What's new

A Zebra2 cinematic cyberpunk sound library. Questions for potential buyers.

Grim_Universe

Active Member
After I composed



I had a very positive feedback and some of guys suggested to make my own Zebra 2 sound library.
Before I start to make it, I wanna say, that it will be top notch and one of the best on the whole market for sure, but it won't be really big, because each sound takes a lot of time to make, if you want to make it controllable (the most important thing) and sounding lively. And you need a new CPU to use a lot of Zebra2 instances with different patches in your projects.

Let's say, it will consist of 30 sounds, so how much are you willing to pay for that kind of library? $10? $20? $30?

Or there is no need to even make it, because the most of you have everything you need at this point?
Thank you.
 
These sound great and I believe theres always room for more awesome Zebra sounds...

Don't be offended but I'd be willing to pay about 5 USD for 30 patches.

Logic:
Unfinished Tunguska, when not on sale: 32 USD
No. of patches: 200
 
You were mentioning in the thread that you would have to do some explaining about the patches for people to actually understand how you utilized them in the track. If you included a short video masterclass about your writing and maybe deconstructing the track/part of the track, and eventually some tips on more advanced use of zebra, i could definitely see $10 or $20 being a fair price.

Generally, if the quality is there though, which i already know it is, $10 doesn't seem like a high price to me for the presets alone.
 
Unfinished soundsets also contain a bunch of "filler" sounds that are not that great imho. Also the performance pads sometimes don't give that much of space to vary the sounds.

so if there are thirty superb and unique Patches, all of which have some well-defined performance pads that allow morphing the sound (not talking about simple filter or Modulation effects here), I would pay $20 without hesitation, also $30 (incl tax) if it really fits my plate. I have come to appreciate quality much more than quantity.
 
Your presets sound fantastic! I think $10-15 is a good sweet spot. There are people who would pay more, but given that this is your first library, you might want to build a customer base with a more attractive price point.

You could charge $20 or $30 if you were willing to offer a substantial intro discount that brings the price down into the $10-15 range, but then you'll be locked into the "wait for a sale" game.
 
I'd be honest and say I'd pick 30 presets up for $10.

I'll get ZebraHZ packs from the unfinished which has 260 sounds with it for £30. Howard Scarr - 100 presets for 30 euro. Zebra 2 Signature 690 presets - $50. Dark Zebra - 400 Presets for 99 euro. They all tend to be around that price range. :)
 
Unfinished soundsets also contain a bunch of "filler" sounds that are not that great imho. Also the performance pads sometimes don't give that much of space to vary the sounds.

so if there are thirty superb and unique Patches, all of which have some well-defined performance pads that allow morphing the sound (not talking about simple filter or Modulation effects here), I would pay $20 without hesitation, also $30 (incl tax) if it really fits my plate. I have come to appreciate quality much more than quantity.
I think this is a fair assessment. All those libraries with 200 plus sounds have a lot of filler. If the patches sold by the OP match his composition I would go for $20-$25 for sure. Quality above quantity. And that music piece is outstanding!
 
Unfinished soundsets also contain a bunch of "filler" sounds that are not that great imho. Also the performance pads sometimes don't give that much of space to vary the sounds.

so if there are thirty superb and unique Patches, all of which have some well-defined performance pads that allow morphing the sound (not talking about simple filter or Modulation effects here), I would pay $20 without hesitation, also $30 (incl tax) if it really fits my plate. I have come to appreciate quality much more than quantity.
Beauty's in the eye of the beholder. Personally I find Matt's presets to contain the least fluff. This is obviously user-specific, but The Unfinished is by far one of the more consistent patch developers as he tends to put out sets that fill a specific niche.

I think the point about it being a first release is more than valid.... 10-15 is a reasonable price considering it'd be a first go; and, some "fluff" in inevitable in any preset pack. Most people will typically find a few duds unless they're specifically trying to write in exactly the same niche.. Empty Vessel's a good example, while he often puts out smaller soundsets, they're broadly useful, and roughly around the same price range unless he puts out something beyond 40-50 presets... (In which case you might be looking at the 20+-ish range depending on the presets.)

Also why'd you have to go and use the same pic as my desktop wallpaper ?????!!!!!! :emoji_alien:
 
Last edited:
I would say, try not to make your presets sound too iconic. That would discourage composers from using them, because others would definitely use them.

