Akai New Headrush: looks like a Helix! (Best thread version)

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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    This is turning into the Star Citizen of the guitar world...
    I think that's a bit excessive, but...if you're going to make a surprise announcement of a product nobody was expecting, the worst thing in the world is to say "it'll be ready in a few months". I mean..."Hey, we're starting a cool new project, will be available in a couple of years!" is OK, and "We've been working on a cool new thing in secret, you can have one now!" is bonzer.

    A sorta-kinda-maybe halfway house just seems like a copout. It says "We thought we'd have it ready, but couldn't quite manage it", which doesn't bode well.
    What's Star Citizen?
    A question many of us have asked often ;)
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  • professorbenprofessorben Frets: 5105
    Oh it's a game......
    " Why does it smell of bum?" Mrs Professorben.
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    Oh it's a game......
    It was also a massive kickstarter whinge on the news a while back
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26455
    Well, fuck me...they actually answered the question (finally):


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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27582
    Of course they've not mentioned whether patch switching is instantaneous.

    Could be a two-minute dropout but with the reverb spilling over...
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26455
    Sporky said:
    Of course they've not mentioned whether patch switching is instantaneous.

    Could be a two-minute dropout but with the reverb spilling over...
    Actually, they have - on all the marketing material (and in all the demos) they've said it's instantaneous. I presume that's what they're using the quad core DSP for - only two cores active at any one time, and all the models loaded into memory.
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27582
    Well, just because I don't pay attention it doesn't mean, erm...
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • Will you have to press the button 6 times to get the patch to change instantly?
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  • TeetonetalTeetonetal Frets: 7801
    What do you reckon. .. a hastily worked on pre release firmware update to answer positively? Now it becomes an intetesting unit again...

    I could see helix for home and headrush for live in my future!
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  • professorbenprofessorben Frets: 5105
    Well, fuck me...they actually answered the question (finally):


    I think I The rather obvious point here that everyone is missing is how cool of a name is Nuno Mesquita?!?!
    " Why does it smell of bum?" Mrs Professorben.
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  • CabicularCabicular Frets: 2214
    why does that exchange feel like
    "does it support spillover?"
    fiddle fiddle re-compile.....
    yeah sure ... :)
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26455
    Cabicular said:
    why does that exchange feel like
    "does it support spillover?"
    fiddle fiddle re-compile.....
    yeah sure ... :)
    That wasn't lost on me at all. Particularly since I've been asking the question on all of their social media channels since it was announced.

    I still remain to be convinced that their after-sales product support is going to be any good (or, at least, any better than Avid's), but at least we now know that it'll be functional at launch.

    In fact...seamless patch changes and patch spillover are two things (combined) that neither the Fractal gear nor the Helix can do, so it's a win in that respect.
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  • guitarfishbayguitarfishbay Frets: 7953
    edited March 2017
    In fact...seamless patch changes and patch spillover are two things (combined) that neither the Fractal gear nor the Helix can do, so it's a win in that respect.

    While that's true it only matters if you can't fit everything you need to in one patch.

    My understanding is the Helix can run a higher number of total blocks than the Axe FX 2, I'm not sure by how much but personally I've never been unable to fit everything I wanted for a song into one patch on the Axe FX 2.  I do use two patches in total but that's only because I ran out of scenes and don't have any more buttons on my controller to achieve the couple of extra sounds, using two patches was the best option.  I'm not sure how many scenes you can get out of the Helix, with the Axe FX it's 8

    It's a real YMMV thing though
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26455
    In fact...seamless patch changes and patch spillover are two things (combined) that neither the Fractal gear nor the Helix can do, so it's a win in that respect.

    While that's true it only matters if you can't fit everything you need to in one patch.

    My understanding is the Helix can run a higher number of total blocks than the Axe FX 2, I'm not sure by how much but personally I've never been unable to fit everything I wanted for a song into one patch on the Axe FX 2.  I do use two patches in total but that's only because I ran out of scenes and don't have any more buttons on my controller to achieve the couple of extra sounds, using two patches was the best option.

    It's a real YMMV thing though
    Yep, agreed - however, @Drew_TNBD recently hit a limitation of the Helix in that he needed to run two songs into each other, which meant he needed more than 8 different sounds in a single patch to avoid patch gaps and lack of spillover. The Helix can only have 8 scenes (or whatever they're called in Helix parlance) in a patch.

    Granted, that's a bit of an edge case, but still...it's a limitation you don't have if you can do seamless patch changes with spillover.
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  • I just updated my post - it's also 8 in the Axe FX 2.

    Basically I have two patches, 1-4 are the same on each (clean, mid gain rhythm, heavy rhythm, lead) and 5-8 are for different FX combinations.
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27582
    The Helix can only have 8 scenes (or whatever they're called in Helix parlance) in a patch.
    But you can have expression control too. Snapshots aren't the only way of making sound changes, they're just a convenient way of making big sound changes.
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26455
    Sporky said:
    The Helix can only have 8 scenes (or whatever they're called in Helix parlance) in a patch.
    But you can have expression control too. Snapshots aren't the only way of making sound changes, they're just a convenient way of making big sound changes.
    Snapshots! That's the word I was looking for!

    I'd forgotten about the expression control, and I think Drew had too. I'll suggest that.
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27582
    It might still not be possible, of course, but there are ways to expand what you can do. Especially if one sound is (for example) the same as another but with phaser added.

    Drew seems to know the Helix really well so he's probably right, but as you said, it's likely a rare issue.
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • guitarfishbayguitarfishbay Frets: 7953
    edited March 2017
    Sporky said:
    The Helix can only have 8 scenes (or whatever they're called in Helix parlance) in a patch.
    But you can have expression control too. Snapshots aren't the only way of making sound changes, they're just a convenient way of making big sound changes.
    You can hook up expression controllers to the Axe FX as well but at some point it becomes impractical and just easier to use a different scene or patch.

    I always have a volume pedal as I use it loads.  That's 1 expression pedal always in use for starters.  If it's a simple this FX change to that FX thing I need I'd rather have a switch than a rocker (unless the goal is to morph between sounds).  I also prefer to have the minimum amount of extra stuff to plug in as possible, as that's one of the main advantages to digital, for me anyway

    You can set up other controllers too (ADSR/Envelope/Pitch/LFO) but they're imprecise compared to a switch, or having continuous independent control with your foot.  
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26455
    Sporky said:
    The Helix can only have 8 scenes (or whatever they're called in Helix parlance) in a patch.
    But you can have expression control too. Snapshots aren't the only way of making sound changes, they're just a convenient way of making big sound changes.
    You can hook up expression controllers to the Axe FX as well but at some point it becomes impractical and just easier to use a different scene or patch.
    LOL...I'm guessing you didn't see Clarky's rig in Birmingham...four expression pedals, IIRC, mostly used for altering the whole signal path.

    Just thinking about what was on the screen hurt my brain.
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