Polyphonic pitch. Perception is everything I guess

[Bob Zaod]

I will admit that the Poly Capo in Helix isn't perfect, but I owned a Drop for 3 years and it was a mainstay on my boards even with my pre-poly pitch Helix. I honestly think the Helix Poly Capo is a better product than any standalone poly pitch pedal. For 1 it goes up or down and 2 with a setting of fast and auto eq @ 8.9, I honestly barely detect any latency when playing clean or dirty all the way to +/- 4 semitones. After that it starts to get a little too much but I never go past 3 semitones up or down so there's that.

One other thing that works best for me is to keep the sag low or off on amps and let what little latency the poly capo has, take care of that sag feel.

Oh and BTW I think the Drop on the Headrush units ranks a close 2nd for all in one units. The GX-100 is probably the worst out of all the ones I have owned or tried. Boss really nails it when a 13 pin hex pup is involved in something like a GP-10 but I almost always end up hating having that Cyborg looking GK-3 attached to my guitar. None of the pitch blocks in the FM9 did anything for me when I had it.

If someone releases a fully guitar centric box that can do any tuning at all, without special hardware that's where my money is going. To be able to use my favorite guitar and pups for that would be the be all/end all for me if it also had great modeling. I play in roughly 7 different tunings between 2 bands and it gets to be a bit of a pain even with the poly pitch and my Tronical loaded strat.

 

[la szum]

I have used a Whammy DT for years. Had the Morpheus, Digitech Drop, and the EH Pitchfork and
they all have a bit of latency and what I call plinkiness.

No one notices but me in a full mix.




We have done a few songs in drop B and oh man, it makes it hard to just play the riffs and power
through. Turn off the shitty Chorus pedal, too, Dave.

It is definitely an effect/technology that could be improved.

 

[la szum]

Why don't you snag a Variax guitar? I am guessing you have tried one.
The guy I play with uses one with an Helix and he is changing tunings
with a rotary knob on his guitar, or by changing patches on his Helix.

I personally think they sound like ass, and the feel is way off..... but to each
their own.

 

[Lysander]

Helix's Poly Capo is fantastic; the only issue is that it eats up a lot of DSP - which is particularly a problem if you're using a Stomp.

IIRC it can take up +50% of a single Helix core.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Why don't you snag a Variax guitar? . . .
I personally think they sound like ass, and the feel is way off..... but to each
their own.

I can't imagine why not...

 

[vino_buono]

I find the Poly Capo to be serviceable. I mostly turn the auto eq off (else it does something weird to the note attack that I don't like), and compensate with a high-shelf eq if needed. On a fast arpeggio I can feel the latency even with just -1 step on the fast setting; it bothers me a bit but it is still useable. At settings of -1 or -2 steps I used to like the Drop a bit better soundwise, but I have not compared recently. And the convenience of turning this on/off per preset must not be forgotten. Ever started a tune with the Drop in the wrong setting?

 

[dronerstone]

The Poly Capo sounds livelier than the Digitech Drop, yet the Drop is such an easy thing to use, and lets me go easy on the HX DSP.

The EHX Pitch Fork, on the other hand, is kinda weird and sounds crappy when used 100% wet.

EDIT: Love the momentary function though.

 

[ragingplatypi]

Helix's Poly Capo is fantastic; the only issue is that it eats up a lot of DSP - which is particularly a problem if you're using a Stomp.

IIRC it can take up +50% of a single Helix core.

That’s about right. I’ve built a couple of patches using it that have worked great live. Building the patch from scratch instead of using my regular setup helped to deal with DSP and latency.

 

[Bob Zaod]

Why don't you snag a Variax guitar? I am guessing you have tried one.
The guy I play with uses one with an Helix and he is changing tunings
with a rotary knob on his guitar, or by changing patches on his Helix.

I personally think they sound like ass, and the feel is way off..... but to each
their own.

I'd love to buy a current production Variax but unfortunately I am a left handed player.

 

[Bob Zaod]

Ever started a tune with the Drop in the wrong setting?

Yes. More times than I care to admit to.

