Some Helix demos

Here's the demo I promised for my big Helix presets pack :



I did another demo, a shorter one. This one is from a tweaking session 12 days ago, I was mostly adding a volume block and tweaking the delay/reverb in all presets - but I left out the tweaking parts, there's just some noodling on different tones here



The presets are available here :

http://axefremen.blogspot.com/2016/08/fremen-helix-big-pack-175-presets.html

Fremen Helix big pack (175 presets)

Here my big presets pack for the Helix 2.01 firmware - 175 presets covering many genres (pop, rock, fusion, metal...). This package contains both individual files and two setlists for quicker loading, 25 user IRs and an .xls file, which list all presets and gives some details on them (check it here : http://pages.intnet.mu/fremen/Misc/Femen_Helix_presets.xls ). Soon, I'll upload a proper demo, but I've already uploaded a few teasers here :










Now, some notes :

Presets

The general volume of my presets is intended to be on par with the stock presets, or a little quieter. I wanted to avoid the risks of digital clipping, which I hear on many presets I downloaded from Custom Tone.

My presets are first and foremost a very big collection of amp/cab tones, effects are a bonus. There's also a few, like the ambiant ones, U2 or Pink Floyd presets etc in which the effects settings are equally important. Like my presets for Axe-Fx and AmpliFire, they are intended to cover various genres, from classic rock to metal through pop and fusion. Some of them uses snapshots, again, check the .xls file for details.

I like my cleans without any hair, and quite compressed. Compressor is an important element in my "Cln xxx" presets. It can of course be removed ; on many presets, the sound will then be a little dirtier, on the edge of breakup.

Also included is a collection of metal presets meant to be used for recording, so they're brighter than what I normally use. I used a DI track from one metal song I recorded to tweak them. However they probably have a little more bass than needed but I like that for playing with them. In a mix, I'll cut the lows some more.

IRs

You need to put the user IRs in the right places - "081 LX TDR Ultraclean.wav" goes to user spot 081, etc.

My presets have been tweaked with these IRs, they won't sound like intended if you don't load them. All are custom creations made with various free sources, or no source at all, and various techniques like tone matching.

Of course, you can try to swap them with your favorite third party cabs, this will probably work if you choose similar cabs (like, a V30 4x12 IR instead of my HG (high gain) cabs, G12M and the like instead of my Marshall cabs etc… Experiment !)

To make things simpler for most Helix users, I didn't put my user IRs at the beginning of the cab bank, but from 074 to 098.

Note : the acoustic sim IRs are way quieter than the others, it's their nature, and I boosted the level from the IR block accordingly. Be careful if you try other IRs with the Acoustic Sim presets, lower the IR block volume first !

Similarly, the volume of the IR block in the "Cln" presets is at -12 instead of -18 because for some amps, with the very low gain settings, the channel volume at 10 wasn't enough to compensate.

This pack is available on my new website here :

https://fremenpresets.com/

Here's a few free presets and IRs : http://tinyurl.com/fremenhelix

Thibault (Fremen)

Line6 Helix acoustic simulation presets pack

Here's my first presets pack for the Line6 Helix : a collection of Acoustic simulation presets.



The idea was to use as many different electric guitars/pickups as possible and make tonematch presets for each of them. So if you have an Ibanez with Bare Knuckle or EMG or DiMarzio pickups, or a Fender Stratocaster, or a Gibson Les Paul, the corresponding presets should work to give it a convincing acoustic simulation sound. Each preset works with a specific IR.

I used my Yamaha acoustic guitar sound as a base, and made tonematches for the following electric guitars :

- Ibanez RG 520 QS with Bare Knuckle Holydiver (bridge) and Emerald (neck) pickups (5 presets)
- Variax JTV 89 with DiMarzio Norton and LiquiFire magnetic pickups (5 presets)
- Fender Stratocaster USA with Suhr pickups (5 presets)
- Schecter Damien Platinium FR with EMG pickups (3 presets)
- Ibanez RGIR20FE with EMG pickups (3 presets)
- JTV89 Variax models of acoustic guitar (1 preset), Telecaster (3 presets), Les Paul (3 presets) and Fender Stratocaster (4 presets)
- Gibson les Paul Standard with Burstbucker pickups (with split coil) (5 presets)
- Gibson SG 50th anniversary with Gibson 498T (bridge) and 490R (neck) pickups
- Ibanez J Custom RG8540ZD with Seymour Duncan pickups

This pack is available on my new website here :

https://fremenpresets.com/
IMPORTANT : 

- Due to the nature of those IRs, their volume is way lower than traditional IR from guitar cabs. I boosted the level in the IR block accordingly. Be careful if you want to try an IR from a different source, the surge in volume will be deafening.

