Eventide Timefactor

toastyrat

Hey All

I'm seriously considering getting one of these. Has anyone had any experience?
It looks insane!

AlanRatcliffe

I don't know it, but looks cool.

If you're interested I'm getting the TC Electronic Nova Delay to play with for review this month. Similar kind of thing. http://www.tcelectronic.com/NovaDelay.asp

Also getting the Nova Drive - http://www.tcelectronic.com/novadrive.asp and Stereo Chorus + - http://www.tcelectronic.com/scftechspecs.asp

The only problem is: what if I really like them?

Heath

Its called GAS and its on curable by keeping them

AlanRatcliffe

Oh I know that! Problem is that my GAS fund is running on empty and I have other priorities.

Heath

Try telling that to the GAS gods ..............

toastyrat

Alan Ratcliffe wrote I don't know it, but looks cool.

If you're interested I'm getting the TC Electronic Nova Delay to play with for review this month.

Thanks Allen

That was my first option. I already have a boss dd20 which is v cool, but lacks some of the rad sounds like the nova and a few others. I was going to run both of them together (nova+dd20) so u can have for eg. a quick and long delay. But then i read some stuff that put me off a bit. O's rekon the nova digitizes your whole signal, whereas the dd20 and timefactor mix your dry signal with the digitized delay and some are saying you can hear the tone suck a bit. ???

So then i remembered the timefactor which has overboard ratings and has a delay a+b, no need for 2 delay pedals!

Oh and it costs a measly $400! Now we talking about gas problems

Let me know about that nova though allen, keen to hear what u think!

matta

Hi Toastyrat,

I own both a Time and Modfactor, they are GREAT pedals.

If I had to pick just one it would be the Timefactor, which has a mod-delay algorithm so you can get subtle chorus/tremolo sounds from it. The vintage and tape echos are superb and the band-delay very creative/unique, though it can be a bit of a one trick pony... but a REALLY cool one 8)

All the factors have both DSP AND True relay switched bypass, you need to set it up in the menu system, with DSP bypass it will always run through the effect, so it can 'colour' your amp, True Bypass sets the relays to switch the in to out when bypassed.

One thing that separates them from other pedals (besides they fact they sound great and double as studio effects with balanced i/o's AND guitar/amp inputs) is the fact it Eventide continue to update them.

Since having my TimeFactor they have given us:

Extra banks to store presets
Added spill over delays, which is really cool, when you switch from one bank to the next the delay tail fades into the selected bank.
Feedback now goes to 110% for self-oscillation

As people request new features they add them in updates that you get for free and you upload them via the USB connector, each pedal also has MIDI I/O for sysex dumps and can be used to control the pedal.

Neither the Nova or DD-20 have these, which I think makes them a selling point for alot of folks.

Hope that is of some help!

Cheers

Matt

toastyrat

Just got my timefactor and can u believe it, it's faulty! Stuff. I'm so keen to use it, but the display doesn't work. Random leds are on, weird. I've contacted eventide and i think they are working on it!

matta

toastyrat wrote Just got my timefactor and can u believe it, it's faulty! Stuff. I'm so keen to use it, but the display doesn't work. Random leds are on, weird. I've contacted eventide and i think they are working on it!

Did you buy it locally? Just call Aki @ Eastern Acoustics and have him replace it... unless it is an import, then you will have to rely on Eventide directly.

Matt

Mr-M

I wanted to buy the Timefactor twice from Music Connection and both times on the brand new unit I tried in the shop the tap switch stopped working before I even left with it. The TF is an absolutely fabulous pedal, but that put me off. Plus the mate of mine in CT that originally recommended it had the same thing happen to his around the time I was buying, so that was the nail in the coffin of the TF for me. I haven't read too much about bad switch reliability online, so I suspect the local supplier had a batch with bad tap switches.

Now I'm running two separate delays and I can't even begin to cover a tenth of the ground sonically with them that the TF covers. Plus they don't sound as nice. I'll probably buy a TF in future though considering the issues I encountered seem to be uncommon, but for now I'm going to use what I've got for a bit longer.

matta

Mr M wrote I wanted to buy the Timefactor twice from Music Connection and both times on the brand new unit I tried in the shop the tap switch stopped working before I even left with it. The TF is an absolutely fabulous pedal, but that put me off. Plus the mate of mine in CT that originally recommended it had the same thing happen to his around the time I was buying, so that was the nail in the coffin of the TF for me. I haven't read too much about bad switch reliability online, so I suspect the local supplier had a batch with bad tap switches.

Now I'm running two separate delays and I can't even begin to cover a tenth of the ground sonically with them that the TF covers. Plus they don't sound as nice. I'll probably buy a TF in future though considering the issues I encountered seem to be uncommon, but for now I'm going to use what I've got for a bit longer.

It is weird, I've not had problems with mine, and been using it for a year now, I bought it locally, and the first thing I did was do the Firmware and Software updates, and so far so good. That said I do a have a friend who bought one and his 'catch-up' function is not catching up as it should and has a lag when changing BPM in tap tempo mode, but nothing to do with the switch itself.

Cheers

Matt

guitarboy2828

So, all this talk about this eventide has got me looking it up and reading reviews.
Couple questions for Matta I guess, because he has one.

What is the looper like? How long can your looped phrase be? Do you use it? It work well?

What is the USB for?

Finally, what is the going price for one of these in SA at the moment? I see they run for $399. Which would put it at R4000 here? yes? no?

toastyrat

Did buy it locally , they are replacing it for me. Sux though cos i have to send it back to cape town. ☹
But it is the most awesome pedal ever!

toastyrat

SO lame!

They got the pedal in C.T. and there is nothing wrong with it! Turns out it does what it was doing to me if the power isn't making 100% contact, which is lame because the transformer is on the plug and is HEAVY, so it keeps moving.

AlanRatcliffe

Is it the wall-wart supplied with the unit? You might still be able to make a noise about it then.

I don't usually buy things with wall-warts, but sometimes you have no other choice. So what I do with the two pin wall-warts is to splice a bit of mains lead on to the pins with the big "chocolate block" connectors and wire in a good, old-fashioned three pin plug on the other end.

AlanRatcliffe

Not sure if my description was clear, so here's a pic:

guitarboy2828

Very clever Alan! ?

AlanRatcliffe

Credit where credit is due - I actually think I got the idea from Jeremy Busby at Bothners who did it for rack units with warts, then he used mirror tape to stick the wart down inside the case.

My own solution was to open the supply up, cut off the pins and glue a Snapper top to the casing with a hole for some wire. Then the manufacturers all started making the casings without screws that you basically destroy when you open them up.

toastyrat

Nice Alan

I got my apparently not faulty time factor back and did the "power mod" as displayed and it worked perfectly......... Until i touched the display and it started freaking out again! Stuff! I then clicked what it is. There is a ribbon mounted to the pcb that sends the data to the display, which must have been a bit loose. I opened it up and pushed it down and so far all good.

The pedal is really cool BTW best features of all the delays in one, imo.