Helix Talk

[Lysander]

Am I working it right? How are you using it?

Very similarly. I always keep the saturation below 5.0, as i find the distortion it introduces to be very sharp and gritty at higher values.

In general, i like Retro Reel as an always-on block adding just a bit of character and grit to the sound, or as a subtle modulation for cleans.

 

[Lele]

What’s everyone’s favorite chorus in Helix? Especially stereo chorus.

I don’t know what it is, but I always have trouble getting a chorus sound I’m happy with in the Helix. It’s always too muddy or congested or something,

My favorite is... Gray Flanger. I keep the manual and regen at zero, set the width fairly low, and then adjust the rate to taste.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Hi @Digital Igloo ,

My favourite chorus is the 70s Chorus. As much as I love it, I have it between a +6dB gain block and a -6dB gain block to account for the (technically accurate) effect it has on output a low input volumes. Would you ever consider adding a Headroom type parameter to it, that I could set to +6dB and clean up my signal chain? I think it would benefit everybody. Thanks!

Makes sense. Will ask the team.

Retro Reel is easily my favorite effect in Helix. Love it to death.

I have like a dozen saturation and tape emulation plugins and still use Retro Reel the most by far.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I have like a dozen saturation and tape emulation plugins and still use Retro Reel the most by far.

Fwiw, separate "per type" plugin suites in addition to HXN would be quite a great thing. Think L6 Delay/Modulation modeler as plugins. With their own dedicated interfaces. And obviously without the need to always load a fullblown Helix instance. Load times are really adding up, even on very modern computers, and in case you only want one single effect, it's kinda overkill anyway.
Leave all the amps and utilitarian things out, just a suite for dirt/dynamic, delay and modulation stuff each (and possibly reverbs as well, but most people would likely use other plugins for that very task).
Could possibly been sold separately (perhaps with a discount for existing HXN users).

 

[ian_dissonance]

Fwiw, separate "per type" plugin suites in addition to HXN would be quite a great thing. Think L6 Delay/Modulation modeler as plugins. With their own dedicated interfaces. And obviously without the need to always load a fullblown Helix instance. Load times are really adding up, even on very modern computers, and in case you only want one single effect, it's kinda overkill anyway.
Leave all the amps and utilitarian things out, just a suite for dirt/dynamic, delay and modulation stuff each (and possibly reverbs as well, but most people would likely use other plugins for that very task).
Could possibly been sold separately (perhaps with a discount for existing HXN users).

They did this with Pod Farm and it was great.

 

[Sascha Franck]

They did this with Pod Farm and it was great.

Oh really? So there was a separate and dedicated instance for, say, a chorus?

 

[Digital Igloo]

Fwiw, separate "per type" plugin suites in addition to HXN would be quite a great thing. Think L6 Delay/Modulation modeler as plugins.

We talk about this every once in a while, but it gets tricky because our category model counts are wildly uneven and trying to balance them out just to warrant splitting up Helix Native seems like a waste: "Hey Ben, can you come up with 40 different filters?" or "Hey Dan, stop working on your new crazy delay because we need the dynamics count higher."

I sure would like a Helix Native Elements spinoff tho', where it's just the individual effects as separate plugs. POD Farm did that too and I use it way more often then the full POD Farm.

 

[ian_dissonance]

Oh really? So there was a separate and dedicated instance for, say, a chorus?

I don’t remember exactly how it was broken out, but I used to put POD Farm delays all over the place.

 

[Sascha Franck]

We talk about this every once in a while, but it gets tricky because our category model counts are wildly uneven and trying to balance them out just to warrant splitting up Helix Native seems like a waste:

Just split it up like the existing categories. And sell all of it as a single bundle (so you don't have to worry about model counts per each category). Could perhaps be all within one UI with tabs to select the category and then a model selection pane. No more than one effect at a time to make it as slick as possible (for those wanting more complexed stuff there's always the full HXN).
I'm absolutely sure I'd use that all the time and all over the place whereas right now I use HXN for guitar stuff only.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Just split it up like the existing categories. And sell all of it as a single bundle (so you don't have to worry about model counts per each category). Could perhaps be all within one UI with tabs to select the category and then a model selection pane. No more than one effect at a time to make it as slick as possible (for those wanting more complexed stuff there's always the full HXN).
I'm absolutely sure I'd use that all the time and all over the place whereas right now I use HXN for guitar stuff only.

Ah, so you mean Helix Native Elements like POD Farm Elements except with everything in a single plugin. Yeah, we should totally do that.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Ah, so you mean Helix Native Elements like POD Farm Elements except with everything in a single plugin.

