I seen Cakewalk is offering Z3TA + 2. 1000 new sounds are mentioned. Is this still the same soundbanks as the one I have or have they updated the soundbanks?

Z3ta+ 2 is a newish version of the original Z3ta+

I say newish, it's been out for a while now. Check your version number.

The current version is 2.1. I would expect the marketing copy refers to the 1028 Z3TA+2 Factory Content presets which have been bundled with the synth from day one.

The content for 2.1 is different to the 1.0 content due to the upgrading of Z3ta+ if that's what you meant.

I understood the original post as a question about Z3TA+2. Not a comparison of Z3TA+ and Z3TA+2.

Maybe what Starise is asking is if any of the new factory presets are usable for anything other than EDM.
 
The old preset collection was pretty dreadful and did not show the synth in its best light.

Z3TA+2 has been out for a couple of years now. It's an awesome synth but yes, the presets aren't it's strongest feature. You'll find that most of them are geared toward the big room EDM crowd (ie strictly for the 20-somethings) and most of the rest seem stuck in some cheesy 90's rave timewarp. However there are some excellent sound packs available for it - I got the Xenos Soundworks Vintage 70's and 80's one and it's excellent.

But then again, given that it's such a well designed synth, you may well feel inclined to make your own.

 
Thanks Karyn,scook, bit and sharke.
 
I'll need to check my version number to see if there have been major updates recently to the sound bank. I wasn't sure if the sales info was something new for me or new for a new user :)
 
I had the older Z3TA and then had bought the newer Z3TA+2 later on...so they appear to be two distinct synths. My installer never erased or updated the old one so this is an assumption on my part. Cakewalk doesn't have a desktop management system with automatic but as Karyn says simply checking my version number should tell me something.
 
Even with owning Komplete now I still come back to Z3TA+2 for a lot of what I do. Even Rapture and Dimension still see a lot of use.I have my best luck with Z3TA+2 when I go into the arpeggiator and play around with it synced to my project on a sound I like. It seems to have a quality that isn't duplicated elsewhere and it sits above a lot of the others in that it seems to cut where you need to cut and bite where you want to bite :) I would say its personality is type A...likes to be out front.EDM yeah I agree it's an EDM users dream...but I also like taking elements from it into other things. It doesn't always fit though, seems to depend.
 
I almost never go back to the older Z3TA since I bought the newer version. But that's also a great synth.
 
I'll look into those additional paks Sharke...thanks.
 
 

Vintage ones are actually quite good. Even I bought them and I'm not a huge synth guy.

Tim, if you like arp patterns, check out the Alesion Arp Presets. It's a bit dated, but there's some very musical/useful patterns which can be pulled up from X3's midi track (load presets). IMO, it's better than the standard presets that come in Cake.
It's been a while since I installed them, but IIRC they go inside somewhere here C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR X3 Producer\Arpeggiator
 
I got the Alesion Presets at least 3+ years ago and not sure if this link is still working, but you can alway PM if you'd like the file.
http://project5.technetos.com/technique/alesion-arp.shtml