timbre puts you off? I've had that issue before.


----------



## Pier

mscp said:


> Maybe the INIT timbre puts you off? I've had that issue before.


I don't know...

But while waiting for Zebra 3 I have my hands full with Zebra 2, Hive, and PhasePlant... I really don't have any motivation to dive deeper into Diva.

Maybe if U-He releases Diva 2 in a couple of years!


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

Pier said:


> It's the same for me.
> 
> Diva is much simpler than Zebra, it should be easier, right? I don't know why but it causes me brain fog 😂


Put on both syncs, detune ocs 2+3 a lot, raise the fm high and wobble the osc1 waveform. Watch the oscilloscope getting evil. Im always done there.


----------



## Faruh Al-Baghdadi

Pier said:


> I don't know...
> 
> But while waiting for Zebra 3 I have my hands full with Zebra 2, Hive, and PhasePlant... I really don't have any motivation to dive deeper into Diva.
> 
> Maybe if U-He releases Diva 2 in a couple of years!


If I'm not mistaken, on KVR forum Urs said that there won't be any activity regarding Diva 2 until Zebra 3 is released.

Speaking of Diva update, I can't imagine what's there to update... It's such a specific synth. Like Legend - what to update in the Legend? Maybe adding other classic oscilletors and filters, new modulation, adding a sequencer... Damn, there's something to add after all

I wish Urs just put all his synths into one, that would be amazing.


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> I wish Urs just put all his synths into one, that would be….


Zebrivaprohizille?


----------



## Faruh Al-Baghdadi

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> Zebrivaprohizille?


I would go with "Zzz..."


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> I would go with "Zzz..."


Ah, because it will put your cpu to sleep forever? Hmm, not bad. But if you get asked at work what you’re working on, and reply with Zzz….mhhm…


----------



## Faruh Al-Baghdadi

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> Ah, because it will put your cpu to sleep forever? Hmm, not bad. But if you get asked at work what you’re working on, and reply with Zzz….mhhm…


Ok, how about Buzinezz?


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Ok, how about Buzinezz?


Still 3 Z‘s in the name, which is too close to an upcoming product.

Maybe take all names and let them ahh…modulate each other, in a preschool alphabet matrix. I mean, write them all on paper, cut the letters up and arrange them (and swallow some of em) wildy by your inner childs instincts. You wouldn’t believe
how many Synths have their name from these advanced brainstorming methods.


----------



## Faruh Al-Baghdadi

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> Still 3 Z‘s in the name, which is too close to an upcoming product.
> 
> Maybe take all names and let them ahh…modulate each other, in a preschool alphabet matrix. I mean, write them all on paper, cut the letters up and arrange them (and swallow some of em) wildy by your inner childs instincts. You wouldn’t believe
> how many Synths have their name from these advanced brainstorming methods.


Ok, I'm gonna call it Urs Synth.


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## Pier

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Speaking of Diva update, I can't imagine what's there to update... It's such a specific synth.


Diva is over a decade old at this point. Urs being the perfectionist he is, I'm sure he'd find many ways to improve it 



Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> I wish Urs just put all his synths into one, that would be amazing.


Yeah everyone wants this 😂

Urs has said many times he won't do it.


----------



## Snoobydoobydoo

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Ok, I'm gonna call it Urs Synth.


I like that idea, and to name dogs just „my dog“ is a cool modern approach. But maybe he has named his very first synth like that already, oh neyy.


----------



## Faruh Al-Baghdadi

Pier said:


> Urs has said many times he won't do it.


In my life I've said many things, most of them turned out to be bs. I hope Urs is just like me.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> „my dog“


My doggy dog.


----------



## olvra

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Ok, I'm gonna call it Urs Synth.


U-he U-we


----------



## jbuhler

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Ok, I'm gonna call it Urs Synth.


Ursynth


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi

jbuhler said:


> Ursynth


Oursynth


----------



## Pier

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Oursynth


If you keep changing it eventually you will get to...

...



...



Zebra!


