My dear @Sackbut, is this a monologue?

I've read your spoiler content. Additive synthesis sounds, and I repeat myself, too thin and lacks assertiveness, which is why these synthesizers are rarely played. What you're doing is rehashing the theory; it's good that you're learning something. I'm a sound designer myself and more interested in the sound itself.

The Vital wavetable synthesizer is programmed very well compared to other wavetable synthesizers, which is why it sounds more powerful. As you can see, it comes down to expertise, a love of music, and the right engine.

The SocaLabs Wavetable (Synth Plugin)
https://socalabs.com/synths/wavetable/ sounds somewhat worse and thinner than the Vital and therefore can't assert itself, leading a niche existence.

 

That's right, Elon Musk's Grok is probably having a bad day!

Here is the complete, correct data.

U-HE is an audio software company from Berlin, founded in 2001 by Urs Heckmann.
The original one-man operation has since grown into a small team of employees and freelancers with ambitious plans for the future.

 

That's not entirely correct. There's a difference between WT and sample-based synthesis although they both utilize same principal. The SB synthesis use an entire sample as a sound source, that makes for example pitch relative where WT use samples to generate wavetables, that is chains of single cycle sounds preconfigured to the same base frequency. Synclavier, Fairlight CMI are two examples of the sample-based synthesis.

WT isn't possible in the analogue domain (this is probably what you've meant by "pure" synthesis) but in the digital domain whether its subtractive synth oscillators or WT synth oscillators doesn't matter - it's still going to be digital (thus equally "pure" or "dirty", however you like)

Unfortunately some sources don't acknowledge the difference, I've just went to LANDR's website and they list WT and SB synthesis as one and the same which is kind of hints why their synth suck bolls so much

 

I find this thread weird, can't really make heads or tails out of it. Might be only a me problem and doesn't matter. Carry on!

 

Not just you. It's a massively bizarre/random question to pose in the first place. Pick any two diametrically opposed plugins from different eras and then attempt to compare for ... reasons.

 

Wavetable vs FM vs Additive vs Subtractive Synths (Explained Simply)
https://producerhive.com/ask-the-hive/wavetable-vs-fm-vs-additive-vs-subtractive-synthesis/

Wavetable Synthesis: A Complete Guide +150 Free Wavetables
https://producerhive.com/ask-the-hive/what-are-wavetables/

 

Welcome to the hilarious but sad future of forums: where humans argue using AI to sound smart, pretending they know what they’re talking about, while AI throws in extra chaos and confusion providing incorrect and fictitious info

 

You're referring to a short quote I lifted from Native Instruments' site, the link to the full article which I provided in that comment. If they don't understand wavetable synthesis...

If nature produces sine waves as fundamentals, then all other synths that are not additive are, in a sense, cheats.
____
"Wavetable synthesis is basically a kind of 'cheat code' version of additive synthesis. Instead of having to design complex waveforms, you can just sample an existing one that's pretty good, and loop it, mixing it with other waveforms to create more complex or evolving sounds."

 

Last edited: Nov 27, 2025 at 11:12 PM

You should see what I say about AI on another forum. (Feel free to PM me and I'll see about finding the link.)

In any case, it's a fair thread, I stand by it, and no one is forced to read it-- including you, who nevertheless enters it anyway, right? To contribute what exactly? Little that seems constructive.

Is music creative?

 

Last edited: Nov 27, 2025 at 9:23 PM

Zebra 3 or Cube 2?

 

The Old, The New & GAS

“Some of this stuff is harder to get hold of than rare analogue synths”: Why we’re in the midst of a vintage software revival
By Clovis McEvoy published 3 September 2025
Meet the musicians that archive, compose and perform with obscure and abandoned music software
(MusicRadar)
____

Part of the question/point, rather than what some different synthesis are, is what the synthesizers are actually doing 'under the hood' and how, as well as how that might affect things, like time, cost or creativity or such effects like 'gear acquisition syndrome' ('GAS') for example, if I have the acronym correct.

In that sense, any synth of any time and style is fair game, including synths coming down the pike, like Z3, as well as, and in context with, ones we may already have in our possession.

Spoiler: Synth quotes

Is vector synthesis really a type of synthesis?

