Hi, and welcome to this introduction to Timeless 3,
a major new update for the FabFilter delay plug-in. There are three main aspects to this update:
the sonic character of the plugin has changed, with new and improved filtering options, and
new and exciting non linearities to add colour and character; we have important new features
such as multi tap delays and diffusion, which together can provide a whole world of creative
reverb effects; and we have a brand new interface, which helps to stop all these options becoming
overwhelming, and allows you to focus on what really matters. Lets start with that last one: the pseudo
schematic style of Timeless 2 is gone, with a more workflow focussed approach in its place. So, your eyes are now drawn naturally to the
large, single delay time knob in the centre… if you want different delay times for left
and right you can use the outer ring to offset one side… and the top left display shows you
where your delay repeats will land, including the feedback. We also now have a single global feedback
control, with a slider next to it to determine whether each delay line feeds back to itself…
or to the other delay… or some combination of both… and we have another slider to easily control
the stereo width of the resulting effect. You can sync delay times to your host tempo,
with all the usual beat divisions and dotted or triplet options… but importantly, you
can still offset those settings if you want, using the big delay time knob, so you're not
limited to settings that are always perfectly in time… and you can also still modulate
the delay time: the default preset provides a useful Instability slider which adds tape
like random modulation of the delay time, giving us subtle random pitch fluctuations
in the delay repeats. But we can also explicitly add pitch shifting
to the delay repeats: this can be up or down by up to an octave… and we can choose whether
to run it outside the feedback loop, so all the delays are shifted up once… or inside the loop,
so each subsequent repeat gets pitch shifted again… This isn't only useful for crazy special effects:
very small amounts of pitch shifting can add pleasant detuning effects, especially if you
set it to shift the left and right channels in opposite directions. Perhaps the most important aspect of the sound of a delay
however, is the filtering in the feedback path. Timeless 3 includes upgraded and improved
versions of all the old filter models… but also adds EQ style bell and shelf filters,
plus a notch… you can have up to six of these filters, in any combination, and of
course you can modulate them in the usual way, by dragging from the module you want to link…
dropping into the filter node will modulate the frequency, as you'd probably expect…
but you can also drop links into the pop-up window for each band, and modulate
other parameters such as filter resonance or gain… or even the stereo offset,
which can be lots of fun. If you want a classic ping pong effect,
that's now available via the little button next to the delay time… and sure enough, the display
above shows how the delays will bounce from left to right or vice versa. But Timeless 3 actually provides another way
to do it: switching to the tap editor hides the feedback repeats, and instead gives us
granular control over delay taps… you can add up to 16 of these by clicking the plus
symbols... drag them vertically to set the gain… or horizontally with a mouse modifier
to pan them left or right… a basic ping pong becomes trivially easy to set up… but
you can go much further and create complex patterns from even the simplest of inputs… But that's not all that multiple taps are
useful for: here's a short slap-back delay setting… and I'm feeling lucky so I'll try
randomising the delay taps from the menu at the top… it might take a few goes to get
something suitable… but now we have a unique pattern of early reflections, which can be
really useful in a mix context when you want a part to seem dry, but not stuck on top and
disconnected from the rest of the mix… Playing with different patterns of taps…
and scaling them all with the main delay time knob… can quickly and easily create effects
ranging from a subtle sense of space and depth… to dense, thick gated reverb type effects… Of course, being a Fabfilter plugin, you're
free to lassoo multiple taps and drag them around together… and you can also modulate
them, just like any other parameter: randomly modulating the level of taps can be a nice
way to add movement and life. If you drop modulators onto the little pop
up window for a tap you can also modulate other parameters, such as pan position, or delay time…
a little goes a long way in that case! Adding feedback might introduce metallic ringing…
or, depending on the pattern of taps, and the amount of modulation, might start to develop
into a complex reverb tail... But we can step even more firmly into reverb
territory by adding some Diffusion: this is an important ingredient of reverb effects,
turning hard delay repeats into soft puffs of energy, as if they've been smeared by bouncing
off an uneven wall… If you like huge, characterful reverbs, this
will give you that in spades, especially if you add some non linearities like Drive or
Lo Fi… why not try tweaking both at the same time with an XY pad? And while you’re at it, throw in some compression
with the Dynamics knob, which works like the one in Saturn: turn it down for expansion
or up for compression… the intelligent, program dependent dynamics algorithm under
the hood will work well for most sources. In case you were wondering, the dry signal
in this example is just a raw sawtooth wave… Alternatively, if you want chorus or flanger
effects, modulating delay taps can give you an infinite variety… and with up to 16 taps on offer you can
create really rich and complex modulation effects. The modulation section has also been updated
to the modern Fabfilter style, with sliders as well as XY pads for easy tweaking, and a button to hide
away all the complexity when you don't need to see it. The Fabfilter team have worked hard to make
Timeless 3 a genuinely useful mixing tool, and a candidate for ultimate go-to delay plugin that can handle
all your usual bread and butter delay requirements. It's predecessor apparently had a reputation
as more of a creative, crazy effects box… this is perhaps partly my fault for getting
carried away in some of the tutorial videos, so I was told to keep it simple in this one. But I can't resist finishing with some cool
modulation tricks: here's a preset from the Creative / Rhythmic category, which chops
up and rearranges the input signal by modulating the dry / wet mix parameter with a step sequencer…
which in turn has its phase modulated by another step sequencer to vary the pattern… with
some periodic random modulation of the delay time, to add occasional little pitch bends
and glides… variations of this kind of setting can produce an infinite range of interesting new parts
from the simplest and most banal of loops. Anyway, that's all for now. As usual there's a detailed user manual available
via the help menu, and optional pop up hints to guide you around the interface. Thanks for watching.
