Processor · Audio effect
HelterSkelter
Automatic wah — a resonant lowpass played by the input envelope and/or a BBT-synced ADSR cycle, with Drift CC control.
Opinion
HelterSkelter is at its best doing the two jobs a static wah cannot: touch-wah that tracks picking dynamics on funk guitar, and tempo wah that sweeps a pad or clav part in exact bars. Start in Blend with Depth near full — picked accents punch through the cycle, which is the whole point of the max combination. If the sweep feels backwards against the groove, Invert is the one-button fix, not the ADSR.
Functionality
A resonant lowpass (Q 0.5–12) whose cutoff is the sum of intent: the input envelope opens it like a touch-wah from Base Freq up to four octaves above (Depth), while a BBT ADSR retriggers every Division cycle (1, 2, 4 or 8 beats) with Gate Beats high and releases between. Blend takes whichever opens further. Invert flips the gate for low-then-high patterns; with the transport stopped the ADSR releases and the envelope path carries on alone.
Parameters
| Parameter | Range | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Env, BBT, Blend | Env | Cutoff source |
| Sensitivity | 0–100 % | 60 % | Envelope drive; CC 1 |
| Depth | 0–100 % | 70 % | Sweep range up to +4 octaves; CC 2 |
| Resonance | Q 0.5–12 | 4 | Filter peak; CC 3 |
| Base Freq | 100–2000 Hz | 400 Hz | Pedal-down cutoff |
| Division | 1/2/4/8 beats | 4 beats | ADSR cycle length |
| Gate Beats | 0.5–8 | 2 | High beats per cycle, clamped to Division |
| Attack | 1–500 ms | 20 ms | ADSR attack |
| Decay | 5–1000 ms | 150 ms | ADSR decay to Sustain |
| Sustain | 0–100 % | 70 % | ADSR sustain level |
| Release | 5–2000 ms | 200 ms | ADSR release |
| Invert | off/on | off | Flip the BBT gate |
| Mix | 0–100 % | 100 % | Dry/wet blend; CC 4 |
| Trim | −12 to +12 dB | 0 dB | Wet-only makeup gain |
| Bypass | active/bypass | active | DSP keeps running |
| CC Channel | 1–16 | 1 | MIDI channel for all four CC overrides |
Drift routing
Route Drift’s MIDI output to the wah’s MIDI input. With default settings, all four Drift lanes map directly: CC 1 → Sensitivity, CC 2 → Depth, CC 3 → Resonance, CC 4 → Mix. CC 0 disables the override for that parameter.
Status
Core DSP, deterministic tests, the VST3 target, the panel and the catalogue screenshot are complete. Host validation in REAPER is pending.