FabFilter pushed Twin 3 to version 3.10 this week, and the headline addition is the one MPE players have been asking for since the synth launched: full MIDI Polyphonic Expression and Note Expression support.
If you play a FabFilter Twin 3 patch from a Roli Seaboard, an Expressive E Osmose or a LinnStrument, every note can now carry its own pitch bend, timbre and pressure instead of the whole chord moving together. MIDI sources in Twin 3 gain new Timbre and Lift input options, and pitch bend switches to per-note behavior automatically once MPE is enabled.
Why did it take almost four years?
Twin 3 came out in February 2023 as a full rebuild of FabFilter's virtual-analog synth, with a redesigned interface, four oscillators, an expanded modulation system and a new effects section. MPE was conspicuously absent at launch, even as Roli, Expressive E and other controller makers kept growing their user base among sound designers who wanted exactly the kind of deep per-voice modulation Twin 3's engine is built for. For almost four years, that crowd had to look elsewhere, or route MPE data through workarounds that never felt native.
What else shipped in 3.10?
The update isn't just plumbing. FabFilter shipped more than 200 new factory presets from bManic, Bigtone and Christian Laffitte, built around MPE playing rather than retrofitted afterward, so the patches respond the way they're supposed to the moment you plug in a controller. FabFilter also quietly fixed an arpeggiator bug that caused timing drift and repeated note triggers when a session was flooded with MIDI controller messages, the kind of bug that surfaces exactly when you're running an expressive controller sending constant per-note data.
Fixed an arpeggiator bug that could cause timing drift and repeated note triggering when handling large numbers of MIDI controller messages.
The update is free for existing Twin 3 owners and installs over the current version from FabFilter's download page or through the Total Bundle installer. Twin 3 runs on Windows and macOS as VST, VST3, AU, CLAP and AAX, with a list price of $149 for new buyers.
Does this change anything for the MPE ecosystem?
MPE controllers have spent years being treated as a specialist accessory, well supported by a handful of dedicated synths but ignored by plenty of mainstream plugin instruments. A desktop synth as established as Twin 3 adding full MPE support, four years after shipping, is a signal that controller makers' lobbying and growing install base are starting to move the big plugin houses, not just the boutique ones.
