THE DARK ZEBRA

and

ZebraHZ

Version 2.8

19. October 2018

installation • presets • story • terms of use


 INTRODUCTION

Introduction
The Dark Zebra
A bank of over 400 presets, a collaboration between Hans Zimmer and Howard Scarr.
Practically all Zebra sounds in the The Dark Knight as well as The Dark Knight Rises
soundtracks are included, plus several more that didn’t quite fit it into the scores.

ZebraHZ
ZebraHZ is a free upgrade for The Dark Zebra owners. It started out as Hans Zimmer's
custom Zebra2.5 which included several extra features: analogue filter models based
on those in u-he Diva; a resonator like in the Polymoog; X/Y pads as regular modulation
sources; polyphonic compressors per lane of the main grid. To handle all these extras,
also double the number of mod-mappers and modulation matrix slots.
The Distortion modules, the plate reverb NuRev, the Fold wavefolder modules and the
new searchable browser are all described in the Zebra2.8 user guide.

Installation
Double-click the installer (Mac or PC) and follow instructions.
IMPORTANT: If you are updating an existing ZebraHZ, please either use the same
paths as the original installation and select the same set of plug-in formats, or remove
the old installation before installing the new one. To avoid any crashes and other
“strange behaviour” while loading presets, do not mix the old and new versions.
Serial Number: ZebraHZ uses the same serial number as Zebra2. Load an instance of
ZebraHZ, right-click on the data display then select enter serial number. If you can’t find
your Zebra2 serial, go to your account at u-he and follow instructions.

Default Paths
Windows
Presets (local) C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\ZebraHZ.data\Presets\ZebraHZ\

Presets (user) C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\ZebraHZ.data\UserPresets\ZebraHZ\

Preferences C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\ZebraHZ.data\Support\ (*.txt files)

MSEG/OSC C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\ZebraHZ.data\Modules\

Microtuning C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\ZebraHZ.data\Tunefiles\
1. Paths containing any non-standard characters are not supported.
2. If a previous installation into the VstPlugins folder did not cause any permanent file
permissions problems, you can safely reinstall there.

macOS
Presets (local) MacHD/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/ZebraHZ/

Presets (user) MacHD/Users/*YOU*/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/ZebraHZ/

Preferences MacHD/Users/*YOU*/Library/AppSupport/u-he/com.u-he.ZebraHZ...

MSEG/OSC MacHD/Library/Application Support/u-he/ZebraHZ/Modules/ 

Microtuning MacHD/Library/Application Support/u-he/Tunefiles/

 INTRODUCTION

Formats, Support
• ZebraHZ supports AU, VST2, VST3 and AAX. There is no RTAS version, but RTAS /
Mac users should be able to load TDZ presets into the regular Zebra2 and achieve
acceptable results. Please note, however, that TDZ presets loaded into Zebra2 are
likely to sound wrong, as several ZebraHZ-specific features are missing there.

• To run ZebraHZ you will need a registered Zebra2. Please note that the product you
purchased is the soundset The Dark Zebra. The plug-in ZebraHZ is an update for
Zebra2 so you can use all of the Dark Zebra patches. Of course this means that resale
of Dark Zebra is only allowed if you also include your Zebra2 license in the sale.
Note that you can run Zebra2 and ZebraHZ in parallel. They are separate plug-ins.
• ZebraHZ and Zebra2 require a serial number issued after mid-2009. If your serial
number is older, go to u-he support and request a new one – if your email address has
changed since then, please let us know. If you can’t remember when you purchased
Zebra2, please retrieve your original serial number before installing ZebraHZ.
Note: You can’t break anything. If you start Zebra2 with an obsolete code, it will ask you
to contact support@u-he.com so we can send you a new one. As always, right-click on
the data display to enter your serial number.

License Agreement and Terms of Use

This license agreement is between you (the licensee) and Heckmann Audio GmbH,
the copyright holder and sole distributor of The Dark Zebra patch set. This agreement
is based on the common understanding that copyrighted material must not be
distributed without the written consent of the copyright holder, and therefore that anyone
intending to lend, copy or otherwise distribute this material will have read this
agreement before downloading, purchasing or otherwise obtaining the product
accompanying the license.
Stipulations:
1. Before using this patch set, you must have purchased a legitimate license for Zebra2 as
well as for The Dark Zebra.

2. You may not distribute resampled or otherwise replicated patches from The Dark Zebra
in any product, commercial, free or otherwise. This includes, but is not limited to,
sample libraries and sample-based synthesizers. You may, however, create such
derivates for your own musical works as long as these derivates are only distributed in
the context of the musical work.

