Being in a moment when I hardly have time for fiddling with my music helped me focus on my current minimal setup (and learn it better) and understand that at this stage something else would be totally not essential. I will still get something cheapest like a Korg Nu-tek but aware that is just a present to myself. I’m also ‘lucky’ that my one gear is being upgraded constantly so multiple times a year it feels like a new one. Proper linear song mode and Live-style clips next, I won’t complain.
The Hardware Megathread
White_Noise
#1028
Sure thing man! I’m hoping to be able to do more demos on my instagram soon(now with an actual audio interface), so I’ll let you know if/when I get around to that.
You have to really make good use of the effects chains to do what the H9 can do out of the box. The H9’s algorithms have a lot going on, and if you want to get near that sound you have to make it happen, it doesn’t just happen on accident. I just feel like I got my first good patches on it in the last week after having it for 4 months , though as I mentioned earlier I don’t get a lot of time with it and I just got the editor for my PC last month and that makes a world of difference trying to program a patch. If you have experience with the line 6 editor and effects, I think you’d get up and running pretty quick.
IIRC you said you have one of the bigger Helixes? Line 6 did an update so that all Helix devices are on the exact same code now, only difference is how many effects you can run in a patch, so it will be very similar sound/programming wise if you have another Helix already. If not, it’s not that difficult once you figure out a few workarounds to do things like my new favorite and process wet signal separately from the dry signal. Granted, you “only” get two signal paths and they have to merge back to one at by the time they get output (I think). Still, you can get close to H9 sounds with a lot more control, but you have to have a decent idea of effects routing and gain staging to get there.
All that said, there are two areas that are a bit of a letdown and where you might want to supplement the unit with dedicated effects: pitch shifting and reverb. The pitch shifting is always a little grainy to me, so I use it with low mix and add a little bit of texture to treble sometimes, but I don’t try and use it as smooth pitch shifting. For the reverbs, you only get 5 modern algorithms or so, which are fine but not amazing. The legacy reverb effects are pretty run of the mill (plate, spring, echo chamber, etc), but they do the job fine. I still lust after something like a Strymon Big Sky to go after the Helix though.
For the price, the HX Effects and the H9 are both good pedals, but I ultimately went with the HX Effects because I wanted to have a bit more control on the unit and originally intended to not use a PC to edit patches. The HX Effects can get you by in that regard but the editor is just faster and better. The H9 I think can do a lot of on-pedal editing, but I’d never get anything done with 4 buttons and a knob and the 80’s style seven segment display. However, I think (and I could be wrong here) their editor is only on mobile, and I have an Iphone SE so that would still suck ass to edit on and drain my phone battery as a bonus. Bear in mind I see a ton of maxed H9s out there used for $500-ish, so if you go that route both these can be the same price.
canecreek
#1029
Somebody trying to sell a limited edition Bob Moog Doll for £200 
I bought mine 14 years ago and its still sealed 
canecreek
#1030
This was some build, frustrating waiting for components.
Hopefully get the Dreadbox Antiphon built this weekend.
Echoplain
#1032
Yesterday I acquired an Aphex Dominator II Multiband Peak Limiter 720 for €80,-
I am super stoked to implement this in my set up and see what I can do with it! I have thus far only played with my Analog Heat 2 on the master in terms of hardware so this is gonna be great. I bought the Aphex unit on recommendation and the reviews online or sparse and the few I find are very mixed. Does anybody here have any experience with them?
relic
#1033
Those are all dreadbox modules? I’ve liked the sound of the dreadbox offerings I’ve watched reviews of. I really liked the final (most recent?) Erebus sound. But then again, given the budget I’d have a room filled with mono synths lol.
relic
#1035
I have to say, I’d been skeptical of cloud based VSTs/software. But I’ve had some good experiences with the stuff.
Hell, I just updated the firmware of the Mono Station over the web using google chrome lol. Crazy world we live in.
canecreek
#1036
No thats just one Multistep delay module, it has 3 boards
Control board, Memory board and the brains board with Analog to digital conversion (1 bit world of crunchiness)
The memory board has 8 x commodore 64 RAM chips, the delay has a maximum of 8 taps so the delay/taps will go from RAM chip to RAM chip, all 80’s vintage lovely 
The Dreadbox Antiphon is a different module which ill hopefully build this weekend.
relic
#1037
Oh right on. That sounds like a bad ass delay though. The thing that is most attractive about modular to me has always been the idea of building a custom FX unit. Is there a way in layman’s terms to explain what going from ram chip to ram chip does to the sound? Or is it simply how one gets “taps” in a multi tap delay?
jbvdb493
#1038
Nice, thx.
I might just not spend money and figure out ways to use what I have more non standard like tbh.
But I do really like both the helix and eventide stuff.
canecreek
#1039
Ive not had it running yet but from my understanding the old RAM chips are pretty noisey some are too noisey so mine were tested before I bought them to ensure their not too noisey but because the noise factor is different from chip to chip then each tap will sound slightly different from one another which should add some character to the sound, the sound of each tap will also be 1 bit which again is adding its own charm/character.
relic
#1041
Cool man, thanks. And yea, that sounds really awesome and absolutely something I’d have to stop myself from using on everything lol. If you happen to record a demo I’d love to hear it. Enjoy : )
canecreek
#1044
Build completed, the Cliff K1C knobs do cover some of the fonts but i thought it was worth it.
I also used the more expensive paddle style rocker switches with give it a better quality look/feel.
Auto-meh-geddon
#1045
I do love your new build pics.
But you’re not coming to Synthfest so I’m forced to ban you.
canecreek
#1046
Having a few beers with the wife lastnight and after agreeing to swap around a few work schedules it’s looking more likely that I’ll have a drive down to synthfest
Looks like Analog solutions are revealing a new product and might get a go on the modal Argone8 so why not.