u-he Zebra2 Workhorse Synthesizer User Manual

: June 10, 2024
: ZEBRA

Table of Contents

u-he Zebra2 Workhorse Synthesizer
Product Information
What is Zebra Legacy?
Installation
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

u-he Zebra2 Workhorse Synthesizer

u-he-Zebra2-Workhorse-Synthesizer-2-Workhorse-Synthesizer-
product

Product Information

Zebra Legacy

Zebra Legacy is a product of Heckmann Audio GmbH Berlin. It is a bundle that includes Zebra2 along with all the previously paid sound sets, including The Dark Zebra with its ZebraHZ version of the plug-in. It offers a total of 4315 presets. The product is designed to provide users with a variety of presets for use in music production, game and movie soundtracks, and more. Zebra Legacy also offers full XY pad control and modulation matrix, making it a powerful tool for sound design.

Soundsets Included

The Dark Zebra
Chronospheres
Crystallia
Energy
Inspiration
NYC Skools
Soliton
Stratospheres
Transmission
Traveller
Vision
Zebra Oldies
Zebra Science
Zebratron

Improvements

All sound sets, especially the older ones, are undergoing a make-over. An update is likely to follow at some point in the future, but optimizing over 3,000 presets takes time, especially adding sensible XY assignments. About half of the sound sets already have full XY control, while the other half should be completed within a few months. Another major job is balancing volumes to minimize the risk of nasty distortion while ensuring that no preset is unnecessarily quiet. Finally, some of the preset names and much of the PRESET INFO details have been improved!

The Dark Zebra

The Dark Zebra is a collaboration between Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer and u-he’s own Howard Scarr. It includes practically all Zebra sounds used in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises movies, plus a few extras. All presets have been recently updated to include full XY pad control. Several of the presets make use of the ZebraHZ extras, such as extra filters and MSEGs.

Product Usage Instructions

To access Zebra Legacy sound sets, open the PRESETS browser and look in the Zebra2 ‘User’ folder for the ‘Legacy’ sub-folder. All sound sets will appear in Zebra2’s User folder, even if you drag&drop them onto ZebraHZ.
For more information on The Dark Zebra, refer to the included ZebraHZ User Guide.
Modifications and improvements to sound sets are ongoing, with updates likely to follow.

What is Zebra Legacy?

Zebra Legacy is Zebra2 plus all our previously paid soundsets for free, including The Dark Zebra with its ZebraHZ version of the plug-in… for a grand total of 4315 presets.
ZebraHZ will happily play any Zebra2 sounds – the two ‘Zebra2’ folders in ‘Local’ and ‘User’ reference the corresponding folders in Zebra2. However, Zebra2 will not correctly play ZebraHZ sounds that include any of the extra features (see the next page), although they will load.

So what is the point of having Zebra2 when I can always use the more powerful ZebraHZ?

The main reason we included Zebra2 is for compatibility with existing projects: There is very little diﬀerence in CPU hit, especially if your ZebraHZ patch doesn’t use any ‘Diva’ ﬁlters or polyphonic compressors. Also, as some of the extra features Hans requested could only be tacked on in a non-standard way, ZebraHZ is a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster. Some people may prefer to use the regular version of Zebra2, but assuming you can handle the minor quirks, we recommend loading ZebraHZ as often as humanly possible!

The Soundsets

Zebra Legacy includes all the Zebra2 soundsets that were previously available for purchase at the u-he website, as well as two more, kindly donated by Michael Cavallo.
Open the PRESETS browser and look in the Zebra2 ‘User’ folder for the ‘Legacy’ sub-folder. You should see all the following (except for The Dark Zebra, which only appears in ZebraHZ):

NAME	AUTHOR	#	REMARKS
The Dark Zebra	Hans Z & Howard S	400	Zebra2 sounds used in _The Dark

Installation

You will ﬁnd a text ﬁle in the root of the folder which explains everything you need to know. Note that all soundsets will appear in Zebra2’s User folder, even if you drag&drop them onto ZebraHZ.
Improvements
All these soundsets, especially the older ones, are undergoing a much needed make-over. An update is likely to follow at some point in the future, but optimizing 3.000+ presets takes time, especially adding sensible XY assignments. About half of the soundsets already have full XY control, while the other half should be completed within a few months.
Another major job is balancing volumes to minimize the risk of nasty distortion while ensuring that no preset is unnecessarily quiet. Finally, some of the preset names and much of the PRESET INFO details have been improved!

The Dark Zebra by Hans Zimmer and Howard Scarr, 2012

Appears in the ZebraHZ Local folder only. For details see the included ZebraHZ User Guide.
This collaboration between Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer and u-he’s own Howard Scarr includes practically all Zebra sounds used in the The Dark Knight and The
Dark Knight Rises movies, plus a few extras. All presets have been recently updated to include full XY pad control.
Several of the presets make use of the ZebraHZ extras:
8 extra ﬁlters (4 x highpass and 4 x lowpass) based on Diva models
4 comb ﬁlter modules instead of 2
8 MSEGs instead of 4
24 modulation matrix slots instead of 12
the X/Y pads also appear as regular modulation sources
4 polyphonic compressors, one for each lane of the main grid
3 Polymoog™-style resonators with an additional full-range ﬁlter band

Chronospheres by BigTone, 2010

Chrono-spheres is a collection of 127 expressive patches. The sounds cover a wide musical range, there is something here for everyone: Arpeggios, atmospherics, basses, leads, pads, special eﬀects, emulations, synthetic drums and percussion.
The emphasis here is on expression via the common performance controls velocity, aftertouch, pitch bend and modulation wheel.

