Collection of User Programming Tips to improve presets and tones...

[zooey]

I wish the low and high cuts had a Resonance control, to vary the amount of the peak before the roll-off kicks in. Some peaking is a super common characteristic of physical systems like speakers and pickups, would be a nice addition.

[WickedFinger]

Yes, it depends on the model and tweaking. More high end harmonizer units can handle processing dirt signals. Most units need to be cleaner signal for proper tracking and signal division. New units these days are polyphonic tracking, the Helix is not. I have gotten good results using the Dual Pitch further down the chain but I do not tend to like Harmonizers which require set keys and scales. They are also profoundly not polyphonic in the Helix. The Helix is always one of try and see, create the model and just move to see how it sounds. The virtual world of the Helix is not like the reality of real effects, amps, and impedance matching issues. You can do the most unorthodox things and it will sound great. Which is one of the many things I love about this machine. 

[PeterHamm]

... New units these days are polyphonic tracking, the Helix is not... 

 

Other than Electro Harmonix HOG2 and POG2, which units handle polyphonic tracking well?

[DunedinDragon]

Other than Electro Harmonix HOG2 and POG2, which units handle polyphonic tracking well?

 

The only real-time polyphonic tracking HARMONIZERs I've ever seen required an input from a rhythm guitar to determine the key.  The HOG and POG are really just octave effects with some added on phasing.  Maybe the poster was using the dual harmony as an octave effect?

[HonestOpinion]

 

The only real-time polyphonic tracking HARMONIZERs I've ever seen required an input from a rhythm guitar to determine the key. The HOG and POG are really just octave effects with some added on phasing. Maybe the poster was using the dual harmony as an octave effect?

 

Does the Boss GP-10 do polyphonic tracking with a standard 1/4 input? I thought I saw that in their literature somewhere. Usually you need a hex pickup to get truly reliable polyphonic tracking.

[DunedinDragon]

I know the GR-55 does polyphonic tracking, but it's purely a fixed interval rather than a scalar interval which would require knowledge of the key major/minor for accurate harmonies relative to the tonic.

[HonestOpinion]

I know the GR-55 does polyphonic tracking, but it's purely a fixed interval rather than a scalar interval which would require knowledge of the key major/minor for accurate harmonies relative to the tonic.

 

Yep, and that is one of the units that requires a hex pickup.  That is why the Boss GP-10 is of particular interest because I thought I saw that it can do polyphonic tracking without a hex pickup.

 

Note: After further research it looks like you still need the hex pickup for true polyphonic operation. Not quite there yet apparently. Looks like it might do monophonic to midi through a 1/4 input though. That would be fairly novel. Not quite sure without more reading. Anyone own one of these?

[WickedFinger]

Hate to disillusion one to the GR-55 which I had for a period of time, yes it is polyphonic as each string has its own pickup and is so in the truest sense of the word more so that anything else could be. It also has harmonizers on board which work by scalar interval and key as well. The new SY300 guitar synth uses a std 1/4 cable and is polyphonic tracking, for me it put an end to the Hex pickup units. And it has to be heard to be believed, that technology on a 1/4 std cable is bloody amazing. I gave my GR-55 and Hex pickups up when the SY300 came out and when I converted to Les Paul's and no longer wanted to mount the pickup or use the bracket which interferes w the bridge and does not fit on some models of Les Paul at all.

Anyway, the Helix using old pedal old school bad tracking Whammy models and what not, why???

Several new pedals using std cable are also polyphonic tracking, tc sub n up octave pedal, DIgitech Whammy V with and separate detune and ricohect pedals. EHX tuning fork, new POG is as well and a TRex as well as a Walrus Audio octave pedal, I am sure there are others I am forgetting. Several pedals like the Morpheus and Digitech pedals offer complete polyphonic dropped and raised tuning steps using a std 1/4 cable.

A bit ridiculous the Helix has to copy mimic old tech pedals that are monophonic tracking glitch outs. Much less the host of poly tuners available which run under $100 now.  Why?

The waste of state of the art technology to copy and mimic pedals that sucked then because there was nothing else available. Makes no sense at all. Who is in charge of engineering at L6 the same POD people who insisted on that mess of bad effects they thought should be carrried on in the Helix?

A few of the front end effect are new HX component modeling but the delay and reverb stuff in general a copy from the POD and M series stuff. Why? Upgrade the Helix and stop with the cheese fest of effects, if others love those old pedals then buy one and loop it in. Give the rest of us something to work with. If you are going to component model something why mess with a turd pedal. Klon and Timma are fine but a bunch of those fuzz things, really. I suppose a new modern tech fuzz would be out of the question as everyone wants what Jimi Hendrix or Gilmour used almost 50 years ago, for the simple reason there was nothing else to use. 

