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Zebra 3 Alpha Features

We've fixed a lot of occurrences in our UI where the internal undo chain didn't catch a parameter change. Those were often related to mouse wheel. The spline editor creates an undo object at any change.

Unfortunately ctrl-z/cmd-z are caught by the host, so you have to use the undo/redo buttons in our UI.
 
I have not decided yet which old OscFX we keep or which we drop. Some might get merged into one, with an extra parameter doing the distinction. This is what happened to "Scrambler" and "Scatter", which are now just "Scrambler" but there's a drop down that sets different transfer functions to achieve the same.
 
Hi Urs, happy to see you here!

The improvements in the GUI and OSCs look fantastic!

But do you have any ideas regarding the effects? Not the OSC effects, but the stereo effects. From the perspective of someone making Zebra presets it would be a dream to get the DSP from Uhbik. Also a much larger grid compared to the one in Zebra 2.

My other big dream with Zebra is being able to make drum kits with it. Of course having a multitimbral Zebra player would be awesome, but simply being able to select a range of notes for each lane would already allow to create electronic drum kits with 4 sounds. I doubt you remember, but we discussed this back in 2010 at KVR :)

Finally the other big limitation I experience constantly with Zebra is the sequencer. Of course I would wish to have a full blown piano roll right inside Zebra! Although realistically I'd be happy with minor UX improvements such as being able to reset the sequencer.
 
I think you can totally expect better effects, probably with focus on "less complicated" and "latest DSP".

Drum Kits may happen, but probably different than one would expect. We're trying to incorporate the research we've done on physically modelled drums, but we have no final opinion yet on how useful this will actually be. Furthermore, instead of multitimbrality we would go for some kind of sub patch selection, like "this voice plays these modules, and those modules here are silent". We have yet to check and see if this ids a viable concept.

Similarly, I'm not such a big fan of replicating DAW business in soft synths, hence I do not think a piano roll is what I'd do. I did however learn a lot about modular sequencing in recent years. Zebra 3 will certainly have polyphonic and polyrhythmic sequencing options along with quantising and maybe that above mentioned timbrality control.

The obscure concept of a hybrid arpeggiator / sequencer is a thing of the past, the combo of independent arpeggiator and sequencer like in Hive is just more flexible. If we have the nerve, we'll explore polyphony in this as well, like Arp+Seq per MIDI channel or something. No promise though, this can easily become a dead end during development.
 
u-he said:
…. We're trying to incorporate the research we've done on physically modelled drums, but we have no final opinion yet on how useful this will actually be.…
Click to expand...
I wonder whether Modart might be interested/cooperate as they have done some nice steel drums.
 
I didn't quite understand what the fate of the Spectromorph/Spectroblend editors will be...

I was hoping for more precise editors on that side.
 
u-he said:
I think you can totally expect better effects, probably with focus on "less complicated" and "latest DSP".

Drum Kits may happen, but probably different than one would expect. We're trying to incorporate the research we've done on physically modelled drums, but we have no final opinion yet on how useful this will actually be. Furthermore, instead of multitimbrality we would go for some kind of sub patch selection, like "this voice plays these modules, and those modules here are silent". We have yet to check and see if this ids a viable concept.

Similarly, I'm not such a big fan of replicating DAW business in soft synths, hence I do not think a piano roll is what I'd do. I did however learn a lot about modular sequencing in recent years. Zebra 3 will certainly have polyphonic and polyrhythmic sequencing options along with quantising and maybe that above mentioned timbrality control.

The obscure concept of a hybrid arpeggiator / sequencer is a thing of the past, the combo of independent arpeggiator and sequencer like in Hive is just more flexible. If we have the nerve, we'll explore polyphony in this as well, like Arp+Seq per MIDI channel or something. No promise though, this can easily become a dead end during development.
Click to expand...
Thanks Urs!

This all sounds super exciting!
 
@u-he I just moved from Windows to macOS and noticed how all the native dropdowns in Zebra are much larger now and require me scroll down to find eg a modulation source.

Are there any plans for Zebra 3 to make those native GUI elements somehow integrated into Zebra itself instead of using native elements?
 
Teksonik said:
While you continue to wait for something from U-he, here's the Wavetable editor in a $25 synth from a one man development team that's available now and those WT's can be exported for use in other synths.


Vital 051623.png
Click to expand...
What's the name of this synth? The editor looks nice.
 
BTW, since im not on KVR and creator is here...

Here's some my preferable suggestions for zebra 3 (only included ones that could be overlooked):

____

Presets for:

Lanes (like in Absynth) - so save and load entire chain of OSC and filters in one lane.
Arp module.
____

Unfortunately overlooked in every modern synth spectral editor:

Separate algorithms for Phase and Volume in spectrum Editor (like for example smoother for phase information, randomizer, make it possible to morph between keyframes in phase wavetable info)
Ability to copy and paste phase information to another wavetable (entire phase table and one keyframe)

____

Copy and Paste 1 frame from one wavetable to another.

____

Keep GUI structure from Zebra 2, but make auto scroll work with 160 and above size.
 
No sample playback engine. Keep it 100 % synth.

____

Option to choose between XY pads and sliders for macros (like in Absynth 5)

____

0-1 switches for macros. Button to set two absolute state of values and completely change the preset sound, without linear changes that can be unpleasant and confusing for user (like tune change)

Very simple example of usage: can be used for chord changes in the pads or stabs.

____

Re-mappers for macros (so one mod-destination can be linear and other exponential)

____

Noise Module:

Simple mode tab with LP and HP (like in Zebra2)

And advanced tab - 10 bands of noise adjustments (so you can make white, brown or pink noise or anything in between)
 
Eclipse.SoundWorks said:
No sample playback engine. Keep it 100 % synth.

____

Option to choose between XY pads and sliders for macros (like in Absynth 5)

____

0-1 switches for macros. Button to set two absolute state of values and completely change the preset sound, without linear changes that can be unpleasant and confusing for user (like tune change)

Very simple example of usage: can be used for chord changes in the pads or stabs.

____

Re-mappers for macros (so one mod-destination can be linear and other exponential)

____

Noise Module:

Simple mode tab with LP and HP (like in Zebra2)

And advanced tab - 10 bands of noise adjustments (so you can make white, brown or pink noise or anything in between)
Click to expand...

Urs is very against sampling in Zebra so no worries there, it will be 100% synthesis
 
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