3. The Dark Zebra may only be sold together with your Zebra2 license.

Heckmann Audio GmbH, Berlin


Imprint / Impressum

 DIVA VCF

DIVA VCF
Where are the panels?
ZebraHZ is a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster. Under the circumstances, the Diva filters
are integrated in the best way possible. Not in the generator rack like the other filters,
but as tabbed panels in the lower area, like the MSEGs.
Important: These filters are quite CPU-intensive, and are therefore mono i.e. not stereo.
Altogether, ZebraHZ has 8 Diva-style analogue filters: 4 highpass
filters and 4 lowpass / multimode filters. To access the controls,
click on the DIVA VCF button in the lower bar.

General settings
At the far left of the DIVA VCF panel are the following general filter options:
• ACCURACY is an important global parameter, as it trades CPU-hit for realtime audio
quality (especially resonance). If your computer stutters while playing presets that use
D-filters, switch the accuracy to fast or even draft. You will soon learn which one your
system can handle. Mono presets should be no problem, even on older computers.
• OFFLINE ACC is the accuracy used for offline audio rendering. You should generally
render tracks to audio in the highest quality – to do this, set OfflineAcc to best. If you
find that your sound works best in Draft mode (e.g. because it is meant to be gritty), feel
free to switch this to Same.
• CUTOFF SLOP scales the amount of randomisation applied to all D-filter cutoffs.
• The RND button generates new random values for CUTOFF SLOP.

HPF settings
Next are the panels for the Diva highpass filters, which are tabbed like the MSEGs: To
switch between the 4 filter panels, click on one of the buttons D-HPF1 to D-HPF4.

There are two basic highpass models:

• HPF PRE is a very simple, CPU-friendly model with only a cutoff control.
• HPF BITE is a “character” highpass with cutoff modulation and resonance. As this is by
far the more CPU-hungry option, you can expect some powerful tonal shaping here.
Two REVISIONs are available, with different characteristics.
 DIVA VCF

LPF settings
The righthand side of the panel is for the main D-filters. They are shown in pairs that
are switched via the buttons at the bottom, D-VCF1+2 | D-VCF3+4. The central knobs
labeled “none” are modulation depths for a user-definable source (try clicking on them).
The upper two both modulate cutoff, the lower one modulates resonance.

There are five D-VCF MODELs: Ladder, Cascade, Multimode, BITE and Uhbie…

• Ladder: Classic 24dB or 12dB per octave filter with key-follow and resonance. Click on
the MODE selector to switch between 24dB (4-pole) and 12dB (2-pole).

• Cascade: A cleaner filter than Ladder with an extra switch (COLOR) for selecting an
alternative revision of this famous filter model. Unlike the Ladder, Cascade can also be
switched to 12dB per octave via the MODE button.

• Multimode: This one is based on the filter in yet another classic polyphonic synthesizer
(or two). Use the MODE button to select one of the following:
LP 24db ....... a 4-pole low pass

LP 12db ....... a 2-pole alternative

HP................ high-pass

BP ................ band-pass

• BITE: This model sounds very different, a real character! The tone is highly dependent
on the input signal levels, the selected REVISION as well as the resonance (RES).
BITE can deliver anything from solid 2-pole to screaming mayhem.

• Uhbie: Classic silky 2-pole state-variable filter model with crossfade (via SHAPE MIX)
between three different types: low-pass through notch, or bandpass (see Bandpass
switch) to high-pass. The definable knob next to SHAPE MIX is for shape mix
modulation.

 COMPRESSORS

Compressors
Each lane in the main grid has its own polyphonic (i.e. per voice) compressor. Like the
Diva-VCF, all controls appear in the lower area. Click on COMP1-4:

• On/Off: To save CPU, the lane compressors can be switched on/off individually.

• GR: Gain reduction indicator

• Mode (unlabelled vertical slider switch):

ECO: original lo-fi version, with low CPU-hit.

SMOOTH: smooth compression, the best choice for most situations.

STRONG: very powerful compression, best for bold percussive sounds.

• ATTACK is the time it takes the compressor to fully work after the threshold has been
reached. Attack can affect the brightness: very fast values cause the compressor to
reduce gain immediately, which can dull the attack of the original sound. When set to
zero, ATTACK is only one sample in length.

• RELEASE sets the recovery time i.e. the time the compressor takes to return to unity
gain after the input signal has fallen below the threshold. Very short release can distort
low-frequency input, overly long release can ‘clamp’ the sound down and not release
enough before the next ‘attack’ arrives. When set to zero, the release is only one
sample long.

