Fabfilter announce TIMELESS 3 !!!!!!!

[bmanic]

how unconfortable if not what a PITA imho....

...and, actually, as for fabfilter, who prides themself of easy handling
and useful and logical aka "smart" number entering, why isn't it possible
(considering the 1/2 - 1/16 t example) to enter "1/2" at the left and "1/16 t" at the right ?
shouldn't be that much of a magic trick...

The problem is they the two knobs are interactive due to how the min and max range of each works.

Still, it SHOULD just work. If one range goes out of bounds, it should just show a red value or something and still let the user enter whatever they like.

As for FabFilter user interfaces in general, my feeling is that they are excellent at doing simple things and have truly innovated the EQ space (people keep forgetting that before Pro-Q, no EQ worked like that! Some had the graphical layout but nobody did the smart adding of nodes etc). However, as soon as the plugins get complex (Twin3, timeless 3, Saturn 2 etc) then they always fall a bit short, in my opinion. Even Timeless 2 and Twin2 made me a bit grumpy in how they implemented the modulation matrix.. and I'm not a big fan of how the current new versions modulation matrices work. There are so many ways they could be improved. There's no real proper copy/paste possible between modules (the workaround is to save a module preset but of course none of the routing is taken into account). Also the positioning of the pop-up is not always optimal and sometimes gets in the way. And they also sometimes disappear when you don't want them to.. and they don't go always go away when you want them to!

..things like this makes me sometimes want to pull my hair out.

[sqigls]

stubborn is one thing

but it's a DELAY plugin, what's fundamental to a delay plugin in a modern DAW? synced time, and where is synced time? IN AN OBSCURE TINY DROP-DOWN LIST. Their GUIs suck now, i won't be upgrading or buying anything else from them if they can't improve this fiddly stubbornness.

[t.o.t.s.]

I disagree about the sync criticism. It's a button, right next to a large knob for controlling delay time. the button is an icon of a note that actually displays the note value when syncing. That's pretty straightforward. We are dealing with music after all. Not sure why that seems cryptic. I do agree some the icons and display values could be larger.

[sqigls]

it's a TINY button, on a GUI with wasted space all over the show.
it's fiddly as. Everything.
adjusting the filter etc, all kids of fiddly pain in the ass things that could be a WHOLE lot easier if mouse wheel functions were smarter for example. click on this pixel to open.

say you want 1/8 dotted, it's 4 clicks to get it. One click (opens menu), click to select division, click again to open menu, click again on dotted. stupid really. Whatever, it might be a pleasure for some, for me it takes twice as long to get what i want than from many other delay units.
I also wish all the FabFilter plugs were reskinnable. They're some of the best sounding plugins, but i can't stand the GUIs. Since their first plugin release it feels like i've watched every GUI just get worse.

[Ploki]

Man that dropdown could’ve been a button group. It’s what 8 items in total

[Dr.Gunjah]

The problem is they the two knobs are interactive due to how the min and max range of each works.

Still, it SHOULD just work. If one range goes out of bounds, it should just show a red value or something and still let the user enter whatever they like.

Yeah it's not clear to me why 200% is the limit on what you can enter into the boxes while the max range for knobs is 800%(?) Even if you first use the knobs to get the max value, then enter the exact same number in the box again it goes back to 200%

Just let me enter any valid value into the boxes and adjust the knobs accordingly.

[muki]

say you want 1/8 dotted, it's 4 clicks to get it. One click (opens menu),

you can actually scroll (with the scrollwheel or 2finger-tap on trackpad) through
the menu without click-hold-select pulldown opening

that's imho one of my most favourite features in FF GUIs
that quite a lot (not all) of (dropdown) menus, buttons and alike are scollable

imho,
the problem with timeless3 is, that they tried to simplify the GUI by
making it compact by making the 2-lane concept into a 1-knob party
but instead it became more complicated
either for the non-mathematician musician or the simple-number-entering engineer

maybe a single button to decouple the big super-knob would be an idea ?

GS DSP Quantum Delay has buttons to encouple/decouple stereo pair handling for example...

[MrJubbly]

Some of the reasons I still prefer to use Timeless 2 over Timeless 3. The former plugin (Timeless 2's) user interface is just is so quick and easy, imho. And personally, I prefer it, to its "successor", despite owning both.

I do fire up Timeless 3 every now and again and try to adapt to its workflow, but I usually end up getting frustrated with the finicky controls and go back to its predecessor.

[Ploki]

Having using timeless2 for the purpose of this thread- I cant say i agree. Timeless2 interface is terrible imo and diffuse+drive + better filters make v3 so much more useful for me

[bmanic]

I agree. Timeless 3 is definitely a huge upgrade and Timeless 2 already had quite a wonky UI. But I do understand and totally agree with all the negatives thrown at the UI of the new one.

As for what can be done with Timeless 3, it's pretty ridiculous. It can done excellent slap back delay/room hybrids. It can do very groovy and easy to mix delay lines for virtually any audio source. It can be "played live" if you map midi controllers to it and the feedback is quite easy to manage when it goes into infinite feedback. Personally I really like it a lot.. that's probably why the UI frustrates me so much. There is so much potential hampered by quite a bit of frustration.

Any of you guys using the plugin, enjoy some more of my unorganized Timeless 3 presets made this year.

Unorganized Timeless 3 presets 2024

There are a few real gems in there. I constantly use the "Guitar Slapback Room" preset (good for almost any signal as a short ambience/slapback room) and when noodling with a guitar I also often use the "Guitarist go-to delay" or the "Guitarist go-to mono" presets.. or the playful one. Then there is a really strange resonant verb thing that can be wonderfully quirky on all kinds of sounds. Experiment with the green modulation controls to find various sweetspots.

[muki]

+1

and super thanks for the wonderful presets!

[muki]

a simple exercise, that i cannot get to work at all in v3 that is super-simple in v2 is:

11ms on the left side, 2000ms on the right
both with different feedback settings...

the right side can't go higher than 44
if i enter the right delay with the keyboard it jumps back to 44

[Ploki]

a simple exercise, that i cannot get to work at all in v3 that is super-simple in v2 is:

11ms on the left side, 2000ms on the right
both with different feedback settings...

the right side can't go higher than 44
if i enter the right delay with the keyboard it jumps back to 44

you're right. If i create an 11/2000 preset in Timeless2 and open it in Timeless3 it sounds completely different - offset jumps to 44.

[muki]

you're right. If i create an 11/2000 preset in Timeless2 and open it in Timeless3 it sounds completely different - offset jumps to 44.

yes,
not only that, but also the feedback settings are reset (and incorrect)

seems to be stubbornly stuck at a maximum 400% offset relation

btw,
there are quite some v2 presets that sound quite different in v3

[BRoySound]

Some of the reasons I still prefer to use Timeless 2 over Timeless 3. The former plugin (Timeless 2's) user interface is just is so quick and easy, imho. And personally, I prefer it, to its "successor", despite owning both.

I do fire up Timeless 3 every now and again and try to adapt to its workflow, but I usually end up getting frustrated with the finicky controls and go back to its predecessor.

Is the Timeless 2 Installer still Available at FabFilter?
and can it placed inside the VST Directory and run simultaneously with the Timeless 3?