Digital_Igloo

Yep, this is extremely common, and all modelers behave this way if you plan on using their full signal path (Amp and Cab blocks). It's the difference between your wife whispering in your ear, and a recording of your wife whispering through your speakers. The latter will never convince you it's actually your wife in the room. The cool thing about modelers, and Helix in particular, is that you can use them in many different ways. If you want that amp-in-the-room sound, bypass any Amp and Cab blocks and run Helix straight into your amp! Once you're happy with the results, try running both pre and post effects with your amp in 4-Cable-Method. Once you're happy with those results, try swapping out your real preamp with one of Helix's modeled preamps, but still through your power amp and cab. And once you're happy with those results, maybe add a fullish-range speaker along with the amp for wet-dry (or two speakers for wet-dry-wet). Transitioning to FRFR can be a long process for some people and there's no reason you EVER have to go there completely. If you're happy with Helix as a pedalboard, or 4CM, or whatever, stay there and make music. :)

That's why I found my IR in Austin. :wub:

Hi ZSchneidi, Welcome to the forum! Everything is subjective of course, but there are many, many people who believe Helix is indeed the best-sounding system out there. As your playback system is easily 50% of your tone, a Kemper or Fractal product (or whatever you've heard rumored to sound the best) is also going to also sound thin through those same hi-fi speakers. The sonic difference between top-tier modelers is never glaringly obvious, even to golden-ear engineers and first-call session guitarists, so if something sounds radically off, don't always assume it's Helix: Modelers (including Kemper, Fractal, Amplifire, POD, and Helix) represent the mic'ed, recorded sound of an amp, not the experience of actually standing in front of a real amp, pointed at the back of your knees. This is not a limitation of modeling; it's a limitation of the laws of physics—you can't emulate the sound of a speaker without recording the speaker with a mic (which affects the sound), a cable (which affects the sound), a mic pre (which affects the sound), an A/D converter (which affects the sound), the acoustics of the room (which affect the sound), and some sort of speaker system to hear it all (which is at least FIFTY PERCENT of the sound!). Studio musicians and professionals used to in-ears or stage monitors gravitate to modelers with ease; musicians accustomed to a real amp generally have a harder time—and this is totally fine. In the meantime, there's nothing wrong with connecting Helix to your real amp, either as a pedalboard or in 4-Cable Method. Later you can try out a decent, flat-ish PA speaker (like those mentioned by others above) to see if a fullish-range system is enough to scratch that amp-in-the-room itch The notion that modelers sound "digital" is a misnomer. Here's the Helix listening challenge; a few people can reliably call out which is Helix and which is the amp, but zero indicators are based on any sort of digital artifact. If a Helix, Kemper, or Fractal model or profile sounds digital, the "digitalness" would have been present in the original tube amp or effect that was modeled (like how harsh and cold a real Plexi can sound on record, especially when cranked) Modelers almost always require some setup and knowledge of gain staging. An amp is easy—you just plug in and go. Modelers are at the mercy of whatever you plug it into. Nine times out of ten, your speaker system is the weak link. Barring that, setting input and output levels is key. DunedinDragon's post above is a good starting point If you have a decent pair of high-impedance headphones connected directly to the back of Helix, they'll be a much better gauge of how recorded tracks sound through Helix Helix has a high-quality 8-in/8-out audio interface built in; depending on your needs, you may not need to connect it to your Focusrite at all All presets suck. They'll always sound sub-par unless your guitar, playback system, hearing, playing style, and musical tastes are all similar to the person who made the preset There are many, many people who don't require IRs to get the most out of the system. However, the real practical advantages of IRs are two-fold: Many IRs are made up of multiple mics through tube mic pres and other outboard that impart a bit of juju—that is, they purposely color the sound of the actual cabinet. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's different from Helix's cabs, which were designed to be extremely transparent and accurate The sheer number of IRs almost guarantees you'll find exactly what you're looking for. It's the difference between dating in a small town and dating in LA. (But much like dating in LA, finding the right IR can be a huge, time-consuming effort!) It's also important to note that Helix's own cabs are IRs. Don't give up, and there are tons of people both here and on Chad Boston's Helix Users Group Facebook page that can help you along the way. Good luck!

Yes, and there's even a video.

Huh. Pitch bend has been in our backlog since the beginning, but I honestly didn't expect anyone to notice or care. To be fair, it took almost 18 months. ;) Helix also doesn't send monophonic aftertouch, polyphonic aftertouch, RPNs, NRPNs, active sensing, or massive strings of SysEx. Missing synth-centric MIDI data from a guitar-centric MIDI controller isn't exactly a glaring omission IMO. Regardless, I'll push MIDI pitch bend up the list.

Oh, I got it—just pretended not to to make it awkward. Because I love "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and the BBC version of "The Office." You're welcome.

I'm here all the time. :huh: Lots of plans for today, but they deal with future Helix stuff.

Almost everything is way faster from the hardware. The only thing that's faster from the editor is naming stuff. And maybe reordering presets. Assigning footswitches? 3 seconds. Swapping footswitch assignments? 3 seconds. Assigning controllers? 3 seconds. MIDI mapping? 3 seconds. Copying Snapshots? 3 seconds. Swapping snapshots? 3 seconds. Oh, and you should all be navigating around the screen by touching switches. The joystick is there as a last resort. Shortcuts are your friend.

From the hardware, it takes three seconds: While touch-holding the Snapshot you want to copy, briefly touch and release the destination Snapshot. Press Knob 6 (OK).

No, you're probably right. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my Yugo race car home to listen to the death metal band Jethro Tull on my $40 Radio Shack mastering studio monitors. :D

The QSC K12 is a great-sounding PA speaker, but it's not an FRFR speaker. Everyone please stop bastardizing that term.

