Fabfilter Twin 3 --Released Feb. 7th

[sQeetz]

.... fixed FX routing, ...

I believe all FX like reverb, delay, chorus... are just built in to showcase the presets. If you like them, use them. If you don't disable them and use your own. Then you can reroute them any way you like.
Twin 2 didn't even have any FX besides its elaborate delay, which is awesome and is still there.

[edit]exceptions are those megalo-hyper-synths like phase plant and the like.. I guess you're supposed to do ALL sound design in-the-box with those. Don't like/use them at all

[Teksonik]

Here's my in depth review of Twin 3 having been a long time Twin 2 owner:
Meh....

Well you certainly are efficient with words Tek I happen to love it myself but can see that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

The issue for me is that it's 2023 not 2013 and since I have a folder full of much more capable and better sounding synths, Twin 3 is just not relevant. It's not a bad synth at all just nothing that impresses or excites me in this day and age. But then I haven't used Twin 2 in a very long time for the same reason, it simply can't compete with the other synths in my arsenal. To me Twin 3 is a minor update on Twin 2 not an upgrade and quite frankly a disappointment, in my opinion of course.

.... fixed FX routing, ...

I believe all FX like reverb, delay, chorus... are just built in to showcase the presets. If you like them, use them. If you don't disable them and use your own. Then you can reroute them any way you like.

Well there's one way to turn a design flaw into a feature.

All they would have had to do is allow each FX slot to load whatever FX unit the user wanted which would allow for totally flexible routing. There's already a drop down arrow they could have used. Odd that this simple addition wasn't mentioned or considered.

It's like FabFilter focused too much on a futuristic GUI and forgot to attach it to a modern synth.

[fisherKing]

it's funny about synths, and what we like, and use. i have pigments4, like playing with it, but rarely fit it into an actual project. twin 3 (so far) seems better for that purpose (yet i still like playing around with pigments).

i had the same issue with serum, yet (of course) some people swear by it. i had hive a long time, just rarely used it, yet it's a fave for others.

so much is dependent on what we use our plugins for, what kind of music we make. it really is all subjective.

[liquidsound]

My main synths are Serum, Diva and Omni, but lately, I start every project with T3 and it stays in to the end.

It doesn’t have to sound great to everyone. It has to sound great to me.
And it does!

[rezoneight]

Here's my in depth review of Twin 3 having been a long time Twin 2 owner:
Meh....

Well you certainly are efficient with words Tek I happen to love it myself but can see that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

The issue for me is that it's 2023 not 2013 and since I have a folder full of much more capable and better sounding synths, Twin 3 is just not relevant. It's not a bad synth at all just nothing that impresses or excites me in this day and age. But then I haven't used Twin 2 in a very long time for the same reason, it simply can't compete with the other synths in my arsenal. To me Twin 3 is a minor update on Twin 2 not an upgrade and quite frankly a disappointment, in my opinion of course.

I mean I just spent 3-1/2k on a rev 4 Prophet 5. Really can't compete with anything else I have hardware-wise but I love it nonetheless. Twin 3 sounds good and is easy (to me) to program. Cheap upgrade. Generally shy away from the "impressive" stuff I have these days and gravitate towards the simpler stuff anyhow. So it fits in there well.

Not trying to convince you of course. We all have our prefs. But I think you were the one who pooh-poohed Spire a while back too....

[rezoneight]

it's funny about synths, and what we like, and use. i have pigments4, like playing with it, but rarely fit it into an actual project. twin 3 (so far) seems better for that purpose (yet i still like playing around with pigments).

i had the same issue with serum, yet (of course) some people swear by it. i had hive a long time, just rarely used it, yet it's a fave for others.

so much is dependent on what we use our plugins for, what kind of music we make. it really is all subjective.

Agreed. as I just noted to Tek I like the simpler stuff anyhow. Have all of the "supersynths" and yeah they sound great. But still like simple any day of the week.

[bmanic]

Achieving simple sounds is difficult in Twin 3 as compared to almost any synth.

Eh? I find the exact opposite to be true. It's extremely easy and quick to make some very simple sounds. What's even better, it's very quick and easy to assign velocity, keyboard tracking, modwheel & aftertouch to tons of parameters to get a truly expressive sound that plays nice over the whole keyboard. This is something I often find frustrating in other synthesizers.

With no per oscillator unison, no FM, no Wavetable, no Comb filter, no Reverb filter, fixed FX routing, and no mod matrix, I can't imagine using Twin 3 efficiently. I tried the demo.

... but you specifically said SIMPLE SOUNDS. Now you are adding things to your original point. Why then say simple sounds? You obviously were looking for very specific sounds. Simple sounds, as it sounds to me, is basic bass, basic saw/square stacks, basic pads, basic anything really, that is possible with normal subtractive synthesis.

[bmanic]

I too was hoping Twin3 would be "much more" than it ultimately ended up being but I do find it sounds rather excellent. It really does have an uncanny ability to fit within the context of a mix. It's also surprisingly fun to just mess around with, trying strange ideas and exploring the extremes of wild filtering (those four filters really offer a huge range for shaping a sound over time).

I do hope FabFilter adds more complexity to the oscillator in the future. That would really help it evolve. Any kind of simple sample loading option with perhaps some kind of wave scanning would be awesome!

I also wish the FX were able to be routed freely because they are so unique in how you can modulate every part of them, this means they become viable synthesis building blocks and thus aren't easy to replace with external FX.

[OzoneJunkie]

Personally I'm content with the update, if only for the UI usability changes. The non-scalable Twin 2 meant I just never used it.

