Helix Floor/LT/HX/Stomp/PodGo owners' Club - Tips, Ideas & Patches

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, PatrickJ said:

Checked out Dr Tone this evening but didn't really rate his Synth sounds...

This guy however - much more the sort of thing I am after

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lz02CvQ42U&ab_channel=ChadCarouthers

Also this guy is using a HX FX in this video for some of his synth effects

Scott's Bass Lessons - Top 10 Synth Bass Lines (But it's not Scott!)

Look forward to checking out the other clips.

With you on Dr Tone's synth patches - never felt it was his best stuff or particularly usable. But hats off to the guy for taking the time to share his creativity. 

[Greg Edwards69]

10 hours ago, PatrickJ said:

Checked out Dr Tone this evening but didn't really rate his Synth sounds...

This guy however - much more the sort of thing I am after

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lz02CvQ42U&ab_channel=ChadCarouthers

Chad’s synth presets are the only presets I’ve ever paid for. They sound great but I’ve yet to find a use for them! The only other synth sounds I use are simple ones I made myself for Time is Running Out and Cars..

I was really hoping 3.0 would beef up the synth department but is wasn’t to be. But now they’ve built the polyphonic engine, we can hope they apply this technology into building a better synth engine in the future. I’d love a deep impact / future impact model. 
 

FWIW Dr Tone aka Jon Willis knows his stuff when it comes to bass tone, particularly driven rock tones,  up synth really isn’t his thing. I have to admit though, most of his presets seem to work great for him, but they just sound awful in my hands. 

[Greg Edwards69]

On the subject of synths, has anyone had much luck with the 3 Osc Synth effect found in the Stereo Pitch/synth section? It seems to be the closest thing to a proper synth “engine”.

TBH I’m not great at dialling in synths, so I’m tweaking knobs more randomly than with real intent. I wish line 6 would introduce effect level presets for this type of effect  

[Al Krow]

Having now had a listen +1 for Chad's presets - they're the best synth patches I've heard on Helix!

Particularly liked his "Dirty" patch at 5.06 of the YT clip - tracking is excellent and for me that would be a very usable synth sound.

Cheers @PatrickJ for sharing.

57 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

On the subject of synths, has anyone had much luck with the 3 Osc Synth effect found in the Stereo Pitch/synth section? It seems to be the closest thing to a proper synth “engine”.

TBH I’m not great at dialling in synths, so I’m tweaking knobs more randomly than with real intent. I wish line 6 would introduce effect level presets for this type of effect  

If you want any hints or tips on dialling in synth sounds then @Quatschmacher is our resident guru and super helpful - he's got a couple of links to some basic intros to synths which you might find useful. He mostly works with "proper" synths (C4, FI) - I've not been able to persuade him to go Helix...yet.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Al Krow

[PatrickJ]

After posting I watched one of Chad's other videos.  In this one he goes into more detail on how he produced the sound

 

1 hour ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

I was really hoping 3.0 would beef up the synth department but is wasn’t to be. But now they’ve built the polyphonic engine, we can hope they apply this technology into building a better synth engine in the future. I’d love a deep impact / future impact model.

The new polyphonic stuff is looking good.  I was previous using the Legacy Octave patch in my synth patches but I'm updating that with the polyphonic modules as they give a better synthy tone.  I've also changed my fuzz of choice to the Xenomorphic fuzz (again an idea taken from @bassfan) as you can change the wave shape which lends it's self nicely to creating synth patches.

The only issue with the Polyphonic modules is the amount of DSP they need.  I did have to move to Simple Pitch for one of my boards as there wasn't enough DSP for the Poly modules.

Edited November 25, 2020 by PatrickJ

[bassfan]

Has anyone downloaded any of the 3 synth patches yet? Just wondering how much they were? Only really want the first one not sure if you get all 3 or they are individual? 

[bassfan]

Also...looking at his helix, he’s using the full helix, so in theory it could be that the patches contain amp sims which the hxfx doesn’t have. I’d be interested to see what effects he uses to enable those synth sounds, which I quite like 😃👍🏻

[PatrickJ]

1 minute ago, bassfan said:

Also...looking at his helix, he’s using the full helix, so in theory it could be that the patches contain amp sims which the hxfx doesn’t have. I’d be interested to see what effects he uses to enable those synth sounds, which I quite like 😃👍🏻

1 of his patches, funky duck, is available for all Helix units. I think it's Around $6 dollars.  The links are in the Youtube video description. I was quite tempted by it just to see how he's setting up his patches.

[Al Krow]

Unless a patch has been specifically saved in the right format to download for a particular model I'm not sure that it is possible to use e.g. Dr Tone's Stomp patches can't be uploaded to HX Effects etc

Don't know if there is a workaround on Native which allows you to upload any patch and then save in the relevant format for your own model? If so, that would definitely make investing in Native that much more attractive! 

But even that obviously won't solve the issue that HX Effects doesn't have amp and cab sims if these feature in Chad's patches.

[bassfan]

25 minutes ago, PatrickJ said:

1 of his patches, funky duck, is available for all Helix units. I think it's Around $6 dollars.  The links are in the Youtube video description. I was quite tempted by it just to see how he's setting up his patches.

That was the one I was tempted by. 

[PatrickJ]

59 minutes ago, bassfan said:

That was the one I was tempted by. 

Synth Bass Funky Duck - Helixpresets (sellfy.com)

$3  advertising as working for all Helix units.  think I'll get it myself.

