Helix Stadium Native vs Rustortion

Helix Stadium Native is an amp and effects plugin that brings Helix Stadium hardware sounds and tone tools into a digital audio workstation. It runs on macOS and Windows in AAX, AU, and VST3 formats, and is not a standalone app. The product page lists 132 amplifier models with 152 channels, more than 260 effects models, and more than 60 speaker cabinet models. The full license lists 27 Agoura amps with 55 channels plus 111 HX amps, 46 cabinets, and 274 studio effects. Hype control blends between more authentic and idealized amp sounds, while Focus View provides contextual parameter controls. The plugin supports third-party cabinet impulse responses and Proxy clones, as well as presets and setlists from Helix Stadium and Helix Stadium XL and original Helix and HX products with firmware 3.50 or later. External MIDI controllers and software can control parameters and snapshots. A free Intro plan is available; the full license costs $399.99 as a one-time purchase purchase and includes a 15-day trial.

Rustortion is a free guitar and bass amp simulator written in Rust for Linux and Windows. It runs standalone with JACK or inside a DAW as a VST3 or CLAP plugin. The processing chain has 12 DSP stages, including preamp, compressor, tone stack, power amp, effects, graphic EQ, and NAM model loading. Oversampling can be set from 1x through 16x, and impulse-response cabinet simulation is available for guitar and bass. Users can save and load presets, switch them with keyboard hotkeys, record in real time, tune, shift pitch with FFT processing, and use MIDI controllers. Plugin bundles are listed for Linux x86_64, Linux aarch64, and Windows x86_64. The project is MIT-licensed, experimental, and under active development, with use at the user’s own risk. Linux requires PipeWire, JACK support, and a Rust toolchain. There is no macOS build. The interface supports English and Simplified Chinese.