Zebralette

When you first start making music, it’s not a bad idea to employ a virtual synth. Synthesizers are powerful instruments that can help you find and shape your sound quicker and more efficiently than a lot of DAW stock plugins. But like most VSTs that can improve your music noticeably, synths are a bit expensive; if you’ve already invested in a DAW and some basic studio equipment, then getting a synth may not be your top priority at the moment.

Still, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t look into free synths and how can they improve your compositions. With this in my mind, today we’re going to see what Zebralette is all about.

Zebralette is like a much lighter version of u-he’s Zebra – which is one of the company’s more advanced sound design instruments. Since I haven’t tested Zebra, I can’t make a comprehensive list of similarities and differences. However, it’s not too difficult to notice that the interfaces of the two synths don’t really look alike.

With Zebralette you only get one oscillator that can be tuned using a few parameters. However, the core feature of the synth is the waveform editor which allows you to draw and reshape the sound any way you like.

In the FX section, there are many spectral effects to choose from, but you can only employ two of them simultaneously. There is an additional Effects section at the bottom of the interface, which features two modules. One of these is a pretty versatile delay unit, while the other section can be a chorus, a phaser, or a combination between the two, called “phorus”, because what else can you call it?

Zebralette comes with plenty of modulation options, presets, and an overall great sound. Until the day you’re ready to start using Zebra, its little brother is a more than worthy addition to your sonic arsenal.