electricfactory

Great clip! And great amp+guitar tones too, gonna have a take a hard look at a Supro sometime soon..

This exact crash happened to me last night, exactly as you explained it although I didn't think I was cycling too fast between presets, it just.. froze. And as an added bonus, when I re-started it came back with one of my other presets completely blank! The preset was titled in the scribble strip but the patch itself was gone, nothing there but one empty block. Fortunately I back up like demon, anytime I change a preset or setting or whatever, boom, backup straight away. More than additional cabs, more than additonal effects, more than more reverbs I want the HELIX platform to be more stable. No more crashing!

I think I know what that is. At high guitar volumes, especially overdriven guitar volumes there's a sympathetic vibration of the strings before your hand damps them. The strings are vibrating at high volume and interacting with the pickup[ which could be slightly microphonic]. Your hand damps the strings between riffs but the volume is still there, hence the split second of 'ring' before the volume is damped.

I think I feel the same way, there are enough sounds/ options in the thing right now to take me through several new Cd's, video game music compos, a man-sized handful of Ford & Chevy car/ truck commercials and at least a feature movie score or two. This is not to say I too don't welcome HELIX upgrades/ improvements[ will there ever be a version of the HELIX w/ more DSP ?], just saying there's a lot of music in the box as it ships from the factory, never mind with after-market IR's etc. And as you've also noted the entry price is not cheap, but what high-tech gear item is ?

Dogs and cats living together- hA! Let me qualify my prior statement- the HELIX comes damn close to emulating certain tones, particularly those saturated 100wt Plexi tones with the current crop of cab IR's. By 'sauturated' I don't necessarily mean distorted but natural tube saturation, even clean. Not exactly, but close enough to convey the vibe. And in the end isn't that the point ? As to using the HELIX I use it as a speedy way to archive and recall sounds. I've spent countles hours building sounds and trying to 'library' them to use later. This is espcially true in doing media music which has deadlines. Make no mistake about it, I have a few amp heads and cabs that are essential items, stuff I use and will always use live or in studio situations where time isn't a factor. As an emulator the HELIX is pretty cool.

Recommend the AXIS 3 and EXPERIENCED! cds.. ;) :D

toaster dude- OMG You have no idea how on the mark you are re Spencer Proffer. And don't even mention that name to Frankie Banali[ Quiot Riot] or [producer] Ron Aniello. Or frankly anybody signed to his label. It wouldn't be approriate to go into in detail here but perhaps we'll chat one day.. I would instead direct you to the Shrapnel label records I did 2004-06, Postiviely The Blues and Electric Factory when it comes to early stuff. In fact I should post the title track ELECTRIC FACTORY with a couple HELIX preset trks replacing some of the original. It might be interesting to see if anyone can tell the difference, personally I don't think so. With little massaging the HELIX really brings it when it comes to tones.

Thanks artmapa, and 'yes, it shouldn't work as well as it does, but it does.

phil_m, Doh!! I posted the wrong track, check it again!

HA! Shades on, love it. Unfortunately and like a dummy I posted the wrong track, check again! Beat me daddy, eight to the bar!

I got a call a couple of days ago to record some guitar for a tv underscore, a very popular network crime solving drama. The producer provided little specific direction other than; ‘authentic 1940’s big-band, big jazz box guitar stylings, provide a solo in the appropriate place and don't get in the way in case someone decides to add a vocalist ! With turn around time short I gave the HELIX a go, a test of sorts as to whether I could get a proper semi-hollow guitar tone the track called for. Have attached below what I sent them which thankfully was well received, you can decide how well HELIX does with jazz guitar tones, Soundcloud link below, solo @1:04 * the guitar, an Epiphone ES-175 Premium, Gibson 57 pu’s, .012 guage flatwound strings [ the Epi ES175 Premium is a straight up righteous jazz box for low bucks, don’t confuse it though with it’s non-nitro finished cousin] * HELIX direct into console via XLR connectors to ProTools * HELIX signal path, please see pics below * I used a Friedman 2a cab IR from 3 Sigma, worked surprising well SWING TOWN https://soundcloud.com/jonbutcher/swing-town

HA, they'll apparently let anybody in here! And speaking of AXIS, go to SoundCloud, iTunes or whatever when you're sittin' around chilling. Check out my EXPERIENCED! Cd for a total hoot, some of my personal fav Hendrix lesser knowns [ lesser known to those of us not brought up on JH anyway]. Check it out let me know what you think!

Thanks artmapa, I XLR'd out of the HELIX although I know a lot of guys are using the 1/4" outputs for live. For me this is almost exclusively a studio tool, most often when time constraints make cab mic-ing and guitar sound crafting impractical. It dosen't always happen that way but when I'm pressed HELIX has so far proven to be a pretty terrific tool.

Thanks bsd512, attached below are a few pics pretty much detailing the signal paths of two primary patches, clean-ish ala Hendrix '68 guitar tones and the more Jimmy Page-like agressive tones, presets named BRONTOSAURUS and BRONTOSAURUS 2. I went via HELIX XLR direct to ProTools, though I did use some real tube compression on some of the gtr tracks. Most of the whale-pod sounds I emulated with a vol pedal and physically slowing down the tape on an Echoplex I also used. I used a MESA cab IR that I downloaded from somewhere [ maybe 3D], really makes a difference in this application. I'll post a pedals breakdown if anyone is interested, guitar was a '63 Stratocaster.

Thanks very kindly Phil_m, appreciated!

Thanks, it's just the name of the patch..

This was my experience today, almost; started the machine, it acted like it was going through it's startup machinations but then it simply froze at the startup screen, wouldn't budge beyond it. I restarted the HELIX and watched as it visibly rebuilt the patches, then opened up as per normal with an exception- it remembered the last patch I was on but the patch was completely altered, nothing at all like the patch I created, an alien patch! Fortunately I saved all of my patches both individually and as a setlist/ bundle, I re-loaded the screwy alien patch and am [ so far] back in business. Very disconcerting, hope this is the first and last such crash.

Just mixed this, recorded almost entirely w/ HELIX[ the guitars+bass anyway] for an upcoming HBO doc in production now. I can't mention the production specifically but will post a link to it when they broadcast.. https://soundcloud.com/jonbutcher/brontosaurus-mx-4-28

Al, please expand on this, what do you mean exactly ?

When I change a preset name on the editor the scribble strip title also updates

Sure, you say that now.. lol

Yes. I'm afraid my Helix will explode.

Ahh. So when one is 'saving DSP', how is one doing that exactly ? Avoid making or importing Patches w/ too many cabs/ effects etc ?

I've read several times by members referring to HELIX DSP usage and 'saving room'. What HELIX anomalies are witnessed when running out of DSP ? Is there something the HELIX does, in the way that laptop operation slows down to a crawl ? Is it downloading 3rd party IR's that uses up DSP in the HELIX ?

Thanks Bkehoe but that isn't what I was asking, have re-worded my question and included pics, hopefully someone will weigh in with an answer.