What makes U-he Zebra so loved?

[ATS]

I am really curious. I think it sounds wonderful but I also think the same thing about many other synths. But people seem to LOVE this one. Why are people so much more passionate about Zebra than most other synths?

[ATN69]

Personally I place Zebra at the top because it is so capable. If you know your Zebra well you can create all kinds of interesting sounds with it. Second reason is that it's semi modular. Just add or remove. Finally it's well crafted. It's FX are good, filters and envelops are good, etc. I can't wait for Zebra 3.

[pdxindy]

Personally I place Zebra at the top because it is so capable. If you know your Zebra well you can create all kinds of interesting sounds with it. Second reason is that it's semi modular. Just add or remove. Finally it's well crafted. It's FX are good, filters and envelops are good, etc. I can't wait for Zebra 3.

+1

[.jon]

I don't have that impression. Usually the owners just dream about an update, like they've done for years and years.

I don't think it's nearly worth the asking price tbh, it costs more than Reaktor 6 and it's really nowhere near that in value.

[kmonkey]

For me:

- Plenty of patches to start your creativity
- easy of use to make your own sounds or to customize existing
- top notch sound character
- top notch effects
- ease of copy protection

And above all top notch company which provide top notch technical support, plugin is super stable and there is constant ongoing development and communication with public. Which in return produce peace in my mind and overall satisfaction in my purchase.

There is zebra 2.8 in the pipeline and it is going to be like new instrument workflow (for me at least).

[sergiofrias]

-low cpu
-easy to use
-very flexible (semi modular without having to connect patch cables)
-similar architecture to Access Virus but with better sound (lot less aliasing)
-Hanz Zimmer loves this synth (Dark Zebra) ,used in BATMAN Dark Knight,Inception ,Blade Runner 2049
-Howard Scarr is a genius,great patches.
-wavetable import (you can also edit your own)
-lots of modules ,filters ,distortion,fm ,comb,etc)
-you can modulate almoust every parameter
-create envolving sounds using step sequencer/MSEG's
-great sounding FX
-made by Urs Heckmann

[ATS]

-low cpu
-easy to use
-very flexible (semi modular without having to connect patch cables)
-similar architecture to Access Virus but with better sound (lot less aliasing)
-Hanz Zimmer loves this synth (Dark Zebra) ,used in BATMAN Dark Knight,Inception ,Blade Runner 2049
-Howard Scarr is a genius,great patches.
-wavetable import (you can also edit your own)
-lots of modules ,filters ,distortion,fm ,comb,etc)
-you can modulate almoust every parameter
-create envolving sounds using step sequencer/MSEG's
-great sounding FX
-made by Urs Heckmann

The music is the new Blade runner really made the movie a lot better to me. It was an awesome movie but the music just made it so much better.

[egbert101]

<delete>

[Cinebient]

The stripes!

[Zexila]

Because of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZGnVbHdiz4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRpybgvlyZ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYhuTIPyKP0
https://soundcloud.com/3eesounddesign/winter-demo

[fmr]

Personally I place Zebra at the top because it is so capable. If you know your Zebra well you can create all kinds of interesting sounds with it. Second reason is that it's semi modular. Just add or remove. Finally it's well crafted. It's FX are good, filters and envelops are good, etc. I can't wait for Zebra 3.

+1

+2

[fmr]

It's a sound designer's dream synth, so that's why. It's desperately in need of an update to version 3 though, and it's pricey.

I wouldn't say "It's desperately in need of an update". It's quite useable as it is. Of course, the promised new deatures make me want to get the promised new version right now, but that doesn't mean Zebra got "old and surpassed". It is still quite at the top, IMO.

And the extraordinary diversity of sounds that each sound designer gets from it is a good testimony of what I said.

[egbert101]

<delete>

[Urs]

I don't have that impression. Usually the owners just dream about an update, like they've done for years and years.

It gets major updates with new features about every 18 months.

I don't think it's nearly worth the asking price tbh, it costs more than Reaktor 6 and it's really nowhere near that in value.

Please allow me to speak openly. You kinda need a PhD or something to do in Reaktor what you can do in Zebra within a few minutes. I can't do it. Even some of the most basic factory patches of Zebra would bring your CPU to its melting point should you succeed to recreate the result in Reaktor (remember: Zebra's control rate is 10+ kHz... set Reaktor to that if you like. Also, Zebra's signal flow is stereo all through the signal path). Reaktor can do almost anything and it's very well suited for this and that, but it's IMHO totally not suited to be a workhorse synth in a day to day production environment. And why is that? - Easy: Reaktor comes with thousands and thousands of ensembles, modules and building blocks which all look, sound and behave differently. If you want to load a patch and tweak it to your needs you first need to understand it. So yes, you can do almost everything, but it comes with a cost. The currency of that cost is *time*. No-one has time. Reaktor's biggest feature is also its weakest spot. It's a usability nightmare which emerged from the most comprehensive playground for synthesis. Can't have one without the other.

Zebra can do a shitload of things too. In almost no time and with only a few modules whose sound, look and behaviour just need to be learned once. With a very good ratio of control rate vs. CPU which IIRC is 16 times higher than Reaktor's standard setting.

So where again are we at in the value discussion?

[recursive one]

I think Zebra does need an upgrade to bring the sound quality to the same level as Bazille and Repro. Which is going to happen in Z3, as confirmed by Urs.