Spoiler: Synth quotes

"It seems to me that vector synthesis is just normal synthesis (FM, additive, subtractive, wavetable, etc.) with 4 synth patches, a mixer for these 4 patches, and modulating the levels of the 4 patches over time."
____

"I disagree, not every form of synthesizer / synthesis can be called a form of Fourier synthesis. Waveguide and granular synthesis are in my opinion not directly related to Fourier synthesis (Fourier synthesis meaning having stacked sine waves)..."
____

"Kinda begs the question, what is a synthesizer? If you have an oscillator, do you have a synthesizer? Does it need a VCA after the OSC? A filter is nice, but it's just carving out the sound. Whatever, once you get past all that, does a feature like vector joystick really define that device as a vector synth? If I use a touchpad to alter x/y coordinates in a modulation table, do I have a touchpad synth? Ehhhh, no... so no, I don't think so. At best it's marketing term for digital synths which can boast that type of control."
____

"Granular synth isn't synthesis either, it's (usually?) just complex sample manipulation with extra steps."
____

"Wavetable synths have a fixed, linear series of waves that you can travel through in 1 dimension, essentially cross fading between a series of fixed single cycle waves. You can’t easily change the component waves of that wavetable without resorting to an offline editor."
____

"...this question doesn't really make any sense and you're going to get a lot of answers that don't agree with each other because 'types of synthesis' isn't a discrete category with no overlap between different types of synthesis."
____

"I was a huge wavestation a/d fan back in the day and I kind of agree. I guess technically, if one vector modulates another it is different, but it just seems like double-fm hoo hah to me."

 

Last edited: Nov 27, 2025 at 11:16 PM

While I'm tempted to agree, it's with the 'GAS' caveat. ;)

What comes after Z3? We'll be waiting... ;)

(Z2 is so last decade...)

 

Last edited: Nov 27, 2025 at 11:18 PM

This sentence will go down in history - in the category of unresolved musical questions and absurdities of modern times.

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2025 at 8:36 AM

I got bogged-down in part because I couldn't get the AI to scrape and 'triangulate' all online Zebra 3 information in order to create a working profile of Zebra 3 that would make one know as much as maybe 3 months of using it after it lands as a beta and added features and bug fixes come after that.

Beta-testers apparently can't talk about it, but I don't see a way to pump them for information anyway, and given the limited time we have left before it becomes breaking news.

Part of the bog had to do with the AI being unable (or unwilling?) to, for example, scrape the hundreds of pages of Zebra 3 discussion on KVR without logging on.

But it seemed to me that the workaround could involve installing an AI agent locally and then giving it my password for email and subscriptions to places like KVR.

But of course that takes time and time away from real life and making music. So I said, phuq it.

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2025 at 6:16 PM

I posted something like that-- a technical drawing-- on another forum some years ago to illustrate 'something else' (macro-scale though, at least in the context I posted it) which I'm unsure I can mention hereon.

PM me and I'll send it to you if I can find it. I found it, at least a version of it, but seem to have lost it again. It's gotta be out there, somewhere.

...Your head goes well with the music.

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2025 at 4:11 PM

INTERVIEW: URS HECKMANN FROM U-HE
Zebra and Diva in one!
March 21, 2010

Urs Heckmann 2010

"There's this great guy in Berlin, Urs Heckmann... "The Dark Knight" is all Zebra2... the sound quality is great, but he never sat down and tried to imitate a Moog... it's something unique... he understands the quality, the underlying quality that should really exist!"

Quote: Hans Zimmer in a synth talk with us in September 2009

ADVERTISEMENT
Anyone who receives such accolades from one of the world's most famous film composers automatically lands on our list for an AMAZONA.de interview. Urs Heckmann, with his company U-he and the highly praised synthesizer plug-in Zebra2, is a truly exceptional figure. Find out why, and much more, in the following interview with Urs Heckmann.

AMAZONA.de:
Hello Urs, how did U-HE come to be founded?

URS:
It wasn't really a planned venture; it just sort of happened. Sometime in 2000, I felt it was time to create my own website. At the time, I was working with friends on starting an internet startup. When it became clear that this was going to fail (and it did!), I started looking for alternatives and tinkered with a website to promote myself. Unfortunately, all the short domain names with my initials were already taken, so I decided to register u-he.com as the shortest possible web address.

I had dabbled in VST programming since 1999 while developing a MIDI sequencer-based musical game console for Sony, intended for a theme park. So, I'd considered trying something in that direction quite early on, should the internet project fail. After receiving a rejection from Native Instruments despite good connections, and my startup ultimately collapsed, I took a job at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences in mid-2001. This was my first regular day job, and it had the incredible advantage that workdays truly ended and weekends were genuine weekends. I used the time to deepen my knowledge of VST and DSP, and in August 2002, the first More Feedback Machine was released.

When Apple introduced a new plug-in standard in OS X (Audio Units), I immediately saw the perfect opportunity to make something of it. While the established companies wasted a lot of time complaining and shaking their heads, I released my first freeware synthesizer, Zoyd, as an AU in 2002. The feedback was so overwhelming that from then on I poured all my available energy into AU programming.

