Clarky and the Helix

Clarky

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

for the money you'd spend doing that you may as well get an Axe-FX

Jonathanthomas83

Clarky said:

in this case I think the amp and cab are supposed to be outside of the Axe-FX.. lol

Oh yeah, makes sense!! :-)

guitarfishbay

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

for the money you'd spend doing that you may as well get an Axe-FX

It'd work but I don't really see much point in splitting so many complex controls over two locations and workflows, when there'd be easier ways to get it done either just using all Helix or going all Axe FX 2.

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to tweaking though.

Sporky

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

for the money you'd spend doing that you may as well get an Axe-FX

Nah - that sounds much simpler. Where's the joy/rage/over-engineering in that approach?

Clarky

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Clarky said:

in this case I think the amp and cab are supposed to be outside of the Axe-FX.. lol

Oh yeah, makes sense!! :-)

running the risk of an accusation of being a tash'd Belgian sleuth.. 
the word Diezel was cunningly planted here and there.. lmao

Clarky

Sporky said:

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

for the money you'd spend doing that you may as well get an Axe-FX

Nah - that sounds much simpler. Where's the joy/rage/over-engineering in that approach?

it would however have a smaller footprint as far as airlines are concerned cos it'll all find in a big suitcase 

fretmeister

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

for the money you'd spend doing that you may as well get an Axe-FX

Nah - that sounds much simpler. Where's the joy/rage/over-engineering in that approach?

it would however have a smaller footprint as far as airlines are concerned cos it'll all find in a big suitcase 

In that case you might as well have 3 or 4 pocket PODS and a Palmer switching unit.

Clarky

fretmeister said:

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

for the money you'd spend doing that you may as well get an Axe-FX

Nah - that sounds much simpler. Where's the joy/rage/over-engineering in that approach?

it would however have a smaller footprint as far as airlines are concerned cos it'll all find in a big suitcase 

In that case you might as well have 3 or 4 pocket PODS and a Palmer switching unit.

I'm not really sure I'd want to suck quite that badly when I'm playing in front of people..
in addition to dropping a G# bomb into the key of Em [which I'm yet to forgive myself for].. lol..

Roland

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

A Fractal Ultra would be cheaper. Cheaper even than a Reverb pedal.

gibsongretschfan

Clarky said:

I've found how to get the feel back..
play through speakers / monitors with some reasonable volume…

ah yeah.. and a 20dB boost into the hi-gain amp

it's just thru cans that it feels quite stiff

Have you only monitored through cans until this point?

fretmeister

G# in Em?

You should be beating yourself daily. And not in a good way!

Clarky

gibsongretschfan said:

Clarky said:

I've found how to get the feel back..
play through speakers / monitors with some reasonable volume…

ah yeah.. and a 20dB boost into the hi-gain amp

it's just thru cans that it feels quite stiff

Have you only monitored through cans until this point?

not only, but mostly..
may seem a bit odd I know…
but the objective here was never about tone, it was about control
tone [within reason] I can deal with.. but if the control and config capabilities are not there, I can't live with the unit..

I am coming to the conclusion now that I can live with the Helix
BUT….
I'd need an external pitch shifter because the one 'in the box' is absolutely shite

fretmeister

Aye. The pitch shifter and the synths are shite.

And being a low ender, the synths are very important to me.

nothing has ever come close to the tracking on the Digitech Bass Synth Wah.

guitarfishbay

To be honest I prefer the BSW to the Fractal synths as well, crazy given how cheap they are. It's a good octaver too.

professorben

Clarky said:

fretmeister said:

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

for the money you'd spend doing that you may as well get an Axe-FX

Nah - that sounds much simpler. Where's the joy/rage/over-engineering in that approach?

it would however have a smaller footprint as far as airlines are concerned cos it'll all find in a big suitcase 

In that case you might as well have 3 or 4 pocket PODS and a Palmer switching unit.

I'm not really sure I'd want to suck quite that badly when I'm playing in front of people..
in addition to dropping a G# bomb into the key of Em [which I'm yet to forgive myself for].. lol..

