Zen has a range of high-quality instruments and effects. Full documentation for instruments and effects can be found in the docs.
Most instruments share a common set of parameters. Envelope parameters are a (attack), d (decay), s (sustain), r (release). The dur parameter controls the duration of the note, the amp parameter controls the amplitude of the note, and the vol parameter controls the overall volume of the instrument. lag determines the time in ms it takes for a stream to mutate (see mutations), whilst nudge allows you to delay a stream's events by a given amount of time (in ms).
An all purpose synth with filters and FM:
s0.set({inst:'synth',cut:0,re:0.25,rdecay:0.75,de:0.25,lag:ms(2),locut:0.3})
s0.x.saw()
s0.y.noise()
s0.n.set('Dpro%16..?*16|*4').sub(12)
s0.mods.random(0.1,1,0.5)
s0.dur.noise(1,0.1,2).btms()
s0._modi.set(s0.x).saw(0.25,0.5)
s0._harm.set(s0.y).saw(0.5,3,0.25)
s0.e.every('1?2*16')
s0.m.not(s0.e)
The sampler takes the name of a sample bank and the index of a file within that directory. To print a list of available sample banks, type samples() into the editor. See the chapter on Custom Samples to load your own.
z.bpm.set(160)
s0.set({inst:1,bank:'breaks',snap:16,dur:ms(1),cut:[0,1,2],e:'1'})
s1.set({inst:1,bank:'sd808',cut:2,s:.1,e:'0 1'})
s2.set({inst:1,ba:'breaks',snap:16,cut:[0,1],dur:ms(8),loop:1,cutr:ms(0.5),re:0.125,rs:0.1})
s2.x.random(0,1,1/4)
s2.begin.set(s2.x).step(1/32)
s2.i.set('0|*3 1')
s2.e.not(s0.e)
.xor(rarely())
Similar to the sampler, the granular synth expects a sample bank and index. Granular synthesis allows you to treat pitch n and playback speed rate separately.
z.bpm.set(160)
s0.set({inst:'granular',bank:'cpu2',i:2,snap:q(),dur:ms(8),cut:[0,1,2],rate:0.5,lag:ms(1/4),vol:0.5,reverb:1,locut:0.25})
s0._n.sine(.25,60,72)
s0._i.random(0,16,1)
s0.e.set('1|0')
s0.m.not(s0.e)