Helm Manual

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Helm Manual

v0.9.0

Developed by:
Matt Tytel

Table of Contents
General Usage........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Default Values............................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Midi Learn....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Turn a Module On and Of........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Audio Modules.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
OSCILLATORS....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
1. Waveform selector.................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
2. Cross Modulation.................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
3. Tune/Transpose........................................................................................................................................................................................ 7
4. Unison......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
SUB.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
1. Waveform selector.................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
2. Shuffle......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
3. Octave Down............................................................................................................................................................................................ 9
MIXER................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
FEEDBACK.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
1. Transpose................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11
2. Tune........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
3. Amount.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
FILTER................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
1. Filter Response...................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
2. Filter Type................................................................................................................................................................................................ 12
3. Filter Blend.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 13
4. Filter Drive............................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
5. Envelope Depth..................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
6. Key Track.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 13
STUTTER.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14
1. Stutter Frequency................................................................................................................................................................................. 14
2. Resample Frequency........................................................................................................................................................................... 14
3. Softness.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
FORMANT........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
DISTORTION...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
1. Distortion Type...................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
2. Drive.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
3. Mix............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16
DELAY.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 17
1. Delay Frequency................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
2. Feedback.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 17
3. Mix............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 17
REVERB................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 18
1. Feedback.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
2. Damping.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
3. Mix............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Modulation.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 19
How to Map Modulation............................................................................................................................................................................... 20
ENVELOPE.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21
1. Modulation Button............................................................................................................................................................................... 21
2. Graphical Envelope.............................................................................................................................................................................. 21
3. ADSR Sliders........................................................................................................................................................................................... 21

How to Use the Envelope:...................................................................................................................................................................... 22
LFO....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23
1. Waveform Selector............................................................................................................................................................................... 23
2. Modulation Button............................................................................................................................................................................... 23
3. Frequency................................................................................................................................................................................................ 23
STEP SEQUENCER............................................................................................................................................................................................ 24
1. Step Sequence....................................................................................................................................................................................... 24
2. Modulation Button............................................................................................................................................................................... 24
3. Number of Steps................................................................................................................................................................................... 24
4. Frequency................................................................................................................................................................................................ 24
5. Slide........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 24
KEYBOARD......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Aftertouch................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Note............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Velocity......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Modulation Wheel.................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Pitch Wheel.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 25
Random........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 25
Performance and Other Usage......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Info and Mini Patch Browser........................................................................................................................................................................ 27
Info Button................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Mini Patch Browser................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Info Panel............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 28
1. Animate Graphics................................................................................................................................................................................. 28
2. Check for Updates................................................................................................................................................................................ 28
3. Window Size........................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
4. Audio Output......................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
5. Sample Rate / Bufer Size................................................................................................................................................................... 29
6. Active MIDI Inputs................................................................................................................................................................................ 29
Patch Browser Panel....................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
1. Banks......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
2. Folders...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
3. Patches..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
4. Patch Info................................................................................................................................................................................................. 30
Volume and Oscilloscope............................................................................................................................................................................. 31
1. Volume and Peak Meter...................................................................................................................................................................... 31
2. Oscilloscope............................................................................................................................................................................................ 31
Keyboard Response........................................................................................................................................................................................ 32
1. Voices (Polyphony)............................................................................................................................................................................... 32
2. Pitch Bend............................................................................................................................................................................................... 32
3. Velocity Tracking................................................................................................................................................................................... 32
4. Virtual Keyboard.................................................................................................................................................................................... 32
5. Portamento............................................................................................................................................................................................. 32
6. Portamento Type.................................................................................................................................................................................. 32
7. Legato....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 32
ARPEGGIATOR................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
1. Frequency................................................................................................................................................................................................ 33
2. Gate........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
3. Octaves..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
4. Pattern...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33

General Usage
Default Values
Double click on a knob or slider to return to its default value.

Midi Learn

1. Right click on a knob or slider.
2. Click “Learn MIDI Assignment”
3. Change a value on your MIDI device. That MIDI control is now mapped to that knob/slider.

Turn a Module On and Of
You can turn some modules on and of. They have little power buttons in the top left that you can
click to turn them on or of. Below: Of(left) On(right)

Audio Modules

OSCILLATORS

The OSCILLATORS module is one the of the three sound producers in Helm. There are two oscillators in this
module with duplicate controls.