• INPUT adjusts the input level before the signal reaches the compressor.

• THRESHOLD sets the level above which compression is applied, and below which
compression is released. Lower values result in more compression than higher values.

• COMP sets the amount of compression – think of this as a dry/wet crossfade.

• OUTPUT compensates for any loss or gain resulting from the compression.

 RESONATOR

Resonator

One of the very first polyphonic synthesizers ever included a 3-band peaking filter that
could dramatically “colourize” a sound. For a video example of this unit original in
action, search for “Polymoog Resonator Section” in YouTube.

The ZebraHZ version is similar, but is completely modulatable and includes an extra
full-range band. To see the Resonator, click on a cell in the effects grid and select the
Res1 module (4th entry from the bottom of the list):

• INPUT adjusts the signal level at the resonator’s input. Note that ZebraHZ’s resonator is
strictly monophonic – stereo signals are summed to mono first.
• COLOUR selects one of 3 different analogue filter models in the order of CPU usage.
• MODE switches the type of filters used: LP = lowpass, BP = bandpass, BPi = bandpass
with the second filter (300Hz to 1.5kHz) inverted, HP = highpass
• 60 to 300 etc.: the yellow sliders determine cutoff frequencies between those ranges.
Note that the last filter is full-range i.e. 60Hz to 7.5 kHz.
• R: the blue-green sliders adjust the resonance for each filter.
• G: the orange sliders set the output gain for each filter.

Tip: ZebraHZ’s resonator is well worth mastering. It can even help train your ears to
recognize natural formants in the environment or in acoustic musical instruments.

 BACKSTORY

Backstory
The Dark Zebra is the result of a 4-year collaboration between Hollywood film composer
Hans Zimmer and synth sound designer Howard Scarr. It all began in 2007 with a
surprise e-mail from Hans to Urs Heckmann, developer of the Zebra2 modular
synthesizer. The initial correspondence went something like this:

Dear Urs
You must have worked so hard to design such a brilliant synth! I have
a little favour to ask of you, perhaps you could help. I need a sound
programmer for the next Batman movie. We're all much too busy here to
get some murky sounds out of Zebra, so if you happen to know somebody
with a vivid imagination, someone who doesn't need much sleep...
(etc.)
so - many thanks!
Hans Zimmer

Dear Hans
Great to hear from you personally! For Zebra sounds I have the
ultimate address: the guy who created our new factory sounds...
(etc.)
greetings from Berlin!
Urs ;)

A few months later, Zebra2 sounds for THE DARK KNIGHT were starting to take shape.
Tt was tough going. The early attempts were either too jolly or too clever by half, too
technical. The upper echelons at Remote Control decided that it would be best to lock
him in the company dungeon with nothing but a daily portion of gruel, a state-of-the-art
computer and a supply of joss-sticks for company. And a bucket called Bob.
Cut to a very different room. Spacious, sumptuous, like a cross between the bridge of
the Nautilus and a Viennese brothel. A clean-shaven Maestro was once again gazing
into the monitors, tweaking sounds emanating from his go-to synth into submission. It
was slowly starting to gel – he had almost forgotten about that old bloke downstairs...
The days turned to weeks, the weeks to more weeks – then it happened. Through an
unused cable duct leading directly into a corner of a small programming room came an
unpleasant throbbing drone accompanied by a clanking that morphed into the painful
grating of metal upon tortured metal. Partly because the cacophony was disturbing his
work, but mostly because it scared him out of his pants, the eager young assistant
called the security guards. Howard was located and extracted from the cellar that same
afternoon – covered in grime, but grinning from ear to ear."I did it", he croaked. "I made
a usable sound", he claimed. "Say hi to Bob", he urged. The bucket was whisked away
at arm's length, Howard donned a pair of Ray Bans, grabbed a quick café latte and
shuffled outside for his first cigarette in a month. Life tasted so good…
Thus began a fruitful collaboration that reached its peak in the soundset you now hold in
your grubby little hard drive.... Enjoy!

 PRESETS

The Dark Zebra Presets

Most of these presets were programmed to be performed manually. They make use of
the immediately accessible MIDI controls: modulation wheel (MIDI CC#01), pressure
and pitchbend. Also “Control A”, which is MIDI CC#02 by default.
To play these presets with the intended expression, please read the patch information in
the browser. For instance, here’s the info about Batpunk Seq+:

Please note the following abbreviations:

MW = Modulation Wheel (MIDI CC 1)
PB = Pitch Bender
AT = Aftertouch (channel or poly)
Ctrl A = User definable (MIDI CC 2 by default)

Finally, all preset names that end in a ‘+’ (plus) sign make use of the X/Y pads.

