duncann

Lol. I'd like to see him do the same thing with shoes that have metal cleats. Or even better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wsjroVlu8

What is different about the mod chorus echo in Helix compared to the digital delay with mod in the HD? I think they are essentially the same thing. Could it be that you're hearing something different due to Helix's greater resolution in rendering effects? As an example I notice a difference with the octo and particle reverbs between the two units. It's difficult to describe the differences, but I do know that I prefer these effects on the HD. The mod chorus echo is a Line 6 Original, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is exactly the digital delay with mod from the HD, which would mean it was ported from the HD to Helix. Maybe the porting of effects produces a less than ideal result on Helix. I could be completely wrong though.

I remember seeing something similar after several of the firmware updates. It happened to all of the presets immediately after the update and then once more after a power cycle for only some of the presets. Don't know which ones, but I think they were the ones I work on in a user setlist. I've also noticed it the next time I powered it on after rearranging things in a user setlist. Never had any problems associated with the rebuilding though. I just figured it's doing something it's supposed to be doing and kind of ignored it.

I've discovered the first one a while back by using a reverse delay with 100% mix and a couple of seconds delay. It's similar to listening to a recording afterwards, but slightly different in that's it a bit more immediate and in the moment, just slightly shifted. Also disorienting because of the reverseness. I've captured myself doing this on an improvised title, Entropy. It's at my bandcamp sight, sig link. The great thing about the process of a creative endeavor is that it's different for everyone. It's part of what makes things unique. So use whatever works. I don't think I could use your second method because it takes away the first point of physical contact from the mind to guitar, which I find important, given that the music I write is on guitar. By the way, no worries about derailing the thread. It's sort of related anyway, in a generalized way.

The HD is by no means an incapable device. It can create some really rich and wonderful tones. Especially in the filter department. Most people, who casually listen to music, probably couldn't tell the difference between an HD, Helix, Fractal product, Amplifire, Zoom, etc. Helix does have tons more headroom, which makes it much easier to build patches without worrying about clipping. It's fairly easy to clip the HD. A bit of advice for guitar playing. Constantly challenge yourself technically, if that's the kind of guitar playing you're after. I look at the guitar as an intense instrument, always have. If something becomes too easy make it more difficult. Take a simple melody or idea and create successively more difficult iterations, until you think you've reached you're limits. And then push those limits. Visualize the music if you can. Of course practice. Be prepared for the occasional visit to Hell, because isn't repetition what some people call Hell? Anyway, good luck.

Thanks for taking a listen. Hope you enjoy. That's an interesting observation about filling in gaps. I actually consciously use this notion in some of my music. It's a good way to actively include the listener. There may be parts where something may be musically uninterpretable, because of too much going on at once or indistinct tonewise, yet cohesive, or so I hope. I don't know if this is actually a technique musicians use and if there's a name for it, but an analogy might be some of the computer games I played in the late 90s and how my mind had to fill things in because of computer limitations at the time. My memory of this experience is vivid because I had to imagine, beyond what I saw and heard, what the worlds created were like. Fill in the gaps for a more complete picture. Or reading a book. No direct visual information, but the mind creates a vivid picture anyway.

Ah. Gotcha. Never really thought about the relationship between sampling rate and frequency reproduction till now, just how things sound. Thanks for that. I'm one that enjoys learning new things like this. Although to fully understand what you're saying, I guess I'd have to do quite a bit reading. Looks complicated, Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem. Yikes. Hehe. And thanks for the kind words. I prefer Helix's tone as well. It feels better than the HD when playing too. More dynamic.

Thanks talwikins and stevevnicks. Appreciate it! Oh no, please don't put your guitar in the trash can! Lol. If you're gonna do that, toss it with high velocity so that it's broken when it's finally in the trash can. No reason to be delicate about it. Lol.

I think bartnettle1 was just trying to convey the differences he heard. I took it to mean the Helix version is slightly more dynamic, defined and clear. Whether that has anything to do with the bit depth? Not likely. For sample rates, I myself can't really hear a difference between 48kHz and 96kHz, but definitely can between 22kHz and 48kHz.

If you know for sure the burning smell is coming from the HD, I wouldn't use it and have it checked out by a service center/someone, especially if there's rotting corpses inside there. That could be hazardous.

Thanks for taking a listen. Glad you like them. I'm anticipating a fill-in in both the filter and reverb categories. Hopefully it won't be disappointing. Messing around with synth stuff never gets boring, but it's hard to do when the tools aren't there. Good way to describe the differences. I notice the same things, especially with the bass. That's one of the larger differences.

Thanks for the kind words guys. Vai is for sure one of my favorites.