1. Waveform selector
The waveform selector sets the timbre of the oscillator. The available waveforms in order are:
sine, triangle, square, saw up, saw down, 3 step, 4 step, 8 step, 3 pyramid, 5 pyramid, 9 pyramid.
Usage: left mouse click will advance waveform, right mouse click will go to the previous waveform.

2. Cross Modulation
Cross modulation is a way to change the timbre of the oscillators. The left oscillator modulates the
phase of the right oscillator and the right oscillator modulates the tone of the left oscillator. The
oscillators are simplified to a sine wave before the modulation is applied.

3. Tune/Transpose
TUNE and TRANS set the pitch of each oscillator relative to the note played. The TRANS sets how
many semitones to change pitch and TUNE sets how many additional cents (1/100 of a semitone) to
change the pitch.
Example: If you play a C3 and the right oscillator TRANS is set to 7 semitones, it will play a G3.

4. Unison
Unison creates multiple instances of the left and right oscillator. The top left controls the number of
voices or oscillator instances. The bottom controls the span of frequencies the oscillators get.
For example: if you have 5 voices and a detune of 10 cents, the first oscillator is detuned -10 cents,
the second: -5 cents, the third isn’t detuned at all, the fourth: 5 cents and the fifth: 10 cents.
The ‘H’ control stands for harmonize. If selected, each voice of the oscillator will play a harmonic of
the played note. This creates a very harmonically rich tone.

SUB

The SUB module is one of the three sound producers in Helm. It controls a single oscillator that by default
plays one octave below the currently played note.

1. Waveform selector
The waveform selector sets the timbre of the oscillator. The available waveforms in order are:
sine, triangle, square, saw up, saw down, 3 step, 4 step, 8 step, 3 pyramid, 5 pyramid, 9 pyramid.
Usage: left mouse click will advance waveform, right mouse click will go to the previous.

2. Shuffle
The sub oscillator has a wave shaper called SHUFFLE that is similar to a pulse width control. When
shuffle is 0%, the oscillator plays normally. As you increase shuffle, the sub oscillator lengthens and
shortens every other waveform.

0% shuffle

33% shuffle

66% shuffle

100% shuffle

3. Octave Down
The -OCT button will shift the sub oscillator down an extra octave (total of two octaves below the
note played).

MIXER

The MIXER module controls the gain of each oscillator sound source and a white noise source. OSC 1 and
OSC 2 control the gain of the left and right oscillator in the OSCILLATORS module. The SUB controls the gain
of the oscillator in the SUB module. The NOISE controls the gain of a white noise oscillator. These signals are
then combined in the MIXER and passed into the FEEDBACK module.

FEEDBACK

The FEEDBACK module is a very quick delay line/comb filter inserted into each voice. It harmonizes with the
note currently played so it is useful for modifying the harmonics and timbre of a given note.

1. Transpose
The transpose changes the delay period by an amount of semitones. This will make the feedback
efect modify diferent sets of harmonics.

2. Tune
The tune changes the delay period by an amount of cents (1/100 of a semitone). This slightly
modifies the efect on each harmonic.

3. Amount
The amount sets the delay line feedback. Positive and negative feedback amounts will emphasize
and reduce diferent harmonics. At zero, the efect is of. The farther from zero the amount is, the
stronger the feedback efect.

FILTER

The Filter module reduces or boosts diferent frequencies in each playing voice. Each type of filter has
diferent characteristics.

1. Filter Response
The Filter Response section graphs which frequencies are boosted and which are reduced. The xaxis displays the frequency and the y-axis displays changes in the loudness of that frequency.
The slider on the bottom controls the Cutof Frequency measured by semitones. You can shift the
filter response up and down the frequency spectrum with the Cutof Frequency slider.
The slider on the right controls the Resonance or Gain depending on the Filter Type. The resonance
will set how much the frequencies are boosted around the Cutof Frequency and the Gain will set
how much the frequencies are boosted past the Cutof Frequency.

2. Filter Type
At the top right of the filter you can select the Filter Type. The available types are: 12db
low/band/high pass filters, 24db low/band/high pass filters, low/band/high shelf filters.

