Helix Native

Cabicular

robinbowes said:

Fretwired said:

I use Amplitube quite a lot and it offers an FX loop for stomp boxes and a rack at then end of the chain with a bunch of useful rack units, such a two channel stereo EQ, delay, reverb etc. Just wondered if Helix had such a thing?

Ah, I see.

No, it doesn't. But you can do that within the DAW, ie. add post-Helix effects.

R.

There are a bunch of Aux presets in the templates section as well

Sporky

Y'know what'd be neat? Implementing Rewire inside Helix Native so you could have other plugins in Native's effect loops.

You could have multiple instances of Native running in and around each other like a weird Mobius VST. Massive virtual feedback loops. I'd get even less done, were that actually possible.

Digital_Igloo

Fretwired said:

robinbowes said:

Fretwired said:

I haven't delved that deep but does Helix have any rack units?

What do you mean? 

R.

I use Amplitube quite a lot and it offers an FX loop for stomp boxes and a rack at then end of the chain with a bunch of useful rack units, such a two channel stereo EQ, delay, reverb etc. Just wondered if Helix had such a thing?

Absolutely. We just don't differentiate between stomp boxes and racks. Anything can go anywhere.

PolarityMan

digitalscream said:

guitarfishbay said:

Right now I'm aiming to try Native and also test out the more recent official Amplitube models of Mesa and Soldano/Jet City gear to see which I prefer.  It'd be significantly cheaper for me to upgrade the Amplitube bundle with the current sale.

I can save you a bit of time, if you like - Amplitube Soldano models aren't even close to the quality of the Eleven Rack versions, much less the Helix. The Jet City models - tested against the real thing with a dummy load - aren't really all that great, either. I have it from the horse's mouth that they're not supposed to be the same as the real thing, just "inspired by".

The amplitube SLO is my current go to model for demo'ing songs.

PolarityMan

Digital_Igloo said:

Fretwired said:

robinbowes said:

Fretwired said:

I haven't delved that deep but does Helix have any rack units?

What do you mean? 

R.

I use Amplitube quite a lot and it offers an FX loop for stomp boxes and a rack at then end of the chain with a bunch of useful rack units, such a two channel stereo EQ, delay, reverb etc. Just wondered if Helix had such a thing?

Absolutely. We just don't differentiate between stomp boxes and racks. Anything can go anywhere.

That's what she said lol

gibsongretschfan

digitalscream said:

guitarfishbay said:

Also FWIW I've never worked out how to get the Fractal Soldano models to sound right.  Again I've never played an SLO, but in the test me and Drew did it was the only time I preferred the Helix model vs the Fractal, when doing a direct comparison.  I strongly preferred the 5150 variants on the Fractal in that test.

Well, I only tried the SLO models in Helix Native, and they were enough to convince me to buy the LT. Absolutely the best Soldano models I've ever encountered bar none...given that they're always the first thing I hit when I come across a modeller, and having owned a Decatone and many Jet City amps, I'm calling that High Praise

The Soldanl model on the Pod v2 bean was the best too, maybe someone at L6 has a thing for the Soldano!

gibsongretschfan

Fretwired said:

digitalscream said:

guitarfishbay said:

Also FWIW I've never worked out how to get the Fractal Soldano models to sound right.  Again I've never played an SLO, but in the test me and Drew did it was the only time I preferred the Helix model vs the Fractal, when doing a direct comparison.  I strongly preferred the 5150 variants on the Fractal in that test.

Well, I only tried the SLO models in Helix Native, and they were enough to convince me to buy the LT. Absolutely the best Soldano models I've ever encountered bar none...given that they're always the first thing I hit when I come across a modeller, and having owned a Decatone and many Jet City amps, I'm calling that High Praise

In fairness the Solando was one of the amps Line 6 got right from the get go .. the ’89 Soldano SLO Super Lead Overdrive on the POD 2 was pretty good.

Beat me to it!

digitalscream

gibsongretschfan said:

digitalscream said:

guitarfishbay said:

Also FWIW I've never worked out how to get the Fractal Soldano models to sound right.  Again I've never played an SLO, but in the test me and Drew did it was the only time I preferred the Helix model vs the Fractal, when doing a direct comparison.  I strongly preferred the 5150 variants on the Fractal in that test.

Well, I only tried the SLO models in Helix Native, and they were enough to convince me to buy the LT. Absolutely the best Soldano models I've ever encountered bar none...given that they're always the first thing I hit when I come across a modeller, and having owned a Decatone and many Jet City amps, I'm calling that High Praise

The Soldanl model on the Pod v2 bean was the best too, maybe someone at L6 has a thing for the Soldano!

It seems like it's the amp they all start with - it was the best on the 11R too. In fact, the only modeller where I thought it was crap was the GSP1101, where whoever made it seemed to have more of a thing for the 5150.

duotone

digitalscream said:

gibsongretschfan said:

digitalscream said:

guitarfishbay said:

Also FWIW I've never worked out how to get the Fractal Soldano models to sound right.  Again I've never played an SLO, but in the test me and Drew did it was the only time I preferred the Helix model vs the Fractal, when doing a direct comparison.  I strongly preferred the 5150 variants on the Fractal in that test.

Well, I only tried the SLO models in Helix Native, and they were enough to convince me to buy the LT. Absolutely the best Soldano models I've ever encountered bar none...given that they're always the first thing I hit when I come across a modeller, and having owned a Decatone and many Jet City amps, I'm calling that High Praise

The Soldanl model on the Pod v2 bean was the best too, maybe someone at L6 has a thing for the Soldano!

