>Step by step

1. Windowlickin’ good pads

1

Let’s start with an initialised patch; open your DAW and load up an instrument channel, armed with an instance of the ZebraCM plugin. Once the plugin window is open, move to the central display at the top of the window, click to reveal the drop-down menu, and select Init from the bottom. This will initialise the patch.

2

Moving to Osc1, click-hold and drag upward on the waveform icon, until you see a value of 3.20 in the upper display. Remember, when altering pots and settings on the Zebra CM, the value is displayed in the uppermost window of the plugin. Also, alter the volume of Osc1 to a value of 88.

3

Moving over to Osc2, we want to leave the waveform set to its current default wave, which should be a sawtooth, but we do want to alter the volume to a value of 77. Click-Hold on the Volume pot and alter it accordingly.

4

As experienced users of the ZebraCM will know and appreciate, there are plenty of filter colours available within the plugin. You can certainly experiment with these, but we think that the LP 12dB filter is an excellent place to start, so ensure that this is the selected filter, from the dropdown filter menu.

5

To dull the sound slightly, we need to alter the filter’s Cutoff frequency value to 76. We will also add a little bite at the front of each note, by applying some filter modulation from Env2. Increase the user assigned pot, to a modest value of 11.

6

The ‘woozy’ element of our sound will be generated by a modulation source from LFO1. Ensure that you have LFO1 selected, then alter the Rate value to a figure of 46. This is a relatively low and slow value, which we will clearly hear in our sound, once we’ve set the modulation reception point.

7

Moving back to the Osc1 section, set the Vibrato pot to a value of 30. This pot dictates the amount of modulation sent to the pitch of the oscillator, from LFO1. As an addition, we’ll also thicken our overall texture, by detuning Osc1 to a value of -5.

8

We’re also going to need to apply similar values to Osc2; set the Vibrato pot to a value of 79, and we will also set the Detune pot to a value of +5. Using two different modulation amounts like this, across the two oscillators, will unnerve our pad even further!

9

Envelope 1 will be used to dictate the volume of our sound, and we need to make some subtle adjustments; set the Attack pot to a value of 16, the Decay pot to a value of 45, and finally the Release pot to a value of 23.

10

Envelope 2 will be used to modulate the Cutoff frequency of our filter. We also need to make some alterations to these values; set the Attack pot to a value of 50, the Decay pot to a value of 56, the Sustain pot to a value of 35, and finally the Release pot to a value of 24.

11

Our synth settings are now complete, however you will notice that there is plenty of bottom end in our sound, and most likely too much for the way we wish to use it. Using an EQ, plugged into your instrument channel strip, use a low-end roll-off to reduce the bottom end frequency content, from around 500Hz.

12

Finally, to add to the ethereal nature of the sound, use a relatively long reverb, but while also reducing the wet volume amount, so that it is not overpowering. You could also add a delay, after the reverb, to extend the reverb tail even further while also adding some backend colour.