Helin is a synthesizer you build by connecting nodes. Every part of the sound is a node on a canvas, and you draw cables between them to decide how the sound is made. What you see on the canvas is exactly what you hear.
It is easy to start with. Add a sound source and it plays, and every source has a moving picture you can grab and drag. When you want to go further, almost every control can be moved by envelopes, oscillators and macros, so the same canvas takes you from a quick pluck to a slowly shifting drone.
You can play Helin on its own, with the on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, or load it as an AUv3 instrument in your host. It runs on iPad, iPhone and Macs with Apple silicon.
How it works
Sound moves from left to right, through five kinds of node. Each kind has its own colour, here and in the app.
- Notes in Where your playing arrives, from the keyboard, the host or MIDI.
- Sources Make the sound. There are ten, from a plain oscillator to a singing choir.
- Shape Filter, Amp, Mixer and Pan change each note’s tone, loudness and place.
- Effects Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Drive and more work on the sound as a whole.
- Output Sets the final level and keeps the sound safe with a limiter.
The modulators are Envelopes, Oscillators, the Envelope Follower, MIDI CC, the Note node and eight Macros. Cable one into almost any control and that control comes alive. A knob can take several cables, and each cable has its own amount.
Three gestures
These cover most of the app.
Every popup has a ? button that explains the node: what it is, how it sounds and how to get the most out of it.
Start small
The simplest sound is one source going through an Amp to the Output. The Amp has its own envelope, so nothing else is needed. Build from there.
In this guide
- Your first sound: Build a sound in Helin from an empty canvas: add a source, a filter, an envelope and a reverb, play it and save it.
- The canvas: How Helin’s canvas works: adding, moving and selecting nodes, popups, pictures you can drag, quick resets and undo.
- Cables and modulation: How cables work in Helin: connecting nodes, cable amounts, one-way and two-way modulation, and what runs per note.
- Sound sources: Helin’s ten sound sources, from a plain oscillator and wavetables to an electric piano, struck bells, a choir and a swarm.
- Shape: Helin’s Filter, Amp, Mixer and Pan: the nodes that set each note’s tone, loudness and place in the stereo field.
- Output and voices: Helin’s Output node, its meters and limiter, and voices: how many notes play at once, mono and legato, and Unison.
- Effects: Helin’s effects: Chorus, Delay, Reverb with shimmer, Drive, Compressor, Frequency Shifter and Resonator.
- Modulators: Helin’s modulators: Envelope, Oscillator, Envelope Follower, MIDI CC, Note and Octave.
- Macros: Helin’s eight macros: one knob turning many controls at once, cabling and naming them, and automating them in a host.
- The Arp: Helin’s built-in step arpeggiator: patterns, the step designer, Live and Grid, several Arps at once, and timing.
- Patches: Saving, finding and sharing sounds in Helin: folders, stars, iCloud Drive, sound files and zip packs, guest artists.
- Playing: Playing Helin: the on-screen keys, velocity and aftertouch, Hold, MIDI keyboards, quick slots, tempo and panic.
- Helin in a host: Using Helin as an AUv3 instrument in AUM, Logic, GarageBand and MainStage: sessions, automation, tempo and MIDI.