- The global level of the presets have been set to match the stock presets. Most presets I checked on Customtone are too hot imho.

- A minimum understanding of how to tweak Helix presets will be necessary. I stored all the IRs in my Helix to be able to tweak all the presets, but it's very unlikely that you'll use all those presets/IRs. Typical use will be to select the few presets that will work with your guitars, load the corresponding IRs where you want and tweak accordingly.

Example : let's say that you want to use two presets, "AS IB RG Bridge" and "AS LP ST Neck". The first one uses IR N° 66 (As Ibanez Bridge (BN Holydiver)) and the second one use IR N° 53 (AS les Paul ST Neck (Burstbucker)). But you can store these IRs elsewhere in the Helix ; just make sure each preset selects the right IR, and store it.

Of course, you can try a preset made for one guitar/pickup position with a different guitar, that may work ! Although a preset made for a Les Paul neck pickup will certainly be way too bright with a Stratocaster bridge pickup...

- I added two bonus presets. "Acoustic+Drive" combines an electric and an acoustic simulation sound. The IR for the electric sound, "87 LX TDR Marshall 1", is included. If you intend to buy my neck pack, it's better you keep this IR at the same position, #87. The second one, "Ambiant 3", uses the IR #66. Here's a video of the "Acoustic+Drive" bonus preset :



Comments and questions : d3usxm4ch1n4@gmail.com

A summary of my commercial presets packs for Axe-Fx II and AX8

Some people have been confused by the differences in the pack I sell for the Axe-Fx II and the AX8, so I thought of writing this recap.

I currently have four products on sale :

1) Axe-Fx Quantum 2.0/3.0 presets (40 $ for more than 384 presets) :
http://axefremen.blogspot.com/2016/02/fremen-quantum-20-presets.html

2) AX8 Quantum 2.x/3.x presets (49 $ for 52 banks of 8 presets and a few more) : http://axefremen.blogspot.com/2016/04/fremen-ax8-20-presets-pack.html

3) 5 scenes presets pack (20 $ for 51 presets for Axe-Fx II & AX8, both on Quantum 3.x only) :
http://axefremen.blogspot.com/2016/06/5-scenes-presets-pack-axe-fx-ii-ax8.html

There are already a few 5 scenes presets in products 1) and 2 ; but this is an expansion, with different amp models, so these are new presets based on the same principles. It started as a request from someone who wanted more of these do-it-all presets.

4) Acoustic simulation tonematch presets pack (10 $ for 45 presets for Axe-Fx II & AX8, both on Quantum 3.x only) :
http://axefremen.blogspot.com/2016/06/acoustic-simulation-tonematch-presets.html

I made this one cheaper because although there are many presets, you're likely to use a few only. Only three of those presets, the bonus ones, are already in my products 1) and 2) ; all the others are new captures tailored for different guitars/pickups, to maximize the chance that some will fit with your own guitar(s)...

Acoustic simulation tonematch presets pack

Here's my new Acoustic simulation tonematch presets pack for Axe-Fx II MKI/MKII/XL (originally for firmware Quantum 3.03, now for 7.02 and above ; both versions are included). AX8 users : this will work only for firmware older than Q7.02.

The idea was to use as many different electric guitars/pickups as possible and make tonematch presets for each of them. So if you have an Ibanez with Bare Knuckle or EMG or DiMarzio pickups, or a Fender Stratocaster, or a Gibson Les Paul, the corresponding presets should work to give it a convincing acoustic simulation sound (in FRFR systems of course !).



