Eventide Time Factor Mini Review

[Lance]

Well - I've had it for a few weeks....probably time to do a little review eh?

First off - this is actually a dual delay...meaning you can have two different delays going at once and mix between the two. For example, a slap back plus a very short delay for thickening your tone.

The unit itself is very solid with a metal case...a little smaller than the Line 6 units. It's got a nice readout that immediately explains what you're doing when you turn a knob. (e.g., Feedback=24). Digital delays even read out in note values (e.g. 1/4 note). It'll go in front of the amp or in the effects loop. You could even run the delays individually with separate inputs/outputs.

There are digital delays, analog delays, tape delays, univibes, modulations, and a looper. There's a few other interesting toys like reverses, and gates, etc. but I can't ever see using those. I guess they had to put them in for marketing reasons (does anyone really use these sounds?)

Even though it initially seems pretty overwhelming, dialing in a tone is very easy. The top row of knobs is the main stuff (main mix, delay 1&2 time, delay 1&2 feedback, delay 1&2 balance). The second row are soft controls that change according to the type of delay you have running. For example, with a tape delay, one knob adds tape noise...there's one for wow...and then flutter. All of the delays have a filter to adjust the brightness of the delayed sounds (and gets that nice roll off that you want). The important point is that it's all knob driven....if you want to tweak, just grab a knob...there's no buttons or menus to mess with.

The unit can be true bypass or buffered. The buffered bypass sounds identical to the true bypass (yeah...it's that good!). I haven't decided which I'm going to use ....I'm a true bypass snob of sorts....but the TF actually has buffers that don't color your sound at all.

It's now up to 40 patches (the initial firmware release only had 20)...with each bank having two patches. There's a foot switch for each of the two patches in the bank. You can only sequentially move through the banks, so...there's an adjustment for how many banks you want to switch through with your foot. I set mine to 3 (meaning 6 different patches)...that's plenty. This "up only" bank selection is in my opinion, the biggest limitation. But, it you're realistic about how you use it and select a small number of active banks, it's not such a limiting factor.

Last...there's a looper built in. While it's only 20 seconds....it sounds perfect and there's even cool ways to punch over the sound and have it fade earlier recordings in the loop. You can extend the length of the loop but the signal quality isn't 24-bit.

OK...the important stuff. How's it sound? The sound is almost scary. It's studio quality 24 bit processing and it totally sounds it. It's like nothing I've ever heard from a stomp box. The delays are really glorious.

They've been updating the firmware regularly and really improving on the operation of the unit based on user's feedback in their forums and beta program. I did have one issue...I couldn't get my firmware to update (through the PC via USB port). It turned out to my laptop's fault. Regardless, Eventide took the unit back and took care of it over a fews days. When I got it back, I was surprised to find they double the number of patches with the new firmware.

I'm still designing my small group of standard delays. So far, I've got a nice "Edge" sound, a rockabilly slapback, a multi-tap pretty thing, univibe (Cold Shot!) and a good tape echo for soloing.

It's very new....and expensive. I'm hoping more folks pick these up and start publishing their patches to the web. While it comes with 20 very usable patches, what I'd really like is for Eventide to get some downloadable libraries of patches out to the owners....or at least publish more example settings.

Anyway, big thumbs up on this box. If you're looking for a simple , high quality analog delay...get an MXR Carbon Copy. However, I was looking for more versatile delay than my Visual Sound H2O (a nice pedal BTW).....but wanted something that could get a good tube driven tape delay sound (like a Fulltone tape unit). This does that and a lot more...and has the fun looper.

[Paul in Colorado]

There's a band in SoCal called Bad Haggis that I saw when my band was playing on the Queen Mary in February. Their guitarist used one of those Eventide Delays with about six different distortion pedals. Besides his pedalboard, he used a Tele, a Strat and a SF Vibrolux Reverb. He had the best processed live tone I've ever heard. I can't remember his name, but we talked a little right after the gig and he told me he'd modded most of his pedals and some of them were boutique pedals. Anyway, he sounded excellent and I think that delay was a big part of his tone. Sounds like a pedal to check out.

[Axis29]

Lance and I have played with this pedal in his arsenal a few times now. It is impressive! The range of sounds and the cleanliness with which they are produced is amazing. The flexibility of it is outrageous as well.

It's a bit more than my little brain can handle most days, but Lance seems to have the darn thing down already! No knock against Lance, but I'm guessing that means the controls are pretty intuitive.



And it's got pretty blue lights....

[Lance]

Uh....I did forget about the lights....it's certainly one of the coolest boxes I've ever had. (welllll - compared to the line 6 delay anything can look good. That green thing is butt ugly.)

Usability is huge for me. I've gone through the whole multi-effects thing and I'm done with menus and will only use equipment that doesn't require much effort. If it doesn't act like a stomp box while I'm playing, I just won't buy it. While the TF has some setup adjustments you need to make (e.g., bypass vs. buffers) - it's really a one time deal.