Casual listening: MacBook Pro straight in via USB, no setup needed. This is how I'm listening to music at work right now. Practicing with Tracks: iPad or iPhone with camera kit via USB, no setup needed. Live Performance: MacBook Pro (tracks and synths) via USB 7/8 into Path 2B.

Correct. One MCU deals with audio/data/memory stuff and the other is dedicated for UI stuff. DSP 1 has a couple things it alone deals with (can't remember exactly what) and DSP 2 runs Global EQ, but their available horsepower should be within 1% of each other.

Turn Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo > MIDI Thru off, just in case there's a loop somewhere.Make sure Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo > MIDI Over USB is turned on. Does Cubase see messages sent from Helix's Command Center? If not and you're on a PC, install the latest Helix driver. Always use the USB port closest to your computer's power supply. Never use any sort of USB hub, including the front ports of a tower. Barring all of the above, you may have to open a ticket and have CS walk you through.

There are lots of ways to do it, but the easiest method is probably this: Build your "left" sound on Path 1. Set its Output > Multi block's Pan parameter to Left 100. Build your "right" sound on Path 2. Set its Output > Multi block's Pan parameter to Right 100. If you want to build everything on the same path, you can: Select one of your two Amp blocks, press ACTION, and use the joystick to move it down. This creates Split and Merge blocks. If necessary, move your Amp, Split, and Merge blocks accordingly. The Split should be to the left of the first Amp and the Merge should be to the right of both Amps. Select the Merge block and set its A Pan parameter to Left 100 and its B Pan parameter to Right 100. Note that all paths are fully stereo, so if you have, say, a Ping Pong delay before the split and want it to bounce back and forth between Paths 1A and 1B, it won't sound stereo because both the left and right sides are being sent to both paths equally before being merged to mono at the Amp block. You can still accomplish this, but you have to select the Split > Y block and set Balance A to Left 100 and Balance B to Right 100.

You'll need to know how to add MIDI PC messages onto a MIDI track in your DAW, but the Helix side is really easy: Select the preset you want to recall and press the PRESETS knob. Above Knob 2 is a little cheat sheet that tells you what message to place in your DAW (Helix responds to MIDI channel 1 by default). If you want to change Setlists via MIDI, send a CC32 message with the displayed value If you want to change Presets via MIDI, send a PC message with the displayed value If you want to change Snapshots via MIDI, send a CC69 message with the displayed value And of course if you want to recall a specific Snapshot within a specific Preset within a specific Setlist, send all three messages in the above order. If you don't need to switch Setlists, don't bother sending a CC32 message. If you don't care about Snapshots, don't bother sending a CC69 message.

Ah, I'm just being snarky too. You're all good, amigo. :) 2.20's feature complete and been in beta for about a week and a half now. We added one tiny extra feature as well, but it's nothing to write home about: - Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo > MIDI PC Send/Receive has been split into two separate parameters—MIDI PC Receive and MIDI PC Send—and moved to Page 2. In addition, you may choose whether Helix sends or receives MIDI PC (program change) messages to/from MIDI, USB, both, or neither I may have mentioned it elsewhere, but Ben and Sam are neck-deep on models for 2.30. No clue when it'll drop.

You're getting three new models because of the wait, remember? It's in this very thread.

There are only 256 factory presets in Helix, but tens of thousands of user presets also exist out there (on CustomTone and elsewhere). If only factory Helix presets sucked, that means a tiny percentage of all presets suck, which is clearly ridiculous. It's more like "All Presets Suck except for a select few that I've made myself that don't completely offend my particular tastes, with the understanding that everyone else likely thinks they suck." But that doesn't fit on a t-shirt.

Reading The Helix Cheat Sheet (only two pages) in full will get you 80% of the way there.

Definition, ramping up the old Variax development tools, relearning the old Variax development tools (that was a long time ago and certain engineers have left for Apple and Tesla!), debugging the old Variax development tools, actual development, compiling for new systems, and testing would take months. If you want us to update the old Variaxes, vote it up on IdeaScale; until then, the hundreds of more frequently requested features, models, and products should take priority, yes? I'm left-handed. And since we're both left-handed (10% of the population but only 2-3% percent of guitarists), you know how pathetic the choice is out there for us at any given music store (to the point where I gave up and now play right-handed, which sucks). The issue is not about lack of compassion for southpaws—it's the improbability of you ever walking into a guitar store and finding a Variax on the wall—much less a left-handed version—much less the body style you want—much less the color you want. If your average Guitar Center, Sam Ash, Thomann, and Music Store GmbH had 30 Variaxes on the walls, this would be a very, very different conversation. But as it stands, Variax is a niche product, and understand that you're requesting a ton of effort to deliver a tiny sliver of a niche product. Making a traditional electric guitar in a left-handed version is a piece of cake compared to the multiple custom UI and DSP boards required for a left-handed Variax. The tooling alone might cost more than what we'd profit from making a left-handed version. Or put another way: If our old left-handed Variaxes sold well enough to be viable, we obviously would've continued making them and we obviously would've made a lefty JTV. Again, IdeaScale is your best bet. I'll vote it up as well, because I feel your pain.

I turn Helix Rack/Control off from a Furman PL-Pro. No issue.

Someone's not paying attention.

I know, right? The main reason we don't constantly update the manuals isn't laziness—it's the sheer effort and financial cost of translating it into 20+ languages, something that's required by many countries to sell there. Translating a Facebook or blog post is cake; translating a technical document takes serious skill and specific domain knowledge. Plus, by the time one update is fully translated into all the necessary languages, we'd have the next update ready to go.