Absolutely love U-He's stuff. Especially these days that computers are decent enough to run as many Diva instances as you want! Also very much appreciate their free options (Tyrell-N6 was my first soft synth and Zebrelette is pretty damn versatile!)
Haha, you mean Steve Lipson and Trevor were one of the most interesting bands of the 80s! Propoganda (who didn’t even play on that one classic album) disappeared without trace the moment Michael Mertens arrogantly thought they could shaft Steve and Trev and take the “band” away to the highest bidder.
Hive is an absolutely fantastic sounding softsynth and one of my favourites. There are lots and lots of great presets and my favourites are from Howard Scarr, Luftrum and Joseph Hollo.
Luftrum and, particularly, Joseph Hollo are brilliant. Just something about the sounds they create that just make me smile with, pretty much, every patch.
For the longest time I just messed around with the plugs, and there are tons out there, that were free. I did not spend any money on them because the music I recorded was largely acoustic in nature and synth sounds, tho I love them, really did not fit the genre (country, blue grassy Gospel). But in my retirement, I no longer worry about genre and I just wanted some "new toys" so I dug into some U-he paid plugs because their free stuff was just the best of the best to my ears. I have not been disappointed! Today's music tools are just beyond Disneyworld! And I always enjoy your vids. UA-cam is just an incredibly resource as well for discovering and learning new stuff. Oh, and may I say, Scarr is a beast lol!
U-he are incredible synths. I love them all. Howard Scarr is a genius sound designer.. I constantly discover new tricks he uses with every patch... Softsynths are a marvellous creation. Thank you for the vid. Wonderful stuff... keep up the fantastic work.
Fans of Howard Scarr may wish to do a search for his Virus Tutorial manual, "Programming Analogue Synths." It's pretty well liked by those that like that sort of thing . . .
@Issie wizzie Yes. Even within the U-He ecosystem that would be pooping a lot on, say, Diva or Re-Pro. But agreed that it is a good soft synth. You will get your money's worth, which is not always a guarantee.
@@YanivhmTube Hive is a much newer synth and it shows in terms of sound, but speaking of "monsters" (and speaking in terms of sound quality) I have high expectations for Zebra3. 🙂
I agree with many guys here. U-he synths are great. Some of them are not easy. But the efforts required are worthwhile. There is a good offer now about Zebra2 including dark version and all presets. Zebra3 is close to be released. My suggestion is to stay tuned because it's a wonderful machine. Again, not easy but very inspiring
My favourite software synth. I have Zebra 2 as well and its amazing as well but Hive is so much easier to alter preset to suit your needs..as you demonstrated. It has a great vibe.
Fantastic demo - when you started playing are friends electric you got me then kraftwerkian style and mike oldfield you got me even more, love the sounds of this synth (and zebra) I have the older version of zebra which I love but you have helped me see that U-he know what they are doing with they're synths and having you play them helps even more with that thought. thank you.
22:13 I think you could make a 12 minute ambient track playing that patch. An incredible display of amazing sounds. I have no idea how they would fit into any music I try to make but I love hearing Woody play them.
You should checkout the 2 soundbanks (AERA and ISLA) by Jan Morgenstern of Treeswift for Zebra. They are fantastic! And his explanations about the Sound Design of the Sounds in ‘Jan’s patchwork Corner’ are invaluable in understanding how such top-notch sounds are created.
This is my favourite synth! The possibilities are endless. Edit Zebra 2 is definitely worth the trouble of getting to know it! It's a modular design and has some great features. Hive 2 is more versatile though and can sound nasty or ethereal. Zebra is more subtle.
Awesome video Woody! Great display of those patches. Anyone get instant STAR TREK NG beam up vibes and tractor beams at 19:25 onwards in those reverb tails?
Loved this episode Woody, actually I was thinking maybe you could do a very basic beginners tutorial on how to play some of the 80s tunes like the ones in this? I've got the Forever Young one down well enough to have fun with it but I'd love to be able to play some of the Depeche Mode and Gary Numan stuff and any others. Just like 3 note chords type of level? I mean I know I could probably figure it out eventually but I usually end up getting side tracked when I've tried in the past!
that's a splendid suggestion, thank you! i tried to do this a number of times, but these lesson style videos never get many views or engagement, but I will keep experimenting in case I can find a format that works.
