U-he Zebra 3, modular Synthesizer plugin is on the road to beta:
first look video from Superbooth 2025

Superbooth 2025: Urs Heckmann of U-he showcased Zebra 3 in its current development stage, which points to an upcoming beta version.

Zebra 3 has been in development for many years. At NAMM 2025, Urs Heckmann first demonstrated the alpha version. Four months have passed since the show, and the plugin has made significant progress in development.

At Superbooth 2025, Urs from U-he showed me the current status of Zebra 3, including the new GUI and newly implemented features. The developers are targeting an official release by the end of the year, although this is not yet certain.

Before then, there will be a public beta where sounds will be designed and additional features implemented. What hasn’t been announced yet is the price. According to Urs, they’re aiming for 279€ with a lower introductory price.. There’s also supposed to be a small discount for U-he Zebra 2 Legacy buyers.

 

Not about to get too hyped since Z3 has been on it's way for a long time, and Z2 is still solid. Doesn't matter how long it takes, it's an instant upgrade from me anyway, because I'm stupid like that.

I'd still highly recommend Zebralette 3 beta, especially like Zebralette 2 it's free. It's insane what a single oscillator synth with no filter can do, and you can export the generated oscillator waveforms as wavetables so you can plonk them into your wavetable synth of choice.

 

Flarking hell, €279 is waaaay a lot of geld for a synth and I'm not quite sure that I'm willing to support that. A slight discount for Zebra 2 Legacy owners such as myself would most likely put it squarely over 2X what I snagged it for. Loyalty has it's bounds Urs!

 

As with all synthesizers, it won't cost more than 199 EUR. I think the marketing trick is simple: set the price high and then make the introductory price 199, so that the user thinks he's saving 79 EUR!

Before then, there will be a public beta where sounds will be designed and additional features implemented. What hasn’t been announced yet is the price. According to Urs, they’re aiming for 279€ with a lower introductory price.. There’s also supposed to be a small discount for U-he Zebra 2 Legacy buyers.

 

Regarding the pricing, I think it's the same policy they anounced longer ago:
- buyers of Zebra Legacy pay full price for Zebra 3 (if they offer discount in this case, then it's actually better than previously anounced)
- owners of Zebra 2 pay 30€ for the crossgrade (which seems generous)
- owners of both Zebra 2 and The Dark Zebra get Zebra 3 for free (even generouser - I am in this category)

 

Hello @lxfsn, if you read the following text you get the impression that it is not an update and will be a new standalone synthesizer.

Zebra 3 was developed from the ground up. As Urs Heckmann reports in the Sonic State video, there are major differences to version 2, and therefore patches from the previous version are incompatible because they would sound completely different.

However, all of the essential functions of Zebra 2 are gradually being integrated, including FM synthesis, various filter types, distortion, and the sequencer, which are still missing in the alpha version. At the same time, Zebra 3 introduces numerous new modules that go far beyond the capabilities of its predecessor.

Revised User Interface

The user interface has been completely redesigned and now appears more modern and colorful. Despite the innovations, the modular structure remains intact. Zebra 3 continues to use a rack system for oscillators, filters, and modulators, with new features significantly improving the workflow. Modules can be organized into groups and displayed only when needed. The modulation matrix has also been optimized: Instead of manually assigning modulations, you can now simply drag a virtual cable to the desired destination, and the modulation matrix opens.
The filter section has been expanded: Zebra 3 contains all filter models from Zebra 2 and the HZ version, supplemented by four variations per filter type – currently, there are 48 filter algorithms, but more are on the way. The resonator section handles all pitch tasks and offers new options such as drift, glide, and quantizer.

Modulation Options

Urs Heckmann has also developed a new pitch management system. A dedicated page allows for detailed adjustment of up to four different pitches, including custom modulations and quantizations. A special feature is the dual pitch mode, which allows the oscillators to follow either the lowest or highest note in a polyphonic setup.

The new four-in-one mixer allows for mixing different signal sources, including oscillators and filters. Vector synthesis has also been integrated, allowing signals to be scanned and combined similarly to a classic vector synth.

No release date or price has been announced for the u-he Zebra 3 yet. As soon as there is new and official news, we will inform you.

Source: www.bonedo.de/artikel/namm-2025-u-he-zebra-3-plug-in-befindet-sich-in-der-entwicklung/

NAMM 2025: U-he Shows the Zebra 3 Alpha

 

He's a genius the community is WAYYY lucky to have.

 

What's the difference between Zebra Legacy and Zebra 2? I didn't think that there's a difference.

 

There was the original Zebra 2, then an edition called Dark Zebra/HZ (for Hans Zimmer), which was an addon soundset with sounds from Zimmer for his work on Batman films and a plugin update for new filters and such. This was not a free upgrade, and it wasn't sold separately.

Legacy collects both of these and made a big discount, but with the proviso of no further free upgrades:

 

Is there a way to get both of these so I can instantly upgrade? I might get this one just cause of how deep it could be, do love me a modular plugin but I wouldn’t mind waiting more for a sale just on Z3

 

Unfortunately much blah blah from U-he how Z3 would be a breakthrough, interface will be something totally different. What I see is the same Zebra 2 in some new clothes. With such big screens we still have to move modules up and down with the scroll bars like in 2003.

Still no graphical representation of the modulation on the knobs which is a standard in our days.
To attach modulation still long menus you have to scroll. Even Serum 1 has drag'n'drop modulation

I own Zebra 2 and don't see any point to update. New Modules? We have much more synths today with very exotic type of effects, modulation and synthesis. Even free ones like Surge, Vital or enormous Cardinal (VCVrack), not to mention paid ones like Pigments, PhasePlant, Melda MPowerSynth or mighty Falcon.
And the price, are you mad Urs come back to earth! You are not back than when we had several synths on than market.

This guy lives in the past both in terms of synth design and marketing. And talks to much.

 

Last edited: May 17, 2025

So we can't discuss an upcoming synthesizer without immediately resorting to shit-flinging?

Apparently not. Sheesh.

 

It appears they discontinued the Zebra when they released the Legacy variant

 

Ok guess I’ll go for 3 directly, thought there might have been another option… but hopefully it’ll be put before it can go on sale for Black Friday, cause it seems like it wants me to fall for its trap, 280€ is probably an entire month of budget so I should start saving now… maybe I can get some extra bonus diamonds to save later…

 

THAT is a word I have never seen before and it's been urgently added to my repoirtoire.

 

Meh, I'm waiting for Z4