“90% of what I do is done on one software synth”: Why Hans Zimmer is “not a big analogue versus digital guy”Despite having access to some of the world’s finest hardware synths, Hans Zimmer says that the vast majority of his work is created using just one software synthesizer.
The 67-year-old composer, known for crafting some of the most iconic film scores in cinematic history, isn’t one to get caught up in the analogue versus digital debate. Speaking to Rick Beato, Zimmer explains why the U-He Zebra, specifically the Dark Zebra HZ, remains his favourite virtual instrument to date.

READ MORE: Hans Zimmer says his Rain Man score was the “beginning of orchestras having to adapt” to synth-written movie scores

“I was one of the first people to really get into computers and music and there came a point where there’s a new operating system every few months,” Zimmer recounts. “I just gave up and I just went ‘I need to concentrate on my music.’”
He continues, “So I started to subtract things out of my life and I started getting very good at the things that I kept. For instance software synthesizers, 90 percent of what I do is done on one software synth.”
That synth is the Dark Zebra HZ, which Zimmer has worked with for much of his career: “I’ve been working with that thing for so many years now and I still haven’t run out of ideas.”
Zimmer also shares his fondness for Synapse Audio’s The Legend HZ synth, describing it as “a miniMoog with one important improvement”.
“You don’t have to do that switch for the decay,” he says. “For the release you actually have a proper release. But it sounds as good as the real thing.”
As someone who actually owns “a few of the real things around”, Zimmer explains, “I’m not a big analogue versus digital guy. I’m just going, ‘if it sounds good it sounds good.’ I don’t care how it’s made.”
“I love the way things are progressing,” he adds, noting the way “there have always been people who write beautiful software or who make beautiful hardware.”
The interview also sees Zimmer making the surprising claim that his music is “not original”, saying: “My music is a subtotal of everything I’ve heard all my life.”

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