@@WoodyPianoShack I really wanted to like Zebra and even though it has some great sounds and versatility it didn't make me fall in love like Hive did. Hive is capable of very rich a warm sound while keeping that "in your face" character of more modern synths. It feels much more sonically powerful so to speak (I know this might be subjective). After I heard Hive I wanted to get rid of Serum because it sounds soooo thin compared to Hive. Also being able to choose between the 3 engine modes (clean, normal, dirty) is almost like having 3 synths. And I could go on... haha, cheers man!
Zebra 2 is definitely a bit complicated, I rarely reach for it because I’ve found that unless I keep using it frequently I forget how to. That’s why I love Hive 2.
I believe I missed the hive 2 sale you hAVe spoken of. Can you recommend a website or 2 I can look out for another sale? Are there 3rd party ones inn case u-he does not have a sale? Thank you.
It has a shitload of presets! :O It took me many hours to go through them all. :D Lots of junk as well (the hardstyle EDM people would disagree, lol), but luckily there are several great patches to use or dev sounds from.
Hi Woody thanks for another interesting and informative video. I've been getting to know Hive 2 and your overview really helps. Are you aware of the new Zebra Legacy deal from U-he? It's Zebra 2 plus all the preset banks and even the HS version at a very reasonable price until Zebra 3 is released.
well it has been on sale for $75 compared to omni at $500, so hard to compare. omni is more of a rompler using samples, whereas hive is a pure synth, so hard to compare them both, i would say they both sound equally good from what i've heard.
@@WoodyPianoShack $75 😳 for that price it's worth checking😎 out I always wanted omnisphere I brought Spectrum sounds before but I have to go with priority my check out this VST
Favorites are super useless, I just keep a backup of my original preset directories, and then make my own preset directories so I can categorise things.
Absolutely love U-He's stuff. Especially these days that computers are decent enough to run as many Diva instances as you want! Also very much appreciate their free options (Tyrell-N6 was my first soft synth and Zebrelette is pretty damn versatile!)
2:12 Propaganda - Duel. Glad I have the Vinyl, one of the most interesting and underrated synth pop bands of the 80s.
Haha, you mean Steve Lipson and Trevor were one of the most interesting bands of the 80s!
Propoganda (who didn’t even play on that one classic album) disappeared without trace the moment Michael Mertens arrogantly thought they could shaft Steve and Trev and take the “band” away to the highest bidder.
Propaganda's Dr. Mabuse is one of the best songs ever.
Hive is an absolutely fantastic sounding softsynth and one of my favourites. There are lots and lots of great presets and my favourites are from Howard Scarr, Luftrum and Joseph Hollo.
Luftrum and, particularly, Joseph Hollo are brilliant. Just something about the sounds they create that just make me smile with, pretty much, every patch.
For the longest time I just messed around with the plugs, and there are tons out there, that were free. I did not spend any money on them because the music I recorded was largely acoustic in nature and synth sounds, tho I love them, really did not fit the genre (country, blue grassy Gospel). But in my retirement, I no longer worry about genre and I just wanted some "new toys" so I dug into some U-he paid plugs because their free stuff was just the best of the best to my ears. I have not been disappointed! Today's music tools are just beyond Disneyworld! And I always enjoy your vids. UA-cam is just an incredibly resource as well for discovering and learning new stuff. Oh, and may I say, Scarr is a beast lol!
U-he are incredible synths. I love them all. Howard Scarr is a genius sound designer.. I constantly discover new tricks he uses with every patch... Softsynths are a marvellous creation.
Thank you for the vid. Wonderful stuff... keep up the fantastic work.
Fans of Howard Scarr may wish to do a search for his Virus Tutorial manual, "Programming Analogue Synths." It's pretty well liked by those that like that sort of thing . . .
great tip,, thanks!
Hive 2…LOVE IT!
Howard Scarr…LOVE him!
Enjoy The Silence…LOVE IT!
synth trifecta!
IMHO, seriously the best sounding synth on the market.
Best sounding synth … it’s like saying the best food 😊
that would be Indian... :D no question about it.
@Issie wizzie Yes. Even within the U-He ecosystem that would be pooping a lot on, say, Diva or Re-Pro. But agreed that it is a good soft synth. You will get your money's worth, which is not always a guarantee.
