KVR Audio

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:33 am

Yow, an even better deal than the Codex sale going on, Z3ta being obviously the superior "wave synth" in my opinion. I realize this is "Bargain" topic related, but this is also open for discussion, as I'm curious how the other, mighty KVR members view this amazing synth. I personally broke it out this morning and marveled at the punchy sound, killer presets, and modulation capabilities. I also was found myself comparing it to the similarly great Helix for some reason, mostly from a sound perspective but not just.

If you were saving for Codex, you could just drop that idea and convert over to the Z3ta camp and be more than satisfied. Just my opinion.

https://shop.cakewalk.com/1244/catalog/ ... ct.150831/

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:41 am

When it went on sale last time (I think around $50) I immediately got it and created a sound library for it. Was a lot of fun to program, though I found the arpeggiator a little odd. And there are some bugs in it still. It has a very distinct and sometimes harsh sound. You either love it or hate it. The interface isn't the prettiest thing in the world but it gets the job done. I wouldn't say it's the greatest synth I've ever purchased but if I took the time to create a library for it, there must have been something about it that I really liked.

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:48 am

It's got that similar, oscillators-plugged-directly-into-yer-eardrums sound as Helix (at least to me it does). Synths like Z3ta are no-punch-parameter-needed, the sound really brings the crunch...though of course that sound doesn't fit into every musical context.

I use Z3ta more than I do the Palm synths (Wavegenerator, and 'mapper), but mostly because I haven't completely gotten past the learning curve(s) of the latter. I don't put Z3ta up with Serum or Nave...but those are the block buster wave synths imo. Hard to top them.

For 39 bucks this is the biggest no brainer on the internet, at least from my perspective. Want a brutal rhythm? You've come to the right place. And Scala tuning files really bring on some seriously interesting sounds!

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:52 am

i saw this in a don't crack email i got a few days ago, while tempted... i probably won't do the switch from good old
v1.5 that i got free when they gave away serial no's ...and then theres the fact that i made a skin for it that i just love to look at.

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:59 am

Apostate wrote:Yow, an even better deal than the Codex sale going on, Z3ta being obviously the superior "wave synth" in my opinion. I realize this is "Bargain" topic related, but this is also open for discussion, as I'm curious how the other, mighty KVR members view this amazing synth. I personally broke it out this morning and marveled at the punchy sound, killer presets, and modulation capabilities. I also was found myself comparing it to the similarly great Helix for some reason, mostly from a sound perspective but not just.

If you were saving for Codex, you could just drop that idea and convert over to the Z3ta camp and be more than satisfied. Just my opinion.

https://shop.cakewalk.com/1244/catalog/ ... ct.150831/

Apples and oranges. Codex is a dynamic wavetable scanning synth, while z3ta (AFAIK) can just read (scan) one wave (sample) at a time. Not the same thing. The term "wavetable synth" can be confusing. Codex competes with Nave and Serum, that you mentioned, NOT with z3ta, which is a different kind of synth.

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 12:05 pm

fmr wrote:
Apostate wrote:Yow, an even better deal than the Codex sale going on, Z3ta being obviously the superior "wave synth" in my opinion. I realize this is "Bargain" topic related, but this is also open for discussion, as I'm curious how the other, mighty KVR members view this amazing synth. I personally broke it out this morning and marveled at the punchy sound, killer presets, and modulation capabilities. I also was found myself comparing it to the similarly great Helix for some reason, mostly from a sound perspective but not just.

If you were saving for Codex, you could just drop that idea and convert over to the Z3ta camp and be more than satisfied. Just my opinion.

https://shop.cakewalk.com/1244/catalog/ ... ct.150831/
Apples and oranges. Codex is a dynamic wavetable scanning synth, while z3ta (AFAIK) can just read (scan) one wave (sample) at a time. Not the same thing. The term "wavetable synth" can be confusing. Codex competes with Nave and Serum, that you mentioned, NOT with z3ta, which is a different kind of synth.

Good point, sometimes the umbrella term I use, "wave synth", doesn't convey things anywhere near as well as I intend.

ENV1 · Post by **ENV1** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 2:38 pm

I got this for free and liked it a lot right from the start. Problem was only that after a short time of usage i literally didnt dare opening it anymore since one evening, totally out of the blue, it started blasting me with noise so loud that i thought this is it, the apocalypse is here! And im not even really kidding when im saying this, the noise blast was so deafening (not to mention startling) that for a few seconds i just sat there like the proverbial deer in the headlights. When i finally managed to kill the acoustic inferno i was so ticked i almost deleted the whole thing.

(I was lucky my speakers can take a lot of wattage. Had i been using a pair of those small 2-way passive monitors without overload protection im pretty sure the tweeters would have been toast.)

At any rate, as you can probably imagine it took quite some time until i was brave enough again to give it another try. But eventually i did, and the problem, as far as i can tell after doing some cause-finding, seems to have been the fact that i was initially working from z3tas default 'Initialize' preset, which neglects to set the 2 oversampling options, (RealTime/Offline), just leaving them empty/unset. Apparently the synth doesnt like that at all, and at some point it just flipped out on me. But ever since i made my own INIT preset with the 2 oversampling options properly set, the noise blast did not occur again. (Knocks on wood.)

