Zeta 2 Clipping

And between that and the authorization issues w/ Zeta, this makes it impossible for me to recommend your products to my peers. Like the legendary out of tune samples in Dimension, it makes the product look amateur and unfinished. - Of course the user can turn down the fader on the instrument - but what does it tell me about Cakewalk that they will release out-of-tune instruments and clipping synths? If they can overlook such obvious things...

Personally have just started to use Dim Pro and Z3TA 2. Not having any sound issues that you are. I've actually been very surprised and pleased at the software. Much more than I expected.  I also use the Garritan World Library which uses microtuned samples and some instruments can contrast the DimP in that way. But like I said, I really have just started using it (just over a month or so). What do you think causes it? By chance, would these new sounds be the Free Mutant Pack? Brcause I am having problems with Z3TA bring those up at all so far. 
I do also have issues daily with this forum and often get "Cakewalk.com is not responding" messages though.

Factory content is what I've been mostly playing with. I will definitely look closer for this and especially at the BC patches.

BTW, using Firefox and it seems to work better so far. I have noticed several of the sites I go to have problems since I 'upgraded to IE9' on this computer.

And, FWIW, I love loud aggressive music and I don't mean to put the genre down as a whole. But aliasing, clipping and other artifacts don't always work for me, and I don't believe that louder is better.

rapture does this on several patches as well - even with the limiter on.  nearest i can figure is that the delays in the patches are processed after the limiter, and they build up in the track and cause clipping.  kinda weird. 

Hi Rain I can understand where you are coming from. Many VST's have varying output levels and the range can be quite striking. The same can be said for hardware synths too and even between presets there can be serious volume level changes.

I was playing with the original Z3ta+ today and noticed that some presets were clipping the meter on the front of the Z3ta+ itself. But a simple volume level down shift put it back to right. On Zebralette for example the opposite sometimes happens when a preset is very quiet and I have to add 7 or 8 dB to the output level to get back to speed.

I am using a VU meter as my incoming ref level setting device and I have chosen a K system level of -14 to work at for a lot of things. Placing a VU straight after the synth will tell you exactly how loud the signal is leaving the VST. If a preset is too loud the VU will show it and a simple lowering of the output level on the instrument so the VU reads nicely up to 0dB VU with normal playing does the trick. 

It is the nature of the beast to a certain extent output levels varying as much as they do with synthesisers. But it is good to catch this problem early and make sure any levels leaving an instrument are right at the source. You need to level set for every preset before you play or record it. (using the synth output volume control) Then you won't have any issues with them later on in your signal chain.

Even when I have got all my hardware synths nicely setup level wise I still sometimes come across a patch that is very loud and overloading everything and it can happen from any instrument. I find the best control to grab is the volume level on the synth itself. Because even some slight distortion can actually occur within the synth and that distortion leaves the synth that way. No amount of gain reduction later will fix it. But turning down the volume level on the instrument always fixes it. I think you have to keep an eye on VST's the same way.

That is a good point and it brings us into preset programming and the quality of that. Levelling out presets is something synth programmers can do. But only up to a certain point.

There is another aspect to it and that is the volume envelope of a sound can have great effect on overall level. If a sound is short and sharp it may never have time to develop much signal level and those patches can tend to be quiet. On the other hand a big fat pad that reaches full volume levels can produce signal levels that are way higher. 

You can do a certain amount such as push levels of the quieter sounds up using what DSP you have available and pull some of the louder sounds down to bring them more in line. I am talking within the synth here but of course once a sound leaves the synth there is a lot we can do in our DAW's too. 

Some VST's that feature limiters don't always do a great job of the limiting and it is better often to switch them off and control the level of the sound in other ways.

There are about 2000 patches in Z3TA+2.  While the clipping is a problem, it takes about 2 seconds to turn it down.  Certainly sloppy, but not a deal breaker.  And I've found plenty of useful patches and starting points - if you ain't looking for acoustics instruments.  My biggest problem w/ the library is the sameness.  Lots of basses that aren't all that different, at least for me.  But still, for $99 (or free), it is a useful synth. 

And there are some free sounds out there (tho $5 is hardly expensive).

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