> Step by step

4. The new preset browser

1

Zebra CM has had a major browser overhaul and this is now as good as you’ll find on any softsynth. But before we launch the browser it’s worth saying that you can also page through the presets of the currently selected preset folder. Try using the control bar arrows or click on the data display to reveal the list.

2

To launch the main browser, select the Presets button. You’ll see most of the plugin window now becomes the browser, with two tabs on the left – Directory and Tags, a centre section with the current choice of presets and on the right the attributes of the currently loaded preset.

3

With the Directory tab selected you’ll see the main categorised folders at the top left under the Local tab. Select one of these and you’ll see the associated presets. The new categories include both Zebra CM’s previous and new presets. Below this you’ll also see a Bank tab and here you can select the new bank and previous bank of Zebra CM presets.

4

Zebra CM presets include extensive information and user editable tagging. Tagging provides a useful way to search for sounds, and to do this you need to select the Tags tab. Once selected you’ll see four sections – Categories, Features, Character and Favourites. Try clicking on one or more of the entries to select presets with those attributes – we’ve chosen Soft Attack and Leads.

5

Included in the tagging system are Favourites. To make a preset a Favourite, you need to right-click on it and select one of the eight colour-coded Favourite groupings. Here we’ve marked one of the presets as a red Favourite and when we select that grouping from the tags menu it now shows just that preset.

6

The Tags that are assigned to any preset can be freely edited. To do this, head over to the top right of the browser window and click on the flag icon. This opens the Edit Tags panel. Then select the preset you want to edit and modify any of the three tagging areas – Categories, Features and Character.

7

Whether you’re in the Directory or Tags panel, you can use word search to find specific presets. This is great if you already know the name of the preset, or simply have a rough idea of the naming you’re looking for.

8

The browser has one further useful preview feature. Over on the righthand side at the bottom, you’ll see the Bypass Effects button. If you want to try out a preset ‘dry’ to see what it’s made of, this handy option will bypass Zebra CM’s effects modules and will also load the preset with the effects bypassed.

9

Finally, Zebra CM’s browser loads presets automatically as soon as you select them. In most cases this isn’t a problem. But what if you try some new presets and then want to go back to your previously loaded one? Thankfully you can do this by selecting the Restore option at the top of the browser.