Exactly. One effect at a time, select per category on top tabs, then use the typical (hideable) model selector on the left. Have nicely looking knobs (there, I said it...), kinda Logic-style would be perfect (colors matching the by now established Line 6 category style), and there we go.
Top categories could be dirt/dynamic, modulation, delay, reverb, maybe synth/filter (just the typical M-series suspects) and obviously leave the fancy amp, cab and ultility/routing stuff out. And please add a side chain option (plus relevant side chain modulation targets of course).

 

[synthpenguin]

Yeah, I’d love an HX One plugin, actually. All Helix effects available to pick from (no amps or cabs, just like the HX One pedal—though adding the IR block to the plugin version could be convenient), 1 slot like the pedal, and the sliders / interface scaled up to resemble something like the Valhalla DSP plugin interfaces (e.g. ValhallaRoom).

 

[Sascha Franck]

though adding the IR block to the plugin version could be convenient)

There's many free IR loaders, so I really don't see the need for that, especially in case the hypothetical plugin would stick to the one-effect-at-a-time approach.

 

[synthpenguin]

There's many free IR loaders, so I really don't see the need for that, especially in case the hypothetical plugin would stick to the one-effect-at-a-time approach.

It definitely wouldn’t be necessary, but I think it would be convenient (especially if it could share / mirror the user’s full Helix Native IR library), and imo it wouldn’t be anymore redundant than e.g. most of the EQs.

 

[Sascha Franck]

and imo it wouldn’t be anymore redundant than e.g. most of the EQs.

Fwiw, I think the EQs could be left out as well, unless there's some new ones delivering whatever special features.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Fwiw, I think the EQs could be left out as well, unless there's some new ones delivering whatever special features.

Not special per sé, but we've deprecated EQ > Simple EQ, Low and High Cut, and Low/High Shelf in favor of a new 7-band Parametric model. Any DSP savings for the smaller EQs wasn't big enough to warrant keeping them, and with the new Parametric Focus view, they weren't any easier to use either. We kept the Tilt, 10 Band Graphic, and Cali Q Graphic models, which get their own unique non-5-zone Focus views.

If you import any Helix/HX presets with Simple EQ, Low and High Cut, or Low/High Shelf blocks, they'll autoload the new Parametric model.

 

[Sascha Franck]

So, what I always thought was kinda overdue would be some "modern" FX, in my particular case namely delays (and possibly filters as well, but let's stick with the delays for now).
Sure, there's a whole lot of variety inside the HX series, but IMO they're mostly variations of the same theme (plus the glitchier stuff nobody ever uses - kidding, but still, you get the idea).

I was triggered to think about this again because just two days ago I found UVI's Relay delay (which is free with any purchase at Plugin Boutique for some time). It's just an incredible delay (I could post some sound examples later on, but there's plenty out there). Can do all the standard stuff but you can as well go totally crazy. It might not be exactly feasible to slap this into a modeler - but with the new touchscreen, it'd certainly be doable to kinda adapt quite some features.

UVI Relayer — Exaktes, kreatives Delay

Exaktes Multi-Tap-Delay mit umfassenden Formungsmöglichkeiten, das Sie für einfache Delays, aber auch für radikale, rhythmische Multieffekte nutzen können. Kompatibel zu allen populären DAWs auf Mac- und Windows-Computern (VST, AU und AAX)

www.uvi.net

(can't figure out how to load the english version, perhaps it'll load automatically depending on your IP adress)

A way more simple, yet fantastic delay would be Deelay from Sixth Sample. It's free all the time. Pretty much a bog standard stereo delay, but there's some really nice twists built in, allowing you to go quite wild, just check it out:

Deelay | Free Versatile Delay Plugin

Deelay packs loads of features in a simple, minimalistic interface. Explore five distinct delay modes, and 100 factory presets.

sixthsample.com

And then of course there's always U-He's MFM2. Very obviously, this is again very likely not the kinda delay you could completely adapt to run on a hardware modeling unit - but as said, it's to give you an idea about what delays actually can do.

More Feedback Machine 2: Delay heaven

More Feedback Machine 2: Delay heaven

u-he.com

In a nutshell: None of the HX delays could even just remotely think about competing with any of these (ok, the Deelay stuff is partially doable, but that was about it). You might try nesting different delays and come up with wicked routings, but that'd make things super uncomfortable to deal with.
And it's not even about copying any of them, I can perfectly understand that there's limitations, especially in terms of UI organisation - but then, as said, with the new touchscreen and a revamped editor, a lot more should be possible.
Also, it's rather to give you ideas going beyond the umpteenth rendition of a tape, analog, BB or whatever delay - which are only famous because some iconic players used them more than half a century ago. I for one want a 2025-ish delay allowing me to do wicked things.

