Let’s dive right in. I have a 2016 MacBook Pro quad core i7 with 16 GB RAM, definitely powerful enough to run Helix Native. I’ve been wanting a Pod Go – I actually ordered one, only to have the order canceled by a certain big box music store because they sold me something they didn’t actually have. Now I’ve decided I need the HX Stomp instead, which will be another post. This is about Helix Native.
The Good
You can download Helix Native and try it out for 14 days for free, without a credit card number. That’s awesome. It’s not crazy bad in terms of CPU or RAM load. It sounds just like a regular Helix because it is the same code base, which is also awesome. It’s $399, which I consider reasonable for what you get. If you own Helix, Helix LT, HX Stomp, or HX Effects, it’s only $99, which I think is very reasonable. As a future HX Stomp (or maybe Pod Go) owner, I can say I’d strongly consider spending $99 on Helix Native in the future if I feel like I need more power.
Helix technology has been praised and bashed. But to my ears, mixed in a track, I doubt I could tell Helix from real tube amps. It might be good enough for me to use it for recording instead of my actual tube amps, but it’s hard to say. I’m a big fan of the sounds you can get, from clean to crunch to metal. I think it sounds great.
The Bad
I think it sounds great… if you know what you’re doing. I agree with most that the presets aren’t the greatest in some cases. I think they make good starting points. But I also understand why so many people get turned off by the Helix presets – most of the crunch and metal sounds have far too much bass in them. People have to remember when you play a Helix through studio monitors or PA speakers that you’re NOT trying to sound like an amp – you’re trying to sound like a recording of an amp, or maybe an amp with a mic in front of it. It’s a different vibe. If you’re going into an actual tube amp via the effects loop, that’s different. But most Helix Native owners are using studio monitors.
Still, some of the presets are laughably bad. Some are pretty good, though. Regardless, you better enjoy tweaking settings to get the most from a Helix product. Of course, I’m basing this on playing around with the presets on an HX Stomp, because…
The Ugly
The worst part of Helix Native for me was the fact that none of the presets actually WORKED in my trial copy. I kept getting an error message. Googling taught me that this is a common issue. Well, um… why isn’t it fixed? I’ve got what might be the most common home recording laptop out there. I got the latest version of the software. I even tried other versions. If you are considering buying Helix Native, definitely download the free two week trial and see if the presets work for you. If not, don’t expect a fix online. And that’s horrible.
Conclusion
I like the Helix Native a lot, but I’d definitely be concerned if the free trial presets didn’t work. I’m more interested in the HX Stomp because I hate hate hate any latency at all, but the latency in Helix Native is pretty minimal. I could probably live with it. For those who take the time to learn the arcane art of Helix programming, you can get very, very great sounds.
