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Z3TA2

Davydh

By Davydh
in Instruments & Effects

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paulo

paulo

Posted
Posted (edited)

Got it but never use it. The arp function was flaky and even though there was an update patch issued that was supposed to have fixed the issue (it would drop out all the time and just play single notes). When I told CW that the problem persisted after the fix somebody replied and said that they were unaware of the issue and couldn't reproduce it. I asked them in that case why did they just issue a fix for an issue that "didn't exist" and they never replied. Sadly fairly typical of CW support back then. I am surprised that bandlab haven't re-released some of the CW synths though. IIRC at the time of the takeover it was said that they would probably be released as a paid add on in the fullness of time but maybe they don't have the resources available to fix them. If the free software has issues nobody can really complain too much, but if they start selling stuff with known glitches I guess that opens up a whole new can of worms that might be best avoided.

Edited by paulo
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ZincT

ZincT

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I bought Z3TA+2 when it was on a deal with the Bigtone EDM bundle. 

I used it quite a bit when I first got it but I have too much choice now. I still think it has a fantastic sound.
They were trying to bring the IOS version back to life at one point (I got involved in a beta test with a Cakewalk guy called Alex Westner) but that never properly came to fruition.

It would be great if it could be re-released at some point on both platforms.

Edited by ZincT
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Starise

Starise

Posted
Posted

I love this synth. Works best for me in combination with other synths. It is still one of my "go to" synths for certain kinds of material. Has an amazing wealth of presets and customization. If it were ever to come back as an item in Cakewalk I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

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abacab

abacab

Posted
Posted (edited)

It's a good sounding synth, as is the original z3ta+.

But there also a lot of great options out there.

As an alternative, I would point out the free, open source, version of Vember Audio Surge. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
It's actively supported and with ongoing development on github.
 

Quote

Synth Specifications

General

Synthesis method: Subtractive hybrid

Each patch contain two 'scenes' which are separate instances of the entire synthesis engine (except effects) that can be used for layering or split patches.

Quick category-based patch browser

Runs on a variety of OSes, Plugin Formats, and Architectures

Factory Sounds

1010 patches

183 wavetables

 

 

Edited by abacab
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razor7music

razor7music

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, abacab said:

It's a good sounding synth, as is the original z3ta+.

But there also a lot of great options out there.

As an alternative, I would point out the free, open source, version of Vember Audio Surge. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
It's actively supported and with ongoing development on github.
 

 

Hey @abacab

z3ta allowed itself to be used as a track fx. Have you tried that with Vember Audio Surge?

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abacab

abacab

Posted
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1 hour ago, razor7music said:

Hey @abacab

z3ta allowed itself to be used as a track fx. Have you tried that with Vember Audio Surge?

However Z3TA+2 did not, as it is VSTi only.

The original z3ta+ could be an fx insert  because it was also supplied as a separate VST fx plugin. "c:\program files\Cakewalk\vstplugins\z3ta+\z3ta+_fx2.dll". The VSTi version was not capable of that.

Surge Synth is only supplied as an instrument plugin [VST, AU, LV2].

EDIT: I did run across this article outlining some ways to use surge as an effect by feeding audio to it via sidechain. Unfortunately this is only compatible with a few DAWs [Ableton, Ardour/Harrison, Cubase Pro, Logic X, Reaper], but Cakewalk is not one of them. https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge-synthesizer.github.io/wiki/Using-Surge-as-an-effect-(and-vocoder)

If you are interested in that feature you may want to take a look at SynthMaster 2 or SynthMaster One. They each ship with an effect plugin version.

 

Edited by abacab
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user 905133

user 905133

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, abacab said:

EDIT: I did run across this article outlining some ways to use surge as an effect by feeding audio to it via sidechain. Unfortunately this is only compatible with a few DAWs [Ableton, Ardour/Harrison, Cubase Pro, Logic X, Reaper], but Cakewalk is not one of them. https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge-synthesizer.github.io/wiki/Using-Surge-as-an-effect-(and-vocoder)

If you are interested in that feature you may want to take a look at SynthMaster 2 or SynthMaster One. They each ship with an effect plugin version.

