U-he has today released Apple Silicon version of its plugins and included two nice updates for Triple Cheese and ZebraCM, two popular free Synthesizer plugins for macOS & PC.
All features stay with the old but they added new modern GUIs including revised preset browsers with which the plugins become more intuitive and more beautiful to look at. These free updates give us an opportunity to take a quick second look at these synthesizers
U-he Triple Cheese
Triple Cheese was the winner of the 2006 Developer Challenge and is a very unique freeware Synthesizer. Even more so with the new GUI. Instead of classic oscillators (wavetable, VA…), it features three comb filters for sound generation where you have up to 11 filter modes. It’s a 16-voice polyphonic synth that also offers duophonic, monophonic, and legato play modes.
Then, you have two ADSF/RR envelopes with velocity and a multi-wave LFO with polarity and phase settings. Additionally, it has a fully customizable vibrato effect and a VCA with amplitude modulation plus a pan option. Further, to round of the sounds, you have an effect processor with different effects. 254 factory presets give you a nice look at the sound capabilities of the synth. And with the latest update, it also supports Oddsound MTS-ESP.
The sound quality is extremely good. Yes, it’s a free plugin. Above all, the unique feature set makes the synth a must-have for every music producer with a DAW.
U-he ZebraCM
ZebraCM is a stripped-down version of U-he’s flagship modular synth Zebra 2 with a selection of modules organized in a more traditional layout. The developers have taken away the modularity that makes Zebra 2 so easy and turned it into a classic synth. It’s Zebra 2 Lite but packed with features making it a very solid free synth with up to 16 voices. And with the new GUI normals more interesting
On the sound generation side, it features two wavetable oscillators with integrated sync & spectral as well as a noise generator with four flavours. Next, there is a filter module with twenty different modes including lowpass, bandpass, notch, shelf… Three effects (chorus, delay, reverb) let you refine the sounds. For modulation, you have three customizable multi-wave LFOs, 2 ADSR envelopes with fall/rise sustain, and more. Like Triple Cheese, the plugin has received support for Oddsound MTS-ESP in the latest version.
ZebraCM also remains a nice, free “magware” Synthesizer, with the new GUI it is even more fun.
U-he Triple Cheese is available for free from the U-he website. ZebraCM can be download from Computer Music.
More information here: U-he