By the way...here's a link:
http://www.eventide.com/AudioDivisio...imeFactor.aspx

There's also a moronic youtube link of some guy make horrible noise with the TF. I'm not sure why, but that's the link that you first see when you search.

[64Strat]

Lance,
If you're still around, I just found your thread about the TF.

I've had my Time Factor for about a year now and just recently purchased the companion box, the Mod Factor. Put the two together and select a good guitar and amp(s) and there is an amazing array of super high quality tones you can get with just these two boxes. Just to work out some good wet effects combinations, I put a CVR together with a '72 SFVR. I input the guitar into the Mod Factor, then output to the Time Factor, then dual output into the ABY and split the signal to the two amp inputs. I run both amps with a light amount of background reverb and then work through some of the various effects combinations, a common one I keep coming back to is a modified Chorus with a modified Delay. These two Eventide boxes have eliminated a ton of individual pedals for me and I will now reintroduce this improved wet side, to my dry side amp setup with my front end two distortion pedals I use. I'm really pleased that Eventide brought this subset of the Harmonizer out so we can exploit it.

By the way, the CVR was a little too aggressive for my tastes, so I changed the 1st preamp tubes per recommendation on the Fender forum to GE five star 5751's and the PI to a balanced 12AT7 and it sounds just right.

played this combination for the last two days... if you've been thinking about the TF or MF, they are at the top of class.

[Lance]

Nice! I've actually thought a bit about the modfactor. I've been on the fence as the timefactor has some modulation effects as well. But, I'm not sure whether the cost would be worth another expensive box. (that and I'm out of room on the little pedalboard!)

So....other than flange (never liked it) and trem (built into BFDR)...what's the convincing sell for the modfactor?

The other concern is that the reviews on Harmony Central seem to say there's some issues with the modfactor. What's your experience? (the reviews are all glowing on the Timefactor)

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by Lance

Nice! I've actually thought a bit about the modfactor. I've been on the fence as the timefactor has some modulation effects as well. But, I'm not sure whether the cost would be worth another expensive box. (that and I'm out of room on the little pedalboard!)

So....other than flange (never liked it) and trem (built into BFDR)...what's the convincing sell for the modfactor?

The other concern is that the reviews on Harmony Central seem to say there's some issues with the modfactor. What's your experience? (the reviews are all glowing on the Timefactor)

Chorus = stunning and seemingly infinite variations available
Phaser = ditto as above
Q-Wah = interesting but need to figure out where & when to use it
Flanger = useful for some stuff I play and is excellent quality
ModFilter = interesting but need to figure out where & when to use it
Rotary = can you say Leslie? In fact if I reverse the Factors and dual out to the ABY to the 2 amps it gets swirling pretty good and my guess is, with an expression pedal, you can change the speed just like the real thing.
TremeloPan = useful
Vibrato = useful
Undulator = just started playing with it today and it can be useful for an effect.
RingMod = have not found a use for this effect yet.

The thing is, I paid a little under $700 for both of these, that is ~ 7 discrete pedals and my opinion is, you're getting WAY more than that with these two boxes + the quality of tone/sound is fantastic.

Personally, I think the Mod Factor (and possibly the Time Factor) is probably too complicated for most guitar folks. But if you are one of the sharper pencils in the bunch, this box may be for you. I think it helps when you acclimate to how these boxes work and then I found things pretty intuitive and could dial in the effect I was after. Personally, I wouldn't put much weight on the HC reviews. I've generally found over the years that maybe less than half of them are on the money.

all the best!

[Lance]

Hmmm....well, yes, I see that you get a richer version of Chorus and Rotary....which are the two effects I would use. Phasers and Flanges are kinda dated but if you needed to cover a song with them, there's no substitute. I'm not sure I'd mess with the others. Especially a Auto-Wahs and Ring Mods...those are just freakin annoying.

The thought of two expression pedals.....OK...now my head is really spinning (pun intended!)

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by Lance

Hmmm....well, yes, I see that you get a richer version of Chorus and Rotary....which are the two effects I would use. Phasers and Flanges are kinda dated but if you needed to cover a song with them, there's no substitute. I'm not sure I'd mess with the others. Especially a Auto-Wahs and Ring Mods...those are just freakin annoying.

The thought of two expression pedals.....OK...now my head is really spinning (pun intended!)

well, as you already know from being a TF owner, the presets that are loaded are just the starting points. I've been experimenting with modifications to their presets and the Phaser is really good, same goes for the Flanger but it all depends on what your music needs are. Like I mentioned, the only effect I think I will not find a use for is the RingMod. The Q-Wah has limited utility and I'm still learning the ModFilter and Undulator. Anyway, I'm having a ball customizing sounds right now.

btw, your idea for a library of downloadable presets is an excellent idea.