lokimoto Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Hey guys, I am having a hard time, trying to set a half step down in Helix. Back when I had the GT100, I just set the pedal bend option and it worked just perfectly. I could use a guitar tuned in E and play song in Eb, without having the work to tune it half step down... Is there an option in Helix close to it? I tried to use pitch, but, it doesn't sound right at all! Any tip is welcome!!! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cattlerancher Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Simple pitch and whammy sound fine to me for a half step. You just have to make sure you can't hear your actual guitar strings. So you have to play really loud, or through closed headphones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokimoto Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 Volume is not the problem at all....it just doesn't sound right, too artificial and when playing chords, it gets too messy.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Get a Variax...the onboard detune FX are always gonna be lackluster for polyphonic stuff. It's really intended for single-note harmonies. Even the dedicated pedals that are supposed to produce polyphonic de-tuning, aren't all that great at it. A Variax is your best bet, as the piezo outputs are isolated, so the tracking is better...but even that design is not without it's problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilottes Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 It sounds beter for single note than for chords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsking1 Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 I think the Helix sound pretty good doing 1/2 step down with distortion. I bought Glenn DeLaune's patches and some of those have a 1/2 step down and I like it. Don't know what the settings are off hand. However, if you want another piece of gear to do this, you could try a Whammy DT or Drop. I recently picked up a Whammy DT for practice and like it much more than I expected. It can drop several half steps easily. The whammy DT also has other great detune and octave settings. I think these work best with some distortion and as the first pedal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokimoto Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 I considered the Variax, but another guitar? Already have 4 and it takes too much space for me. Also, I would like to listen to my pup's sound (Seymour Duncan Antiquities in a Strat). I have a Fender/Roland Stratocaster G5, but in the alternate tunnings, we don't have Eb, unfortunately! I watched some videos on Youtube and the whammy DT seems to be a really good option, but I bought Helix to downsize and buy another gear for just a couple of song, it's a waste of money in my opinion. Probably, I will keep tuning the guitar in Eb....just a bit more of work, but it is ok... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theKennyG Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Digitech Drop. Done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watch4king Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 I have it set up as the first (or second) block with the pitch shifter at -1 for both with 100% mix just like Glenn Delaune and works perfectly. I build my preset after that and assign it to a switch. Easy as pie. Look it up on youtube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcamponovo Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 As long as the mix is set to where the original guitar tuning is all the way down, it should work perfectly. I use this all the time. And with a Variax, you can actually set the Helix to tell the guitar to Eb automatically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennDeLaune Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 I have it set up as the first (or second) block with the pitch shifter at -1 for both with 100% mix just like Glenn Delaune and works perfectly. I build my preset after that and assign it to a switch. Easy as pie. Look it up on youtube. Yup, First in the chain!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billlorentzen Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Work on your falsetto. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokimoto Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 Did what you guys told me to and hitting note by note the sound is ok, no good, but ok.. Making chords...no way, awful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joepeggio Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 We all hope for a polyphonic pitch effect. The Helix is only monophonic, one note. Like theKennyG says, Digitech Drop. Done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokimoto Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 Too expensive for just a feature that won´t be used all the time... Let´s wait for something from L6... Until then, I will tune my guitar in Eb... :D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 ... Let´s wait for something from L6... ... :D It's called Variax. It can also probably replace your 4 guitars (that take up too much space, as you said) with one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokimoto Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 It's called Variax. It can also probably replace your 4 guitars (that take up too much space, as you said) with one. I´m old school, don´t really like the new technology. Love the old vintage pickups sound.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Well, the old school method is to manually retune the guitar down to Eb. ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokimoto Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 that´s exactly wwhat I am doing ....or did I miss something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Hey guys, I am having a hard time, trying to set a half step down in Helix. Back when I had the GT100, I just set the pedal bend option and it worked just perfectly. I could use a guitar tuned in E and play song in Eb, without having the work to tune it half step down... Is there an option in Helix close to it? I tried to use pitch, but, it doesn't sound right at all! Any tip is welcome!!! Thanks! Did I misunderstand your original post? Aren't you trying to achieve an Eb tuning without retuning from standard, meaning a new-school rather than old-school approach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokimoto Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 So, according to you, if I like the vintage stuff, it´s implicit that I must tune the guitars they way I want and abandon technology?If that´s what you think, I must be the craziest guy on earth.....vintage guy with a helix floorboard... Nice one mate! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Not at all. You're putting words in my mouth. You said 'Let's wait for something from L6'. I pointed out that it's already here - the best new technology way to do exactly what you want (and more) is to use a Variax. But you want to keep your vintage guitars and use a pedal option for detuning. I understand this fully and in no way am I suggesting that you need to abandon technology. Helix simply does not support what you want very well. You have other options, like non-Line 6 devices (e.g. Digitech Drop) that are designed to handle polyphonic pitch shifting. If you find that none of these other options appeal to you then you're left with old school retuning while waiting hopefully for this feature to appear in Helix someday. That's not abandoning technology - that's doing your research, discovering that the available technology isn't what you want right now, and continuing to use old school methods until and unless you find something you like. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 I love digital fisticuffs....who's next, who's next? !?!?! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarleyUK Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshimkoski Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 FarleyUK with the win. Haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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