Crystallia by Vincenzo Bellanova, 2016

Vincenzo is a pianist, composer, teacher and sound designer based in Milan, Italy.
Vincenzo writes: “The idea behind Crystallia is to provide useful and powerful tools for video game and ﬁlm composers. You can ﬁnd all you need to create hybrid cinematic tracks.”

Zebra Energy and Inspiration
a.k.a. DancePack, by Byan Lee (Xenos) and Nick Moritz, 2011

Bryan and Nick deliver a massive and diverse collection of percussion, mega saws, basses, digital noises, psychedelic leads, and much more.
The DancePack comprises two parts in which each sound designer showcases their particular skill sets. What all 324 sounds have in common is that they are aimed squarely at dance music: house, techno, EDM, dubstep, drum & bass, hip hop… or something totally new.

NYC Alexander Hacke, 2011

NEW YORK CITY – A SOUND SET IN FIVE BOROUGHS FOR U-HE ZEBRA
This sound set is Alexander’s audible hommage to New York City, with 30 patches for each of the ﬁve boroughs; Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, and The Bronx. Some sounds are pitched instruments, some are special eﬀects, and others play an entire score all by themselves.
Each sound tells a story, so make sure you read the elaborate PRESET INFO!

Skools by Michael Kastrup, 2007-2008

Skools is actually four soundsets: Michael started the original ‘Oldskool’ as an experiment in early spring 2007 and released the results in July. The free second volume was added in September, and volume 3 followed in May 2008. Somewhat later he added ‘Afterskool’ to the collection.
Michael writes: “In my opinion Zebra’s greatest power lies within the oscillators’ spectral eﬀects – this is what makes Zebra2 so diﬀerent from other synths. Combine that with wavetable and additive shaping, and we have a MONSTER in our hands!”

Soliton by Michael Cavallo, 2011

Soliton is a diverse collection of sounds suitable for many diﬀerent genres and musical forms: trance, EDM, electro, funk, jazz, fusion, rock – even classical or movie soundtracks. The tonal landscapes run from cold to hot… and every temperature in between.
Real instrument emulations as well as dirty, clean or distorted leads and basses. The pads are lush, with moving textures and waveforms. The arpeggios are eminently playable, with most remaining “in key” when you hold down 3 or 4 keys at once.

Stratospheres by BigTone, 2011

This second soundset by BigTone. The focus here is on expression using the common control sources velocity, aftertouch, pitchbend and modulation wheel. Don’t forget to look in the PRESET INFO panel where you will ﬁnd some useful details!

Transmission by Ben Hall, 2008

This collection of patches ranges from the simple to the complex, covering pads, leads, basses, ambiences, arpeggios and other rhythmic sounds. All patches include modulation wheel, velocity, and aftertouch control. The XY pads are also assigned in all patches, giving you hands-on control over multiple sound shaping and performance parameters.
Notes: The original Transmission package included a custom skin (alternative UI), but as Zebra has evolved since that time, this can no longer be used. Also, Transmission includes MSEG and oscillator presets, so if you would also like to access them in ZebraHZ, you can copy them over – see the instructions in the 03 Soundsets folder.

Traveler by Samuel Bereczky, 2019

Cellist/composer / sound designer Samuel writes: “After graduating from music academy, I played in various orchestras recording ﬁlm scores, including works by such legends as Ennio Morricone and Tamás Vásáry. Deeply impressed with the new sonic dimensions oﬀered by synthesizers and computers, I was especially interested in organic, natural sounds that are pleasant to the ear, but also have a certain “twist” that keeps the music fresh and unique.”
All Traveller presets include appropriate X/Y pads and modulation wheel control. Most of them also make use of velocity and aftertouch. A few also “misuse” the pitch bender!

Vision by Michael Cavallo, 2009

Another diverse collection from Michael: A good workstation / ROMpler type soundset with many useful ‘bread & butter’ sounds. All presets make use of the modulation wheel and XY pads, while about half of them also react to aftertouch. Most have the ARP/SEQ preprogrammed so you can switch the mode (GLOBAL/VOICES panel) to Arpeggiator and expect a usable result.
Similarly, many of the presets have inactive modules in the grids. Double-click to activate!

Zebra Oldies Tasmodia, Urs Heckmann and others, 2006

A selection of the original factory presets before they were replaced.

Zebra Science by Howard Scarr, 2008

242 sounds programmed shortly after Howard’s collaboration with Hans Zimmer on sounds for The Dark Knight, which eventually became the core of The Dark Zebra.
Zebra Science is chock full of weird and wonderful but eminently playable instruments, plus a bunch of analogue emulations: String machines, warm pads, classic leads and basses. Several of these patches make use of the X/Y pads for some interesting variations.
Zebra Science includes MSEG and oscillator presets, so if you would also like to access them in ZebraHZ, you can copy them over – see the instructions in the 03 Soundsets folder.

Zebratron by Howard Scarr, 2018

The concept behind Zebratron was to oﬀer the etherial sounds of magnetic tape based keyboards and other eccentric instruments of the late ‘60s and ‘70s in Zebra – or at least to recreate some of that magic by simulating what were considered ﬂaws at the time e.g. tape wow and ﬂutter, room ambiences, bucket-brigade delay colouration, skewed vibrato and other pitch anomalies.
Zebratron patches always react, often quite dramatically, to modulation wheel as well as Control A and Control B. Leaving those three controls at their minimum positions will only give you the most basic sound for each preset, so you should always press the PERFORM button.