craiganderton

Unfortunately I've used up my forum space for posting images or audio. However the "Bass Blast" tip in The Big Book of Helix Tips and Tricks adds a parallel bass track to the main guitar sound, which works much better for me than using the frequency split crossover. The parallel path means the main guitar path has nothing to do with the bass path, so that should keep your high end from sounding dull. Here's the description of what's in the bass path, hopefully it will be of some help: Adding two EQs before the Poly Capo helps keep the higher notes from reaching the Poly Pitch block. The first EQ cuts out everything except the low notes, and uses a 10 Band Graphic EQ. The second EQ boosts the low note levels with a Parametric EQ. As a result, you hear only the guitar’s lower strings play an octave lower. The compressor that follows the Pitch block helps bring up the sustain, which makes the low frequencies sound more like a bass. The level going into the Poly Capo is relatively low, so its Level adds +6.0 dB. The Mixer adjusts the balance between the amp path and the bass path. You may want less bass level than the preset’s default setting.

Nice sleuthing! I just checked, they have 4,979 in stock :)

Disclaimer: The following is pure speculation. In my experience, companies often prioritize dealers over direct sales. If inventories run low due to parts availability, supply chain issues, shipping delays, etc. it's important for companies to maintain good relations with their dealers. Dealers don't like it turning customers away. As to the future of Helix, the future is that I'll keep using it :) I'm sure something new will come along at some point, but Helix is so ingrained in my setup I would see it being supplemented rather than replaced. Quick comment about Helix Native: It's an outstanding plugin for vocals, drums, synths, etc. I often have multiple instances in a song, but only one or two of them are for guitar or bass.

It's good you brought this up! New users should know that updating requires following Line 6's instructions to the letter. Always read through all the update instructions first before attempting an update. This forum is filled with "update bricked my Helix!!" and "new amps don't show up since updating!!" posts, which were pretty much due to user error. Outlier problems are losing internet or power in the middle of updating.

I've used Helix for 8 years and had only two issues. One was the joystick not working well about 5 years ago, after it wasn't used for about a month due to moving. I just moved the joystick back and forth multiple times, and it fixed itself. Regular use seems to make it happy. If it hadn't fixed itself, I would have tried contact cleaner. The other issue was that I didn't think the footswitch pedal was working. It was, it just requires a LOT of pressure to trigger. For that reason, the Helix floor needs to be on a hard surface. If you use it in a studio with a rug, you'll have to push extra hard. Finally, at the risk of being self-serving, I wrote an eBook about the Helix that, among other things, describes what all the parameters do and includes 300 presets. You may find it helpful as you learn your away around what I think is a truly fabulous guitar processor.

The "Tilt" EQ was designed for speed. By simultaneously boosting/cutting treble and cutting/boosting bass, a single control could make a sound warmer or brighter. Back when studio time was expensive, this was a big deal :) The original hardware Tilt circuit had a fixed center frequency of 700 Hz, unlike the Helix's variable midrange frequency. Tilt has several uses. For example, from my Helix book: Legacy cabs can’t move the mic toward the speaker’s edge. However, the Tilt EQ can create an effect like moving the mic horizontally across the speaker. Moving the Tilt parameter toward the left (fig. 6.10) reduces the high-frequency response, so the sound is more like placing the mic at the speaker’s edge. Another comment: Use Dark to give single-coil pickups a humbucker character, and Bright to give humbuckers more of a single-coil vibe. Also note in the book's analyses of the new 3.70 amps, several of the tone controls that are built into the amp have a tilt-like response. This is particularly noticeable with the Aristocrat Bass and Treble controls, the Carillon's Treble control, the Voltage's Presence control, and the Mandarin 200 Bass control. This shows the advantage of designing original amps that don't have the restrictions involved in emulating specific amps.

Any delay that has a Note Sync function can do dotted eighth notes. And I'm with you - that's my favorite delay time L)

Also remember that the DAW saves a "snapshot" of your settings, regardless of the setlist. For example, I have only three main setlists when using Native. One is my multiband guitar stuff, one is everything except guitars (vocals, drums, bass, keys, strings, etc.), and one is the presets included with my book. So, I call up an appropriate preset, tweak the settings, but don't bother to save the preset because the DAW will save the tweaks as part of the song when I save it. When I re-open the song, the DAW will show the name of the preset I loaded originally, but it will retain all the tweaks I made while working on the song.

Agreed 100%. It also lets you develop presets for HX Stomp. It's how I made sure the free presets in my Helix book were Stomp-compatible. And...Helix Native is incredible for vocal processing in your DAW.

Totally! It's pretty cool that EH figured out how to separate the individual strings for separate processing. As far as I know, Helix isn't set up that way.

Okay, what you want is very different from what's commonly called upward compression. With upward compression, the signal increases at a faster rate above the threshold, rather than decreasing above the threshold. Very different things! I use upward compression with acoustic guitar to emphasize attacks and strums, so I thought that might be what you were trying to do. Since your main issue is reducing peaks, try the Studio Comp in Limiter mode.

Basically, yes, but there are two fine points. If a compressor has a soft knee, compression actually begins below the threshold, and doesn't reach full compression until a point above the threshold. Also remember that in most cases, people apply makeup gain due to the level loss caused by compression. So, this brings up all audio. The audio under the threshold isn't compressed, but it is louder than it was originally. That's why some say that technically speaking, as soon as you apply makeup gain, you're raising the level of audio below the threshold. This is how compression brings up low-level sounds, like room sound with drums. As to upward compression, there is a workaround for Helix but it's a little touchy to set up. Insert a Studio Comp set to Limiter mode in Path B, with Mix set to 100% wet, in parallel with your dry signal. Invert Path B's polarity. If you get the balance of the two just right so that audio below the threshold cancels partially with the dry audio, then when the compression kicks in, there will be less cancellation between the two, and the dry audio will be louder for as long as the compressor is above the threshold. This isn't as precise as proper upward compression or transient shaping, but it may do enough for what you want. Good luck!