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## Snoobydoobydoo

Pier said:


> If you keep changing it eventually you will get to...
> 
> ...
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> 
> 
> Zebra!


Its cool saying that you own a Zebra. 
And even cooler if you add that you 
have a license to use it. But that 
sensation could be interrupted by the 
lack of outdoor visibility. So better play that card only on crosswalks and blame the one you’re trying to impress.

But those Alpacas are still leading the charts of economical awareness, must be their hairstyle or something.


----------



## Pier

Snoobydoobydoo said:


> But those Alpacas are still leading the charts of economical awareness, must be their hairstyle or something.


U-He Alpaca will be the next big thing!


----------



## inhaleexhale

Wow i just knew that Zebra 3 was planned since 2014 


doctoremmet said:


> It was first announced in 2014 I think. Urs is still very much alive and so is U-he. At this point it is safe to say it’ll be here sooner rather than later. I do not think Native Instruments has a lot to do with the pace of development


----------



## Pier

inhaleexhale said:


> Wow i just knew that Zebra 3 was planned since 2014


I exchanged a couple of comments on KVR with Urs about Zebra 3 in 2010 and he was probably thinking about it well before that...


----------



## inhaleexhale

Pier said:


> I exchanged a couple of comments on KVR with Urs about Zebra 3 in 2010 and he was probably thinking about it well before that...


Why they took so long to release Zebra 3? I assume 22 years should be done for them


----------



## EvilDragon

Stuff happened.


----------



## Pier

inhaleexhale said:


> Why they took so long to release Zebra 3? I assume 22 years should be done for them


Well it's 12 years (not 22).

And yeah stuff happened. Working on your magnum opus while making other products, while growing a company, while working on a new plugin format, etc... is complicated.

The good thing is that Zebra 3 will be better for it. Urs has had time to think this through, develop new tech, etc.


----------



## inhaleexhale

Pier said:


> Well it's 12 years (not 22).
> 
> And yeah stuff happened. Working on your magnum opus while making other products, while growing a company, while working on a new plugin format, etc... is complicated.
> 
> The good thing is that Zebra 3 will be better for it. Urs has had time to think this through, develop new tech, etc.


Sorry my mistake, just woke up and my soul still lying on the bed 

I wish all the best to Urs and his companion!


----------



## DANIELE

Do someone knows if Zebra 3 will feature a granular synth section? Or if it will feature a sample section as Omnisphere does?


----------



## KEM

DANIELE said:


> Do someone knows if Zebra 3 will feature a granular synth section? Or if it will feature a sample section as Omnisphere does?



Samples no, granular I’m not sure


----------



## DANIELE

KEM said:


> Samples no, granular I’m not sure


Oh ok, it's a pity but it is still a great synthesizer. I hope about granular (even if granular synthesis is usually sample based, I think it could be interesting with oscillator only too).


----------



## Pier

DANIELE said:


> Do someone knows if Zebra 3 will feature a granular synth section? Or if it will feature a sample section as Omnisphere does?


No samples. Urs has confirmed it. I agree it's a shame. We will be able to import samples to create wavetables though.

No granunlar either unless it's some kind of novel approach with the wavetables.


----------



## DANIELE

Pier said:


> No samples. Urs has confirmed it. I agree it's a shame. We will be able to import samples to create wavetables though.
> 
> No granunlar either unless it's some kind of novel approach with the wavetables.


It would have been great to have a pretty complete synthesizer. I know there are a lot of choices out there but since I love the workflow of Zebra having everything in the V3 would have been a blast!


----------



## Pier

DANIELE said:


> I know there are a lot of choices out there


Not a lot of good choices on the hybrid front though!






Are we in the dark ages of hybrid synths?


I'm pasting this post I wrote in another thread and starting a new one on suggestion of @Nico5 . For context, this all started in a thread about the limitations of Omnisphere for handling user multisamples. ------ LONG RANT INCOMING!!! I hope I'm not going completely off-topic here... but...




vi-control.net


----------



## X-Bassist

Pier said:


> AFAIK this was never related to NI.
> 
> For years you've been able to purchase Zebra 2 + ZebraHZ and you will get Zebra 3 when it comes out.