I used my Yamaha acoustic guitar sound as a base, and made tonematches for the following electric guitars :

- Ibanez RG 520QS with Bare Knuckle Holydiver and Emerald pickups (5 positions)
- Variax JTV 89 with DiMarzio Norton and LiquiFire pickups (5 positions)
- Fender Stratocaster USA with Suhr pickups (5 positions)
- Schecter Damien Platinium FR with EMG pickups (3 positions)
- Ibanez RGIR20FE with EMG pickups (3 positions)
- JTV89 Variax models of acoustic guitar (1 position), Telecaster (3 positions), Les Paul (3 positions) and Fender Stratocaster (4 positions)
- Gibson les Paul Standard- Gibson SG 50th anniversary
- Ibanez J Custom RG8540ZD

Bonus, the three existing acoustic simulation presets from my normal Axe-Fx II presets packs.
Each preset uses 8 scenes, which you can customize as you like.

Of course, you can try a preset made for one guitar/pickup position with a different guitar, that may work ! Although a preset made for a Les Paul neck pickup will certainly be way too bright with a Stratocaster bridge pickup...

Legal stuff :
These files are meant to be used with FRFR systems.

It is a digital download, so there will be no refund for any reason including purchasing by mistake. The download link will be emailed to you by e-junkie and I will receive a copy of that mail too. If you don't get it, please check your spam folder

These files are in a .rar compressed archive, which is a standard format. PC users can Winrar, Winzip or 7zip to extract them. Popular tools for MAC users are Stuffit Expander, Unrar x or The Unarchiver. Most computers already have tools for that, and most of these applications are free anyway.


Pack now available on my website (Axe-Fx II only, no AX8) : https://fremenpresets.com/

5 scenes presets pack (Axe-FX II & AX8)

It took me almost two weeks to finalize this new pack : 51 "5 scenes" presets, like the ones already present in my previous packs, but with different amp models. If you don't know what my 5 scenes presets are, check these videos (made with older firmwares) :





Here too, each of these new presets uses 5 scenes :

scene 1 clean
scene 2 edge of breakup
scene 3 crunch
scene 4 rhythm
scene 5 lead

They all use stock cabs, although I will add a custom cabs version too soon, as a bonus

This pack is for Axe-Fx II MK I/II/XL/XL+ (firmware Quantum 3.03 and above) AND the AX8 (firmware 3.51 and above) ; each machine has its own bank. It also for FRFR systems of course.Updates, if necessary, will be available for six months from release date.

Of course, you can tweak them as you like, specially by trying different cabs. Here I use 50 different amp models (there's two presets with one amp model, the Fender 5F8 Tweed) but much less cabs. Finding cabs which sounds as good with clean and high gain sounds is challenging ! It was also a challenge to achieve a clean sound with some of the amp models, like the Recto or MKIIC++...

Some more notes :

I used different amp models than with my previous 5 scenes presets : Fender (around 14), Mesa (6), Marshall (4), boutique amps (Carol-Ann, Bludojai, Carr, Two Rock, Cameron, Matchless, Dumble...), Cornford, Bogner, CAE+, Fryette, Hiwatt, and some FAS models...

The compressor, which is used on the first two scenes, can be tweaked for a less "squashy" clean sound. With some amp models, the first scene may then sound a little dirtier.

AX8 users : there's a bug with the Atomica preset, as this amp model doesn't react well with controllers attached to its gain. You may hear a "ticking" sound. I kept the preset in the pack anyway.

All the presets were made using and Ibanez RG with dual humbuckers and double checked with a Fender Stratocaster. Usually I use humbuckers for scenes 4 & 5, intermediary positions or neck single coil for scenes 1 - 2 - 3.

There's a bonus preset for Axe-Fx users (it's not possible to port it on the AX8, which doesn't have a second pitch block) : "Shine on 5 scenes", which you can see in action here :






NOTE : this pack has been replaced with an updated version for firmware Quantum 7.02 and above, with 90 presets. It's available on my new website here :

https://fremenpresets.com/

The "Shine on you crazy diamond" preset is now in another pack, "Fremen's picks"

Tribute to Pink Floyd videos

Here's some videos from a Tribute to Pink Floyd project, where I used the Axe-Fx II XL+ while the other guitar player used an AX8. The acoustic guitar was processed through an Atomic AmpliFire.





From rehearsals :



We also covered some classic rock songs during a second set :