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two days, the differences Axe Ultra II and Helix


Salsguitar
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1. I opted to make this number one because it was a constant source of irritation with the Axe.
NO TWO PRESETS HAVE THE SAME VOLUME LEVELS ON AN AXE..and in some cases, there is NO OUTPUT at all until you readjust or shut off the compressor.
I would spend an hour creating a preset and four hours trying to accurately match the volume levels to the other presets.

EVERYTHING comes out at the same relative volume on the Helix.

2. Some of the amp models exceed the Ultra in that they already have an amazing sound and I don't have to tweak.

3. I do MISS the Formant Filter..which emulates a talk box by creating a group of vowel sounds rather than Wah sounds. Haven't seen one in here yet..may be called something else though.
Still poking around..so I don't have the full lay of the DSP landscape yet.

4. Much less Labor intense to create, edit, move etc...a preset

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1 hour ago, Salsguitar said:

I do MISS the Formant Filter..which emulates a talk box by creating a group of vowel sounds rather than Wah sounds. Haven't seen one in here yet..may be called something else though.


This has cropped up before - way back in 2016

 

Check the legacy section for 

  • Filter Voice Box
  • Filter > V Tron
  • Filter > Q Filter
  • Filter > Seeker
  • Filter > Obi Wah
  • Filter > Tron Up
  • Filter > Tron Down
  • Filter > Throbber
  • Filter > Slow Filter
  • Filter > Spin Cycle
  • Filter > Comet Trails

Not the same a plugging in a Banshee - but hey!

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

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17 hours ago, Salsguitar said:



EVERYTHING comes out at the same relative volume on the Helix.

 

Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on being the first user in modeling history for whom this has proven to be true by default, without actually having to make it happen. For proof I refer you to any of the other 7381 "Why isn't the volume the same on all my patches?!?!?!??!?!" threads that have been polluting this forum (and likely others) for years on end. Don't know how you did it, and perhaps it was just dumb luck...but whether by accident or design, it deserves a tip of the hat. ;)

 

Quote

4. Much less Labor intense to create, edit, move etc...a preset

 

Can't argue with that...

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On 2/28/2022 at 4:41 PM, Salsguitar said:

3. I do MISS the Formant Filter..which emulates a talk box by creating a group of vowel sounds rather than Wah sounds. Haven't seen one in here yet..may be called something else though.

 

Try this excerpt from my Helix book, it's on page 198. Make sure you read all the way to the end about how to bypass this, it's a little tricky due to depending on an out-of-phase parallel path. (BTW sorry I can't figure out how to make the images smaller.)

 

Talk Box

 

The Talk Box preset isn’t an exact emulation of a talk box—but it gives that vibe. An Expression Pedal varies the frequency of three Parametric EQ stages, which are set to the highest possible Q and Gain.

 

image.png.143d3bf6384e6d2317fe402e6ef80ca2.png

 

The next image outlines the preset in orange. The Gain block exists solely to create a parallel path. In the Mixer, invert Path B’s Polarity. The Path A and B levels must be equal and panned to center.

 

image.png.acd271a48da87088ae84f0b72642353d.png

 

This preset controls three parameters with a pedal. Since the preset is EQ-based, and adding a Wah block automatically assigns its Position parameter to EXP 1, you’ll probably want to use EXP 1 for this preset as well.

 

The pedal varies the Low Freq from 250 Hz to 495 Hz, the Mid Freq from 750 Hz to 1.5 kHz, and the High Freq (fig. 3.3) from 1.5 kHz to 3.0 kHz.

 

image.png.5f2abcfba01405b6e5ed14d7b5ff2c10.png

 

Tto assign parameters to the pedal:

 

1. Press the Home button, and select the EQ Parametric block.

2. Press and hold the Low Freq parameter knob until the Controller Assign screen appears.

3. Push on the Learn Controller knob, and move the EXP 1 pedal.

4. Press the Home button again. Repeat steps 2 and 3, but this time, press and hold the Mid Freq parameter knob instead of the Low Freq parameter knob.

5. Repeat step 4, but this time, press Page > once. Then, press and hold the High Freq parameter knob instead of the Mid Freq parameter knob.

 

Bypassing the Talk Box

 

If you bypass the Gain block and EQ at the same time, the audio will cancel because the two paths will be out of phase. This is due to the Mixer’s B Polarity being inverted. So, set the Gain block to -120 dB. Program the footswitch for this effect to enable the Gain block when bypassing the EQ block. This turns the parallel path down by -120 dB, so the audio no longer cancels, and you hear the dry guitar. Enabling the EQ then disables the Gain block, which restores the parallel paths to give the Talk Box effect.

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