 

Do I really have to get a Strymon or Nemesis reverb and delay to have something advanced tech? Maybe so. 

[WickedFinger]

Other than Electro Harmonix HOG2 and POG2, which units handle polyphonic tracking well?

See above. SY300 guitar synth new generation 1/4 cable, all the new drop and raise pitch tuning pedals use the new tech, all poly tuners, DIgitech Whammy V, tc electronic sub N up, Walrus Audio's new multi octave pedal, EHX Pitch Fork, a host of others. I was a bit blow away the amp modeling in the Helix was so good only to have the same copy mimic of crap pedals suffering for "effects". Hell just leave the unit as a stand alone amp modeler with the loops and assigns and I'll just farm out to pedals. Instead all this money and similar effects or copies of what the POD and M series have? 

[WickedFinger]

Some great tips going on here which is what I had hoped.

To add a couple things I have been using, change the Global switch option from 8 to 10 mode and you get more possible assigns.

Also Helix does not have a built in sub sonic low filter to good idea to cut that super low end as it just robs wattage and gets too unmusical. Many I think make cuts too high as I have effects that boost the low end at 80hz and sound great so if you cut at 100hz that moots that entire spectrum. IRs I have to say puzzle me, the entire sound can be just altered to squat changing mic and what not. Someone said they thought all the Helix cabs were the same sort of IR with just different mic filtering. Seems you load a supposed good one in there and presto there goes your DSP. 

 

Just to report FYI, I had been using the Mic Studio Tube Preamp model in front of my amps for a slight tube enhancement without gain or any sense of clipping and that sounds better for sure on just about any amp model. I have a GSP1101 modeler I was attempting to sell and since I am not giving it away as it is brand new basically. I love several of the Clean Tube models in that puppy which are not Fenders. I loop out to the GSP 1101 pull in that clean tube model with no cab and wow how much thicker, vibrant and tube-ish that adds to the preset tone (before the Helix amp model). \

Proud to report on everything I have been doing with loops and sends the Helix is working really well. Zero noise issues on my GSP. I use a send block to send my first in signal out to my Mel9 and my Trio unit which does not return to the Helix. I have my select drives and some high gains in another effect loop and everything is sounding great. 

If you have not tried the Harmonic Tremolo or Harmonic Flanger those are two very good sounding effects with a little tweaking to taste. 

[WickedFinger]

Your observations go directly to the point I was making. If IR and EQ block high/low cuts are true cuts, as in no frequencies below or above them are allowed, then using cuts does not accurately reflect the behavior of a speaker although it is the quick and dirty method to tame the muddy boom on the low end and the shrill icepick on the high end. A typical guitar speaker may have a frequency response that provides the strongest or loudest signal in the 70hz-5khz range but still allows frequencies above and below these points, just at increasingly lower volumes which at some point probably become inaudible as you get closer to the edges of the 20hz-20khz range. I guess another factor would also be our ears are not as sensitive to sounds at the low and high ends of the audible range.

 

All this leads me to think that it would be really nice to have some kind of an EQ block with tapered low and high cuts; perhaps tapers that could be customized. Another option would be a combination of parametric EQ and graphic EQ settings that emulated various speaker types. Of course all of this begs the question of "Isn't that what an IR is essentially supposed to do?".  And if that is the intention of an IR, why do we still find ourselves often having to tame or cut the low and high end on our presets?

MY discussions with L6 have shown that the cabinet IR high and lo cuts shift the speaker cabs natural roll off slope to the new settings. They said they are not hard cut offs but follow the modeled speakers natural roll off slope. I might cut at a much lower freq than most for sub sonic cut below that point but I almost never cut the high end as the guitar speaker natural roll off should be just fine, anything that needs EQ I adjust via EQ blocks or amp settings. 

[HonestOpinion]

MY discussions with L6 have shown that the cabinet IR high and lo cuts shift the speaker cabs natural roll off slope to the new settings. They said they are not hard cut offs but follow the modeled speakers natural roll off slope. I might cut at a much lower freq than most for sub sonic cut below that point but I almost never cut the high end as the guitar speaker natural roll off should be just fine, anything that needs EQ I adjust via EQ blocks or amp settings. 

 

Thanks for this piece of information. Hmm, what source is this coming from within L6? That would mean the low and high cuts are not only sloped as Phil_m mentioned with a -12db cut, but they are not even a fixed slope and actually vary with or "follow" each speaker type. If that is true that would be awesome but I am a bit dubious. Wouldn't mind hearing DI chime in directly on this one.

