Loving and cherishing my z3ta+2 as it was my ticket into this forum!

Fleer
Loving and cherishing my z3ta+2 as it was my ticket into this forum!

Yup!  And I think the important distinction to be made in assessing the quality or usefulness of any synth is to separate the factory presets (the chrome) from the synth architecture (the engine under the hood).
 
Do I think Cakewalk could have provided better presets in many cases? Absolutely!
 
But I would pay money to see anybody get into a cage match debate about Rapture sound design with Mr. Craig Anderton, LOL!!!

Fleer
Loving and cherishing my z3ta+2 as it was my ticket into this forum!

Z3ta for Mac was probably the single best news for me in the years following my migration to that platform. I can't even count the number of songs I've written using Z3ta and/or Dimension and Rapture.
 
As far as 3rd party synths are concerned these are my go to.
 
FWIW - I'm a guitar player, so I do rely on presets heavily, especially when working with formidable beasts such as Z3ta. Most of them I do tweak (first and foremost because a lot of them have a tendency to clip) and they're drenched in reverb and occupy way too much space in the stereo field. But once you keep that in mind, you're okay.

Cheers, Rain. A bit of a preset man myself. I did get all four Mutant banks to play with.

Z3ta sat on my hard drive for ages, unused. I'd thumbed through all the presets and found very little there that would be of use to me. Wrote it off as an EDM lo-fi whoosh-maker.
 
That was a mistake. The folks who created the factory presets had simply made assumptions about who their target user was (it wasn't me!) and tailored the examples appropriately. That's unfortunate, because it's a capable synth and relatively easy to program.
 
Whether you are a preset-puncher, a roll yer own type, or somewhere in between, presets are important. They are a showcase for what a synth is capable of. I wonder how many other good synths I've skipped because they had weak presets.
 

Do you plan to create your own sounds, or surf presets all day? <rhetorical question>
 
I was doing great, until the deals on AIR, SynthMaster, and SONiVOX came along ...
 
Out of 10,000 new patches (PRESETS), I think I may have found 9,000 that I like!

 
Like I was saying ...

No way I'm ever going near Omnisphere!!!   I have all the synths I'll ever need. 
 
Except for Zebra ... and ...

Fleer
Don't do this here, guys. KVR or Gearslutz are better places for such banter.
On topic, those Klanghelm freebies are mighty fine indeed.

Nope. My point was the bundled effects in Sonar are superior to the bundled synths.  Most of them are lame. 2 are not. I think z3ta only comes in Platinum. 

abacab
No way I'm ever going near Omnisphere!!!   I have all the synths I'll ever need. 
 
Except for Zebra ... and ...

That creates regret for buying other synths that will no longer be used.  Fortunately it is never discounted.

bitflipper
Z3ta sat on my hard drive for ages, unused. I'd thumbed through all the presets and found very little there that would be of use to me. Wrote it off as an EDM lo-fi whoosh-maker.
 
That was a mistake. The folks who created the factory presets had simply made assumptions about who their target user was (it wasn't me!) and tailored the examples appropriately. That's unfortunate, because it's a capable synth and relatively easy to program.
 
Whether you are a preset-puncher, a roll yer own type, or somewhere in between, presets are important. They are a showcase for what a synth is capable of. I wonder how many other good synths I've skipped because they had weak presets.
 

I hear ya!  You might want to check out these tracks that were made only with z3ta+ sounds, and entered in KVR OSC 31 (One Synth Challenge).  Some amazing stuff
 
https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-31-z3ta
 

• Submissions must be announced in the submissions forum thread with a link to the song's soundcloud, and include a brief report how it was made:
  The DAW/host, all FX used, and how many instances of the synth and FX was used.
  
  
• Effects rules:
  • Most Native DAW effects may be used (see below for what NOT to use)
    • The effects must be easily available freeware 3rd party effects. This does not include plug-in betas, demos, magware or freeware that has expired, unless a special exception is made that month.
  • ANY Built-in effects native to the plug-in itself may be used. (So built in chorus / distortion / etc is allowed)
• The following DAW effects are NOT allowed:
  • Any type of modulation effect (e.g. chorus, phaser, flanger, rotary etc.). (Please note that effects like reverb or delays that perform modulation to achieve their sound are ALLOWED, but the modulation usage must be minimal.)
  • Effects that pitch the sound (e.g. pitched / granular delays, tapestops etc.)
  • Any effect that transforms the sound to make them unrecognizable as being from the synth.

• No use of samples, sample libraries or live sounds (like voice, guitar etc allowed). However, for convenience or CPU saving,
  synth bouncing are allowed but only where the EXACT same result could have been achieved using
  the original synth. This means that for example pitching and reversing is not allowed. Sampling for example
  a bass drum in order to get a consistent sound is not allowed either. Samplers used must be host samplers or freeware and easily available.

• More Clarification: Audio must not be touched at all once it leaves the DAW (aka after bouncing a track or a stem). For example: One cannot master the audio in another software or service. Also, If you need more performance / CPU a workaround is to freeze all the tracks.

• Commercial synth patches/soundbanks are not permitted