Echoes seagulls effect challenge

[ninecows]

So David Gilmour originally obtained this effect by plugging in his wah in reverse (probably by accident). Moving the tone knob will in some way make the guitar tone and wah filter circuits go into self oscillation… I assume. Then add echo and you have it. Doesn’t work with humbucker or active pups. 
 

Clearly anything digital will NOT be build for this. But can you obtain the same/similar effect anyhow with the helix? Perhaps with the synth section and filter/wah? I only had 2 days of play with my helix so far, so I’m not there yet. 

[datacommando]

5 hours ago, ninecows said:

So David Gilmour originally obtained this effect by plugging in his wah in reverse

Hi,

 

This was discussed way back (2016) and it’s just one of those freaky things that can happen with old analogue gear. It seems to still be possible by using a real wah into the Helix front end - not the loops. Depends on how much, and how often, you really want to use the effect but here ya go.

 

See this:

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[ninecows]

Cool… I do have a wah. And since it’s the wah and guitar electronics doing this I’m not in doubt that it can be done with everything in front of the helix. 
 

The thing is I just switched to active pups and then the wah will not see the guitar electronics as it’s a buffered circuit (I guess - I’m really stupid with electronics :-D)

[Optimist]

The best way to do the seagull effect is by using a bottleneck on the high notes and a delay.

[datacommando]

1 hour ago, Optimist said:

The best way to do the seagull effect is by using a bottleneck on the high notes and a delay.

 

Yes, that is good for the basic seagull screams, but it doesn't produce that "mad laughing" effect which is available using the real hardware pedal when wired incorrectly.

Possibly adding a Legacy Pitch Vibrato and controlling the speed using an expression pedal might help to create the additional warble.

May be worth a little experimentation.

[theElevators]

I'm away from home now, so cannot try this, but I think we can do it like this:

 

Have a delay with the right tempo with a feedback parameter at 80 percent, delay tempo that sounds good, both controlled by the EXP pedal. 

Also have a pitch shifter that is also controlled by the same EXP pedal within a certain range.

 

So with the EXP pedal, we can control:

1. the feedback parameter of the delay.  So that it goes from 80% to 100%.  At 100% the delay plays indefinitely and continously.

2. the tempo within like 20 bpms.  If you depress the EXP pedal, the seagul squawking gets faster. 

3. the pitch within one octave.  If you depress the EXP pedal, the pitch is raised. 

 

So now, if you play a note and engage the EXP pedal, your pitch will shift up, the note will keep repeating and the tempo will increase. 

 

I'm sure you can get pretty close to the sound, but it'll take a while....

 

[ninecows]

Sounds like a good approach - I will test it out. 

[John_Sandilau]

@datacommando Can you tell me exactly where and how can I plug in the wah to get this effect? I have a basic VOX wah that works on my normal amp but I want to make it work in helix lt as well. Thanks

 

[theElevators]

On 3/14/2023 at 12:31 PM, John_Sandilau said:

@datacommando Can you tell me exactly where and how can I plug in the wah to get this effect? I have a basic VOX wah that works on my normal amp but I want to make it work in helix lt as well. Thanks

 

 

[datacommando]

On 3/14/2023 at 4:31 PM, John_Sandilau said:

@datacommando Can you tell me exactly where and how can I plug in the wah to get this effect? I have a basic VOX wah that works on my normal amp but I want to make it work in helix lt as well. Thanks

Hi,

 

It works when plugged between guitar and the main input of the Helix (guitar -> wha out / wha in -> helix)

 

Fun for 5 minutes then… yawn!

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[John_Sandilau]

@datacommando So basically (guitar -> wah out) and (wah in -> guitar input helix)? Or should I plug it into the send/return/aux/phones/etc?

 

[datacommando]

On 3/26/2023 at 6:50 PM, John_Sandilau said:

@datacommando So basically (guitar -> wah out) and (wah in -> guitar input helix)? Or should I plug it into the send/return/aux/phones/etc?

 

So basically, I’m not sure how much more clear it can be.  Once again - It works when plugged between guitar and the main input of the Helix (guitar -> wha out / wha in -> helix). Must be a Wha with vintage analogue circuitry.

 

See video posted above from @theElevators 

 

No other option was mentioned! 
 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[codamedia]

On 12/13/2021 at 7:04 AM, Optimist said:

The best way to do the seagull effect is by using a bottleneck on the high notes and a delay.

 

I agree. That's the Adrian Belew approach... which produces very realistic seagull sounds. IIRC, Belew adds flange as well as delay. Matte Kudasai from King Crimson Discipline is a masterful display of the technique.

 

On 12/13/2021 at 8:48 AM, datacommando said:

but it doesn't produce that "mad laughing" effect

 

Identical no... but through technique you can easily get a "mad laughing effect" that you have complete control over. IMO - it's much more realistic.

 

[theElevators]

Here's something I just made.  Let me know if it works... basically a combination of tremolo, pitch, delay and gain manipulation using the expression pedal 2. 

Seagulls.hlx