 

[mikah912]

So, what I always thought was kinda overdue would be some "modern" FX, in my particular case namely delays (and possibly filters as well, but let's stick with the delays for now).
Sure, there's a whole lot of variety inside the HX series, but IMO they're mostly variations of the same theme (plus the glitchier stuff nobody ever uses - kidding, but still, you get the idea).

I was triggered to think about this again because just two days ago I found UVI's Relay delay (which is free with any purchase at Plugin Boutique for some time). It's just an incredible delay (I could post some sound examples later on, but there's plenty out there). Can do all the standard stuff but you can as well go totally crazy. It might not be exactly feasible to slap this into a modeler - but with the new touchscreen, it'd certainly be doable to kinda adapt quite some features.

UVI Relayer — Exaktes, kreatives Delay

Exaktes Multi-Tap-Delay mit umfassenden Formungsmöglichkeiten, das Sie für einfache Delays, aber auch für radikale, rhythmische Multieffekte nutzen können. Kompatibel zu allen populären DAWs auf Mac- und Windows-Computern (VST, AU und AAX)

www.uvi.net

(can't figure out how to load the english version, perhaps it'll load automatically depending on your IP adress)

A way more simple, yet fantastic delay would be Deelay from Sixth Sample. It's free all the time. Pretty much a bog standard stereo delay, but there's some really nice twists built in, allowing you to go quite wild, just check it out:

Deelay | Free Versatile Delay Plugin

Deelay packs loads of features in a simple, minimalistic interface. Explore five distinct delay modes, and 100 factory presets.

sixthsample.com

And then of course there's always U-He's MFM2. Very obviously, this is again very likely not the kinda delay you could completely adapt to run on a hardware modeling unit - but as said, it's to give you an idea about what delays actually can do.

More Feedback Machine 2: Delay heaven

More Feedback Machine 2: Delay heaven

u-he.com

In a nutshell: None of the HX delays could even just remotely think about competing with any of these (ok, the Deelay stuff is partially doable, but that was about it). You might try nesting different delays and come up with wicked routings, but that'd make things super uncomfortable to deal with.
And it's not even about copying any of them, I can perfectly understand that there's limitations, especially in terms of UI organisation - but then, as said, with the new touchscreen and a revamped editor, a lot more should be possible.
Also, it's rather to give you ideas going beyond the umpteenth rendition of a tape, analog, BB or whatever delay - which are only famous because some iconic players used them more than half a century ago. I for one want a 2025-ish delay allowing me to do wicked things.

Given that you're comparing plugin delay suites with tons of nested effects with single plugin blocks on guitar modeling, I'm not sure what you're expecting comparatively.

Now if you're comparing Helix chains like this:



Then I don't think the difference is as drastic as you portray. That's not to say that the HX FX suite is complete and they shouldn't bother with new things for Stadium. I want more modern reverbs, modern delays and more modern synth blocks than the legacy synths from the M series from 2009.

They hear the kvetching here and elsewhere, no doubt. Don't even need to tag DI.

In the meantime, I plan on having a ball with the newly flexible routing. Now I can do multiple little things parallel enclaves of, say, Heliosphere at max mix going into Tape Eater or Euclidean Delay into Dynamic Bloom reverb at a high mix. Should be a blast.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Given that you're comparing plugin delay suites with tons of nested effects with single plugin blocks on guitar modeling, I'm not sure what you're expecting comparatively.

Well, just that. No, I'm fine with a kinda simplified version of whatever it might be.
But as said, the new interface should allow one to cope with quite some more parameters than just 10 or so. A multipage effect would be not much of an issue, ideally with macro controls for quick adjustment.

Then I don't think the difference is as drastic as you portray.

Oh, IMO they defenitely are.

This is just a drumloop running through UVI's Relayer (will post some guitar stuff later on or so), 2 bars dry, then /w effect:



No way to get anything like that with the HX series - and even if you could come somewhat close, it'd certainly become a nightmare to keep track of what's happening inside which block.

Anyhow:

I want more modern reverbs, modern delays and more modern synth blocks than the legacy synths from the M series from 2009.

In the end, I guess that's all I'm asking for. No need to come up with something offering gazillions of parameters (even if I personally wouldn't mind if there was, say, one single "super effect" per each category, with anything else staying on civil ground), but seriously, something more outlier-ish, with more choices to go wild would be most welcome.
You could possibly get pretty far already if there was a modulation system of some sorts, offering envelopes, LFOs and input level as modulation sources. Add some better filters to the deal, maybe a somewhat more complexed delay and bob's pretty much your uncle already.
Just don't come up with yet another bucket brigade delay.