3. Filter Blend
At the top left of the filter you can choose between low/band/high versions of the filters. If the Filter
Type is set at 12db or 24db, you can smoothly blend between low, band and high versions of the
filters. If the Filter Type is set to shelf, you can discretely set the low, band and high shelf.
The low pass filters allow low frequencies through but remove high frequencies. The band pass
removes low and high frequencies but keeps a section. The high pass filters allow high frequencies
through but remove low ones. The 24db versions of these filters have a sharper cutof than the 12db
versions, so they have a diferent sound. The low/band/high shelf filters boost or reduce the
low/band/high frequencies depending on the Gain.

4. Filter Drive
The Filter Drive sets the initial gain of the input to the filter. The more drive there is, the more
distortion the filter adds to your signal in the filtering process.

5. Envelope Depth
The Envelope Depth sets how much the Filter Envelope changes the cutof frequency (x-axis of
filter). If positive, the Filter Envelope will increase the cutof, if negative, it will decrease the cutof.

6. Key Track
The Key Track makes the filter cutof of a voice follow the currently played note. If 0, the cutof
remains unchanged. If 100%, every octave up you play the filter cutof frequency will double. If
-100%, every octave up you play the filter cutof will half.
To make the filter afect the timbre of each note in the same way, set the Key Track to 100%.

STUTTER

The Stutter module samples a section of input audio and repeats it.

1. Stutter Frequency
This sets how fast the stutter is, which sets the length of the stutter sample.

2. Resample Frequency
The resample frequency sets how often a new bufer is sampled from the input for a new stutter.

3. Softness
The Softness sets the fade transition between stutters. At 0%, there is no fade and will immediately
jump to the next stutter which may cause a discontinuity click. At 100%, each stutter is windowed by
a sine wave and will fade in and out reaching maximum volume at the middle of the stutter.

FORMANT

The Formant module is a type of filter that sounds like a person's mouth. You can create diferent vowel
sounds by picking diferent spots in the X/Y pad. The corners of the x/y pad correspond to these vowels:


Top Left:

ee



Bottom Left:

ah



Top Right:

eh



Bottom Right:

oh

DISTORTION

1. Distortion Type
This sets the style of the distortion. The types are:


Soft Clip – As the audio reaches clipping, round of to the limit values.



Hard Clip – Clip the audio at the limit values.



Linear Fold – When the audio exceeds the limit values, fold the waveform back into the limits.



Sine Fold – When the audio exceeds the limit values, fold the waveform back into the limits
but with a sine function. This adds fewer high harmonics than the Linear Fold.

2. Drive
The Drive is the gain added to the input signal. The more Drive, the more distortion.

3. Mix
This mixes the original input signal with the distorted signal to create the output. 100% is only the
distorted signal, 0% is only the input signal. 50% is half and half.

DELAY

Delay is essentially an “echo” efect. It will take the input audio and repeat it while reducing the gain of each
consecutive repeat.

1. Delay Frequency
How fast the delay line is. Faster frequency makes the echo occur more often.

2. Feedback
The feedback of the delay line sets the gain change of each echo. If the feedback is near 100% or
-100% each echo will only diminish a little bit, so it will create a long efect. If the feedback is near 0%
the echoes will diminish very quickly.

3. Mix
This mixes the original input signal with the delayed signal to create the output. 100% is only the
delayed echo signal, 0% is only the input signal. 50% is half and half.

REVERB

If you clap inside a large church, the sound will bounce around and you'll hear the remnants of the clap
fading away. The Reverb module simulates these audio reflections of a room or space by having many delay
lines overlaid upon each other.

1. Feedback
The feedback of the reverb line sets the gain change of each echo. If the feedback is near 100%, each
echo will only diminish a little bit so it will create a long tail efect. If the feedback is near 80%, the
reverb will diminish very quickly.

2. Damping
There is a simple low pass filter inside the reverb line. The higher the damping is, the more low pass
filter is applied to each echo. This creates a muffled reverb sound.

3. Mix
This mixes the original input signal with the reverberated signal to create the output. 100% is only
the reverberated signal, 0% is only the input signal. 50% is half and half.

Modulation

The Modulation modules can change an audio or performance control over time to make
dynamic/morphing patches.

How to Map Modulation
1. Click on the grey Helm logo on a modulation source. The helmet becomes blue to communicate that it is
currently selected and ready to modulate.

Before Click

Clicked

2. A green overlay appears on the controls you can modulate. Pick a control and click and drag on it to begin
modulating. You can see the current value of the control with the little moving green bar around the outside
of knobs or the moving green bar on the inside of sliders. Double click on the slider to remove modulation.

