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This synth has been recommended to me quite a lot now. I will start a new project soon, and it probably would be a good time to buy it.

The thing is that I feel guilty that I already have a ton of stuff I haven't even opened yet (most of my Komplete stuff... Reactor, FM, Absynth). Hell, I haven't even tried DP's MX4!!! (can you believe it???)

So, do you use that synth? What are its strenghts? I've been told it has some amazing sounds and capable of creating so many new ones. I've been really enjoying learning synthesis lately, so I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty

So, what say you?? Or do I already have something similar and equally good?
Thanks!

If you are like me, you don't need another synth. Zebra could be awesome!! BUT You have enough soft-synths to keep you busy for lifetimes, don't you?

If you are just jones'ing for something new, you could mess around with this:

http://www.native-instruments.com/en/re ... show/7513/

All that said, if you have to ask whether to get it or not, you don't need it. That isn't always true, but perhaps in this case, it is.

FMiguelez wrote:This synth has been recommended to me quite a lot now. I will start a new project soon, and it probably would be a good time to buy it.

The thing is that I feel guilty that I already have a ton of stuff I haven't even opened yet (most of my Komplete stuff... Reactor, FM, Absynth). Hell, I haven't even tried DP's MX4!!! (can you believe it???)

So, do you use that synth? What are its strenghts? I've been told it has some amazing sounds and capable of creating so many new ones. I've been really enjoying learning synthesis lately, so I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty

So, what say you?? Or do I already have something similar and equally good?
Thanks!

I also have way too many synths,I don't have Zebra but I'm sure it's amazing Urs aka U-he imo is one of the most amazing developers in the software based music world,on my short list of future must buys is Diva........

I've been synthing and programming around for most of my life, and I've finally come to the conclusion that I'm reaching the point of diminishing returns. Yes, we're talking about an infinite sound palette, but we're really talking about different shades of the same color. Each synthesis method has its strengths, but in the end they ultimately produce predictable results. I'm not dissing electronic music at all because I strongly believe that it has its place, but I've yet to run into a patch that even comes close to the nuance and expressivity of an acoustic instrument. That is still the Holy Grail. The last time I heard sounds that really perked up my ears, I got them out of Sculpture in MainStage. I don't think Zebra is going to give you any sounds you don't already have access to, but programming GUIs are definitely things to take into account. There's the Zebra demo for sure, and then there's Zebralette which is also quite good and free. MX4 is quite good, but there's that cramped interface, speaking of GUIs. I think Reaktor could be your be all end all, and one doesn't have to learn the under-the-hood programming techniques to have a wide variety ensembles and techniques available.

BTW, I think your kitten avatar is absolutely adorable.

I really like Zebra2, and was on the fence about getting it, since I already owned Hive. But I'm glad I did get it, since Zebra does have a different character than Hive (and his other synths, the free ones as well as his commercial products.) If I had to compare it with other products, it has a warmth to it (ala Massive), but also can produce complex textures like Absynth. There are quite a few free banks of patches available for it as well, so you may find you won't need to invest in any 3rd-party presets. And speaking of saving money, you may be able to take advantage of his "Dinosaur Replacement" discount, information about which can be found in a link on the Zebra product page.

Thank you for your input, guys!

It was a close one. As much as I like it, I've decided to hold on, and learn to use and abuse at least one or two synths that I already have.... Most likely Reactor, since I've been really curious about it. And I want to see what MX4 can do too

So, if by the end of the year I learnt 2 synths, THEN i'll go ahead and get Zebra, or whatever is new then, preferably.

So much to learn! So little time!

cuttime wrote: BTW, I think your kitten avatar is absolutely adorable.

It is adorable. But I need to make time to find a reliable image host. I miss my iguana

Disclosure: I've owned Zebra since it was OSX and AU only, and did some of the original factory presets for it.

Yes, Zebra 2 is absolutely one of the best synths out there. It's a great combination of an analog warmth and digital's variety. For the most part although at first it's really complex looking, it's one of the easiest synths to get good sounds from IMO.

If I was forced to only use one synth and one sampler Zebra 2 would be the synth. Plenty of other synths with great sounds, and I completely 100% disagree with an earlier comment in this thread, different synths have different tones and over all sounds, not unlike guitars, but Zebra comes closest to that old LIE that salespeople at music shops would say in the 80's "this synth can sound like anything!".

This coupled with the best upgrade policies out there. I have no idea what Urs will charge for the upgrade to Zebra 3, but the upgrade to 2 was $25. There have been multiple free updates to Zebra 2 adding new filters, distortion, FX and other things.

To me anyway Zebra is bread and butter synth wise, easily IMO the most versatile synth out there, and IMO the easiest semi modular to program.

I have tried over and over to like U-He's stuff, and I know I'm in the minority but there's something about his stuff in general that just doesn't sound good to me. As you can see from my sig I have lots of synths and also a (real physical) modular synth.

I would recommend trying Reaktor Prism enseble for something completely fresh and different. Use the Reaktor Player to access it. Expect to spend some hours getting a feel for it as it is a TOTALLY different approach from any other synth I've run across. I love it because it's such a distinctive alternative from everything else I've heard. For traditional stuff Arturia is generally my go-to. For Minimoog, NI's Monark is really good IMO (great for basses). There are other synths (as ensembles) in Reaktor, it's just a matter of trying them. E.G. there's a Juno style one and some other attempts at recreations of classics. Some I like, some are trying too hard or miss the mark, and some are obviously oriented to EDM which I don't do.