Go to http://line6.com/software/ and select Helix and your OS in the dropdowns and make sure the beta checkbox is checked. Everything you need should be there. I don't use Apple stuff, ProTools or LogicProX, so I don't know anything specific about those. But once you have the drivers installed on your system you should be able to see and use Helix in either of the DAWs.

Version 1.11.1 is what you want. It contains everything you need: drivers, updater, and the application (editor). No offline mode for the editor if you were wanting to check it out before your Helix arrives. Happy music making with your Helix. It's lots and lots of fun.

For those who don't visit the Helix forum, I made a post comparing these two devices: http://line6.com/support/topic/20020-helix-vs-hd500x-comparison/ Check it out.

There is global setting that was added in one of the firmware updates that should provide the behavior you want. Menu button -> Global Settings -> Footswitches Expression pedal position: Per preset or Global.

For anyone interested, here's a Helix versus HD500X comparison. It's of an entire song production made by one person on either device (no daw processing on either). I took a song I wrote a year or so ago, using the HD500X, and decided to see how it would sound if I produced it on Helix. Curiosity got the better of me. I think it turned out pretty good. It was harder to do than I had originally thought for a couple of reasons. Enough time passed that I forgot what I wrote, so I had to relearn it. DOH! Stupid me. Doesn't help that I write stuff that's technically challenging. Couldn't resist making a musical tweak here and there, but both songs are fundamentally the same. I tried to keep the tones pretty much the same, as it's part of the character of the song, but this was much harder than I thought. In particular there's a clean backing track that uses an octo reverb that I had a hell of time with. The easiest tracks were the distorted backing track and bass. The lead part I had some trouble with. There is one track that I left alone. At the beginning and end there is a monk-like voice tone I couldn't duplicate. I got close but something was always missing from it, so I gave up on that one. The biggest reason is Helix lacks a voice-box filter. Anyway, hope you enjoy: Radiative Embrace (HELIX version) Radiative Embrace (HD500X version)

You could also use the or autofilter with Sens: 0 and FreqDepth: 0. Adjust Mode, Gain, Q, and Frequency to taste. You could also try doing something similar with the mystery filter. Set the Sensitivity, Attack, and Release all to zero. Adjust the Frequency and Resonance. Haven't tried this one with these settings though.

New idea: Add a global option to change the mix functionality for reverbs

Interesting. Same here with regards to the octo. I'm not quite sure why. It seems like the one in the HD is "pre-tweaked" to provide a more natural and defined voicing. I find myself adding EQs and other stuff before and after Helix's version (on it's own path) to even get close to the same distinctness as the HD. One thing I wish they would make the same as the HD, at least for the octo, is the mix control. In other words, for a mix greater than 50% don't start decreasing the dry signal relative to the wet (hmm, perhaps a global option? new ideascale entry coming I think). Which basically means if you want to toggle the effect with high mixes, you have to use it in it's own path, or it starts to become a nightmare trying to adjust level parameters. Plus the granularity is cut in half when the mix is a wet/dry balance.

I use the reverbs mostly for just a touch of added dimension. Things are just too dry otherwise. I use them similarly to you for the amount to mix in for lead parts, but I tend toward the hall or chamber. The plate is nice too. They're fine for stuff like that. For the heavier, ambient type of stuff where you're starting to use the particle or octo combined with other reverbs and effects, that's where it becomes a little bit more difficult to achieve the results you're looking for. Whether that's because of Helix's reverbs or because that type of sound is just difficult in the first place, I don't know. Probably a combination. But I just don't get the same wow factor from the reverbs as I do when I listen to the delays.

It's definitely a bug. It was introduced, if I remember right, with version 2.25 of the editor. The one that started supporting the amp packs. And I just looked at the download page, which says this is one of the bugs, or some variation of it, that they fixed. Lol. Delusional. I'd say time has already shown that they aren't interested anymore, despite it being a current product. The last editor version was released a year ago. But you're right, there's something to be said from persistence. You never know; it could result in them acting.

I've never experienced this. When I used the HD on Windows 7, there were times when I would have HD Edit running while using the wah. Never had any crashes because of it. There is one bug I wish they would have fixed a long time ago: you can't see DEP values, even when changing said values. It's been a while since I've used HD Edit, but I also remember this bug getting more complicated when using dual amps. I opened a support ticket for this, must have been about a year ago now. They said they were aware of it and working on a fix. Yea, right. Sadly, one can kind of get the impression that they have abandoned any future updates, even bug fixes, for the HD series.

It's been said by DI recently on this forum, tgp, or both that if they didn't have their price locked in, there would be no way that they could make the HD500X for the price it is now, $500. And it's nothing to do with minimum wages...

Yes.