It seems like it's the amp they all start with - it was the best on the 11R too. In fact, the only modeller where I thought it was crap was the GSP1101, where whoever made it seemed to have more of a thing for the 5150.

Ive been meaning to try one of these for years, it's an itch I haven't scratched yet. Think @Clarky praised these in an old thread & they are not crazy money...although they have shot up recently.

Clarky

duotone said:

digitalscream said:

gibsongretschfan said:

digitalscream said:

guitarfishbay said:

Also FWIW I've never worked out how to get the Fractal Soldano models to sound right.  Again I've never played an SLO, but in the test me and Drew did it was the only time I preferred the Helix model vs the Fractal, when doing a direct comparison.  I strongly preferred the 5150 variants on the Fractal in that test.

Well, I only tried the SLO models in Helix Native, and they were enough to convince me to buy the LT. Absolutely the best Soldano models I've ever encountered bar none...given that they're always the first thing I hit when I come across a modeller, and having owned a Decatone and many Jet City amps, I'm calling that High Praise

The Soldanl model on the Pod v2 bean was the best too, maybe someone at L6 has a thing for the Soldano!

It seems like it's the amp they all start with - it was the best on the 11R too. In fact, the only modeller where I thought it was crap was the GSP1101, where whoever made it seemed to have more of a thing for the 5150.

Ive been meaning to try one of these for years, it's an itch I haven't scratched yet. Think @Clarky praised these in an old thread & they are not crazy money...although they have shot up recently.

not the GSP 1101.. the 2120 [which is lovely]

duotone

^Ooops! Sorry.

guitarfishbay

Ok well in the interests of posting my experiences here they are.

Attempt no 1 - crash.




Attempt no 2 - I am eligible to try Native, unfortunately my account is not eligible.  

guitarfishbay

4th Time Lucky

octatonic

Sign up for a new account with a different email address?

Fretwired

octatonic said:

Sign up for a new account with a different email address?

That's what I had to do .... Line 6 did fix my main account quickly. Mine was to do with device authorisations.

guitarfishbay

octatonic said:

Sign up for a new account with a different email address?

Got it working, no idea what happened but I just kept closing and opening Logic and the 4th time it worked.

Currently trying out my core amp tones, 6505s and Rectifiers.  The Line 6 models are totally usable and a big, if not giant leap from the Pod HD series.  Definitely the best plugins I've tried, but I haven't demoed the official Amplitube Mesa pack yet.

I'm not really getting the feel I'd want in tandem with the sound in Native so far.  The tone of the 6505 is pretty decent but it feels like the bass is quite deep and not quite as brutal in punch as I'd like.  Like it's too wide and not explosive enough in the upper bass when you start chugging (I'm in drop B with EMG 81s, so have as little sub bass at source as you'll get).  I'm not getting that tracks the note low end bounce I'd expect from playing through that kind of amp, but the sound is subjectively pretty good.

Reducing the Sag in Native does get the feel to work better for me, and I would chop off all that sub in a mix so it wouldn't matter too much... definitely usable but compared to my Axe FX I'd say I'd still maintain a strong preference for the Fractal models of the amps I use most... they're just tighter, more percussive, and crunchier when you play hard.  The Rectifiers in particular.  The Line 6 one is pretty tame dynamically in comparison, having owned the real amp I'm wanting it to feel like it could knock down a wall if you hit a low note hard enough, just not getting that from the Native model.  The Fractal model is still more polite than the real thing but it's more controllable too so it works.  The tone is fine in Native though.

Needing to scroll amp controls is quite annoying actually, especially with resonance right at the very bottom.  If I slip slightly when using my scroll wheel I change values on a parameter, and Logic doesn't have mixer undo yet.  I'm sure resizable windows will fix this.

Drew's told me to check out the Archetype and SLO models next, and I won't bother A/Bing those with my Axe FX since there is no Archon and I can't work out how to get the Fractal SLO to sound good.

FWIW I'm using the Axe FX as the DI, so Native is seeing the same input level, and I'm monitoring in level matched (as best I can) channels with the same IR hosted in Space Designer.  FWIW I'm using a Mesa 2x12 IR, that's my favourite cab and I own two of them.

So far I feel like Native can get good sounds so from a mix only perspective it's a great plugin.  From a players perspective I'm still preferring Fractal so far.

guitarfishbay

Ok the Archetype is nice.

guitarfishbay

I like the SLO too, but on balance the Archetype is probably what I'd end up using most if I used Helix for high gain sounds.

Going to try the bass stuff next.

guitarfishbay

Ok I think the B7KU model sounds like a B7KU, I've got a real one here and the tone of the Helix version is recognisible.  I prefer the real pedal, again I'm finding it a bit more aggressive than the model in Helix but the Helix model sounds and plays well and the tone is definitely recognisible to me.  Would use the Helix model for sure.

The SV model sounds good to me.  I find it a lot more plug and play than the Axe FX model to be honest.  

octatonic

guitarfishbay said:

Ok I think the B7KU model sounds like a B7KU, I've got a real one here and the tone of the Helix version is recognisible.  I prefer the real pedal, again I'm finding it a bit more aggressive than the model in Helix but the Helix model sounds and plays well and the tone is definitely recognisible to me.  Would use the Helix model for sure.

The SV model sounds good to me.  I find it a lot more plug and play than the Axe FX model to be honest.  

I am really loving the plugin- it just works with no fuss.