Try this:
Well yeah because those are stereo processors and not synths!
what I personally like about synths like Phase Plant (Absynth is another good example) is that it doesn't really have an opinion, it doesn't sound like anything other than what you make it sound like. Not talking about the presets, they probably do have an opinion, I haven't checked. But PP is just a large, open sandbox for creating sounds you want to create without it trying to guide you or suggest any particular path. I like that Absynth opens with a default preset that is one sine wave and nothing else, Phase Plant with a blank canvas. It's a brave choice but it leaves you free to explore where and how you want to.
Totally agree. That's probably the main reason I keep coming back to Zebra after all these years.
Right! I really must give Zebra a proper go some time, haven't tried it since the very early days and on paper it really sounds like my kind of thing.
If you do, definitely spend some time getting acquainted with the comb filter. I neglected it for years and it's so much fun!
Just entered the Phase Plant realm and I must say it reminds me of Zebra: modules, lanes, cross modulation. Same vibe but different sound though. Hope you will jump on Zebra, I like your work on Lion and the various Arturia synths. Will pick up Suspension and SleepSystem one day.
I love comb filters, use them a lot! Put one to use in the Bowed Gong preset I made for the Arturia Prophet VS that just released
thank you so much, I really appreciate it! Hardly ever get feedback on the Lion stuff! Zebra has scratched at the back of my head for years, no idea why I haven't pulled the trigger. I guess by now I just have a lot of big powerhouse synths and only so much time. One day though. I'm sure.
It's interesting in my case how I almost immediately clicked with Phase Plant, but demoing Zebra 2 a while ago was like running into a brick wall for me - and both seemed very intimidating at a first glance to a newbie like me. One just did not work for me at all, while the other did but I have a lot to learn and explore about it. I'm sure that if I put in the time and effort I could make it work, but I'm just happy to have a playground platform that seems to work for me with Phase Plant. Sort of like an Advanced Sonic Laboratory.
That's what I appreciate about it too, but it's also what keeps me from fully committing to it. Sometimes I like the more standard architectures and limitations. Blank canvases in powerful tools can be both inviting to almost limitless possibilities and scary or daunting to get started with.
What I try to do is to have separate composing and sound design session. If you have the urge and need to get your ideas out, get them out. Design the sounds later. Or design sounds you'd want to use and the use them once the need to compose comes.
conflicts with:
I'm just saying
Seriously though that's quite a list of pretty complex synths, it would take a long time to fully explore and learn what you have already.yeah fair enough. For me I find it helps to have template presets, for Phase Plant (and all the complex plugins I use) I have quite a few with a few engines I know I'm likely to use for a given type of sound, a few FX already added running presets I already created. Sure I seldom use them 100% as the template starts but it still saves a bunch of time and it does overcome that blank canvas paralysis.
Absolutely the way I work and always have, commissions I'll sometimes need to take a different approach but for my own packs for sure this is the way to go.
Excatly the reason I love Phase Plant. It doesn't point you to anything, it's all up to you.@Kuusniemi hah snap
Absolutely the way I work and always have, commissions I'll sometimes need to take a different approach but for my own packs for sure this is the way to go.
so true, some sessions I'll get to something I like then instead of stopping I continue messing with it, adding things, oh just a bit more modulation, bit more, ooh something else, ooh modulate that too. ...half an hour passes...Excatly the reason I love Phase Plant. It doesn't point you to anything, it's all up to you.
Then again it's so easy to go overboard with PP. Sometimes creating the simple sound is soo much harder than doing something very complex.
If it sounds bad then expensive bad isn't better... :Dso true, some sessions I'll get to something I like then instead of stopping I continue messing with it, adding things, oh just a bit more modulation, bit more, ooh something else, ooh modulate that too. ...half an hour passes...
[modulation intensifies]
...another 15 minutes passes...
Wait, ah, yeah this sounds horrendous.
Great. :D
People say software doesn't compare to hardware but for $99 you genuinely can accurately simulate the amount of time wasted to make awful noises that you can waste making awful noises with a large, expensive eurorack system! Can't tell the difference in any A/B test I've tried!