No.. its just some potential of the real monster - zebra 2
@@YanivhmTube Hive is a much newer synth and it shows in terms of sound, but speaking of "monsters" (and speaking in terms of sound quality) I have high expectations for Zebra3. 🙂
I agree with many guys here. U-he synths are great. Some of them are not easy. But the efforts required are worthwhile. There is a good offer now about Zebra2 including dark version and all presets. Zebra3 is close to be released. My suggestion is to stay tuned because it's a wonderful machine. Again, not easy but very inspiring
Some of them aren't easy but Hive sure is! Great interface, straightforward instrument. Very easy to build sounds with.
I hope there’s a crack version 🫠
19:10 Wow. Spacelab intro by Kraftwerk... :) ...with touch of Tomita. :D
Love the way you opened up this vid!
Love your reviews as always. Really appreciate the fact that you’re honest about your knowledge about the software 😊
That "bum note" at 17:18 is actually rather effective. It left quite a tragic sounding chord. :)
haha, you are totally spot on, i realized and let it ring!
Scarr did a lot of the amazing factory access virus synth sounds going back to the first one.
Thanks for informing about U-he and finding their Linux free synths
"linux free"? good or bad thing?
My favourite software synth. I have Zebra 2 as well and its amazing as well but Hive is so much easier to alter preset to suit your needs..as you demonstrated. It has a great vibe.
I love HIVE, and it's hidden wavetable/FM capabilities are great and the CPU useage makes it hard to resist to use on every track
i feel the same way!
19:26 thats amazing
Fantastic demo - when you started playing are friends electric you got me then kraftwerkian style and mike oldfield you got me even more, love the sounds of this synth (and zebra) I have the older version of zebra which I love but you have helped me see that U-he know what they are doing with they're synths and having you play them helps even more with that thought. thank you.
yes, they really do make a great synth, thanks for the comment!
u-He VST's are 50% OFF from the Native Instruments website if you're thinking of getting them, 2 more days left. I got Diva, Hive 2 and Zebra Legacy.
great pickups, yeah the price was right over on NI.
17:55 very impressive
Brilliant demo, thanks Woody! ❤
22:13 I think you could make a 12 minute ambient track playing that patch. An incredible display of amazing sounds. I have no idea how they would fit into any music I try to make but I love hearing Woody play them.
thank you doug, yeah some of these are truly instant one-patch-tracks :D
You should checkout the 2 soundbanks (AERA and ISLA) by Jan Morgenstern of Treeswift for Zebra. They are fantastic! And his explanations about the Sound Design of the Sounds in ‘Jan’s patchwork Corner’ are invaluable in understanding how such top-notch sounds are created.
thanks for the recommendations, i'll keep that in mind, thanks for sharing.
Great demo with super vibes 👍✨❤️✨
This is my favourite synth! The possibilities are endless.
Edit Zebra 2 is definitely worth the trouble of getting to know it! It's a modular design and has some great features. Hive 2 is more versatile though and can sound nasty or ethereal. Zebra is more subtle.
Chords in the beginning scream Jan Hammer's Miami Vice :)
I enjoyed the silence. :)
Awesome video Woody!
Great display of those patches.
Anyone get instant STAR TREK NG beam up vibes and tractor beams at 19:25 onwards in those reverb tails?
omg yes, exactly that, i love it
Loved this episode Woody, actually I was thinking maybe you could do a very basic beginners tutorial on how to play some of the 80s tunes like the ones in this? I've got the Forever Young one down well enough to have fun with it but I'd love to be able to play some of the Depeche Mode and Gary Numan stuff and any others.
Just like 3 note chords type of level?
I mean I know I could probably figure it out eventually but I usually end up getting side tracked when I've tried in the past!
that's a splendid suggestion, thank you! i tried to do this a number of times, but these lesson style videos never get many views or engagement, but I will keep experimenting in case I can find a format that works.
The pads from this synth are 🤯. And probably the main reason why I got it. is it me or this is like the best of Serum and Diva in one synth?
yeah could well be, or perhaps zebra is even more so...