[a9k1tp]

... but you specifically said SIMPLE SOUNDS. Now you are adding things to your original point. Why then say simple sounds? You obviously were looking for very specific sounds. Simple sounds, as it sounds to me, is basic bass, basic saw/square stacks, basic pads, basic anything really, that is possible with normal subtractive synthesis.

I was unable to explain myself clearly. Isn't what Serum can do should be considered simple in 2023
Maybe I am an idiot

[rod_zero]

Achieving simple sounds is difficult in Twin 3 as compared to almost any synth.

Eh? I find the exact opposite to be true. It's extremely easy and quick to make some very simple sounds. What's even better, it's very quick and easy to assign velocity, keyboard tracking, modwheel & aftertouch to tons of parameters to get a truly expressive sound that plays nice over the whole keyboard. This is something I often find frustrating in other synthesizers.

With no per oscillator unison, no FM, no Wavetable, no Comb filter, no Reverb filter, fixed FX routing, and no mod matrix, I can't imagine using Twin 3 efficiently. I tried the demo.

I was able to achieve basic sounds quickly in Serum, Vital and Hive.

All these synths are great. They can find different publics.

Preference wise, I am more of a "Hive > Serum > Vital > Dune > Phaseplant > Falcon" person. Yes, Hive is my fav synth ever. I believe less is more but Twin 3 felt too less to work with.

Of all the things the mod matrix is the only one t3 doesn't even need. I mean if you prefer hive which barely has a mod matrix...

[Lbdunequest]

Achieving simple sounds is difficult in Twin 3 as compared to almost any synth.

Eh? I find the exact opposite to be true. It's extremely easy and quick to make some very simple sounds. What's even better, it's very quick and easy to assign velocity, keyboard tracking, modwheel & aftertouch to tons of parameters to get a truly expressive sound that plays nice over the whole keyboard. This is something I often find frustrating in other synthesizers.

With no per oscillator unison, no FM, no Wavetable, no Comb filter, no Reverb filter, fixed FX routing, and no mod matrix, I can't imagine using Twin 3 efficiently. I tried the demo.

I was able to achieve basic sounds quickly in Serum, Vital and Hive.

All these synths are great. They can find different publics.

Preference wise, I am more of a "Hive > Serum > Vital > Dune > Phaseplant > Falcon" person. Yes, Hive is my fav synth ever. I believe less is more but Twin 3 felt too less to work with.

Of all the things the mod matrix is the only one t3 doesn't even need. I mean if you prefer hive which barely has a mod matrix...

What so you consider "barely mod matrix"?

Synth either has it or not and Hive has it.

[PieBerger]

Of all the things the mod matrix is the only one t3 doesn't even need. I mean if you prefer hive which barely has a mod matrix...

Quality over quantity. 24 slots with all of the modifiers and full visibility (if using the Izmo skin) is more than enough to make expressive patches *with great worklfow, especially with dedicated knobs for filter env/lfo modulation and vibrato. Oh and with the XY macros, you get another 32 slots (with the same modifiers), in addition to the 24 in the main mod matrix, so really you have up to 56 slots combined. Now tell us again that Hive "barely has a mod matrix"

*edit

[Jac459]

Quality over quantity. 24 slots with all of the modifiers and full visibility (if using the Izmo skin) is more than enough to make expressive patches *with great worklfow, especially with dedicated knobs for filter env/lfo modulation and vibrato. Oh and with the XY macros, you get another 32 slots (with the same modifiers), in addition to the 24 in the main mod matrix, so really you have up to 56 slots combined. Now tell us again that Hive "barely has a mod matrix"

*edit

Hi, I just purchased Hive 2 because .......

.....

......... because.........

Let's say because I am stupid and a gasoolic. I have already a tooooon of plugins. You seems to live hive 2. What do you recommend it for in particular?
I wanted to use the voice stacking in bitwig as it is in clap format but couldn't make it work...

[PieBerger]

Quality over quantity. 24 slots with all of the modifiers and full visibility (if using the Izmo skin) is more than enough to make expressive patches *with great worklfow, especially with dedicated knobs for filter env/lfo modulation and vibrato. Oh and with the XY macros, you get another 32 slots (with the same modifiers), in addition to the 24 in the main mod matrix, so really you have up to 56 slots combined. Now tell us again that Hive "barely has a mod matrix"

*edit

Hi, I just purchased Hive 2 because .......

.....

......... because.........

Let's say because I am stupid and a gasoolic. I have already a tooooon of plugins. You seems to live hive 2. What do you recommend it for in particular?
I wanted to use the voice stacking in bitwig as it is in clap format but couldn't make it work...

It's my favourite synth and I use it for just about everything; classic analogue/VA, harsh digital/wavetable stuff, clean bells, drum loops (using the awesome Shape Sequencer) and more. It has clean, modern character, but you can inject instabilities/vibe with careful use of modulation. There's a neat trick in the manual (that I recommend you read and reference regularly), whereby you use slew limited ModNoise to modulate the depth of another slew limited ModNoise assignment, that modulates osc pitch, for a nice wobbly "analog" vibe.

It's a quality bread and butter synth, that is simple and fast but also has depth when you need it, which is why it's my most used synth. It is a bit limited compared to some other offerings, but on the flip side, it encourages me to be a bit more creative with my patching; programming it is similar to doing a puzzle, which I personally find quite satisfying. Its design/philosophy definitely encourages reusing/recycling of modulation and with the matrix modifiers, you can get a lot of mileage and variety. For example using the same LFO for multiple destinations, but some assignments are more "goopy" with slow slew limiting or double the rate with positive values only using rectification. This almost "gamified" approached to sound design is very appealing to me personally, YMMV though