It would be best if the presets were serious workhorse presets - that is, stuff that doesn't stand out, but sounds great that they can be used and modified over and over again, across different situations, across different projects. I would rather pick a simple workhorse arpegiatted bassline (which can be used everywhere without anyone really giving a shit), rather than a solo standout preset that sounds too recognizable and awesome, if you get what I mean.

I think that's the irony of trying to sell soundsets where we stand now - if something sounds too cool and stands out way too much, not alot of composers would use them, simply because they're so identifiable!
 
Last edited:
Beauty's in the eye of the beholder. Personally I find Matt's presets to contain the least fluff. This is obviously user-specific, but The Unfinished is by far one of the more consistent patch developers as he tends to put out sets that fill a specific niche.
I can't agree with this more. I find Matt's stuff has a huge amount of variety with minimal fluff.

I would say, try not to make your presets sound too iconic. That would discourage composers from using them, because others would definitely use them.

It would be best if the presets were serious workhorse presets - that is, stuff that doesn't stand out, but sounds great that they can be used and modified over and over again, across different situations, across different projects. I would rather pick a simple workhorse arpegiatted bassline (which can be used everywhere without anyone really giving a shit), rather than a solo standout preset that sounds too recognizable and awesome, if you get what I mean.

I think that's the irony of trying to sell soundsets where we stand now - if something sounds too cool and stands out way too much, not alot of composers would use them, simply because they're so identifiable!

I'm not sure I'm on board with this opinion, each to their own. I'd imagine most of us are preset tweakers, making it a bit more of our own. I'm constantly taking pads and changing the sound of them to make them into leads, sequences, arps, etc. I also think there's a lot of personal preference, one thing I like in a pack will not be the same as others. With the huge variety of synths and preset packs and layering, mixing, etc. It'll be fairly indistinguishable to the average listener. Yes work horse stuff is awesome, but packs need identity and not just generic stuff you could pull from Nexus or Massive.
 
I can't agree with this more. I find Matt's stuff has a huge amount of variety with minimal fluff.



I'm not sure I'm on board with this opinion, each to their own. I'd imagine most of us are preset tweakers, making it a bit more of our own. I'm constantly taking pads and changing the sound of them to make them into leads, sequences, arps, etc. I also think there's a lot of personal preference, one thing I like in a pack will not be the same as others. With the huge variety of synths and preset packs and layering, mixing, etc. It'll be fairly indistinguishable to the average listener. Yes work horse stuff is awesome, but packs need identity and not just generic stuff you could pull from Nexus or Massive.

That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid - presets that have identity. Identity should belong to the composer, and not the presets. The Unfinished did a preset called "SFX - Monster" in his Tunguska set, which sounds very cool and awesome, but unfortunately not exactly exclusive. It was perfect for this monster movie I'm working on, but I didn't use it in the end. Identity should be custom-created. If I were to buy presets, I'd rather look for those that are not going to be the star of the show. In this case, 'generic' is a friend.
 
That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid - presets that have identity. Identity should belong to the composer, and not the presets. The Unfinished did a preset called "SFX - Monster" in his Tunguska set, which sounds very cool and awesome, but unfortunately not exactly exclusive. It was perfect for this monster movie I'm working on, but I didn't use it in the end. Identity should be custom-created. If I were to buy presets, I'd rather look for those that are not going to be the star of the show. In this case, 'generic' is a friend.
Honestly, i am not paying for generic presets, i am paying for presets that does something more. Generic presets i can either create myself, find a tutorial for or they are already included as fillers/factory presets in most libraries or synths. If i am going to pay for presets instead of creating them from scratch, they have to have a special sound to them, something more than the generic. Nothing worse than buying a pack and figuring out that it is filled with the same filler plucked basses and boring pads as everything else and only have 3 or 4 presets that actually stick out.
 
Honestly, i am not paying for generic presets, i am paying for presets that does something more. Generic presets i can either create myself, find a tutorial for or they are already included as fillers/factory presets in most libraries or synths. If i am going to pay for presets instead of creating them from scratch, they have to have a special sound to them, something more than the generic. Nothing worse than buying a pack and figuring out that it is filled with the same filler plucked basses and boring pads as everything else and only have 3 or 4 presets that actually stick out.

I would say I would do the exact opposite - generic requires alot more different shades and flavors, and I would need all the help and 2nd opinions I can get. Special sounds should be created from scratch, but they don't have to have so many different shades, simply because they're the star of the show. I'd rather spend the money hiring a sound designer like The Unfinished, if I want an exclusive sound!

Anyway, all the best.
 
Top Bottom