@@WoodyPianoShack I really wanted to like Zebra and even though it has some great sounds and versatility it didn't make me fall in love like Hive did. Hive is capable of very rich a warm sound while keeping that "in your face" character of more modern synths. It feels much more sonically powerful so to speak (I know this might be subjective). After I heard Hive I wanted to get rid of Serum because it sounds soooo thin compared to Hive. Also being able to choose between the 3 engine modes (clean, normal, dirty) is almost like having 3 synths. And I could go on... haha, cheers man!
@19:09 Space Lab vibes 😍😍(Kraftwerk )
Love it. Wish there was more skins
Zebra 2 is definitely a bit complicated, I rarely reach for it because I’ve found that unless I keep using it frequently I forget how to. That’s why I love Hive 2.
I use zebra a lot but Hive 2 sounds great 'out of the box'
H2 seems to deliver the same kind of sounds as zebra but with a simpler architecture and ui, so great choice.
Peter Gordeno, Depeche Mode until 2023. From now it's Woody who should handle the keys! 👍
still waiting for the call... :D
I believe I missed the hive 2 sale you hAVe spoken of. Can you recommend a website or 2 I can look out for another sale? Are there 3rd party ones inn case u-he does not have a sale? Thank you.
Have you tried cherry audios GX-80 you can get some awesome sounds out if it too
hi shane, i have not yet.
The software is amazing but you're still the driver x.
I love my Hive
It has a shitload of presets! :O It took me many hours to go through them all. :D Lots of junk as well (the hardstyle EDM people would disagree, lol), but luckily there are several great patches to use or dev sounds from.
15:22 I Can't Wait - Nu Shooz
Top
Merci ;)
Hi Woody thanks for another interesting and informative video. I've been getting to know Hive 2 and your overview really helps. Are you aware of the new Zebra Legacy deal from U-he? It's Zebra 2 plus all the preset banks and even the HS version at a very reasonable price until Zebra 3 is released.
yeah, been keeping an eye on that, would love to try it at least :) thanks.
Hi, you tried the Vital VST, if your into sound design.....as alot of preset as well. Helm, but i think that more like a MiniMoog.
i have not got my hands on vital yet, thanks for the suggest
Fix it please U-he..Roland aira also had those issues before now it is sorted perfectly
what pc have you got for running these vsti a intel i9 ?
LIke right from the start with Enjoy the Silence :)
Are the extra soundsets a must? The price spikes to 600+ with all the extras.
i've been pondering the same thing, but with 1000s included in standard version, and you can create your own...
Shame this won’t work for me on M1 Mac. There still seems to be a compatibility issue.
It has been updated to native M1. Works fine on mine.
yeah, shouldn't be any issues there. contact their support or forums.
is this comparable to Serum?
What do you think of the wavetables by Plugmon?
hi jack, no idea what that is... :)
@@WoodyPianoShack They're scripted wavetables for Hive 2
I just need an honest answer anybody can answer it what you considered this VST better than omnisphere🤔
well it has been on sale for $75 compared to omni at $500, so hard to compare. omni is more of a rompler using samples, whereas hive is a pure synth, so hard to compare them both, i would say they both sound equally good from what i've heard.
@@WoodyPianoShack $75 😳 for that price it's worth checking😎 out I always wanted omnisphere I brought Spectrum sounds before but I have to go with priority my check out this VST
And you are appreciated thank you for answering my question awesome😎
My Coal field 😂.
How cpu intense is it? How come no one ever does some real cpu stress tests to demonstrate how efficient these are resources?
you are in luck, i have an entire video measuring cpu usage for various plugins
*ухи*
Favorites are super useless, I just keep a backup of my original preset directories, and then make my own preset directories so I can categorise things.
what is the tune you playing at ua-cam.com/video/Ln6r84JzBwA/v-deo.html ... thanks for this awesome introduction ..
Enjoy the silence from Depeche Mode
appreciate the help denis
Are Friends Electric?
there's lots of hidden gems in my demos :)
2:09 Duel by Propaganda. ❤
Zebra diva hive and dune. That's it. Sample based monstrosities are a thing of the past and just hog your drive space
2:25 sounds like jewel by propaganda
duel :D most of these demos are loosely based on some retro hit!
Вот это мощь!!! Я его уже хочу! Автору👍
Is the 1st track an orchestral version of Enjoy the Silence by Depeche?
yes, it was quite obvious i think?