For the big wash sounds I use Omnisphere and Alchemy and a mix of others. I just did some meditation music for a big-time client recently and Omnisphere and Alchemy were definitely in there.

Of course it all depends on the project, tastes etc, I'm just throwing in opinions because this is the internet and that's what we do.

philbrown wrote:I have tried over and over to like U-He's stuff, and I know I'm in the minority but there's something about his stuff in general that just doesn't sound good to me. As you can see from my sig I have lots of synths and also a (real physical) modular synth.

I would recommend trying Reaktor Prism enseble for something completely fresh and different. Use the Reaktor Player to access it. Expect to spend some hours getting a feel for it as it is a TOTALLY different approach from any other synth I've run across. I love it because it's such a distinctive alternative from everything else I've heard. For traditional stuff Arturia is generally my go-to. For Minimoog, NI's Monark is really good IMO (great for basses). There are other synths (as ensembles) in Reaktor, it's just a matter of trying them. E.G. there's a Juno style one and some other attempts at recreations of classics. Some I like, some are trying too hard or miss the mark, and some are obviously oriented to EDM which I don't do.

For the big wash sounds I use Omnisphere and Alchemy and a mix of others. I just did some meditation music for a big-time client recently and Omnisphere and Alchemy were definitely in there.

Of course it all depends on the project, tastes etc, I'm just throwing in opinions because this is the internet and that's what we do.

I would have to say you're the first person I've met who thinks Arturia do better analog sounds than Diva. I own both, and although Arturia come close, IMO anyway Diva comes much closer than Monark or any analog emulation I've heard. Arturia get the basic sound, but overall Diva wins that battle. Also, interface, good god, Arturia are last century, tiny cluttered messes.

I have an Xpander and Memorymoog, but I'm fond of emulations as well. Zebra is a programmers synth, the patches are generally bad IMO, but I get massive depth from it. I would not judge it's sound on the preset banks. I use it more than other synths, that says it all.

I knew I'd get the "You know you're wrong, don't you?" in this thread.
Didn't take long!

Michael Canavan wrote: I would have to say you're the first person I've met who thinks Arturia do better analog sounds than Diva. I own both, and although Arturia come close, IMO anyway Diva comes much closer than Monark or any analog emulation I've heard. Arturia get the basic sound, but overall Diva wins that battle. Also, interface, good god, Arturia are last century, tiny cluttered messes.

Not all of Arturia's synth guis are small; the miniMoog is quite large - larger than Monark. The Arturia Moog Modular, while crowded, is quite usable and the capture area around the controls is quite good. The ARP2600 & Oberheim emulations also have quite usable gui's. Now if one wants to talk about the CS80 being small & crowded - that has it in spades. At least the Prohet emulation gui is larger than Pro52/53.

If you want to talk about actually getting good sounds between the miniMoog emulations I find the Arturia easier than Monark. That second page on Monark is a right pain to deal with. The only downside to the Arturia emu is it's a cpu hog just like u-he synths.

I like Zebra2 - a lot. I wasn't thinking I needed another v synth, but a demo changed my mind. What got me sold were the patches from Hans Zimmer and specially the Gravastar ones from Matt Bowdler.

As the price of these things today, it has almost become a no brainer. How many synth did I buy in the 8's? Just for that one patch? SH-5, JX3P - Jupiter 6 and 8, D50, a DX7, Prophet 5, ESQ-1 plus a few others [and I left out the samplers ] not to mention buying 808, 909, drumtraks, linn and a SP12 - my point is it was always exciting to get a new synth, and more often than not a specific patch on one of those inspired a song. For me same thing happens with the various v synths. And with the Gravastar patches and Zebra2 a whole soundtrack came to life. Samething has happened with MX4, which I also use for fx on vocal tracks and more.

just my 0.2 euros

musicman691 wrote:

Michael Canavan wrote: I would have to say you're the first person I've met who thinks Arturia do better analog sounds than Diva. I own both, and although Arturia come close, IMO anyway Diva comes much closer than Monark or any analog emulation I've heard. Arturia get the basic sound, but overall Diva wins that battle. Also, interface, good god, Arturia are last century, tiny cluttered messes.

Not all of Arturia's synth guis are small; the miniMoog is quite large - larger than Monark. The Arturia Moog Modular, while crowded, is quite usable and the capture area around the controls is quite good. The ARP2600 & Oberheim emulations also have quite usable gui's. Now if one wants to talk about the CS80 being small & crowded - that has it in spades. At least the Prohet emulation gui is larger than Pro52/53.

If you want to talk about actually getting good sounds between the miniMoog emulations I find the Arturia easier than Monark. That second page on Monark is a right pain to deal with. The only downside to the Arturia emu is it's a cpu hog just like u-he synths.

There's a sound not unlike aliasing I hear in the Monark, I was just thoroughly unimpressed with it in terms of sounding like a moog, the Arturia stuff is a lot closer, but only the most modern of their GUIs (Oberheim in particular) are created with newer high pixel count screens. I love the CS80 sound, but the GUI is a mess.