As for the synth itself, as someone who doesnt give a rodents hinie about age or bits or how long ago the last update was, i think its great. What i noticed immediately after doing some track-tests was how well the individual instances lay over another. Smooth and snuggly. With some synths (a lot actually) there is this thing where different sounds from different instances just dont seem to want to 'jive', either sounding blatantly isolated from each other or resulting in mud city. So you EQ the crap out of everything, push the phases around, do this, that and the other, and in the end its still kinda meh. And there goes your inspiration. With z3ta thats not the case though, so far everything i did went remarkably well together right off the bat without doing anything but level mixing. Im sure once i get around to making a whole piece, the mixing stage should be a pretty painless affair.

(The same BTW goes for Rapture too. Thats another synth where the sounds of different instances always seem to lay great over each other. Same dev too, so maybe thats why.)

Another thing thats great about z3ta is its remarkable versatility. (I guess good things really do come in small packages.) The synth is already great value as a subtractive/waveshaper, but it also does some great PM and FM, thereby enhancing the use spectrum even further. Then add to that one of the smoothest sounding supersaw (albeit with 8 oscillators in this case) and you have a great allrounder that lets you do a mass of so-called 'bread and butter' stuff (and more) in one and the same package. And finally theres two different FX versions that can be used with other plugins in case youd like to use z3tas FX with some other sound source. All in all i think there is very little to complain about, except perhaps the awkward MIDI-to-Arpeggiator handling, but i wouldnt exactly call that a showstopper.

Conclusion: If you can get it cheap, id get it. Its not new, the new-car-smell and the forum hype have worn off, but the sound is sufficiently good and that plus its versatility are what counts in the end.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 2:53 pm

If this is just about z3ta+ v2 being on sale at the moment, that has already been reported in the market place sub-forum last week.

And why pay $39? -> Get extra % off at JRR shop, I see a price less than $34 in my basket there

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 4:41 pm

Numanoid wrote:If this is just about z3ta+ v2 being on sale at the moment, that has already been reported in the market place sub-forum last week.

And why pay $39? -> Get extra % off at JRR shop, I see a price less than $34 in my basket there

If you read the above posts, you'll see that this topic is more than about the discount. But thanks for the JRR heads up.

wasi · Post by **wasi** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 5:19 pm

They only allow one install though. That's really lame IMO and it's one reason I only buy their stuff when it's on no-brainer discounts. Allowing only one install is incredibly restrictive.

Having a lot of fun with it though already, so what can I say...

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 2:36 am

wasi wrote:They only allow one install though. That's really lame IMO and it's one reason I only buy their stuff when it's on no-brainer discounts. Allowing only one install is incredibly restrictive.

Is this a new restriction? Do you mean you can only install z3ta+2 in one machine?!! That's a horrible change if it is true!

Anyway, I upgraded years ago from Z3ta+ to Z3ta+2 for $50. I was really impressed in the beginning but my enthusiasm began to fade gradually. I don't know, I begin to like more other synths that I have. Z3ta+2 has a little bit harsh sound (while in Rapture, for example, the sound is more 'round'), but I might give it another go as I still have mixed feelings about it.

At $39, it is a great deal really. It is a waveshape based synth, but that also is still powerful enough to design many kinds of sounds. It also has nice filters and the modulation matrix is from the best really. Between Z3ta+2 and Codex, of course I take Codex! Z3ta+2 has some bugs, one of them is about the lfo modulations, but I don't remember the details now (there was already a topic in KVR about it). It seems it plays best with Sonar (cpu usage).

wasi · Post by **wasi** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 5:23 am

I don't know how new it is but it's a restriction on both Z3ta and dimension. You have to tick a box on the installer next to a line of text that says just that.

Each time I do I realize I forgot about it from last time and I think thank God I only paid pizza money for this or I would be seriously annoyed. it's one reason I would never pay big bucks for cakewalk stuff. There is simply no reason for this kind of restriction. It serves no purpose.

wasi · Post by **wasi** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 5:27 am

Here ya go:

Non-transferable too. Dimension Pro was the same thing. But I bought both on extreme discounts ($15 for dimension) so they may only do this on their 'no brainer' sales, but they're sure not up-front about it.

D N A · Post by **D N A** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:37 am

wasi wrote:They only allow one install though. That's really lame IMO and it's one reason I only buy their stuff when it's on no-brainer discounts. Allowing only one install is incredibly restrictive.

I agree. I home my home studio on stationary computer, as well as laptop. If I can use , for example, Ableton Live license on both computer then I really, really expect that a "simple" plugin will have similar license.

BUT still, Z3TA2 for such price is a very good deal.

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:37 am

wasi wrote:Here ya go:

Non-transferable too. Dimension Pro was the same thing. But I bought both on extreme discounts ($15 for dimension) so they may only do this on their 'no brainer' sales, but they're sure not up-front about it.

Yes, I know this agreement. Thanks for showing it. It is a normal restriction IMO because normally I use it in one machine at a time. Anyway, even if I want to play it in my desktop and my laptop at the same time, I don't think this agreement would stop me from doing this (the same applies to Sonar of course). I just don't know how things are working now since they did their Command Center cause I stopped upgrading Sonar (and all their software eventually) since they started the subscription route.

Z3ta at $39 US!