FYI it's up to version 1.4 now, so download it again to get the latest version :)

Thanks for circling back, I'm glad to know it's working as expected. As you can imagine, companies that sell things may not have mechanisms in place for giving away substantial amounts of stuff for free :)

I have an older Komplet keyboard. If you're not using a computer so you have to use the 5-pin DIN connector, I believe you also need to use the accessory power supply that's not included with the keyboard.

Thanks for handling tech support for me :) Hopefully everyone has things sorted out and been able to download the new version.

If you already own any version of the Helix book, you can download version 1.4 for free from your Sweetwater account. Here's what's new compared to version 1.3: 534 pages (45 more pages than v1.3) In-depth analysis of v3.70’s nine new Cabs In-depth analysis of v3.70’s ten new Amps Complete parameter descriptions for the new effects (Prize Drive, Regal Bass DI, Feedbacker, Dynamic Bloom, and Nonlinear) 27 new presets featuring the new models in the v3.70 update I'm particularly proud of the new presets. Even if you don't read the book, just import the presets and have fun :) All except for three of them work with HX Stomp. I also did something a little different this time. I described the preset creation process for the new presets, and why particular blocks and parameter values were used. Also, many of these are oriented toward lead sounds. I felt the book needed more of those. And of course, I'm always interested in your feedback for when I start work on v1.5!

Wow. Many years ago, Apple orphaned a Universal Audio DSP card by changing the PCIe spec in their machines. So, I bought a Universal Audio Satellite, which uses FireWire. Now that won't work with Apple computers. At least it still works with Windows. As to support for older Line 6 gear, I assume anything that existed before the Yamaha acquisition was eligible for the chopping block. Yamaha already had a line of pro-level interfaces from the Steinberg acquisition. I had a Roland VS-700 controller that worked with Cakewalk Sonar. When Windows 10 came out, it no longer worked. However some smart Sonar user figured out how you could change a few characters in the driver's code in a text editor, and have everything work just fine. Why Roland would not put a revised driver on their website mystified me. They could have even said "We don't support this driver, but if it works for you, great." I had a Matrox video card that no longer worked with Windows 10. Matrox said it was incompatible and I'd need to buy a new card. Their driver specifically said it wouldn't work with Windows 10. Well, I poked around their website and found a driver package for servers, and it had a driver for the card that worked perfectly. Welcome to greed. On the other hand, I've had Helix for 8 years, and it just keeps getting better. You win some, you lose some.

It sounds like you bought an early copy before they had the updating procedure totally nailed down. This has happened to some other people, and they'll take care of you. I submitted the v1.4 PDF and free presets/files last Friday. They usually get a new version up in a week or less, so they may wait to reply until the latest version is live so you don't have to download v1.3 and then download v1.4 a couple days later.

I'm having the same problem with Studio One 6.5. If you know the MIDI Controller number and you specify it under the Controller Assign function without using MIDI Learn, then it works. It seems the problem happens as soon as you click on MIDI Learn. At least in Studio One, sometimes it's easier to choose a Knob as automation, and then assign the controller (e.g., footpedal) to the knob.

Once you get 3.70 working, you can reinstall from the backup you made prior to attempting the update. Regarding Helix Native, I never uninstall, I just install on top of any previous installation and that seems to work fine. I highly recommend first checking for Windows updates before installing anything, and at least creating a System Restore point in Windows before installing any new software or drivers. Even better, image your drive. Then you can always return to a working state, and start troubleshooting from there. Glitches can happen during an update process. Sometimes updating a second time from what you had originally will do the job.

Maybe throw the Dynamic Bloom Reverb in as well for a blossoming effect when you bring the oscillators in and out. If you mix the Bloom to 100% reverb, you may be able to get away with just using guitar.

The worldwide breakdown in civility/tolerance is a problem, although I do believe this forum is better than most. There are a lot of helpful people here doing their best to assist people who have Helix issues, as well as pass along tips. There will always be some noise, but I feel the signal-to-noise ratio here is way better than average.

That intrigued me, so I gave it a try. I'm curious what you use for the reverb's Mix parameter. The amps I tried had enough gain to bring up the reverb, so I dialed the mix down to 15% or so and it seemed to add that kind of "warmth" you mention. In any case, it's a cool trick. This is off-topic, but what you're doing can also sound good with vocals. Have very subtle variations in the 3 kHz range where articulation happens. It kind of makes the voice sound more lively. FWIW I think Helix is underrated as a vocal processor.

Exactly. It's totally personal preference, the same way some people want to learn through text, and some through video. But if you look at how the brain processes information, you can make certain generalizations about the different ways the brain's two hemispheres process information. Much of this understanding is based on research that won a Nobel Prize in 1981. (Fun fact: The corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres, tends to be more robust in musicians. I theorize this is because musicians need to use both hemispheres in order to play music, but in the immortal of words of Herman Cain, "I don't have facts to back this up" haha). Here's a simple example: being able to colorize mixer channels in a software console. I use a standard set of colors for my tracks - green for vocals, blue for guitar, yellow for percussion, etc. as well as track icons. When a project has lots of tracks, I find it easier to zero in on a track using color and/or images compared to reading text at the bottom of the channel. This speeds up my workflow, which helps by creativity. Others think colorized mixer channels look unprofessional and have a "Playskool toys" vibe. For them, colors interrupt their workflow because they find the colors distracting or annoying. "To each their own" is so true...