[Lachdanan0121]

Thanks for this piece of information. Hmm, what source is this coming from within L6? That would mean the low and high cuts are not only sloped as Phil_m mentioned with a -12db cut, but they are not even a fixed slope and actually vary with or "follow" each speaker type. If that is true that would be awesome but I am a bit dubious. Wouldn't mind hearing DI chime in directly on this one.

Agreed!

 

This bit of information would be quite illuminating for improving all of our sound design with the built in tools inside Helix.

[WickedFinger]

I asked them (Technical Support) if the hi and low cuts were hard cuts or sloped EQ roll off like the intended speaker range. This is what they told me. 

 

"The high and low cut do what they say, they add additional equalization to the characteristics of the cab being modeled. They move the speaker IR's normal roll off frequencies just as you said. The Helix does not have an active built in sub sonic filter on the low end. I hope this clears things up for you."

 

 

I do not see the point of narrowing the cabinets response range then run that into an FRFR the guitar is already a mid range instrument making that even more so is not something I have a need. I can see how recording mavens might need it but it seems artful use of EQ is better than reducing the efficiency of the speaker cab IR.

I cut my ultra low below 50Hz on my Global and the ultra high end but hardly ever adjust the speaker cab IR. 

 

 

Also just reporting I integrated my GSP1101 modeler into the Helix loop and it is noise free and great sounding, opens up a whole range of new options I can use.

Just love the 2101 Clean Tube model in that puppy, best sounding of anything I have tried. The 1101 also has some great acoustic guitar sim models that sound just like an acoustic with massive EQ range. I farm out to my fav pedals on drives just using the Helix for main amp model, delays and reverbs. Wah of course but now with the 1101 I have more wah options and what not. Not a fan of most of the monophonic tracking pitch and octave things in either unit but I use the Dual Pitch hear and there. I also run a send out to my Mel9 and Trio unit which does not return to the Helix. The loop routing on this puppy is amazing and zero noise issues. I do have a gate on my loop return with the drives just because I get a little noise from the pedals when on but with that NR the whole thing is dead quiet. 

[DunedinDragon]

 

Just to report FYI, I had been using the Mic Studio Tube Preamp model in front of my amps for a slight tube enhancement without gain or any sense of clipping and that sounds better for sure on just about any amp model.

 

Excellent tip!!!  I just did this with three different presets using three different amp models and cabs and it certainly makes a nice difference in the polish of the tone.

 

I noticed it mostly on the pick attack where it seemed to level it out and remove some of the harshness.  Also much better blending of the chord itself without losing articulation.  I basically put it just in front of the amp and moved the volume up to match the volume of the patch and, voila, instant creamy response.

 

Thanks for the tip!!

[WickedFinger]

You can also use the MIC Studio Tube preamp after the model as well, I have started using one in front and one after which serves as a boost as well. 

I keep mine set at gain 4.0 impedance on line, level 10 a which is just a little above unity. I use mine to add some tube emulation without really driving the amp, I use my loop drives to do that. When kicked on after the amp it brings up the level. Helps clean, mid or dirty amps. 

 

Just a note on my GSP1101 experiment, I sold the unit and back to just the Helix now. 

[jesuscares]

On 9/9/2016 at 5:57 PM, WickedFinger said:

Been thinking about this for a while, how great it would be to offer some tips and tricks on programming HELIX presets to help them sound better and improve tones, and how delightfully wonderful to have things in the same thread to find. 

While I am not an established veteran of the HELIX "yet", I have discovered a few things that might be useful to others in this rather infinite magic forest of param variability regarding what I consider the best inventive progress in amp modeling since the whole ballgame began.

 

So please anyone who would like to offer some idea or something they discovered which makes things sound better please add to the list or perhaps extend upon an idea to further flush out its potential. I have long wanted to find and read of such advanced user tips and wish Freman and others who sell presets, while not giving away the farm might develop a better advanced user programming guide of tips for the HELIX. SO offer up what you think might be of use, it does not matter if others know of it already, I guarantee there are many who will not have known of it: 

 

So to start off I offer a few things I learned or perhaps heard of someone else doing, so this is not about taking credit for anything as I have no idea of all the things discussed here on the forum or even in videos regarding the mighty HELIX.