The face of the modulation source turns
green to say it is modulating a control.
3. When done, click on the now blue and green Helm logo on the modulation source again. Right click on
either the control or the source logo button to bring up a menu to remove the modulation.

The face stays green to say it is still
modulating a control.

ENVELOPE

The envelopes in Helm are ADSR (attack→decay→sustain→release) envelopes. They are polyphonic (one
instance per voice) and are useful for bringing in and fading out a value like the amplitude or filter cutof of a
voice.
The Amplitude Envelope is automatically hooked up to the amplitude (or loudness) of the voice.
The Filter Envelope is automatically hooked up to the filter cutof and the amount of the efect is controlled
by the Env Depth control in the Filter.
The Mod Envelope is an extra envelope you can use for modulation.

1. Modulation Button
The modulation button allows you to modify a synth control with the LFO. See How to Map
Modulation.

2. Graphical Envelope
The envelope is drawn in this section and you can see the envelope progress through the stages as
you press, hold and release a key. You can also modify the attack, decay sustain and release by
clicking and dragging in this section.

3. ADSR Sliders
This is where you set the envelope values. A – attack, D – decay, S – sustain, R – release. The graphical
envelope to the left will change to match the slider settings.

How to Use the Envelope:
The diferent stages of the envelope are set based on the current key press that corresponds to the voice.
As an example we'll look at how the Amplitude Envelope afects the loudness of a voice over time.

A

Attack
The envelope start is triggered when a key is pressed which brings it into the attack phase.
The attack slider determines how long the envelope takes to reach full value. If you have a
short attack on your amplitude envelope, the volume of the voice will start loud. If you have a
long attack, the voice will fade in over a period of time.

D/S

Decay / Sustain
Once the envelope reaches full value, if the key is still held down, the value will fade to the
Sustain value. How long this takes is specified by the Decay. Once the value reaches the
sustain value, it stays there until the performer releases the key.

R

Release
Any time the key for a voice is released, the state will jump to the Release, which fades the
value to 0 over time. A short value will kill the voice quickly. A long value will fade the voice
out slowly.

LFO

LFO stands for low frequency oscillator. The value of an LFO pulses back and forth in a pattern determined
by the Waveform. You can use an LFO to create vibrato by modulating Oscillator Tune controls, tremolo by
modulating sliders in the Mixer or global Volume, or wub-wubs by modulating the Filter Cutof.

1. Waveform Selector
The waveform selector sets the timbre of the oscillator. The available waveforms in order are:
sine, triangle, square, saw up, saw down, 3 step, 4 step, 8 step, 3 pyramid, 5 pyramid, 9 pyramid.
Usage: left mouse click will advance waveform, right mouse click will go to the previous. The current
position is shown on top of the waveform.

2. Modulation Button
The modulation button allows you to modify a synth control with the LFO. See How to Map
Modulation.

3. Frequency
The frequency controls how fast the LFO pulses. On the right is the frequency control type where you
can select Seconds, Tempo, Tempo Dotted, Tempo Triplets .

STEP SEQUENCER

The Step Sequencer is a modulation source that cycles through a series of steps.

1. Step Sequence
You can set each step in the sequence here.

2. Modulation Button
The modulation button allows you to modify a synth control with the LFO. See How to Map
Modulation.

3. Number of Steps
This determines the step sequencer length. Sets how many discrete steps you can set and cycle
through.

4. Frequency
Controls how fast the Step Sequencer advances. On the right is the frequency control type where you
can select Seconds, Tempo, Tempo Dotted, Tempo Triplets .

5. Slide
Smoothes out the value the step sequencer gives. At 0, there is no smoothing and the value jumps
each step. With positive values, the value decays toward the current step smoothly.

KEYBOARD

Aftertouch
With aftertouch enabled keyboards you can map the pressure of the key to modulate a value. If using
a non-aftertouch keyboard, the velocity pressed is used instead.

Note
How far up or down the keyboard the note is. MIDI note 0 gives a value of 0 and MIDI note 127 gives
a value of 1.

Velocity
How fast you hit the key. This only works on velocity enabled keyboards.

Modulation Wheel
The current value of the modulation wheel on a MIDI keyboard.

Pitch Wheel
The current value of the pitch wheel on a MIDI keyboard.

Random
Every time a key is pressed, this will generate a random value that you can map.

