How Is the Helix STILL The Only Modeler to Do This Properly? Synth Pads and Chord Drones

[@michaelgriffin5304]

This video is actually pretty interesting, so don't take this comment the wrong way but you have been releasing way too much content LOL I can't keep up with it all. My updates and alerts are just full of you. Kudos for keeping the work up and pushing them out but you can take a break every now and then!

[@kierenmoore3236]

Shillin’ ain’t easy! “Yeah, you got to make a livin’ with what you bring yourself to sell.”

[@r0bophonic]

Don’t hate the player, hate the game. Posting daily is the way to please the KZbin algorithm. For the amount I pay, I think JC strikes a good balance between advertiser paid and educational content. Nappies aren’t free.

[@azcorazon844]

He doesnt care about you dude. Hes just cranking shit out to pay bills. This is modern day youtube. Sometimes they still do something interesting but its mostly shit.

[@KeithMilner]

Remember, John started this during the pandemic as part of a plan to do to new improv piece daily to keep his practice routine in.

[@kierenmoore3236]

@@azcorazon844 “We need to talk about …” 🙄 … umm, no we don’t, lol … you can always just *UNSUBSCRIBE* remember …

[@MintyBitesBack]

Awesome video. I've seen you discuss these before but this is awesome...

[@trickfall8752]

I love the pads at about the six minute mark.

[@ebb8870]

CQ has this in a couple of presets with the freeze block/pitch shifter

[@chrismillett]

Sick - I need to make an HX stomp version of these. Wouldn’t work with snapshots but I bet would work with a multi stomp midi controller.

[@moskitoh2651]

I never longed for this Feature.

[@c.g.vonhagenstein7576]

There's another thing Helix gets right that I haven't found in any other modeler (though admittedly I haven't tried them all) and that is the control it gives you over heel & toe values (or starting and ending values if you prefer) for expression pedals. This gives you an extra amount of control over how much of whatever effect you're controlling with the expression pedal you want applied at both end of the pedals range. I haven't found any other software that lets me do this. Only thing I crave is even more control lol. I'd love to be able to create splines or curves where, essentially, I could define the numeric value I'd like applied for an effect at any and multiple points along the entire range the pedal covers. If it existed, I could maybe accomplish something similar if I had midi remapping vst that did the same thing and have that sit "in between" the expression pedal's actual output and what Helix (or another modeler) receives. But it's doubtful that I'd want such a remapping applied to every effect I might switch between while using the expression pedal (wah, delay frequency, slicer, rotary effects etc.) so having the ability to have a custom curve for specific effect presets would be 1,000 times more useful. Alas everytime I describe my desire for this level of control I tend to get blank stares and "Why would you want/need that?" type of responses. Oh well.

[@KeithMilner]

The Boss pedals have this, even the old GT-3 and cheap-as-chips GT-1.

[@thierry18]

gt 1000 core can adjust the expression pedal ranges. And iircc, the zoom B2 Four has this ability as well. And although I don't fully understand what you are saying about the last part, the gt1000 core does allow you to assign various start and end values that can be changed with a foot switch or expression pedal. So you could easily set a custom curve that only applies to whichever effects you want it to within a patch. Via midi, you can set up to 16 parameter switches.

[@c.g.vonhagenstein7576]

@@KeithMilner That's cool to know, thanks. I've not tried them. We *might* be saying slightly different things though, not sure. I'm referring to defining the value of an effect parameter at each end of the pedals sweep, as oppossed to remapping the pedals output midi values (in the case of midi expression pedals) across the range. But if we are talking about the same thing then yeah that's cool, and glad to hear it's a feature in other products. Helix was the only one I'd personally seen it in.

[@c.g.vonhagenstein7576]

@@thierry18 The controllable stsrt and end values is indeed what I was referring to for the first part. Glad to hear there are some other products that provide this, esp. in hardware form. The latter part is just me wishing for a more elaborate version of that, where I can control not only a parameter value at the beginning and end of a sweep, but at any point throughout, as well as the "curve" of the value changes - e.g. controlling the rste at which the values change along the curve with splines. It's hard to explain. I have sn animation background and in that world you can use splines to "ease in" and "ease out" so that movements aren't jerky and jarring (unless you want them to be of course). I'd like these same types of spline and curve controls that are common in the world of animatiin to be able to be used for expression pedals also. It's not a "must have" thing of course, just a cool to have. I have some oddball specific applications in mind involving "traveling" the length of a waveform via an expression pedal to modulate my guitars tone. It's weird I admit lol.