Oh man!!! Totally forgot about this. Bought Zebra 2 and the NI sale then decided to pick up Zebra HZ too to get Zebra 3 free. I was really thinking that meant it was being released soon… didn’t realize some people have been waiting a decade!

I just hope I remember in 2032 when it releases. I’m afraid by the time it releases Urs will sell 3 copies and gives away 20,000 copies for free… maybe that’s what‘s slowing things down. Thinking of doing all that work yet seeing the number of free copies owed go up and up. 😄


----------



## kgdrum

DANIELE said:


> It would have been great to have a pretty complete synthesizer. I know there are a lot of choices out there but since I love the workflow of Zebra having everything in the V3 would have been a blast!




Well Urs feels a U-he synthesizer is an actual synth that doesn’t utilize samples like various hybrid synths in the market.
As much fun as that can be occasionally I actually understand his premise and trust that whatever team U-he releases will be top notch. 
Considering the quality and ability of all of the synths in the U-he lineup I am happy to trust & accept any of their design choises and use other numerous hybrid synths available when I’m looking for a synth that also utilizes samples.
Zebra was never about samples it’s always been a pure synth and I’m OK with that. 
I have a ton of synths from various developers some utilize samples but my favorites for the most part happens to be U-he’s and I have enough sample based alternatives for the occasional moment I want a hybrid sample-synth sound.
Speaking for myself I don’t want Diva,Bazille,Repro or Zebra redesigned with samples. 
I like and trust whatever decisions Urs and his team makes with their products will accept as a confirmed U-he fanboy anything they release!


----------



## kgdrum

X-Bassist said:


> Oh man!!! Totally forgot about this. Bought Zebra 2 and the NI sale then decided to pick up Zebra HZ too to get Zebra 3 free. I was really thinking that meant it was being released soon… didn’t realize some people have been waiting a decade!
> 
> I just hope I remember in 2032 when it releases. I’m afraid by the time it releases Urs will sell 3 copies and gives away 20,000 copies for free… maybe that’s what‘s slowing things down. Thinking of doing all that work yet seeing the number of free copies owed go up and up. 😄




Joking aside I actually think we are pretty close to the release of Z3,my hunch betas hopefully by the end of ‘22 and the release of Z3 most likely sometime in 2023.


----------



## Pier

X-Bassist said:


> I just hope I remember in 2032 when it releases.





kgdrum said:


> Joking aside I actually think we are pretty close to the release of Z3,my hunch betas hopefully by the end of ‘22 and the release of Z3 most likely sometime in 2023.


I've been waiting for over a decade but I'm confident it will be released in 2023 or 2024 at the most.

Urs has promised to release a Zebralette version of Zebra 3 this year.


----------



## AceAudioHQ

I wonder how many people that were waiting for z3 have died already :>


----------



## EvilDragon

Pier said:


> Urs has promised to release a Zebralette version of Zebra 3 this year.


Nope he didn't promise, he just stated a goal that they're _hoping to_ execute, and it could spill over to Q1 2023.


----------



## Pier

EvilDragon said:


> Nope he didn't promise, he just stated a goal that they're _hoping to_ execute, and it could spill over to Q1 2023.


You're really evil shattering our dreams like this!


----------



## EvilDragon




----------



## zvenx

kgdrum said:


> Joking aside I actually think we are pretty close to the release of Z3,my hunch betas hopefully by the end of ‘22 and the release of Z3 most likely sometime in 2023.


Then CLAP came along....
I would have agreed with your timeline before his public involvement with CLAP and his current role as default spokesman for it.
rsp


----------



## X-Bassist

Pier said:


> You're really evil shattering our dreams like this!


It’s been a year and I still haven’t gotten through all of Zebra and ZebraHZ. So according to my past experiences, it should all get released as soon as I learn the ”old” versions.