 PRESETS

Basses + Drones Metal Spank - slow

Partial to Bells
Aerodrone Punching Metal
Analog Schmanalog RezDrone - cold 1
Arise Drone 1+ RezDrone - cold 2
Arise Drone 2+ Scaffolding
Bane Bass - rough Scissors
Bane Bass - smooth Swordmaster
Bane Drone Tonk to Metal
Base Metal Tortured Metal - hits
Basic Analog Drone Tortured Metal - scream
Bass Ivorish Zingtar
Bass-DIVA+
Bass-TARD Drums + Clocks
Bombers Over Berlin
Boom Bass Alarm Clock
Deehive AutomatiQ+
Deep Limbo Drone B-Begins Comb
Deep Pain Drone Bane Beat 5-4+
Faith Healer Bane Shatter
Feedback Drone Guitar Bataalimba+
Feedback Soft Metal Batcave HiHat - fast
Foundry Bass Batcave HiHat - slow
Intro Dive Batflaps Performer
Landslide Batpunk Havana Club
Monstrosity Big Flamboo
Octave Bass Big Flapper
Pulses Drone Breathing Bright
RezDrone - filter Breathing Cat
Ringmod Pulser Breathing Dark - fast
Scramble Bass Breathing Dark - slow
Square Slipper Breathing Slow
Stereo Bass Chicken Shake
Throat Bass+ Clock Backward Time - fast
Walteration Clock Backward Time - slow
Clock Bones+
Bells + Metallurgy Clock Bongito
Clock Click - binary
Bell Labs 2+ Clock Click - tristate
Bell Pad+ Clock Hollow
BenderZING+ Clock Scissors
Breathing Bells with Fizz+ Clock Spacebirds
Chord Metal - thin Crash Cans
Chord Metal - thinnest Drum Analog Noise
Foundry Bass Echo Perk
Gobichord - hard Field Player+
Gobichord - soft Flapbeat fast 5-4 noise
Hong Drum Flapbeat fast 5-4 pan
Limbo hard Flapbeat slow 5-4 noise
Ma Bell+ Flapbeat slow 5-4 pan
Metal Spank - bright Gobi Tech percussion
Metal Spank - dark Gotham Storm
 PRESETS

Gotham Ticker Long Swoop

Gretschen 8th+ Low Strangle
Gretschen 16th+ Noise Angels
Gretschen single+ Road Accident Kit
Hatbox 5-4 Rumbling
Hatnoise Wave Splinters
Log to Stick Suffolkation Tardis
Noise Pulse 8th The Long Now - orbit
Noise Pulse 16th a The Long Now - straight
Noise Pulse 16th b Tomb End
Noise Pulse 16th c Watershed
Noise Pulse 16th d Wheel Noise - rumble
Pageturn - clean Wheel Noise - simple
Pageturn - loop Whispercussion+
Pageturn - tremor Winged Dwarf
Phase Train Winged Giant
Punch Pots - comb
Punch Pots - noise HighArps + Chords
Rattled
Snapper 3 5-4 Buzzchord
Square of the Hippo 7-8 Batcave inspired
Timber Tomsnare 8th Horn Pulse
Tom Bombers Angel Falling - Dm
Trilobite Angel Falling - free
Tungsten Toms+ Angel Rising - Dm
Warpatch Angel Rising - free
Water Pot Batagonia
Batbeat Holes+
Effects + Chaos Batcave crystals
Batcave glass harmonica
Aleatronic Batcave MSEG swim1
Arise Noise Batcave MSEG swim2
Arise Tones Batcave octaves - analog
Bane Shout - Basara Batcave octaves - mellow
Bane Shout - Deshi Batcave overtone shift
Bowed Chaos Batcave psirens
Cloven Hoof Batcave syncing down
Construction at RCP Batcave-ish pluck
Dark Chaos Batcave-ish scrape
Demon Whispers Berlin Speed
E-Donkey+ Bop Talk+
Eerie High Mono Bow Bounce Synth 1
Electron Chain Bow Bounce Synth 2
Electron Tank Breathing Choir
Emo Trashing L100 Cat Appeal
Falling Noise Cat Chanel
Faze Thunder Cat Cutter
Ghosts Cat Pulse
Hadron Hall 2 Cat Techno 1 - hypersaw
HeliBomber Cat Techno 2 - busy
Limbo - chaos Cat Techno 3 - resins
Limbo - slow Chord Metal - bellish
 PRESETS

