Liked so much I bought Native.. any tips?

[jrrjr68]

OK I'm a little late in the gamne perhaps but as a newly downloaded, never opened Helix Native owner.. is there anything I should know or be aware of or what tips would you offer in advance? 
Thanks!
~jR 

[soundog]

what DAW will you be using?

[Tehzim]

I record a dry track and then alter it using Native.  But I do that by recording from the Helix.  I record my track with a second routed track that's dry and then fiddle with it in native.

[jrrjr68]

what DAW will you be using?

Cakewalk Sonar Pro. 

[jrrjr68]

I record a dry track and then alter it using Native.  But I do that by recording from the Helix.  I record my track with a second routed track that's dry and then fiddle with it in native.

Yeah I will be doing the same as well a lot I'm sure. 

Mainly I bought it so I don't have to tear down my whole rig every time I go to work on new music at my brothers. 

Now just need laptop, and R24 and my Helix is waiting for me when I get home. 

[HonestOpinion]

The first thing I did was import the presets from my Helix to Native. Keep in mind that right now HX Edit 2.3 does not handle snapshots so if you have a snapshot you want to import from your Helix into Native make sure you have the snapshot you want imported selected and saved on the Helix for import to Native. 

[VirtualGuitars]

The first thing I did was import the presets from my Helix to Native. Keep in mind that right now HX Edit 2.3 does not handle snapshots so if you have a snapshot you want to import from your Helix into Native make sure you have the snapshot you want imported selected and saved on the Helix for import to Native. 

 

 

Helix Native will now support snapshots with v2.50!

[soundog]

Helix Native is powerful, so its also a bit of a power hog. You need to be aware of how Cakewalk Sonar Pro (or whatever DAW you use) runs on your system with regards to setting your audio buffer size, using Native with lots of tracks or plug-ins, etc. If you're using it during mixing and not tracking, things are a lot easier. When you're tracking, you're better off (I think) monitoring your guitar playing through your Helix hardware if you own it. If you monitor through Helix Native (for example, you prefer to leave your Helix pedal somewhere else, or don't own the hardware and are using software monitoring), you have to play some tricks to get the latency (audio delay) down low enough that you can still play tight while recording — it can be challenging, depending on your system and DAW. Sometimes I freeze all other tracks to free up resources, or in a pinch I'll bounce all other tracks to a single audio file, and use that in a new project dedicated to recording Helix Native tracks with my buffer and latency set as low as possible.

 

Helix Native automation can be very powerful, because you can tweak EQ, gain, pedal FX, etc within your guitar tracks for precise control to fit the mix. I use Logic Pro X, and can automate every Helix Native parameter by assigning automation controllers. Unless the new NAMM update addresses it, Helix Native doesn't yet support direct MIDI automation, so automation has to come via your DAW. Not sure if Cakewalk Sonar Pro supports this or not.

 

​Make sure your levels are set good when recording your raw guitar tracks. Avoid any digital clipping like the plague.

 

Set your Helix Native input levels so they are peaking at around -12dB.

 

Use a good EQ plug-in before the Helix Native plugin to gently tweak your raw recorded guitar track until it sounds good (take out any mud, boom, ugly frequencies, etc). Tweak your EQ with and without Helix Native enabled. No garbage in...no garbage out.

 

Spend some time learning how presets are saved with Helix Native vs within your DAW. It can be confusing, so you just have to experiment. Otherwise, you might lose a carefully tweaked preset when you load up an old tune into your DAW.

[HonestOpinion]

Helix Native will now support snapshots with v2.50!

 

Yep, saw that, awesome!