Time Factor or Space with Synths?

[Xia Qing]

Hello all,

This is my first post here and I have a question. 

I have a Nord Lead 3 in need of effects.  I am wondering, to get a more sonically "interesting" quality out of my patches, do you recommend Time Factor or Space?  

I've heard work involving a synth or two with Space, but there are only two videos on youtube demonstrating the Time Factor and a synth.  I want to add life to arpeggios, and am wondering…

Do you think I should get a Time Factor, or could I use a combination of Delays and Reverbs in Cubase and get a satisfactory result?  I kind of like the Cubase solution, unless the Time Factor is as big a game changer as the Space.  Hmmm…

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

Xia Qing.

[badmelonfarmer]

Depends which you want more …. delays or reverbs.

TimeFactor is a great delay pedal, but it is more or less just delays and different flavours of delays …you can get some chorus and a slapckack kinda reverb.

Space is a GREAT pedal … it IS a reverb pedal and it does great reverbs … but you can get other great effects out of it too…

IMHO Space covers more ground….. but they are not really directly comparable with each other. 

[Xia Qing]

hey there farmer

i see.  you seem to favor the space then?  how is that slapback reverb on the tf?  i use my nord mostly for leads, and i ran it thru a space yesterday and it was pretty good but not what im looking for in the end.

the tf receives midi clock right?

eventide, just a suggestion here.  actual in depth demo videos or tracks of people using your stomps for synths are shockingly rare.  im at a loss without adequate demos on synths.  space i think has onee moog demo but the  others get none… or maybe some indy stuff  on youtube.

just friendly advice from a guy whos been in marketing industry a while. =)

i am considering tf still.  farmer hows the reverb on the tf?  any algorythms or is it done by tweaking custom presets?

xia qing.

[wedelich]

Xia Qing,

What are you looking for in the end when it comes to adding some of these time-based reverb/delay effects to synths or synth leads?  

-Russell

[badmelonfarmer]

I love both TimeFactor and Space …. if I HAD to chose between the two then I would personally go for Space…..but that is because I am a reverb nut. ….. but this just me and my opinion….and my requirements…which will probably be different from yours.

They are different beasts. The TF can do a slapback and Space has delays….but I would not say that the TF Slapback is better than space… it isn't…bu it is not designed to be… same with the space delays.

Yes, the TImeFactor accepts MIDI Clock.

[Xia Qing]

Thanks Farmer and Russell.  Here is what I am thinking…

If only there was a way of hearing this slapback on a synth and a wet/dry mix!  There's a youtube video of a Buchla going through the TF "Digidly" preset (or algorithm), but it doesn't show a wet/dry comparison.

I hear you about reverb.  I just got a Space to run through an analog setup here in the studio and it sounds very, VERY BIG.  This is good. =)

I ran the Nord Lead 3 through the Space… not what I was looking for, though.

More than reverb, I want delay for the Nord.  The reverb is reserved for that crazy analog setup.  The thing is, there are so many other less expensive delay pedals out there that will apparently run at line level (I don't want to use a bunch of boxes etc. to run a synth through a guitar pedal), but I like the Eventide sound.  It is very clear and it doesn't "color" a signal much.  Bypass is well setup on the Space.  My analog setup does not suffer at all from usual symptoms of digitization when it goes through the Space.

There are even analog delays out there, and while guitars sound great through this video (as youtube effectively illustrates 100s of times), I have no idea how the TF sounds when it is present in a synth's signal path.  I have plenty of synths with basic delay, but the TF is supposed to be out of this world.  I have no way of trying this out for myself.

Regarding that last note, I must add one more thing.  Although I could try one out my local GC, I have never used one.  I would prefer to hear an expert use it with a synth so that I can hear the pedal's potential.  It is not as simple as turning a filter knob, sweeping a wavetable with an LFO, or any other common application of basic subtractive synthesis involving a clearly laid out synth (think Moog Voyager, Nord Lead, or even Dave Smith MEK).  The knobs on the TF mean something completely different from one algorithm to another, so I am not going to assume the burden of learning a pedal, testing it in store after spending a while with the manual, with the risk of saying "no, this doesn't do it for me."  I (and plenty of other synth heads, I'm sure) would prefer to make my decision after watching someone preferably from Eventide or an experienced user incentivized by Eventide actually use a Factor pedal on a synth.

So, could either of you point me in the right direction to hear or watch a video of someone who could play a mean keyboard (and a slower, not-so-mean keyboard consisting of just chords or simple arpeggios) through a TF?  The Nord Lead and drum machine video of the kid playing his synth and machine through a TF was not very illustrative of what the pedal can do (though it is a nice video).  =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG3hB6tK_3Y

Eventide, let's try to upsell stompboxes to synth players.  You have that line level switch in the back which, among other things, makes it possible to use your products with synths.  Sell me the Factors!  

I just want to add more than basic delay to my Nord.  I have Cubase for the simple stuff.  Your TFs appear to offer a unique twist on delay, but I can't hear it because there is no way to listen to it.

Thanks in advance.

Xia Qing.

[brock]

Quote:

Time Factor or Space with Synths?

Allow me to complicate matters even further:  the PitchFactor.  Not only can it be used as a clean delay, but there's also detuning / thickening, extreme pitchbends, 'intelligent' harmonization, 'arpeggios', octaving, etc.  It will make even the notoriously thin SCI Six-Trak sound like a new instrument, or 'supersize' any supersaw oscillator.

I should mention that the Utility settings allow tailoring to a synth lead or synth bass Source, and, if your target keyboard can serve as a MIDI Clock master or slave, the effects can be synchronized to the onboard LFOs and such (or vice-versa).  A pitchbend message can be used to control many pitch effects, with proper 'return-to-center' at unison.

[Xia Qing]

now why did u  go and do that for????? brock, thats a great idea!  hows the delay on that pedal sounding on a synth????  if the delay is good enough, the pitch factor might be the way to go!

what do u guys think?

so… for a first pedal for a nord… which do yall think based on what i mentioned in previous posts?

thanks!

xia qing

[Warpsmasher]

I'll go ahead and second the Pitchfactor recommendation. Some of the modes have delay, and some have reverb. You get both with the PF! The delay is clean, basically like the digital delay mode of the TF, until you introduce the pitch modulation. Dial the time down low enough and the delays will create some very nice slapback sounds, especially in the Micropitch mode. Quadravox mode will actually give you four pitch shiftable delays at once, Crystals mode has reverse pitch shifting with delays and reverb, and the Synthonizer mode will add two synth voices with reverb to your input signal. Plus, all the crazy stuff in  the Harmodulator and Harpeggiator modes will basically turn any keyboard into a superpowered modular system.

[Xia Qing]

hey yall…

gave the tf and pf a spin at local gc on a roland gaia.  in the end, i felt cubase does good enuff delays so i gave space another chance.

woah… nl 3 thru space.

woah indeed.

thanks for tghe help!

xia qing.

[badmelonfarmer]

Glad you found what you were looking for….enjoy!

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