 

[sleewell]

i cant fit the poly pitch into my main preset due to lack of dsp so i use the crappier one for my 2 octave up on momentary annoying noises. its shittier than the poly pitch but thats kinda the point for what i am using it for so it works out fine. when it doesn't track as well its actually a more unpleasant noise in a good way lol.

 

[Baba]

Ever started a tune with the Drop in the wrong setting?

At least once per gig, but I correct it in about 3 seconds, and my band understands

 

[JiveTurkey]

GK3 time. Always. Other options work but the GK borg is the best.

 

[metropolis_4]

Ever started a tune with the Drop in the wrong setting?

Happened to me once when my IEMs had gone out so I couldn’t hear myself.

I didn’t realize I’d played a whole song in the wrong tuning until someone told me later

 

[Baba]

Happened to me once when my IEMs had gone out so I couldn’t hear myself.

I didn’t realize I’d played a whole song in the wrong tuning until someone told me later

Indirectly, this is how I got my current gig. The previous guy would play in the wrong key all the time.

Now, my singer does throw curveballs, and will ask us to play song half a step down like, 3 seconds before the song starts, but, I already had Helix, so, I'm always prepared.

 

[Bob Zaod]

GK3 time. Always. Other options work but the GK borg is the best.

It really is unfortunately. Even smokes the Variax for poly tuning. I did have a 500 series Variax and I regret selling it but at the time I was convinced Line 6 would put out a left handed JT Variax but it never happened. Even when they came out with their budget Variax proclaiming "Now everyone can have a Variax" or whatever the ad said...I had to laugh hard on that one. Still a sore spot for me.

 

[JiveTurkey]

It really is unfortunately. Even smokes the Variax for poly tuning. I did have a 500 series Variax and I regret selling it but at the time I was convinced Line 6 would put out a left handed JT Variax but it never happened. Even when they came out with their budget Variax proclaiming "Now everyone can have a Variax" or whatever the ad said...I had to laugh hard on that one. Still a sore spot for me.

I've circled the Variax stuff a time or two but they were always weird body styles or I heard nothing but terrible things about the palm mutes (my entire reason for this kind of tech in a non-guitar synth guitar) and it also required me to be all in on Helix much more than I wanted to be.

 

[Baba]

I've circled the Variax stuff a time or two but they were always weird body styles or I heard nothing but terrible things about the palm mutes (my entire reason for this kind of tech in a non-guitar synth guitar) and it also required me to be all in on Helix much more than I wanted to be.

I had a nice Variax 700 years ago, (I always wanted one), but of course, in the time I had it, the weddings my band was doing, didn't have any strange tunings, or banjos, resonators, or need for special stringed instruments, so it mostly sat, AND, I also didn't have my Helix at the time, only the guitar, so, I really never used it to it's capabilities.

Maybe there was a stray acoustic intro once in a while, but in the 20 seconds of that, a clean guitar was fine, and no one was the wiser. It wasn't worth bringing an extra cable'd guitar and the extra cables/box, etc.

I think the weddings where I had needed something like that, had already passed, and we just did without it, somehow, so, I bought it "too late".

 

[JiveTurkey]

I had a nice Variax 700 years ago, (I always wanted one), but of course, in the time I had it, the weddings my band was doing, didn't have any strange tunings, or banjos, resonators, or need for special stringed instruments, so it mostly sat, AND, I also didn't have my Helix at the time, only the guitar, so, I really never used it to it's capabilities.

Maybe there was a stray acoustic intro once in a while, but in the 20 seconds of that, a clean guitar was fine, and no one was the wiser. It wasn't worth bringing an extra cable'd guitar and the extra cables/box, etc.

I think the weddings where I had needed something like that, had already passed, and we just did without it, somehow, so, I bought it "too late".

If anything; it's even more niche than the Roland/Boss stuff. So if you add that up with a time when Helix maybe wasn't doing it (for me); it's an easy thing to talk yourself out of. Without even breaking a sweat

 

[dronerstone]

Speaking of which, what happened to the '59 model? It completely vanished and seems to be discontinued...