That was you?
someone was discussing that very clanger just last...... oh yeah. 

Never.  
  

fretmeister

guitarfishbay said:

To be honest I prefer the BSW to the Fractal synths as well, crazy given how cheap they are. It's a good octaver too.

I have 3. Just in case!"  

John_A

E7#9. Good or enough for Jimi  As for the pitch shifter, I would bet it's just round the corner, maybe with auto tune

Clarky

fretmeister said:

Aye. The pitch shifter and the synths are shite.

And being a low ender, the synths are very important to me.

nothing has ever come close to the tracking on the Digitech Bass Synth Wah.

that sux...
my 'morph to pad' presets do the following when the XP = heel
fade in:
- dual pitch shifter set -12 and +12
- multi-tap delay [10 completely independent delays panned all over the place]
- gate with a slow attack to 'bow-in' the sounding note/s
- a huge cavernous reverb
- a stereo phaser for a little swirly goodness

during performance I play 3 and 4 note chords [power chords across 2 octaves, sus4, 5add9 etc]
the Helix cannot:
- reproduce this tone.. not even close.. far to thin sounding and the highs are too metallic [the shifter +12 note being great]
- cannot cope with the chords at all [makes strange farting sounds as it tracks subharmonics rather than the notes I'm actually playing]
- the 6 tap delay is far too rhythmic because each delay is a ratio of the main setting rather than being independent and a pair of dual delays can't do this..
- the phaser is far too polite.. not chewy enough..

the VG-99 and the Digitech 2120 [early 90's technology - which btw is where I first created this tone] can do this tone just fine..

I use this tone in three songs in the DBC set..
this is a deal breaker for me

Clarky

professorben said:

Clarky said:

fretmeister said:

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

Clarky said:

Sporky said:

I wonder if it'd be workable to have an FX8 or AX8 in one or more Helix loops.

for the money you'd spend doing that you may as well get an Axe-FX

Nah - that sounds much simpler. Where's the joy/rage/over-engineering in that approach?

it would however have a smaller footprint as far as airlines are concerned cos it'll all find in a big suitcase 

In that case you might as well have 3 or 4 pocket PODS and a Palmer switching unit.

I'm not really sure I'd want to suck quite that badly when I'm playing in front of people..
in addition to dropping a G# bomb into the key of Em [which I'm yet to forgive myself for].. lol..

That was you?
someone was discussing that very clanger just last...... oh yeah. 

Never.  
  

less said about this....... lol...

gibsongretschfan

Clarky said:

fretmeister said:

Aye. The pitch shifter and the synths are shite.

And being a low ender, the synths are very important to me.

nothing has ever come close to the tracking on the Digitech Bass Synth Wah.

that sux...
my 'morph to pad' presets do the following when the XP = heel
fade in:
- dual pitch shifter set -12 and +12
- multi-tap delay [10 completely independent delays panned all over the place]
- gate with a slow attack to 'bow-in' the sounding note/s
- a huge cavernous reverb
- a stereo phaser for a little swirly goodness

during performance I play 3 and 4 note chords [power chords across 2 octaves, sus4, 5add9 etc]
the Helix cannot:
- reproduce this tone.. not even close.. far to thin sounding and the highs are too metallic [the shifter +12 note being great]
- cannot cope with the chords at all [makes strange farting sounds as it tracks subharmonics rather than the notes I'm actually playing]
- the 6 tap delay is far too rhythmic because each delay is a ratio of the main setting rather than being independent and a pair of dual delays can't do this..
- the phaser is far too polite.. not chewy enough..

the VG-99 and the Digitech 2120 [early 90's technology - which btw is where I first created this tone] can do this tone just fine..

I use this tone in three songs in the DBC set..
this is a deal breaker for me

Yeah the pitch shifter sucks.

have you tried the Delixe Phaser? I'm sure it has options for 2, 4, 8 and 16 stage phasing.

ps. Helix tends to sound pretty stiff out of its headphone output regardless of which headphones you are using imo, I would avoid using it like that if at all possible as I don't think it gives a fair representation of the sound