I’ll get going on Zebralette and the rest asap! Sorry for the delay! 🤣


----------



## kgdrum

X-Bassist said:


> It’s been a year and I still haven’t gotten through all of Zebra and ZebraHZ. So according to my past experiences, it should all get released as soon as I learn the ”old” versions.
> 
> I’ll get going on Zebralette and the rest asap! Sorry for the delay! 🤣




Well hurry up and stop waddling!


----------



## Pier

X-Bassist said:


> It’s been a year and I still haven’t gotten through all of Zebra and ZebraHZ. So according to my past experiences, it should all get released as soon as I learn the ”old” versions.
> 
> I’ll get going on Zebralette and the rest asap! Sorry for the delay! 🤣


I'm pretty sure all your Zebra 2 knowledge will transfer to 3!


----------



## R. Naroth

DANIELE said:


> Do someone knows if Zebra 3 will feature a granular synth section? Or if it will feature a sample section as Omnisphere does?


For granular synthesis, Pigments really goes a long way-- it is also easy to learn. If you can put up with the complex UI and the nested approach, Falcon features a powerful Sampler but requires quite a bit of dedication in mastering its full potential. Falcon's granular engine is also top notch.

While not a Sampler or a Granular synth, you can still leverage Zebra's powerful filters, effects, MSEGs, LFOs and flexible signal routing via Zebrify.


----------



## Bee_Abney

R. Naroth said:


> For granular synthesis, Pigments really goes a long way-- it is also easy to learn. If you can put up with the complex UI and the nested approach, Falcon features a powerful Sampler but requires quite a bit of dedication in mastering its full potential. Falcon's granular engine is also top notch.
> 
> While not a Sampler or a Granular synth, you can still leverage Zebra's powerful filters, effects, MSEGs, LFOs and flexible signal routing via Zebrify.


Zebrify is fantastic. They could really have charged for that separately, and it would be worth a good sum. There aren't a lot of plugins that allow you to assign effects parameters to the Pitch Wheel, but the fact that Zebrify can do this means that you get much more interesting (and more realistic, in the case of acoustic samples) pitch bends on anything without involving the modwheel, so leaving that free for other things. And, Zebra has amazing filters, so having a Zebra filter plugin alone is a huge benefit.


----------



## R. Naroth

Bee_Abney said:


> Zebrify is fantastic. They could really have charged for that separately, and it would be worth a good sum. There aren't a lot of plugins that allow you to assign effects parameters to the Pitch Wheel, but the fact that Zebrify can do this means that you get much more interesting (and more realistic, in the case of acoustic samples) pitch bends on anything without involving the modwheel, so leaving that free for other things. And, Zebra has amazing filters, so having a Zebra filter plugin alone is a huge benefit.


Absolutely! Zebrify hasn't gotten the love it deserves..


----------



## Bee_Abney

R. Naroth said:


> Absolutely! Zebrify hasn't gotten the love it deserves..


I think that's true, as well regarded as it is in some quarters (composers who could pick Hans Zimmer out of a line up), it hasn't been nearly as widely appreciated or adopted as it deserves to be.


----------



## KEM

I always forget Zebrify exists, which is a shame cause it really is a great tool, I need to make more use of it


----------



## Bee_Abney

KEM said:


> I always forget Zebrify exists, which is a shame cause it really is a great tool, I need to make more use of it


Based on what I've heard, you are doing pretty darn well without it. But, yes, me too; I should push it up the list for when I think of effects to add.


----------



## DANIELE

R. Naroth said:


> For granular synthesis, Pigments really goes a long way-- it is also easy to learn. If you can put up with the complex UI and the nested approach, Falcon features a powerful Sampler but requires quite a bit of dedication in mastering its full potential. Falcon's granular engine is also top notch.
> 
> While not a Sampler or a Granular synth, you can still leverage Zebra's powerful filters, effects, MSEGs, LFOs and flexible signal routing via Zebrify.


Thank you for the advices.

I should give definitely Zebrify a try. I didn't think about it.

PS Why I know about interesting VST only when the sale is just finished (Arturia Pigments on APD, I have enough rewards to buy it, it isn't even on the store).


----------

