What's new

How to get good at Zebra?

ThomasNL

Thomas van der Burg
Hey all,

I love using Zebra 2 but so far mostly just used presets. Anyone that can recommend a good course/tutorial series for learning to create your own sounds? I know how synths work but for some reason very "easy" things in other synths are hard to find/accomplish in zebra for me for some reason.

Thanks!
 
I forgot who said it, but going with a preset for a basis and then adding your own elements and flavours to it will quickly upgrade your knowledge.

As for tutorials: u-he published a nice playlist with short tuts

 
I know how synths work but for some reason very "easy" things in other synths are hard to find/accomplish in zebra for me for some reason.
I think I know what you mean.

Zebra excels at complex sounds with lots of modulations and layers, specially pads, but simple "effective" analog sounds seem to be difficult to accomplish unlike in Repro or Diva.

I'm working on a soundset for Zebra which is mostly composed of somewhat simple sounds and it took me a long time to get the right tone. Try this:

- OSC -> XMF: LP4 with serial

Or:
- OSC -> VCF: LP Vintage2

Overdrive the filters to taste, even add some overdrive after/before the filter.
 
Last edited:
Hey all,

I love using Zebra 2 but so far mostly just used presets. Anyone that can recommend a good course/tutorial series for learning to create your own sounds? I know how synths work but for some reason very "easy" things in other synths are hard to find/accomplish in zebra for me for some reason.

Thanks!
In the initial days, I found some of these videos on youtube helpful. Zebra is modular, sometimes I would pick just a single OSC & VCF and try to see how far I can push it. Just the OSC effects can take you quite far. It helps to have the output visualized, I use an old, free VST plugin.

Maybe we can use this thread to post small Zebra tips like what @Pier did in his comment above.
 
Here is a simple pad using a comb filter. Even though no modulators are applied, the noise that drives the comb filter makes the sound alive. I've circled many of the knobs that are modified in this patch. Reverb is essential. :)

Try different Comb modes (except Cluster which will blowout your speakers)
Try modulating the Comb's TONE and FLAVOUR knobs.
Try a different "Shape" type.

Screen Shot 2021-09-22 at 3.33.03 PM.png


Try this VCF setting to get a choral sound:
Screen Shot 2021-09-22 at 3.46.12 PM.png
 
Of course.
Sorry, I had not saved those, just recreated them. Here they are.

For the Comb String pad, try enabling VCF2 and see how it carves out some frequencies to create an interesting effect.
 

Attachments

  • rnzebra-patches.zip
    16.4 KB · Views: 10
One of the things I like about Zebra is the visual aspect of it within the center box, if you turn something off then you actually see it go away, and everything stays in order on the sides, so my way of learning Zebra was taking patches I liked and just turning everything off in order of the newest thing to the starting point, that way I could see what everything does in order, Zebra is a good synth to learn that way in my opinion
 
One of the things I like about Zebra is the visual aspect of it within the center box, if you turn something off then you actually see it go away, and everything stays in order on the sides, so my way of learning Zebra was taking patches I liked and just turning everything off in order of the newest thing to the starting point, that way I could see what everything does in order, Zebra is a good synth to learn that way in my opinion
Yeah, this is what I tried to do too, but there is always some elements that I just can't "turn off" because it is hidden somewhere else.

Thanks everyone for the resources!
 
Yeah, this is what I tried to do too, but there is always some elements that I just can't "turn off" because it is hidden somewhere else.

Thanks everyone for the resources!

I had that issue at first too, just keep doing it and you’ll eventually find out where those secret parameters are and such, Zebra is certainly not the easiest synth to pick up but once you learn it you’ll definitely be at advantage when trying out other synths afterwards. It takes time but if you just force yourself to get past that initial frustration you’ll get the hang of it!!
 
I forgot who said it, but going with a preset for a basis and then adding your own elements and flavours to it will quickly upgrade your knowledge.

As for tutorials: u-he published a nice playlist with short tuts


Yep, that's how I learnt it the hard way too. I opened presets I loved and fiddled around with them, and slowly understood what each knob and option did. Eventually you'll understand what the perimeters do and you'll be able to create your own kickass stuff.
 
What I've noticed now, toying with it a couple hours, is that i get distracted/overwhelmed by the options. By just focusing on one or two modules and twisting every knob and settings, I am learning much quicker than trying to dissect a preset with 5+ modules.
 
Zebra is a good synth to learn that way in my opinion
After messing with synths for years I decided to get serious with synthesis and got into Zebra.

In a way it's a complex synth, but OTOH it can help you understand better what's going on since you have control of the audio flow/architecture (unlike fixed architecture synths). Maybe it's not for everyone, but for me it was a fantastic synth to learn on.
 
After messing with synths for years I decided to get serious with synthesis and got into Zebra.

In a way it's a complex synth, but OTOH it can help you understand better what's going on since you have control of the audio flow/architecture (unlike fixed architecture synths). Maybe it's not for everyone, but for me it was a fantastic synth to learn on.
I'm very much a visual learner, so for me a synth like Serum was a very good way to learn synthesis. You see the waveforms, the filters, the envelopes and lfo's visually doing their thing. Made everything so much easier to understand for me.
 
I don't know any good tutorials but what I recommend is to really spent time with it until you start "feeling" it :)

For me Zebra is one big sweet spot. It's built from very high quality components and when you combine them you almost always get something that sounds good and musical.

Another thing that I can recommend is my soundset which offers free patch templates and wavesets for Zebra. These might be helpful for you when creating new sounds and maybe give you some ideas for your own patches.

Full soundset is available at https://www.spektralisk.com/products/xebra
(free version is available at https://soundflux.spektralisk.com/)
 
Top Bottom