 

1.) Make use of the MIC section PREAMP model of the Studio Tube Preamp model. Set the model to line sensitivity or "impedance" put the level of this on 10 and the gain right around 4.0. You can put this block in front of clean or dirt amp models which imparts a rather subtle but cool tube-ish enhancement model to make things sound a little more "not" digital or sterile. I find it extremely good after a high gain amp to increase and enhance the quality of the gain structure and intensity. I often place the "after" block before any separate speaker IR block but there is no notion it does not help after a full amp as well. Anyway cool trick I have taken to using and I often assign a switch to both Studio Preamps on merge/"multiple" to either shut both on or off or switch from one to the other. 

 

2.) While not an unknown or surprise finding, using the Cali EQ block which is really Mesa's V EQ curve from their amps makes any high gain amp model sound so much better by notching the lower mid 750hz and bringing up the lows and highs in a V shape. One should not boost or cut too much but it for sure makes a high gain sound better and often on my cleaner models I like the tone balance. Of course EQ is always a matter of personal taste and case of point use but Mesa puts this V Graphic EQ on all their main amps as it just sounds wicked cool. 

Note:If you use the post Studio Tube Preamp #1 trick above, I suggest putting the Cali V EQ after the Tube preamp model as it is easily over driven which may not be a good sound for you. When I use the Studio Tube thing I just want a subtle tube quality into the sound structure. 

 

3.) I find it essential for me when I run an external effects loop I need to have a NR gate block on after the loop return which keeps things quiet even though I use several high end external pedals. Of course slapping in a basic NR gate block after any hissy amp shunts off that annoying hiss without seeming to effect the overall sound dynamic or attack. I tend to use the stock default settings but others my have some better ideas for param adjustments. 

 

So I hope this prompts the witty higher end users to toss a few ideas and tips which could get quite insightful. 

Thanks for contributing these great ideas.If you can share a template or preset of your's with these settings, it would greatly help! Thanks.

[DCombs89]

I've been using the Helix for about 2 years now. At rehearsal, I've experimented with both IR's or using my Legacy 2x12. While there are pros and cons to each, i prefer running the cab at rehearsal. However, I prefer the IR's for recording because it gives me more options than I have cabs or mics.

 

I've found some pretty brutal modern high gain tones, and it's based on some simple concepts that also work in the real world with the actual gear.

 

My typical recording chain looks like this:

[Screem 808]

1. Overdrive=1 to 5  *I tend to stay around 3
2. Tone=5 to 7  *depending on what style you're playing in, you may want to have a little more bite or a little less.
3. Level=10  *helps drive the front end of the amp **the soft clipping keeps tone intelligible and the 808 takes a little bottom away which can be over accentuated in high gain tones 

>[Modulation FX]

>[Delay]

>[Brit2204]

1. Gain=3 to 6  *because you're driving the front end of the amp with a pedal, you don't need as much gain from the "gain circuits" in the amp.
2. Master=5 to 8  *this get's the cool parts of a tube amp operating. IRL, I start to dial in a tone with the gain on any amp at like 2, then set the master volume to something appropriate, then dial in gain to taste
3. otherwise all stock

>[Ownhammer MR82 IR]

>[Parametric EQ]

1. Freq=3000hz To 4000hz *find the painful noise and remove a bit of that; Q:2 to 5; Level:-2db to -6db

 

I also have a very similar chain for the PVPanama.

[arislaf]

Last on chain, a stereo la2a compresor, with default or-0.5 from defaul5 value thresh, gin 7.1 to 7.5, emphasis 1.6 tge rest default.

 

Before this reverb, before reverb a high and low cut eq in stereo, before that 2 separated cabs on different paths with hard panning, and before one of the cabs the doubler effect with default setings but dry at -60db

 

Or crab these ready presets and reverse engineer them to what you like. The old amps that i recreate are under construction 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4r7gucctc4ydkye/AACzuVidRrsSbORyqG72fpwSa?dl=0

 

P.S. These are for recording with stereo panning. In live use, switch of the doubler, and if you want make the stereo effects mono to have more dsp if needed.

[Thark]

Here's a tip for efficiently previewing IR's if you have a Variax guitar. First set up a simple set of blocks including an IR block. It won't really matter which IR you choose, just put one in. Now, with the IR block highlighted, right click on the IR select bar and choose Variax tone. You can now switch between IR's using your tone control ... much easier than HX edit or bending over and changing on the Helix. You can audition the full bank of IR's in a very short time using this trick. You could, of course, choose a foot pedal rather than the Variax tone control but I find that I get more control over switching with the tone control. Also, if you're not using a Variax then the foot pedal would be your best option.

 

Edit: Forgot to say that if you put a looper at the beginning of your block chain and record a few seconds of guitar and set it to loop you don't even have to play to audition your IR's.

[arislaf]

Legacy blue treb comp is awesome to be used before a metal amp. It gives edge and a nice overall boost.