Music • Sound • Video • Art

FabFilter has released FabFilter Twin 2, the next version of its Twin synthesizer plug-in. Featuring more oscillators, ring modulation, a new delay effects section and extensive modulation possibilities it’s a heck of update to the original.

FFTwin2 has a beautiful interactive interface design...

A really great feature is the approach to the interface:

• First, only the elements actually used in the patch are represented in the interface. So if you are just using a single oscillator+filter+envelope in your sound, that’s all you will see. Add more elements and they will appear.
• Second, hovering over any element with your mouse shows a couple of parameters that you can change quickly by dragging the mouse. For example, hover over the filter icon and you can quickly change cutoff and resonance. Click on the filter icon and a panel slides away revealing more parameters to work with. Slick.
• Lastly, the lower half of the screen scrolls to reveal deeper editing options for various components in your modulation settings as you select them from a small horizontal list of elements. And setting up modulation could hardly be easier. (Although an “audition in place” feature like in Circle from Future Audio Workshop would be very nice here.) Hard to describe, but imminently sensible.

Anyway, this stuff is best experienced in the video below (about 2 minutes into the video).

Very very cool. Anything to make using these things easier is OK in my book.

Compare FFTwin2 to Gladiator2.

Gladiator2: Wicked sounds + time sinking interface

G2 makes great sounds. Its interface can be grokked eventually, but it takes some effort.

Now I believe in the value of effort; I know that expending effort to accomplish something can be rewarding. However, I find that my time is stretched to the breaking point these days and finding that time is difficult.

Things like FFTwin2 that sound great and make me more efficient I buy. I’ve had my finger on the ‘buy button’ for Gladiator since it came out cause G2 simply makes some gorgeous noise. However, the time commitment I’d need to make to G2 to truly “get it” has kept me from buying it…

_________________________________________

• More info and free demo of FabFilter Twin2 is here.
• More info on Circle from FAW is here.
• More info and free demo of Gladiator2 is here.