Helix and Strymon.

[CraigGT]

I have a Strymon Blue Sky and a Dig that I use with my acoustic setup which isn't seeing much action lately so I decided to try them with the Helix.

My favourite Blue Sky sound is the plate reverb and I managed to get a pretty reasonable match out of Helix's plate reverb although it is nowhere near as spacial.

The Dig has more possibilities because of it's Exp input. My Dig is set up for a Fav switch so I tried setting up a Ext Amp switch but couldn't get that to work.

So then I used a TRS cable from the CV out and assigned a footswitch to CV Toggle 0/100 and this did switch the Dig Fav on and off!

Getting more adventurous, I changed the Dig to Exp mode and assigned the Time parameter to it. I then assigned EXP1 to a CV out, min val to 100 and max to 0 and that worked great, slow delays with pedal up getting faster with pedal down although I found 90 and 20 to give a more usable range of delays.

It's father's day here, I'm allowed an indulgence  :) 

Craig

[CraigGT]

Thinking about it, it would have made more sense to use the Tap switch on the Dig to set time and assign the controller to Repeats.

 

It proves the point though.

 

Craig

[spikey]

 I managed to get a pretty reasonable match out of Helix's plate reverb although it is nowhere near as spacial.

 

 

So if it's a close match, what makes the Strymon so special?

[shanecgriffo]

So if it's a close match, what makes the Strymon so special?

i'm guessing the sense of space and depth on the strymon

[CraigGT]

So if it's a close match, what makes the Strymon so special?

Well the Strymon can do a lot more than just a plate reverb and it was by far the best reverb I tried for acoustic guitar which was the reason I bought it, long before I got the Helix.

 

Craig

[FlyingsCool]

Any chance you can create some comparison clips?

 

Anyone out there have an understanding on technically why the Strymon sounds more "spacious?"

 

for instance, maybe they are adding another delay to the signal, or there's an internal parallel processing going on or something?  I use the Voxengo reverb a lot as a plugin when mixing vocals and stuff, and, yeah, turning that "spacial" knob has an effect, though I'm not sure what's going on, maybe it's separating the stereo further or something?  Obviously, I don't have a huge understanding about the details of reverb and delay, hence I'm asking....

[CraigGT]

I'll have a go but this was more about being able to control the Strymons with the Helix rather than the sound of them.

 

Craig

[FlyingsCool]

Would it be useful to consider MIDI control to call up specific presets?

 

Or are you more interested in free form control?

 

(for me, that's what I have the most trouble with using Helix.  I've never been a specific "preset" player.  When I had a pedal board, I tended more to create sounds on the fly.  But I want to get to a more consistent sound and learn to be creative up front, rather than a sort of random creativity, but that's more of a me learning curve than having anything to do with hardware)

 

With respect to my original question though, I don't own any Strymon pedals, so I would like to hear the difference from somebody who likes the Strymon better.  And above that, I'd like to understand technically how that difference is created, as that will help in building presets.  IOW, yes, I can tell the difference between Helix and my TC HOF, but it's my understanding that Strymon is even a step above that.  It seems to me as far as the HOF is concerned, TC does some manipulation of EQ and cuts, plus perhaps other stuff.  I'd like to know what that stuff is.  How come I can just twist a knob on the HOF and get that nice big Hall reverb sound, where the Helix Hall I have to do much more work and even then is much less than that, for instance without using some EQ. and maybe putting it in parallel or adding another reverb on top, etc.

[CraigGT]

Well the small form Strymon's (Blue Sky, DIg) don't have midi control but their big brothers (Big Sky, Timeline) do

 

Here's some clips of my sloppy take on Love Over Gold

 

Helix Plate Reverb

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e3vv5nrgjlf9qnc/L.O.G%20Helix%20Plate.flac?dl=0

 

Strymon Plate Reverb

https://www.dropbox.com/s/37dde9xz7y3h8p8/L.O.G%20Stymon.flac?dl=0

 

But the Strymon can also do this!

Strymon Plate Reverb with Shimmer

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ysomkj7ds6ad81h/Stymon%20Mod.flac?dl=0

 

Craig

 

 

 

 

 

[spikey]

Well the Strymon can do a lot more than just a plate reverb and it was by far the best reverb I tried for acoustic guitar which was the reason I bought it, long before I got the Helix.

 

Craig

Thanks for the info- thanks for clips.  :)

[spikey]

Craig, I had no idea. Strymon Sounds are excellent! I bought a Mobius recently and got Helix set up via midi to go into bypass on footswitch A using the controller.

I have not set up switch B yet (if that's even possible), but I can bypass A as needed now!  Thanks for the heads up about Strymon.