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5. Make stunning sweeping synths with ZebraCM

1 u-he ZebraCM is a great instrument for making soaring synth lines, and its power can be enhanced with the incredible effects in the Studio, the brilliant Vengeance-Sound Philta CM being especially suited to this. Start by adding ZebraCM to a MIDI channel in your DAW. 2

We want a smooth sound with a sustained volume level. Env1 (the upper of the two envelopes) controls the amplitude level. Set its Attack and Release times to 50, then adjust the Sustain level to 100. This gives us a basic pad sound, but the filter envelope could use some work. 3

Env2 controls the filter cutoff. Set its Attack time to 64 for a slow, smooth, up-and-down filter movement. It’s quite standard so far, but we’re about to unleash our not-so-secret weapon: supplementing the movement provided by the synth’s low-pass filter with Philta CM. Add the plugin on the ZebraCM track.

4

Change the filter routing from Bandpass to Notch, and pull down the Highpass frequency cutoff to 200Hz. As the display illustrates, this creates a dip in the 100Hz region. The sound gets exciting when we start to move it around. Click the Link button so we can move the filters with either the Low-pass or High-pass knobs.

5

Sequence a MIDI chord to play in ZebraCM, and automate either of Philta CM Edition’s Filter knobs (ie, Lowpass or High-pass) to create a sweeping notched filter effect. Gorgeous, isn’t it? You can make the effect more or less pronounced by changing the filters’ Slope mode. Put them both on 96 now.

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Another way to make the effect more intense is to turn up the filters’

Resonance level. Set it to 66% for each, then change the Width values to 50%.

This gives us a very pronounced, almost vocal-like effect.

7

Next we’re going to produce a psychedelic effect with some tastefully applied feedback delay. Add KR-Delay CM after the filter, and set the Feedback of each delay line to around 50%, with a delay time of between 200

300ms. This gives us a lush effect that complements the silky sound of the filter.

8

For a more rhythmic feel, bring up ZebraCM’s interface again and rightclick the filter modulation source (the Env2 knob). A list of available modulation sources will appear – you should select LFO1. In the LFO1 panel, change the Waveform from Sine to User.

9

You can now drag on the waveform display to create a stepped sequencer pattern. The Modwheel value is at its maximum by default, which means that you won’t hear the modulation effect. To remedy this, set the Modwheel knob to 0. For the final touch, turn up the Resonance level to get a totally trippy sound!