Chord Metal - flappy Blade - original raw

Chord Metal - harmless Blade - reverb
Chord Metal - mild 1 Blade - synced wobble
Chord Metal - mild 2 Chord Bender Choir
Chord Metal - straight Chord Bender Saws
Chord Mombassa Crazy Diamond poly
Chord Vitamin B CSBO 4th
Chord Vocal CSBO duelling XMFs
Chordination CSBO effects
Combplayer fast CSBO glide
Combplayer hard CSBO innocent
Combplayer slow CSBO simple
Combplayer soft CSBO swell+
Dream Roll Distant Sun
Fast Rusty Bomber Faze Four Fan Fare
Five Against Four - minor Flappy MG Mono
Five Against Four - neutral Flappy MG Poly
Flamencomb Dark Forlorn - full
Flamencomb Real Forlorn - pure
Gated Atlantic Forlorn - stringy
Glass Peals and Flaps Hans Forlorn
Gobi Banjo - fast Hornstar
Gobi Banjo - slow Instability
Gobi Tech monohard Jazz Tonto+
Gobi Tech polysoft Lonely Batcall complex+
Gobinator Mock 15
Hardface Ostinato 1_4
Hektik 32 bright Ostinato Sad
Hektik 32 high Phazor
HiSeq Flute 4-4 Pitched Noise poly
HiSeq Flute 5-4 Power Chorder
HiSeq Hang Power Leader
HiSeq Viral 1 Singing Triangles
HiSeq Viral 2 The Giorgio Room
HiSeq Viral 3 Triangle Ghost
Little Roller Vintager
Mock 15 Arp Virus Horns
Straight Talk
Strumflap LowArps + Stomps
3rd Plodder
Leads + Horns 8th Primitive Stomp HS
Aetherial Tron 16th Primitive Stomp 1
Angelis 16th Primitive Stomp 2
Asynth2 16th Stomp - chug timps
Bane Brass 16th Stomp - five hills
Bat Horns Army Base 1
Benderphone Army Base 2
Berlin One B-Begins aggressive
Big Wing Blade B-Begins simple 1
Blade - high hard B-Begins simple 2
Blade - high soft B-Begins simple 3
 PRESETS

B-Begins VIRUS clean Cat Pluck

B-Begins VIRUS distort+ Choir-ish Pad
B-Begins VIRUS noise Classic Stringer
B-Begins VIRUS punch Comb Strings
Bass Propeller Comba Karma
Bass-DIVA stomp Elevenotron In
Batpunk Seq+ Elevenotron Out
Batpunk Seq1 - speaker Fluttery Strings
Batpunk Seq2 - ricky+ Forgotten Angels 2
Batpunk Seq3 - orient+ Forlorn - waver
Breathing Bass Harp
Cat Bass Seq+ Liquid Rust
Cheops1 Lonely with Windchimes
Cheops2 Minor Raise
Chug1 - fast+ Nepalese Temple+Flutes
Chug2 - cutter Nepalese Temple+Railway
Chug3 - large Newmantics
Deshi-Basara Beat Nightshore
Dr Pump Organigram
Flaps osc Pad 59
Flaps ugly Percalliope
Ghana Beat+ RezDrone - vocal
Heartbeat Drone Rusty Harp
Hektik 32 low Sad Pad
MiniPump - 8th Sad Strings
MiniPump - 16th Saengerbuben
Octave Jump 1 Strings and Horn Split
Octave Jump 2 Supersquare Poly
Octave Jump 3+ Violin Fluff
Octave Jump 4 Waterpiano
Plod Bass Ztrings 1
Precinct 14 Ztrings 2
Precinct 15 Ztrings 3
Rien de Pulse Ztrings 4
Rolling Metal Ztrings 5

Sync Chord Stomp
Three Quarters Breathing
Vitamin B

Pads + Keys
Aetherium+
Alternator Flute
An Enoding
Analog Piano
Atlantic Swell
Bathwater Harp+
Beano
Bling+
Blue Glass
Bouncer
Box of Tron
 PRESETS

Xtras
Atomic Ruster
Bendybass
Canned Flutes
Comedy Lab
Flagship Brass+Strings
Howard Square
Kraft
Marcato Chunks
Maximini
Minibass 1
Motor 49
Oscar Harpsi
Rasp Room
Resonator Learner
Scrapie
Sharpsichord
Shepard Template
Snapper 1
Snapper 2
To Boldly Go
Underwater Pianette
Voyage 59
Wet Potz

The End