Line 6 Helix Native Poly Capo Pitch Shifting Latency Test

[Bluesbird]

I was curious about the pitch shifting latency using the Line 6 Helix Native Polycapo effect. There are four settings. Here is the result:

X stable polycapo, ~ 8 ms
Stable, polycapo, ~ 8 ms
Fast, polycapo, ~ 9 ms.
X Fast, polycapo, ~ 9 ms

For this test a Low E was compared to an octave drop. I expected the Fast and X Fast setting to be faster than the X Stable and Stable settings. But this was not the case.

[Elantric]

I was curious about the pitch shifting latency using the Line 6 Helix Native Polycapo effect. There are four settings. Here is the result:

X stable polycapo, 8 ms
Stable, polycapo, 8 ms
Fast, polycapo, 9 ms.
X Fast, polycapo, 9 ms

For this test a Low E was compared to an octave drop. I expected the Fast and X Fast setting to be faster than the X Stable and Stable settings. But this was not the case. The two Fast settings were one millisecond slower than the two Stable settings.

Highest latency occurs polycapo move down 1/2 step : Eb Ab Db F# Bb Eb

[Bluesbird]

Highest latency occurs polycapo move down 1/2 step : Eb Ab Db F# Bb Eb

X Stable polycapo down just a half step was three ms slower. It went from 8 ms to 11 ms.  On X Fast setting, I get the exact same result: 11 ms. These speed settings must be part of the new Line 6 Latency Placebo algorithm. Not sure if it operates differently on hardware, but on Helix Native these latency settings have absolutely no effect on latency.

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[Bluesbird]

Below is a direct comparison of the pitch shifted signal in X Stable vs X Fast modes. The screen grab shows a near identical result. The X Fast setting was very slightly slower than the X Stable setting. Another forum is discussing this and someone stated that it felt faster even though the evidence showed it wasn't faster. Once again, it shows the enormous power of a Placebo-like effect in music gear. Snake oil style marketing isn't limited to the supplement market.

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The top wave form is X Stable, and the bottom wave form is X Fast.

[Elantric]

Below is a direct comparison of the pitch shifted signal in X Stable vs X Fast modes. The screen grab shows a near identical result. The X Fast setting was very slightly slower than the X Stable setting. Another forum is discussing this and someone stated that it felt faster even though the evidence showed it wasn't faster. Once again, it shows the power of a Placebo-like effect in music gear.

You cannot view this attachment.

The top wave form is X Stable, and the bottom wave form is X Fast.

Octave jumps are the least CPU intensive

Highest CPU load occurs with 1/2 Step poly drop

[Bluesbird]

Octave jumps are the least CPU intensive

Highest CPU load occurs with 1/2 Step poly drop

CPU load aside, the X Fast setting does not lower the latency as claimed no matter if you are doing octave drops or half-step poly drops. Below is an open D chord shifted a half step. Audio 2 is X Stable, Audio 3 is X Fast, and Audio 4 is the non-pitch shifted audio. Again, the X Fast mode is not faster but ever so slightly slower. The pitch shifting latency was ~ 11 ms.

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