Dynamix Flanger help

[donoise]

Can anyone explain this effect and its parameters? I want to use this and also feature it in a video but I can't figure it out. Is the designer of this effect here?

[duncann]

It's a flanger. A Line 6 Original and pretty versatile in what it can do. I doubt if the effect designer will show up here though. Maybe a chance at thegearpage.net.

 

Your best bet would be to just start digging into it. Start changing parameters and use your ears to build relationships in your mind between the parameter's names and the resulting sounds. That way you don't have to rely on someone else's description, either dry technical or wordy subjectiveness.

 

This particular effect is cool because it has an envelope controller. It can be triggered by picking.

 

[donoise]

1 hour ago, duncann said:

It's a flanger. A Line 6 Original and pretty versatile in what it can do. I doubt if the effect designer will show up here though. Maybe a chance at thegearpage.net.

 

Your best bet would be to just start digging into it. Start changing parameters and use your ears to build relationships in your mind between the parameter's names and the resulting sounds. That way you don't have to rely on someone else's description, either dry technical or wordy subjectiveness.

 

This particular effect is cool because it has an envelope controller. It can be triggered by picking.

 

Yeah it is a flanger with envelope  control but it has a lot of parameters that I'm not familiar with. I can play around and come up with sounds I like but I want to show this effect in a video with other envelope controlled flangers and I want to be able to tell what it is, what it can do, how it is different etc. That's why I wanted to know in a bit more detail, and maybe from the designer.

I was curious about some of the reverb parameters before and saw that the designers explained them in detail on a thread here. I was hoping maybe I'd get a similar response.

[guysiah]

/bump

Yeah, it's frustrating to navigate some of these complicated effects, considering the M-Series pedals have a dedicated parameter guide in .PDF. It would be nice to have that updated for the Helix series.

[datacommando]

11 hours ago, guysiah said:

/bump

Yeah, it's frustrating to navigate some of these complicated effects, considering the M-Series pedals have a dedicated parameter guide in .PDF. It would be nice to have that updated for the Helix series.

 

Have a look here:

https://helixhelp.com/models/

 

Some of these have links to the user original manual and/or more info about whatever effect model was based on.

 

 

[guysiah]

On 8/1/2019 at 3:36 PM, donoise said:

Can anyone explain this effect and its parameters? I want to use this and also feature it in a video but I can't figure it out. Is the designer of this effect here?

Just discovered, it's based on some old school Micmix DynaFlanger. So cool! I guess Zappa used two of them in parallel on a lot of records. I've always enjoyed tweaking this effect, excited to finally examine this effect a bit deeper.

Here's a decent explanation of the effect, cheers! http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/dynaflanger/8726

Looks like Pigtronix did a recreation for Dweezil as well, with a custom CV mixer: 

 

[Digital-Larry]

Similarly frustrated by the lack of info.  "Just start turning knobs" is a losing proposition.  Yes I am going for a Frank Zappa "Shut Up n Play Yer Guitar" tone.  I'll check the links above.

[Digital-Larry]

Here's a link to an old blog post, second article has a drawing of the Micmix Dynaflanger block diagram.  It seems like some of the parameters map onto this.

 

https://dynaflanger.com/forum/php/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=612

 

This spells out the parameters in more detail but still does not explain what they do.

 

https://helixhelp.com/models?categoryId=4&subCategoryId=5

 

 

[Digital-Larry]

OK, since I'm trying to be helpful here, I did actually twiddle the knobs and came up with this:

 

Speed = 0.4 (I don't think speed does anything in envelope mode)

Ctl Sel = envelope (that's what I'm trying to do)

Depth = 2.8 (not clear what this is)

Manual = 2.5 (not clear)

Mix = 50% (fairly obvious)

Phasing = 10.  This corresponds to the delay phase setting so when mixed in with the dry, you either get peaks or notches.  Note that if phasing = 0, you get nothing because + and - cancel each other out.  I'd vote for this to just have a few settings,  e.g. -10. -5, 5, 10 because "0" is equivalent to turning the effect off

Recycle - this appears to be a feedback control.  It's either In or Out.  When it's "In" it's usually way too much.  This control by comparison, would do better to have a continuous setting rather than just "In" or "Out".  And why not just call it Feedback?

CV Dyn - I set it to 7.2 but I don't grasp what it is doing

Max Dly = 25 ms.  The minimum setting of this is "10 ms".  If you set it too high, then you get wild pitch bending effects as it's sweeping from flanger into chorus range.

