u-he to release Hans Zimmer Dark Knight version of Zebra synth

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ZebraHZ

UPDATE: u-he has now released a couple of ZebraHZ screenshots - check them out in the gallery to the right.

The Dark Knight Rises looks like being one of the films of 2012, and it transpires that VST synth fans will be able to celebrate the completion of Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy with the launch of a special version of its Zebra synth.

It turns out that soundtrack guru Hans Zimmer used a custom-built version of Zebra - one with Diva filters and some prototype features planned for Zebra 3 - when he was scoring The Dark Knight movies. This is now set to be made available to existing Zebra users, as are the presets that were used in the films' soundtracks

u-he's Urs Heckman confirmed the upcoming launch of ZebraHZ on the KVR forum. He admits it's not perfect - the 'Diva' filters are mono, there's no multicore support and you can expect significant CPU drain if the 'extras' are used - but it sounds like an interesting concept.

More details soon. For now, we know that ZebraHZ will cost $99. Although it runs as a separate plug-in, it requires an existing Zebra license to run.

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.