AMAZONA.de:
What were your first products?

URS:
My first "real" product was Zebra 1.0, which was initially released exclusively as an Audio Unit. That was in October 2003; at that time, there were only about four or five other synths that ran as AUs. While not many people had yet switched to MacOS X for audio, those who had were eager for new plug-ins.


Urs Heckmann at work with the zebra

AMAZONA.de:
Were you able to live off it from the beginning, or how did you finance it all?


URS:
Well, at the beginning there were two to three years of development time during which we earned almost nothing. While the More Feedback Machine could be registered for 20 euros, very few people did so, around 30. Furthermore, due to my experience in the internet industry, I didn't want investors or to take on debt, so the job at the university was very important.

My employment contract ran until April 2004, but then only part-time. By then, I had sold around 150 Zebras, so I had a small financial cushion. Then came the first big group buy with the Logic User Group in the summer of 2004, which brought me another 200 customers. I then moved into a shared apartment, minimized my fixed costs, and lived frugally for two years until Filterscape was released. From the end of 2005 onward, I was able to live comfortably and normally, debt-free and without too much anxiety about the future.

AMAZONA.de:
What do you think are the reasons why ZEBRA sounds significantly warmer than many other software synthesizers?

URS:
That's a question I never really understood, because Zebra doesn't have any special voodoo ingredients. My reference synth was a Virus A, which I found too aggressive for my taste. So I designed Zebra's oscillators to sound rather soft and to operate with as few artifacts as possible. Furthermore, with the filters, I focused more on a subtle sonic character than on brutal distortion.

I always thought digital filters were quite good for smooth sounds, but too harsh and biting for analog distortion. That's only recently changed, because processors are now fast enough to quite accurately mimic the complex processes in an analog filter. It just takes a lot of CPU power.

I think many synthesizers are developed using a very "mathematical" approach. I don't really care about the math, as long as it sounds good. I spend a lot of time listening and also asking people for their opinions. Maybe that's a factor that makes a difference, I don't know.

AMAZONA.de:
Hans Zimmer even referred to you as a "creative sound tinkerer from Berlin" in his interview. How did he become aware of you?

URS:
That's a good question, one I can't really answer precisely. Hans was one of the first customers when Zebra 2.0 was released for Windows in 2006. At that time, I had more of a reputation in the Mac community. When Hans was working on The Dark Knight, I recommended Howard Scarr to him as a sound designer. The two of them have met several times since then, and I've also made a few visits to Hans' studio.

Hans, by the way, influenced many features that one might not normally consider. Not everyone has a dedicated Zebra computer in their studio, for example ;-)



AMAZONA.de:
Well, we want to know more about that. What exactly did he propose, and what ended up in the final software?

URS:
Oh, that was quite a lot… As far as I can remember, it mainly involved more slots for the modulation matrix, MIDI bank select and program changes, as well as the scalable GUI. But we talked about much more, especially the modular system I'm currently working on.


The new U-he ACE

AMAZONA.de:
Your latest work, ACE, is essentially a small modular system. Does it use the same engine as Zebra2?

URS:
All my plugins are based on the same codebase for what I call the "engine." The engine creates the framework for the actual plugin, meaning host compatibility, file and resource management, graphical rendering and user interaction, but also the modular interconnection of the DSP algorithms. This means I don't have to reinvent the wheel every time.

The DSP algorithms are the actual sound-shaping processes, such as oscillators, filters, etc. These are rewritten from scratch for each plug-in. ACE's oscillators have very little in common with Zebra's, as do the filters and envelopes. However, I copied Zebra's modulation mappers directly, which then became the mapping generator in ACE. It's been slightly enhanced for ACE, since it can also be used as an LFO waveform… Oh, and the voice management in ACE is borrowed from Filterscape VA, but it's been extended to include unison and duophony, which will be reflected in the next Filterscape VA update.

What's important to me is that the modules involved in the actual signal processing are each unique, so that every plug-in has its own character. However, I do like to copy simple things like modulators and sine wave generators from one project to another.

AMAZONA.de:
Do you still make music yourself?

URS:
Unfortunately, far too little. I produce many of the demo songs myself. The advantage of demos is that you don't need to develop ideas as much; you can get to a result quickly. I'm more the type of musician who spends ages overproducing a track. With a demo song, all that post-production work is eliminated because the synth or effect should sound as clean as possible. So, writing demo songs is actually ideal for me because it's less cerebral and even more fun than making serious music.

Incidentally, I was never really good enough to perform live because I was always too lazy to practice. I'm a terrible keyboard player. But now I'm thinking about building a live set sometime, using hardware controllers and user interfaces that I've designed and developed specifically for me. I might start this summer so I can use it at NAMM or Musikmesse 2011.

