We love Synthesizers in hardware as well as software. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. How much do we remember the glory days of the hardware Synthesizers (Yamaha CS-80, Jupiter 8, PPG Wave 2.3 or very modern synths like the Nord Modular, Roland V-Synth to name just a few) It is very disappointing to see that such classics have not made it to this day.
Many will not believe, but many musicians are also mourning for certain Synthesizer plugins that no longer exist today. Again, there were “virtual” instruments stuck in the heads of the musicians because of their sound or abilities.
In the “Almost forgotten Synthesizer Plugins” article series, I would like to remind you of the many exciting Synthesizer plugins that we miss today. And yes, maybe a company dares to bring back one of their vintage plugins.
Cakewalk Z3TA+2 Synthesizer – A Specialist In Waveshaping
The first plugin I want to highlight in this series is the Cakewalk Z3TA+2 Synthesizer. “A simple waveform is the beginning”, according to this motto worked the Cakewalk Z3TA+2. It was powered by a deep but easy-to-use waveshaper synth engine with 16 different waveform modifiers. Further, it offered 14 continuously variable dual-stage filter types, 6 advanced LFO’s, envelopes, arpeggiator, and more. The results obtained from the Z3TA+2 were very complex and had a very unique digital character.
I especially liked the synth because it did not have a classic analog inspired sound and it was very easy to use. With the changing of the waveforms, you could spend hours.
Through the bankruptcy of Gibson, the last owner of Cakewalk, the brand and the Synthesizer disappeared from the screen. In the meantime BandLab ist the new owner of Cakewalk including the DAW Sonar, Z3TA+2, Rapture Pro and so on.
Whether Z3TA+2 will ever come back on the market is not known. Also, there was an iOS version that disappeared also from the store.
I hope the Z3TA+2 returns one day to the market of Synthesizer plugins and iOS apps. Maybe as a third version with new features, let see.
The Cakewalk Z3TA + 2 website is still available but you will be directed to Bandlab immediately. A purchase is unfortunately not possible.
More information here: Cakewalk
one of the biggest problems cakewalk sonar had was that they didn’t support the plugins they made/brought in. so there was pentagon and the project5 fiasco and all the way back to vsampler and aas something or other. i used it since cakewalk professional days, but sheesh it hurt to upgrade because you never knew what was no longer going to be actively supported or not.
It would definitely be a good idea to bring back Z3TA (maybe with a version 3 update) to Cakewalk by Bandlab, because, it’s sorely missing some factory content. That said, as has been said, they shouldn’t make the mistake to not continue supporting the synth though. It always had some long standing bugs, and, that’s surely not at the will of the developers.
Did anybody even listen to the sounds this thing put out?
Imo the Z3TA+2 was a poor effort by most measures. Both the filters & osc’s sounded from hideous to mediocre at best, to put it mildly.
All of this while eating SEVERAL TIMES the cpu cycles on similar patches compared to stuff like zebra, serum or vital. Some things are best left forgotten.