u-he Zebralette 3 Is Officially Out: The Free Software Synth Gets a Major Update
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u-he has officially released Zebralette 3! After what felt like an eternity of beta testing, the latest version of the free software synth is now out in the wild, setting the stage for Zebra 3.
All about Zebralette 3
Zebralette 3 Is Officially Released
u-he had first previewed Zebralette 3 almost two years ago at NAMM 2024 (see below).
As the little sibling of Zebra, Zebralette contains just one of Zebra’s incredibly powerful oscillators. But that doesn’t mean that doesn’t offer extensive sound shaping options: with features like wavetable and additive rendering and precise waveform editing, the single spectral oscillator is so versatile that it’s basically a complete synth in and of itself. Two oscillator FX blocks with filter, formant, phase distortion, and spectral decay offer even more sound design possibilities.
The second important building block of the popular freeware synth is the equally powerful multi-stage envelope generator, which lets you draw animated and dynamic modulation curves. Two versatile LFOs and a standard ADSR envelope serve as additional modulation sources. There’s also an advanced modulation matrix with freely assignable routing. Global delay and reverb effects are the icing on the cake.
Zebralette 3 is without a doubt the most highly anticipated free software synth of the year – and it’s finally officially out! A great way to pass the time until Zebra 3 comes out, which is now in public beta.
The software synth runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux in VST3, AU, AAX, and CLAP formats.
Zebralette 3: New Release Candidate
[08 December 2025] u-he has published a new release candidate of Zebralette 3, possibly one of the most eagerly awaited free software synths. If all goes well, Zebralette 3 will be officially released very soon. But you can already try it today!
u-he had first unveiled Zebralette 3 almost two years ago at NAMM 2024 (see below). The free software synth, which also serves as a testing ground for the upcoming Zebra 3, has since been making the rounds in the beta community. Now, u-he has published a new release candidate, stating that they “aim to officially release the little horse into the wild next week”.
Along with improved CPU performance (which several users have confirmed in the forum), the latest version offers several new features and refinements, including updates to the modulation and automation sources and targets. Two new user-definable modulation sources for MIDI control have been added, for a total of four. Moreover, u-he says that the S&H trigger system has been improved and that an OSC FX bypass button has been added, along with many other improvements and fixes.
The new release candidate (RC 20354) is now available for download here.
And if you’ve been waiting for Zebra 3, you’ll be delighted to hear that Zebralette’s big brother also seems to be nearing completion. As u-he puts it, it “might then also leave the u-he stables for the very first time”. Fantastic news!
License Cards: New Licensing System
On another note, u-he has announced that they plan to introduce a new licensing system called ‘license cards’, which will replace the old username and serial number system. In the future, all u-he licenses will be held on a single license card image file, which u-he says will simplify the registration process. Zebra 3 will be the first commercial release to use the new system, although you can already test it with Zebralette if you’re eligible for a free Zebra 3 update.
u-he Zebralette 3.0 RC 20354 is now available for download via the developer’s forum.
u-he software is also available at Thomann*.
More Information
Zebralette 3: Public Beta
[17 February 2024] From now on you can download the announced public beta of Zebralette 3 and test it extensively via the u-he kvr forum post (see here). You can also download user guides and get further information about the new release. If you find any problems and bugs, you should also describe them below the blog post. Sounds great!
u-he Zebralette 3 Sneak Preview
[17 January 2024] u-he is offering a sneak preview of the upcoming Zebralette 3 software synth at NAMM 2024.
Like the predecessor, Zebralette 3 is an offspring of the more powerful Zebra, so this means that there will eventually also be a Zebra 3. The purpose of Zebralette is to showcase the capabilities of Zebra’s oscillators and MSEG (multi-stage envelope generator).
The free software synth offers one Zebra oscillator and one MSEG, as well as a bunch of modulators and effects from u-he’s bag of tricks. That doesn’t sound like much, but as the oscillator is so powerful, it’s a pretty versatile synth in and of itself. Over the course of ten years, u-he has worked to expand the sonic possibilities even further and improve the consistency between the visual editors.
According to u-he, Zebralette 3 is almost ready to go into public beta testing – possibly even within the next couple of weeks. The developer had hoped to have the beta version ready for NAMM, but there are still a few bugs that need ironing out. As soon as that’s taken care of, you’ll be able to download Zebralette 3 and check out the new version of this popular freeware synth.
So what about Zebra 3? While u-he hasn’t set a release date yet, the progress that they made on Zebralette means that they’re already pretty far along. They’ve also made a lot of progress on Zebra components that aren’t part of Zebralette. We’ll keep you posted!
More Information about u-he Zebralette 3
Public beta testing should begin any time now. The new version of the software synth will still be available for free.
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