CV Track - normal or inverted - fairly straightforward, both seem usable

Env Lag - 19 msec.  Really don't know what this is doing.

Env In - +7.9 dB - I presume this is the envelope sensitivity

CV Dcay - x4 - OK I'm guessing this is the "release" setting for the envelope generator

 

I think there are various settings, e.g. Ctl Sel, which affect whether some of the other controls do anything at all.  E.g. If you're not in LFO mode, you wouldn't expect "Speed" to do anything.  If that's true, maybe it's possible to "grey" or dim that control to let you know it's not doing anything at the moment.

 

This being a signal dependent effect, twiddling the master volume on the "burn" channel of my Mesa/Boogie head interacts with the effect as well.  That I can handle.

[joachim]

Thank you vey much Digital-Larry. Your suggested settings are spot on to achieve that lovely Dynaflanger Effect. 
I have the BubbleTron, but I would like to get rid of my Pedalboard and do everything with my Boss GT-1000 and maybe some Plugins with Gig Performer as Host. So this is really very nice! You nailed it!

[craiganderton]

Here's the section on the Dynamix from my eBook, The Big Book of Helix Tips and Tricks (v1.1). FYI - For those who already have the book, the free update to v1.2 with the new goodies from 3.50 is [finally!] coming out this month. 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

Dynamix Flanger

 

This flexible flanger has three control options: LFO, Envelope, or Manual. This is a complex effect, particularly with Envelope control, so we’ll cover each control option as if it’s an individual effect.

LFO Control

Fig. 2.31 shows the controls that affect the LFO mode.

 

 

Figure 2.31  The relevant controls for LFO mode.

• Speed (Rate), Depth, and Mix are standard LFO flanger controls.
• Phasing chooses two different flanging characters. Negative values produce in-phase flanging, which gives a more resonant sound. Positive values create out-of-phase flanging, for a more hollow sound. At 0, there’s no flanging effect. Also at this setting, there’s no audio with Mix set to 100%.
• Recycle adds feedback, which emphasizes the Phasing parameter’s effect.
• Max Delay sets the longest point of the flanging sweep, up to 100 ms. Chorusing and chorused echoes are available at longer delays, with low Depth settings. If the delay is long enough to give audible echoes, Recycle adds repeats to the echo effect.
• CV Tracking changes the sweep direction, so that it spends more time at the top part of the sweep. It’s more useful for Envelope control.

Envelope Control

With this control mode (fig. 2.32), the flanger’s sweep responds to the dynamics of your playing instead of an LFO. Hitting your string after a brief period of silence triggers (or re-triggers) the sweep. Until the next silence, the sweep tracks your dynamics. Mix, Phasing, Recycle, and Max Delay work as described above.

 

 

Figure 2.32  The relevant controls for Envelope control mode.

 

Note that the envelope controls interact. Referring to fig. 2.33, here’s how they work:

• CV Dynamics sets the sweep range, based on your dynamics. With low settings, playing dynamically covers a narrow sweep range. Higher settings cover a wider sweep range for similar dynamic changes.
• Env Input matches your playing’s dynamics to the sweep range. Set this so that hitting the strings hardest covers the highest part of the sweep set in CV Dynamics.
• When first triggered, CV Tracking determines whether the initial sweep goes from high to low (Normal), or low to high (Invert).
• CV Decay sets the initial sweep time, from X1 (barely noticeable) to X4 (still fairly fast, but obvious). It also smooths the envelope, so with chords, the envelope sweeps smoothly instead of jittering.
• Env Lag introduces a slight delay before the sweep starts. Note that when re-triggered from silence, the 0.0 ms setting seems to be the same duration as the 100 ms setting. For minimum Env Lag, choose a 0.1 ms setting.

Fig. 2.33 shows the relationship of these parameters for a decaying guitar chord with maximum Env Lag, and a long CV Decay.

 

 

 

Figure 2.33  How the CV Dynamics, Env Lag, and CV Decay parameters interact.

Manual Control

With manual control (fig. 2.34), no parameters are affected by the LFO or the Envelope. The remaining parameters work as described for LFO and Envelope control, and they are good candidates for use with the Expression Pedal.

 

 

Figure 2.34  Parameters that are relevant to Manual control.

[teddybut]

Thanks for that Craig, very helpful.