It's a matter of priorities.

If you want sounds that will stand out in the mix, z3ta all the way. For the classic, progressive/melodic sound that I happen to love, z3ta seems to do the trick. z3ta is a lead-making powerhouse, be it supersaw or something else. In any event, I love z3ta because it happens to make a great number of sounds that I'm looking for. With the right EQing, it seems to do some deep, trancy basses, too.

I complained about Albino 2 in a thread a month or so ago, but I've recently reinstalled it and gotten back into it. What I've learned is that Albino is very good at smooth sounds. Smooth, fluid basses and pads seem to be what it excels at. z3ta really stands out, and if you want something a bit more ambient, it would probably be easier to make in Albino. Some on this forum have compared Albino to a Virus, if you're familiar with hardware.

In terms of difficulty, they're about even. If you're familiar with synthesis in general, neither should be all too hard to use with enough fooling around. There are a wide variety of presets for both, as well, which you can tweak to your pleasure.

I suppose that this thread is a potential flame war, because production always comes down to preference (like what sequencer to use, what monitor to use, what hardware to buy, or software v. hardware.) Really it is just what you're trying to do. Download the demos for both and see which fit your style/sound.

___________________

One always has to remember these days where the garbage pail is, because it's so easy to make sounds, and to put sounds together into something that appears to be music, but it's just as hard as it always was to make good music.
- Robert Moog

Last edited by armanivespucci on Nov-16-2005 at 01:34

I hate flame wars, if anyone is going to express they're opinion they should back it up with facts in the same post

thanks for the insight

___________________
"Logic .. a stark contrast to the real world"

OMGZZ!! put out ze flames!! Shit

Personally I prefer z3ta over albino. It just sticks out in the mix more than albino. If your after a synth that can do strong leads too, I would say z3ta. Pads and smooth sounds though... yes albino does do them well.

They are both pretty similar though in terms of features and modularity. One thing I have found though is that z3ta is a huge cpu hog. Not a problem if your in the practice of rendering to audio or freezing tracks, but something to keep in mind nonetheless.

Why dont you dowload the demos and try them for yourself?

___________________

I'd be happy to try them both when i get home, I'm at work right now...

___________________
"Logic .. a stark contrast to the real world"

Hey. Seriously... Who cares what you use people :P. The moto you should be following is not 'well this one stands out better in a mix than this other one' or 'this one is easier than this other one'. Rather, it should be 'well this sounds kinda like crap... but lets see what I can do with it.' The end result is always what matters and not what you start with. Its all about how you filter, distort and mangle the output of a synth, in how well it stands out in a mix, how smooth it is, how sweet it is, how fat it is. Theres 5 different ways I can think of making a sound fatter than the original sound off the top of my head and I'm sure there are plenty more. Suprisingly to some, most of those ways arent found on most of the synths out there and so you turn to 3rd party/after effects stuff. The road does not end at the output of the synth, the road ends when you stop building it .

Cheers,
Zac

___________________
DarkSword - Turn On
DarkSword - Hell Bound
DarkSword - Fresh
DarkSword - Styled
DarkSword - Shadowed Sun
DarkSword - Turning Forward
DarkSword - ALLFRUIT
Pacific Mint vs DarkSword - Climax Zone 2005
SoundClick Page

---FL Studio 9 User---

dark you should write some tutorials

Sure, why not . What would you like the tutorials to cover?

___________________
DarkSword - Turn On
DarkSword - Hell Bound
DarkSword - Fresh
DarkSword - Styled
DarkSword - Shadowed Sun
DarkSword - Turning Forward
DarkSword - ALLFRUIT
Pacific Mint vs DarkSword - Climax Zone 2005
SoundClick Page

---FL Studio 9 User---

^ How to make some nice leads and bass with Wasp and 3xOsc

This is just a personal choice, but I'd go with Z3 over Albino. The only advantage I've seen with Albino over Z3 is its less of a CPU hog as certain patches can really tax your CPU in Z3. The variety and range of sounds are far more diverse IMO using Z3. Also I find that the sound quality of Albino is a bit thin and not as rich as Z3. Good luck with your choice. All of the tracks in my sig use Z3 at some point.

___________________

-Facebook- -SoundCloud-

'Cakewalk' z3ta+? What the hell is that? z3ta+ is made by rgc-audio. Cakewalk is the name of a really old sequencer.

z3ta+ is ten times more versatile than Albino; it's wavetable-based, it has FM/PM/PWM modes, twice as many waves and LFOs, and kick-ass built-in effects. It's also a huge CPU hog if you start trying to do anything complicated.

I don't think it's fair to even compare those two. z3ta+ is a heavyweight synth and Albino is a lightweight or maybe a middleweight. That doesn't make either one better, they're just optimized for completely different things. z3ta+ is really more comparable to V-Station whereas Albino is in a similar category to the Pro-53.

___________________
My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here

Zeta rocks, it uses cpu, but you can still use effectivly 3-4 instances of it if you have a decent computer