bobguido

Digital Igloo, I enjoy your taste in music and reverb. I know Caspian. I will check out the others! Thank you. Sigur Ros uses the classic RMX-16 for Jonsi's vocal monitoring and sometimes used it in a final mix. The 100% wet reverb used on his bowed going into his Marshall JCM2000 was originally a Digitech TSR-24 on a super long plate setting called plutoverb. Then he switched to using the Boss RV-1000 on it's Cathedral mode 100% wet and then after that he used the TC Electronic M350 on it's Cathedral Mode which is his current reverb unit for his bowed guitar. He also did an artist patch for the Eventide Space pedal called "Cigaroos" which sounds terrible. I am not sure he actually uses this pedal because I saw the band live not long ago and he was still using the TC M350 on Cathedral mode. I think some key reverb units for Line 6 to look at for GUITARISTS of all styles are 1. Fender Tube and spring reverbs 2. Natural Large Cathedral reverb 3. Natural room reverb 4. EMT 140 Plate 5. EMT 250 6. Lexicon 224 Concert Hall 7. Yamaha SPX90 Nonlinear/Reverse 8. Strymon CLOUD, BLOOM and NONLIN reverbs 9. Alesis Midiverb II Bloom reverb 10. Alesis Quadraverb Plate II (with chorus modulation) 11. Ensoniq DP4 I have a Big Sky and it surpasses the sounds of my Lexicon reverbs (224, PCM70, PCM92) on guitars 9 times out of 10. I would not pass that one over if you are looking at cutting edge reverb sound examples for Helix. It's the cat's pajamas. I personally don't care what hipsters or religious groups are using Strymon. The Big Sky CLOUD and NONLIN and BLOOM are innovative and breathtaking algorithms that any reverb lovers would swoon over.

Regarding the Helix reverbs and possible development of new Helix reverbs, While everyone has a different opinion about how reverb should be used in music recording and while I often agree with the notion that reverb needs to be felt and not heard, especially on rhythmic sound sources like bass and drums where the inteligibility of the source material could quickly become muddy, washed out, undefined and sloppy sounding, I will say this... Many artists, (especially these days) like to push reverb to the extremes and the reverb BECOMES the sound of the music. Especially in the more ambient styles of music where you are often listening to the 100% wet signal of a reverb unit throughout a piece of music. And in those cases, the reverb algorithm used was often something very un-natural and more fantasy like Some examples of extreme reverb use in popular music: The drum sound on When The Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin The guitar sound on the first Van Halen Record The guitar, vocal and keyboard sounds on The Cure's Disintegration album The guitar and vocal sounds on The Cocteau Twins albums The Guitar, vocal and keyboard sounds on U2's Unforgetable Fire The entire sound of Apollo and all of the ambient record by Eno/Lanois The keyboard, saxaphone and orchestral sounds on the Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis The vocal and keyboard sounds on any ENYA record The bowed guitar sound on Jonsi Birgisson's guitar from Sigur Ros 100% wet Almost all the sounds on every Hammock album use reverbs mixed well above the 50% range In all of these landmark records, you are hearing gorgeous otherworldly reverbs (mostly Lexicon but some Alesis, some EMT, some TC Electronic, some Boss, some Eventide, some Strymon and some natural) in the mix, often 50% wet compared to the dry signal and on some instruments, above a 50% mix, sometimes 100% reverb mix like on Jonsi's bowed guitar or many of Hammock's guitar layers. I mention other companies who make otherworldly reverb algorithms that sound amazing 100% wet. Most recently Strymon with their Big Sky has revolutionized the sound design of digital reverbs. Some of their Big Sky algoritms such as Cloud, Bloom, Swell, Corale and Nonlinear go well beyond the Lexicon 224, PCM92, Eventide H8000 and Bricasti reverbs. With such an amazing product that the Helix is and with the quality of it's amp simulations, modulations and delays stacking up to the competition, I personaly think the reverbs could also be worked on to compare with some of the best algorithms out there today. I will say that reverbs are also the weak point of the other modeling product I have used for years. It's reverbs are flat, boring and do nothing to wow me like the Strymon Big Sky or Lexicon PCM92 concert hall algorithm does. Helix otherwise is an amazing product. The design of how it operates is genius. I love that you can work with it on the floor or a table top with ease. The Auto Volume Echo from the DL4 would be great to have as well. The Auto Volume Echo in the DL4 is way more chewy and ramps better than the one from the Echo Park or the M series pedals.

Thank you Digital Igloo. I appreciate the honesty. This explains why the Reverbs in Helix sound the way they do. I would put new reverb algorithms at the top of the to-do list. Check out the Strymon Big Sky reverb pedal. Espeically the Cloud algortihm and the Plate algorithm. The Big Sky sounds nothing like their Blue Sky pedal which I personally felt was a big dissapointment. The Big Sky is in a league of it's own though. To my ears, it blows away anything in the Eventide H9 which doesn't hold a candle to Strymon's best reverbs, delays and modulations. Pete Celi Strymon was one of Line 6 and Alesis' former engineers. Lexicon 224 and PCM92 and Bricasti Halls and Concert Hall algorithms are also great reference points. All originally developed by genius scientist David Griesinger. http://www.davidgriesinger.com/ http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar00/articles/dave.htm These original Lexicon units blow away the later PCM80 and 90 and 960L which do not have the dense and lush signature Lexicon sound because they were develoepd by a new and different team, when Lexicon was purchased by Harmon. That team changed the structure of the algorithms which changed the sound and texture to something far less musical and lush. The PCM70 was like a baby 224 so it's pretty great as well. Especially the concert hall algorithm. Some breathtaking reverbs in Helix would be a welcome addition and hopefully, allow those of us with Strymon pedals to be able to go all in the box with Helix. Have a good one, Bob

This is a Question for Line 6 Helix customer support and Helix users Can you run the built-in Helix effects or your external (Strymon etc) effects via the stereo effects loops, IN STEREO BEFORE two seperate amp+cab(or IR) models for a true stereo rig with your effects in front of the amp simulation instead of after the amp and cab simulation? In the Helix manual, it says that if you put stereo effects in front of an amp or cab block that the stereo effect gets summed to mono. With another modeller unit that I use, I can setup two seperate amp and cab blocks, pan one amp+cab 100% left and the other amp+cab 100% right. Then I can place any stereo effects blocks I want in front of those two left and right amp+cab blocks for a true stereo amp rig with all of my effects placed in front of the amp and cab. That's where I like my effects and I like them in stereo. I originally came from using a completely stereo pedalboard with mostly strymon and boss pedals running all in stereo into two VOX AC30 tube amps so that is the rig that I am trying to maintain the sound of now. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. The Helix is a beautiful piece of technology Line 6!