[bassfan]

16 minutes ago, PatrickJ said:

Synth Bass Funky Duck - Helixpresets (sellfy.com)

$3  advertising as working for all Helix units.  think I'll get it myself.

Cheaper than a synth pedal. Let us know how you get on. 👍🏻

[PatrickJ]

48 minutes ago, bassfan said:

Cheaper than a synth pedal. Let us know how you get on. 👍🏻

tried it, sounded nothing like how it does on the Video - at least for me.

And thus is the problem with using other peoples patches, different gear, different playing styles, different results.

[bassfan]

@PatrickJ is it far away and just needs a tweak or miles away ?

[PatrickJ]

1 minute ago, bassfan said:

@PatrickJ is it far away and just needs a tweak or miles away ?

Miles away .. makes me think somethings not quite right with the import perhaps.

My helix doesn't seem to respond in the same way his does which could be a playing style thing.

[dave_bass5]

Damn, ive just seen a video explaining the new User Default and Favourite settings on the Stomp. What a great time saver. Wish L6 had come up with those earlier. 

[PatrickJ]

2 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Damn, ive just seen a video explaining the new User Default and Favourite settings on the Stomp. What a great time saver. Wish L6 had come up with those earlier. 

^{Yes I only just learnt about Favourites today!}

^{And SNAPSHOTS - why I didn't know about them before I don't know, but they are seriously useful.}

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, PatrickJ said:

tried it, sounded nothing like how it does on the Video - at least for me.

And thus is the problem with using other peoples patches, different gear, different playing styles, different results.

That's a shame - if you fancy sharing his basic settings / which effects he's using on that patch, perhaps a few of us can have a go at tweaking to see if we can come up with something a bit more usable.

[LukeFRC]

1 hour ago, dave_bass5 said:

Damn, ive just seen a video explaining the new User Default and Favourite settings on the Stomp. What a great time saver. Wish L6 had come up with those earlier. 

I had forgotten them! 
Will be loading the amps to Jon Ellis's ones - they are quite nice starting places

 

[krispn]

5 hours ago, PatrickJ said:

Miles away .. makes me think somethings not quite right with the import perhaps.

My helix doesn't seem to respond in the same way his does which could be a playing style thing.

I’m sure he’d be responsive to a message via the social media channels. As a paying customer he might offer some ideas

[molan]

On 24/11/2020 at 23:47, Woodinblack said:

Maybe I just don't know what 'artificial compression' is, but it certainly never caused me an issue, maybe that is why I don't mind it. The knobs were bad (although the replacements they sent me haven't cracked - maybe different plastic). Certainly never had a issue with it being underpowered too, and the group is too loud anyway (although we only play pubs and clubs), which is a concern I have with the CTM. 

The RH450 has a 226w power amp in it. 

TC use permanent compression that’s hard-baked into the board to boost the perceived volume so it sounds like a 450w head. 

This means every signal it sends out is compressed (even more so if you use the additional onboard compressor). 

There’s nothing wrong with this if you like a compressed sound. Personally I find it sucks the life out of my tone but we all like different things 😉

[Woodinblack]

9 hours ago, molan said:

The RH450 has a 226w power amp in it. 

TC use permanent compression that’s hard-baked into the board to boost the perceived volume so it sounds like a 450w head. 

This means every signal it sends out is compressed (even more so if you use the additional onboard compressor). 

I know that, if you are going against the power limit it will compress. I just wondered what 'artificial' compression was. I also gig with a 100W Ashdown CTM100. Obviously when I am gigging with that it is also compressed as it is running quite hard, in fact more so because I am running it harder. Is that 'natural' compression?

Its just the terms that I was wondering about, not what compression was. 

[dave_bass5]

Another video for Stomp owners. Stomp finally has a control centre, and it looks like a fantastic addition. Opens up what those 3 (or 5) foot switches can do. 

And if anyone needs a really good 2 switch footswitch, there’s one for sale here 😉

 

[Greg Edwards69]

14 hours ago, molan said:

The RH450 has a 226w power amp in it. 

TC use permanent compression that’s hard-baked into the board to boost the perceived volume so it sounds like a 450w head. 

This means every signal it sends out is compressed (even more so if you use the additional onboard compressor). 

There’s nothing wrong with this if you like a compressed sound. Personally I find it sucks the life out of my tone but we all like different things 😉

I remember TC coming under fire a number of years ago for "lying" to customers about their power rating and handling.  TC bass amp owners who were perfectly happy with their tone, volume and headroom were suddenly outraged that they had paid for a 450w amp that was only 225w. And many more who vowed to boycott them.

Trouble is, too many people get caught up in specs and numbers and forget to use those fleshy extremities on the side of the head.

Edited November 27, 2020 by Greg Edwards69

[Al Krow]

5 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

I remember TC coming under fire a number of years ago for "lying" to customers about their power rating and handling.  TC bass amp owners who were perfectly happy with their tone, volume and headroom were suddenly outraged that they had paid for a 450w amp that was only 225w. And many more who vowed to boycott them.

Trouble is, too many people get caught up in specs and numbers and forget to use those fleshy extremities on the side of the head.

Yes it was a big kerfuffle. From TC's perspective they may well not have achieved anything like the sales they did if they had come clean about what the true power rating was. No one likes being blatantly lied to and there was clearly a bit of compressing of the truth going on.