AMAZONA.de:
Does anyone like you still use a hardware synthesizer?

URS:
Sure, loads. I've unfortunately sold or loaned out a few things "indefinitely," but I still have stuff from Ensoniq, Korg, Access, Moog, and a fairly recent, small modular system with some Doepfer and Cwejman components. Plus, I sometimes borrow analog gear from friends.



I think you can't build good-sounding digital synths without a good reference. I hope that doesn't sound silly, but for some things, a good reference only exists in hardware because my competitors in software, and I myself, simply aren't there yet. There's no Cwejman emulation yet, and no seriously good emulation of an Oberheim filter, let alone an SCI Pro One. Oh yeah, and there's no really good emulation of the Virus either ;-)

AMAZONA.de
Now you've got me confused. The Virus has a purely digital sound generation system. It should be quite simple to transfer that 1:1 into a plug-in (the Access guys have already done it). What did you mean by that?

URS:
Well, that's why the smirking smiley ;-) – because the emulation thing wasn't entirely serious. In the relevant internet forums, every soft synth is immediately compared to the Virus. But you have to admit that Christoph did a lot of things right; the Virus is the benchmark for virtual analog sound generation. The fact that it doesn't actually sound truly analog is irrelevant.

AMAZONA.de:
As far as software is concerned, do you ever stray and use sound generators from other manufacturers?

URS:
Yes, that too. I exclusively use my own stuff for my own music, but of course I keep an eye on what the competition is doing. Within the industry, almost everyone knows everyone else, so we often exchange licenses. And in Berlin, I also frequently run into people from Native Instruments and other companies.

I find that people in the industry are very relaxed with each other, most of them at least. With some, you can even talk very openly about algorithms and technologies, or about business aspects. So, no one is secretly buying competitor products to analyze them. I once received an email saying, "We'd like a license from you because one of our customers says your product sounds better than ours, and we'd like to take a look."



AMAZONA.de:
Which are your favorite plug-ins from other manufacturers?

URS:
This is complicated, I don't want to offend anyone. On the one hand, I'm very impressed with FXpansion's D-Cam Synth Squad, more from a technical point of view. Soon, though, I want to explore Audio Damage's Tattoo, and I'm hoping to snag a license for GMedia's impOscar 2. The only plugins I actually use frequently, and even sometimes incorporate into songs, are the ones from UAD.

AMAZONA.de:
Besides Zebra, numerous effect plug-ins have also been released by U-he. Tell us about them. Did you develop them all yourself? What's the difference between emulating a synth or a phaser on the computer?

URS:
Well, over the years, a lot of ideas and even finished algorithms accumulate that aren't immediately used and would therefore just disappear into a drawer. Then at some point, the moment came when it all had to be released, and so I packed them all into the Uhbik bundle. The main difference to the effects within Zebra is that the synth effects have to be kept quite simple and compact, while the individual effects can, of course, have a few more knobs. Also, there was an increasing demand for surround sound, so the Uhbiks are designed for multi-channel audio.

Developing a complex synth like Zebra is a rather thankless task in comparison, because someone always has something to complain about and someone always feels some feature is missing. You spend your whole life developing that synth. The effect plug-ins are what they are; you don't have to constantly add to them (although I can already say that there's still quite a bit coming



AMAZONA.de:
What's next? Zebra 3?

URS:
Well, this year it's all about 64-bit for everything, then a virtual modular system (the big sister of ACE), and a much-needed overhaul of Filterscape. Zebra needs a year's development break, apart from 64-bit support and any bug fixes. But Zebra is already in a nice, solid state with the 2.5 update, so we can give musicians some time to explore all its features.

AMAZONA.de:
Thank you for the interview!

URS:
You're very welcome, and best regards from sunny Melbourne.

AMAZONA.de
Melbourne? Are you currently on holiday there, or was the Berlin air too thick for you?

URS:
Vacation. Three summer months in a row instead of winter in Berlin. That was desperately needed! I'm still sitting at my laptop all day, but I'm not stressing too much 8-)

AMAZONA.de:
Now it's clear why your plug-ins sound so warm ;-)

Source: www.amazona.de/interview-urs-heckmann-von-u-he/

 

Yikes! ;D

Zebra 3 will be Urs' (or U-He's) Magnum Opus, after which he will retire and then free all code (and employees ;) to humanity.

Maybe in 15 years, maybe sooner!

Spoiler

"My reference synth was a Virus A, which I found too aggressive for my taste." ~ Urs

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2025 at 4:57 PM

Are you completely new to synthesis? i'm trying my hardest to not be patronising i'm just trying to understand the context here?