Performance and Other Usage

Info and Mini Patch Browser

The Info and Patch Browser section give you info and global settings and ways to save, export and browse
patches.

Info Button
Clicking the Helm logo will bring up the Info Panel that will give you some global settings and share
information about Helm including the version and developer.

Mini Patch Browser
You can advance or go back a patch in the currently browsed folder by clicking the left and right
arrows.
The Save button will bring up the Save Panel so you can save your patch for later use.
The Export button will save the current patch to a “.helm” file that you can save anywhere you want.
The Browse button will bring up the Patch Browser Panel for full window browsing.
You can right click on the patch information and click for a menu to load the Init Patch (the default
settings).

Info Panel

1. Animate Graphics
If enabled, Animate Graphics will animate the oscilloscope, envelopes, lfos, and modulation meters
to give you real-time feedback.

2. Check for Updates
If enabled, Check for Updates will see if a new version of Helm is released and will ask you if you
want to update.

3. Window Size
Sets how large the Helm window is by a percentage of the default size.

4. Audio Output
Standalone only. Select the audio device where you want to output audio.

5. Sample Rate / Bufer Size
The Sample Rate defines how many audio samples are processed per second. The higher this is, the
more CPU processing Helm will use.
The Bufer Size defines how large each chunk of data Helm should process at one time. The smaller
this is, the less delay Helm has. At very small bufer sizes, Helm's CPU usage will increase.

6. Active MIDI Inputs
Select what MIDI inputs you want Helm to receive data from.

Patch Browser Panel

The patch browser lets you browse all available patches/presets. Click Done in the bottom right or click
outside the patch browser to close it.

1. Banks
The top level folders for all the patches are the Banks. You can import banks that have the extension
“.helmbank”. You can export banks and share them with other people. To browse a bank, click on it.

2. Folders
The next level deep are the Folders. All patches are contained within a folder here. You can select
multiple Folders to browse in this section.

3. Patches
The third column contains all the Patches. Select a patch here to load the settings. You can delete the
patch by clicking “Delete Patch” and save the patch into another file by clicking “Save Patch As”.

4. Patch Info
The Patch Info shows you data about the patch like the author, what bank it was from, and the
license.

Volume and Oscilloscope

1. Volume and Peak Meter
The green bars show the current peak value. If your patch reaches past 0dBFS, the meter turns
orange/red and in some DAWs your audio will clip. You can reduce the volume slider below the meter
to stop the clipping.

2. Oscilloscope
The oscilloscope shows the wave data output. You can gather some information by the shape of the
wave but it's mostly there for flash. :P

Keyboard Response

The performance section has various settings that define how Helm reacts to keyboard presses.

1. Voices (Polyphony)
How many concurrent voices can Helm play at one time.

2. Pitch Bend
How many semitones the pitch bend wheel afects the pitch.

3. Velocity Tracking
How much the loudness of the voice changes with how hard a key is pressed. At 0% there is no efect.
At positive percent the harder you hit the key the louder the note. At negative percent the softer you
hit the key the louder the note.

4. Virtual Keyboard
You can play this virtual keyboard with the mouse. The left and right arrows will shift the virtual
keyboard.

5. Portamento
If the portamento is enabled, this sets how long the pitch slide is from the last note played to the
current note. The lower the portamento, the faster the slide.

6. Portamento Type
The Portamento Type enables a pitch slide between notes. If of, there is no pitch slide. If on, there is
always pitch slide between the last note and the current one. If auto, there is only pitch slide when
the last note is still held down, so if the last note was released there is no pitch slide.

7. Legato
In the event you play a note and run out of voices, legato defines what happens when you steal a
currently playing voice. If enabled, only the pitch changes and the voices envelopes/LFOs remain
where they are. If disabled, the envelopes/LFOs are retriggered so they start from the beginning.

ARPEGGIATOR

The arpeggiator module will take currently pressed keys and play a repeating pattern based on them.

1. Frequency
How often a note plays in the pattern.

2. Gate
How long each note in the pattern is held down. If Gate is low, the pattern plays like tapping keys
and if Gate is high, the current key is held down until the next note in the pattern plays.

3. Octaves
How many octaves the pattern spreads.

4. Pattern
The Pattern specifies the order of the notes played. Options are:


up – notes ascending



down – notes descending



up-down – notes ascending then descending



as-played – play the notes in the order they are played



random – play random notes from the keys pressed



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