Published on April 14th, 2009.
Author: Richard.Hunter
Category: Featured, Virtual Instruments.

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Fabfilter Twin 2 is a surprising instrument.  The surprise begins with its visual presentation, which shifts constantly in accordance with the user’s activities, exposing and highlighting its workings intelligently in response to the user’s need.  I am sure that no one reading this has another instrument in their kit that behaves visually like Fabfilter Twin.

FabFilter Twin 2 - Main screen

The surprise continues with its sound.

On first hearing Twin 2 presents a smooth, sophisticated character that is attractive but not groundbreaking.  (We are after all not short of options for making analog subtractive synth sounds in 2009.)  But the beauty of the instrument emerges immediately and strikingly when it’s heard in context alongside other instruments in a mix.  For example, consider the attached piece (below), a one-minute groove on which Fabfilter Twin 2 plays multiple roles—doubling the electric bass guitar sound (from Manybass) with a squelchy filter sound, adding a mid-register drone to complement an organ pad (from VB3), filling in the top end with a synthy string line, and filling in the percussion with a huge, pulsing kick and electro snare.

One-minute groove on which Fabfilter Twin:

Screen shot of FabFilter Twin 2 main screen:

(Click to enlarge)

All of these sounds were selected from the 1600-plus presets provided with Twin 2, without modification.  All of them have a distinctive character that immediately enriches the mix without dominating it.  There are some high-quality oscillators and filters under the hood in this machine, and the result is sounds that both stand out and play nicely with others.  I expect to make increasing use of Fabfilter Twin 2 as the sonic mortar in my mixes.

It almost seems a shame to use the presets–notwithstanding that they generally sound very good and are very, very well organized, making it a simple matter to find something useful quickly–because this synth is so obviously designed for tweaking.  The signal path for all elements of a sound is on display at all times, and any element in the path can be expanded for detailed work as desired.

When the cursor passes over a part of the path, a popup box immediately provides information about the control involved and its current settings.  Allow the cursor to linger for another moment, and another popup box appears to describe how the control affects the sound.  I can imagine that a lot of school programs will find Fabfilter Twin 2 to be a very useful instrument for teaching synthesis.  (These popups can be turned off, which is what a sophisticated user will probably do.)

Did I mention that this is a tweaker’s machine?

The instrument offers extensive MIDI control, as well as extensive control over modulation sources and targets.  Twin 2 allows multiple controls to be grouped in an “XY” control for easy manipulation of multiple sound parameters.  The user can create as many XY controls as desired for any given patch.  MIDI learn is available for just about every control on the synth.  A very distinctive touch is the ability to save separate presets for the oscillator, filter, and delay sections of a patch.  In short, the tweakability of this instrument is unsurpassed, and experienced sound designers are likely to find its combination of excellent oscillators and filters with detailed control to be very attractive indeed.

The key feature that many users will miss in FabFilter Twin 2 is a full load of effects.  The instrument has a very capable delay section that can be used to create chorus and flange effects, and a ring modulator.  There is no distortion or amp modeling, no bit crusher, no reverb, no dedicated chorus/flange/phase shifter, and so on.

There is no dedicated arpeggiator, although (as the presets show) 16-step LFOs can be used to create a wide range of arpeggiated patterns.  Of course effects such as these can be easily supplied from a number of sources (including a number of good quality free sources), and so their absence is not likely to be a deal breaker for anyone.  However, such effects are part of the sound design in many instruments, and initial impressions of Twin 2 for some users might be shaped in part by their absence.

A trip to the Fabfilter Twin 2 forum shows users to be enjoying the instrument with little apparent distress, and the developers to be open and responsive to suggestions and requests for help.  As suggested by my comments above, requests for effects appear more than once on the forum.  A full list of features for this synth can be found here.

To sum it up.

At US $169, Fabfilter Twin 2 is not inexpensive, and it competes with a long list of worthy instruments in a roughly similar price range, including Sylenth 1, Wusikstation 5, V-Station, Zebra, Rapture, Gladiator, z3ta+, and so on.   The most important reason for choosing one of these over another is the sound, and I strongly recommend that anyone on the lookout for an analog subtractive synth download the full functional 30-day demo for Fabfilter Twin 2 from fabfilter.com/download.  Make sure that you test Fabfilter Twin 2 in your mixes, not just standalone, to get a full appreciation for its quality.  This is an instrument that doesn’t have to push everything else out of the way to assert itself.

- Richard Hunter.

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