>Step by step

1. Forming a sentence (or a cool sound resembling one)

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Our first task will be to open our favoured DAW package and load an instance of the Zebra CM plugin. We’ll start by initialising the patch, by clicking in the central display area, just below the Computer Music graphic. Select UH Initialize, as a starting point. 2

In order to create a great formant texture, we’ll work with a more focussed oscillator timbre, at least to begin with, so let’s start by reducing the volume of Oscillator 2. Simply reduce the Volume pot in the Oscillator 2 section, with a click, hold and downward drag. 4

We want to eliminate additional control of the filter at this point; Envelope 2 is currently modulating the Filter Cutoff, so we need to move this pot to the 12 o’clock position. This will result in a very heavily filtered sound, so counterbalance this by changing the main Cutoff control to the 10 o’clock position. 3

To focus our sound even further, we want to go to Oscillator 1 and reduce the number of aliased waves that we are hearing, down to a single sound/wave source. Switching from Dual to Single, via the drop-down menu, will create a centred and more basic starting tone. 5

Our current filter selection, located within the filter section, is the very common Low Pass (LP) variety. It’ll be a very familiar sound; however we’re going to select the less common LP Formant filter from the drop-down menu. 6

The elements that will be doing the work in recreating our vowel sounds, are the Resonance and Vowel controls. Increase the Resonance to its maximum and play and hold a note. Now alter the pot labelled ‘Drive/Vow’. As the value of the Vowel pot is altered, you can hear the colours of the vowels emerge.

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We’re going to add some modulation to our vowel control; click on the unassigned pot, located to the left, below the main Cutoff pot, and select LFO2. Once the assignment is in place, apply a small value to this pot and you’ll hear modulation occurring, as you play.

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Ensure that you have LFO2 selected in the LFO section, which will reveal the associated parameters. By default, a sine wave is selected, which is currently sync’d to the tempo of your host DAW. You can vary the sync rate, keeping the wave cycle in tempo with your track.

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Zebra CM comes with a facility to create basic step sequences, from within the LFO Section. By changing the Waveform setting from Sine to User, a step sequence box appears, right in the LFO section. Here we can program our own ‘amount’ settings, and make our filter talk!

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The default number of steps within the LFO Sequence is 16, but this can be increased to 32, if desired. We’ll reduce the number to eight steps, purely to keep things simple. It’s as easy as clicking on the Steps drop-down menu and picking a number, before creating a shape for a personalised LFO shape.

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While the Step LFO effect is pretty excellent, a slightly different character can be created by switching from Steps over to Lines, from the User drop-down menu. This introduces an element of glide between assigned modulation points, which can be highly effective for our vocalised vowel effect.

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As we’re using modulation for our sound, the interplay between the various controls, within the LFO and Filter sections can all be tweaked, for fine tuning and greater effectiveness. Pay particular attention to the LFO2 and Drive/Vowel pots, located in the Filter section. These will yield the most extensive changes to the tonal colour.