antonio1961

Demos sound fine, the only thing that i don't see as much use to me is , ( Probably one of it's big selling points too ),.. the touchscreen. A touchscreen , though seen as amazing by some, is very low on my priority list for any multi fx/modeler, and the footswitches ( 5 in a row on a unit only 290 in width )are far too close together for serious live work. Although it's trying to be all encompassing ,.It just seems a bit more desktop suited imo.

As with any polyphonic effects ,the Helix polyphonic stuff used subtly ,and mixed properly ,will sound absolutely fine in a live band situation.

Peter Hook legendary New Order bass player uses HX Effects, described in the vid by him as "Absolutely wonderful".

Divine intervention perhaps ?

Just wait till the new meters arrive :-)

I use tronical tuners on my spare , it solves any tuning variations that may arise, and it is authentic , you can just tune to whatever tuning you like at the press of a button. If you're clever about it, your set can be geared towards very little change-over time between guitars, great investment imo, and can open up a whole other load of options for you too.

Although you can use pedals quite happily with the Helix, the whole idea of it for me that it is an all in one solution, and it's heavy enough for me without adding any extra weight, so just Helix floor and G10 relay ,which for me has been the best wireless i've ever used , it just works without any fuss and hassle. I A-B'd some of my pedals with the Helix ,and the difference was negligible. What you want is sometimes not necessarily what you need ;-)

I've uploaded a patch for you it's on customtone called 'Indiana Drones' you will be able to try use it and also see how i set it up , Basically 8 blocks of the three note drone, with each block a different key ,and then switched between using snapshot switches . Once you created a block it's easy to copy and paste it wherever you need it . You can get quite creative with the final drone sound by adding, reverb delay, modulation, ..there are lots of variations .

Personally , i'd go and watch similar band set ups to your's playing in similar ,or even the same places that you'll be playing , have a listen ,and if you like what you hear, look into what they use to achieve that sound. Although you're not spending huge money, it's still your hard earned, so i'd keep an open mind before you decide to buy, and to not get blinkered by the compact size, as there will be compromises. RCF's suggested use for the evox 8 is ,Live, Clubs ,DJ's, so you can take from that what you will, but my take is that the 'live' part can have many meanings.

I've seen the freeze in action ,but i don't think there's a way to achieve that . The drones in the Helix work really well for that type of thing, you can even change key.

How did you monitor the Helix at the gig?

If you're going guitars direct to pa you'll still need to hear yourself, so decent monitoring will be key, especially with a drum kit to contend with, though there does seem to be some decent monitors / frfr for not too much money. A desk with 4 aux's for running 4 monitors should be something that you also might want to consider. Unfortunately with pa speakers ,you do tend to get what you pay for, so there tends to be too few real bargains going about. If i were buying just now, i'd get these , i don't own them , but i have heard them, and they sound very nice ,will give you plenty headroom ,and a bit cheaper than the evox 8 too, though admittedly larger. https://www.thomann.de/gb/db_technologies_b_hype_15_bundle_ii.htm

IR's weren't something that interested me at all initially, but the further i got into editing, the more they started to become an important part of the overall sound , to the point where i don't use eq blocks at all, as i find they have less of an impact on overall tone than IR's. I've always felt there's enough eq'ing on the amp itself anyway ,but if you're getting close to that sound, but still feel there's something missing then stick an IR in, or flick through some and you may just find that vital missing ingredient there. I've got the same problem as you with having so many, but you'll soon whittle those down to ones that really work for you, then just rename them to suit your needs, for easier access later on.

As someone that uses it for live work most of the time ,this makes complete sense to me too. Would definitely make life a lot easier on stage .

As with any demo ,the product will only sound as good as the person demoing it. The skill to demo a new product is an art in itself these days ,and guys like Paul Hindmarsh have that art perfected to a tee. Apart from being an excellent guitarist with a wide range of styles ,he always knows the product inside out ,and presents as such. Point being , that i'm sure DSP Neural will get some better demo's out there at some point, though maybe they've just been a bit naive ,what with being new to hardware and all that. If i didn't already own a Helix , and was in the market for something new, from what i've seen and heard so far tbh ,my money would go on the Pod GO ,and i view it , and not the Helix , as it's current competitor. Although the Cortex has other selling points, one of the main ones is the touchscreen, . i view a control pedal as being more important, and that makes the Pod GO a proper grab and go solution .