[@jimmcdougall9973]

I use my MODX8 for this. It does it amazingly well 🙂

[@wavewithus4081]

He knows Helix isn't 'the only' modeler that does this and mentions it in the video.. I have his Fractal preset that emulates this but like he says, it isnt as user friendly to setup and doesnt show note names/values.

[@jetset9561]

As I discussed above you don't need the note names - just the value of the root note you want in Hz and then use note intervals to set the triads - for my A Maj pad, I used 110 Hz for the root note, and then for A Maj just set voice 1 at 0 shift, voice 2 at +4 semitones and voice 3 at +7 semitones - give you a perfect AC#E triad.

[@Zeinzu2]

I super enjoy these aspects of the helix. I's there a way you would use this with arpeggiators?

[@jetset9561]

My FM9 was so easy to set up synth pad sounds

[@ksharpe10]

Is there a video for this???

[@jetset9561]

@@ksharpe10 I didn't have a video - I just set up the synth block with the three voices; and like John said the Axe doesn't have note names but all you need to do is Google the Frequency for the note you want and put that in. Then I use the shift knob to set the voices. Say we're in C Major: I use the four channels on the synth block for the C Maj, D Min, F Maj and B Dim 7 chords. As the FM9 has only one synth block I use the pitch block to modify the pitches of the C, D and F pads to sound the E Min, G Maj and A Min pads. On the Axe FX3 I would use two pitch blocks. And like John said you could easily swap out the B Dim for a more useful chord like a IV min or a V/3 inversion.

[@kubapawlowski78]

It's much easier to change chords using one switch with "stackable snapshots" feature. I'm using this with Boss SY-200 in loop.

[@perforations6234]

the Mooer GE-300 has a funny synth

[@paulversey6589]

Neat trick. Can you show us how to do this on the stomp ?

[@jaymax3201]

Stomp lacks DSP capacity and footswitches.

[@ThePlanarchist]

@@jaymax3201 Switches yes, you're stuck with three chords unless using an external MIDI controller but this can still be used on the Stomp, been using it for several years.

[@davidfaustino4476]

Synth blocks are cool. But its crazier to me that these things dont have drum maghines that can sync with the built in looper

[@lancenunez8252]

Right? I’m with you.

[@erickuehnl]

Definitely. And Helix ecosystem not supporting MIDI beat clock with the looper is the only reason I have a Ditto X4.

[@peterjessop1878]

Synth sounds in either Helix or Fractal tend to be a last resort for me or for very simple tones . I’m more likely to use a midi foot controller using midi notes to trigger a real synth or a Zoia.

[@nedludd3641]

I wanna buy Cordy's Pod Go Patches. How do I unload them to my Pod Go?

[@jaredmedina833]

In HX edit you can drag and drop them from the folder into a preset and save it and itll load onto your line 6 device

[@nedludd3641]

@@jaredmedina833 Bless :)

[@MonkeyDLuffy-cq2lo]

I really enjoy your videos, especially the creative themes and detailed explanations you provide. However, sometimes I feel that the videos are a bit long and the key points are not as prominent. Have you considered making shorter versions of your videos? For the same topic, you could create a detailed long version and then a shorter version that focuses on the following: 1. What to do: A brief introduction to the topic and the goal of the video. 2. How the sound is: Showcase the actual sound of the patch or effect. 3. Detailed instructions or programming tutorials: Provide specific steps or programming details. For certain sounds, like the Guitar Synth Pad, it’s more important to know how to use them correctly rather than editing them extensively. In the shorter videos, you could focus on how to use these sounds properly and where to download them. I hope these suggestions help with your video production. Looking forward to more great content from you!

[@sacredgeometry]

Err it isnt

[@staalearne]

No Quad no sub😢