Thanks for the update! Based on how useful I I have found Z3ta+fx over the years, I hope that between the Surge people and the Cakewalk people, it can be made to work in Cakewalk. Thanks also for the others with fx plug-ins.

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abacab

abacab

Posted
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7 hours ago, User 905133 said:

 I hope that between the Surge people and the Cakewalk people, it can be made to work in Cakewalk.

That would be useful. However I believe in the case of Cakewalk, it is a fundamental DAW signal flow design limitation. Cakewalk has a strict track definition model for audio, instruments, and MIDI. And the signal flow for track inputs and outputs is explicit for each type of track.

Cakewalk in general does not have a capability to allow audio signals to be routed to instrument plugins (in contrast to fx plugins), even if the instrument provides for an audio input. There may be a few hacks possible by putting an instrument in an FX bin of an audio track, but I have not had much luck with that method.

I first ran into this issue when I tried using the TX16Wx sampler to live sample an audio input in Cakewalk. No success. The TX16Wx dev says it is strictly a DAW limitation.

But it easily works fine in Reaper, with its "one size fits all" universal track definitions and flexible signal routing scheme.

 

Edited by abacab
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abacab

abacab

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, User 905133 said:

Thanks also for the others with fx plug-ins.

Oh, forgot to mention that AIR Transfuser also installs a "TransfuserFX" plugin version. With that you can insert it in a audio track FX bin. Then assign the audio in with the THRU-SEQ and use the various onboard Transfuser effects modules to mangle the input audio signal. Not really a synth but there are filter, LFO, and envelope modulations available, in addition to stock time based effects, etc. Fun to experiment with! :D

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scook

scook

Posted
Posted

A little out of scope for this thread but here is the part of my CbB plug-in list with synth-based FXs

 

AphFoJO.png

Arturia has stopped making dedicated dlls for their synths that have audio inputs but these new versions work in CbB too.

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paulo

paulo

Posted
Posted
On 1/21/2020 at 10:22 PM, razor7music said:

I have it and the earlier version - so to speak. Unfortunately, I can't get CW to recognize it. I've re-registered the DLL's in Windows, rescanned the vst folder it's in and nothing works

v1 works ok for me, but I hadn't even attempted to use V2 since Platinum 32 bit days, so out of curiosity yesterday I tried it in Cakewalk 2019.09 and if it's any consolation to you although I can load it fine and the UI comes up, I can't get it to make a sound. Pick any preset - nothing. Tried it in 64 bit Platinum and it's the same. 32 bit Platinum still works though - in the sense that it makes the sounds. I didn't test it for long enough to see how long it took for the arp function to stop working again. Standalone 64 also worked with the same caveat. For the hell of it I tried a reinstall, which I've no doubt done before and unsurprisingly nothing changed so I guess that if I really wanted to use it I could open whatever project in Plat 32 and do it there - as long as it's not something that is going to depend on the arp. Maybe this would work for you. Personally, I can't be bothered to have to faff around like that when I have other options that just work. As for the dll not being picked up, when I have had this kind of problem with other synths I moved the dll to it's own folder and added that to the scan path and that sometimes works.No idea why it should make any difference. 

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abacab

abacab

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, paulo said:

v1 works ok for me, but I hadn't even attempted to use V2 since Platinum 32 bit days, so out of curiosity yesterday I tried it in Cakewalk 2019.09 and if it's any consolation to you although I can load it fine and the UI comes up, I can't get it to make a sound. Pick any preset - nothing. Tried it in 64 bit Platinum and it's the same.

I hate to be the guy to say this, but I cannot reproduce this here.

Unfortunately with some complex synths, their installation routines contain more than just a .dll file for the plugin. So more opportunity for things to get messed up in folders or in the registry.

Sorry for your troubles!

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