Anderton

Thanks for the shoutout! Bear in mind that these kinds of tips to stretch processing power also apply to the "full" Helix versions. In fact I developed most of these for Helix Floor and Native, then adapted them to HX Stomp.

It sure seems like the Noise Gate is more like an expander than a standard hard gate. I did some tests and found that below the threshold, the output became less than the input, but didn't go away until you were way below the threshold. So with low thresholds, the Noise Gate is good for getting rid of some low-level crud in a gentler way than the Hard Gate. BUT there's more to the story... With a high Threshold (even as high as 0.0 if the input level is strong), the Noise Gate accents only the peaks of your playing. I inserted the Noise Gate in parallel, followed by the 10-Band Graphic EQ in the same parallel path. The EQ's 2 kHz slider is at 0, all lower-frequency sliders are at -15.0, and all higher-frequency sliders are at +15.0. With a dry electric guitar, the sound gets brighter, but only on peaks, when you're hitting the strings hard. Use the Mixer to adjust the level of the brightened sound compared to the dry sound. I've attached an HX Stomp-compatible preset, but note that both the input level going into the Noise Gate, and the Threshold setting, are crucial. When using Helix Native, I normalize the level of the guitar track feeding it. But when you dial in the right settings, the effect kind of recalls acoustic guitars, which get brighter when you hit them harder. This also gives humbuckers some extra spank. Cool stuff! DynamicBrighten.hlx

My semi-educated guess (emphasis on "guess") is that Helix uses a regulated power supply for its internal circuitry, so it's not going to be affected much one way or another by what happens between the wall and the power supply. On the other hand, as mentioned by CraigGT, power supplies take the brunt of startup stress. However, power supplies are a relatively easy fix, whereas components that have a limited life span (like LCDs) are much harder to repair. I turn all my gear off when not in use anyway, because the gear itself has enough of an environmental impact...I don't want to make things worse. The only time I've had anything fry on startup was an ADAT power supply, which Alesis confirmed had not been built to spec by their supplier in the first production run. Also remember that if something doesn't draw a lot of current, there's not going to be a huge inrush when you turn it on. Helix Floor is rated at 60 Watts max, which doesn't seem all that scary.

To give the "I used to live in big studios" perspective, it wasn't easy to get a good mic'ed amp sound, either. There was choosing the mic, deciding where to put it in relationship to the cab, checking to see if in something like a 4 x12 whether one speaker was better than the others, whether to add a room mic, and then EQ, dynamics, etc. at the mixing board...and of course, did the guitar player use light or heavy gauge strings, nickel core, the kind of wrap, pick, pickup placement...so many variables. Getting a really good guitar tone takes effort, regardless of whether you're using an amp sim, or miking an amp. To me the value of something like Helix isn't as much about emulating sounds that have been popular for decades, although that has its moments :), but pushing what's possible. Sometimes those experiments end up as epic fails, but sometimes, they create sounds that have no precedent, and sound great.

I've been fooling around with the pitch shifting options a lot, and thought y'all might enjoy this preset. If you're not familiar with Nashville tuning, it has the same 1st and 2nd strings as a regular guitar, but uses the octave-higher strings from a 12-string set for the 3rd - 6th strings. This creates a bright, present sound that's been used on a number of hit songs in both rock and country . A Nashville tuning part is usually layered with a standard rhythm guitar part, so this preset mixes the dry guitar and the "faux" Nashville tuning sound. It's not totally authentic, because the 1st and 2nd strings are an octave higher too. Then again, if it was possible to do that with a regular guitar, maybe that's what Nashville tuning would be using. This preset is designed for the bridge pickup, and strummed chord parts. I hope you enjoy it! NashvilleTuning.hlx