PeterHamm

Not sure what is happening. When I take an ordinary TS cable and replace one end with a TRS plug and solder the "R" connection to the "S" connection and leave the rest alone, my Zoom pedals work perfectly normally with Helix Rack.

What firmware version are you at? This is NOT my experience with the zoom pedal at all.

We have no reason to believe that it is. They seem to indicate that, for instance, the process of modeling an amp is insanely time-consuming. Also, here's the real reason they'll never do this, imho. If they "open it up" and someone creates content that is NOT insanely great, it reflects on them forever. IMHO, don't spend time wishing for something that will never ever happen.

Sounds like a guy who tries to make a patch that can do everything imaginable so that he doesn't ever have to change patches that much. In other words, a man after my own heart! I very regularly use every ounce of CPU power in my patches, too.

Well, that's different, and cool, btw... I find, though, that relying strictly on FRFR, when I have my own FRFR ready to go, not only works well for consistent stage sound, but works better than any other solution I've ever used, conventional or modeled. But the beauty of all this gear is that you can do the same thing (basically) SO many ways...

Your tone on stage is not representing your tone going to the board. This, imho, makes this approach less than useful. Just use an FRFR if you're going direct to house.

Reasonably positive that's never going to happen. It's like asking an iPad to run the full MacOS version of Photoshop. Wrong hardware/wrong software.

what is that file format? And how would you make it work in helix?

This is probably why I like the built-in cabs better. You can find the cab that works for you and find the least shrill (to your ears and your style) mic model... THEN start doing the hi cut stuff.

I'm curious, have YOU tried the signal chain of "Acoustic IR" -> Vintage Mic Pre -> para EQ -> Studio Comp yet? If you haven't you should, and if you've ever used an acoustic amp very much (I did, for YEARS) or the acoustic amp model that was in HD 500... ...you might decide that this is a million percent better. I'm bowing out now...

Most of the situations I play in, a mic in or on my guitar is super-impractical. And if your situation calls for it, and the acoustic amp is actually what your audience is hearing, go for it. I simply find that using an IR in Helix through the PA is way way way better than what I used to get in that situation. The power amps in those acoustic amps aren't "voiced" for acoustic guitar, though, I'll wager. They're just basic solid state power amps.

I use 4 guitars with Helix. (also a bass, but that's for another day. One (not very often) that's an acoustic guitar with a pre-amped prefix piezo. here are the others. They all work with a TRS - dual TS cable. The one in the middle is my number one. It has stereo output. One output is passive electric and the other is a pre-amped L.R. Baggs piezo. It has "real" acoustic strings and bridge, though, so it sounds just as much like an acoustic as the Wechter does. The electrics on either side have UN-pre-amped powerBridges in them. The "real" pre-amped acoustics work fine in the "Aux" input, but the ones without preamps work poorly there. And since I don't want to re-patch my audio cable each time I switch guitars, I decided to use the Guitar in for the electric side and Return 1 for the acoustic side, since both the powered and unpowered piezo work with it. I use the "Aux" in with a mono cable for the acoustic and write patches just for it. What's cool is that I could, if I wanted, hook up one of the hybrids, the acoustic, AND a Variax (if I had one) at the same time and switch guitars just by switching patches.

You will NEVER get all the way there running acoustic guitar through an electric guitar amp, though. I promise you. You need FRFR or an acoustic amp or PA or something at least. Also... NEVER plug an acoustic guitar into Helix's "Guitar" in. Use "Aux in" if it has a preamp built-in to the guitar, and use a Return if it's passive. Thank me later.

HAVE to disagree. Once we learn how a parametric EQ works... it's dead simple. 1. boost a band all the way. 2. pan over the frequencies until you find the one that sounds awful. (DO THIS IN THE ROOM YOU PLAY IF YOU CAN!) 3. Cut that band by 3 - 5db and adjust width to taste. 4. Lather, rinse, repeat for the other bands. Every room and every guitar and every situation is different, so fixed bands would simply not be as effective. Something along the lines of what the Mesa/Boogie EQ does (not a fan, btw, but that's me...) for acoustic would be counter-productive, and if you are going for the best results possible, not only potentially harder to use, but also more frustrating. I can eq an instrument in less than 30 seconds on just about any board, or in this case in Helix.

I agree, although I've been able to tame the quack with EQ alone rather successfully... ...that said, stick a really great IR in there and all the problems are solved at once. With a few of the 3 Sigma ones, I don't even need to do any eq dips more than about 2 - 5 db...

Do you really need stereo? Stereo usually only matters to the two people sitting in the sweet spot and in a band situation, often if your stereo sound is really big it just gets turned down at the board to compensate and you get lost in the sauce. And if you do NOT really need stereo, the power section of your Marshall tube amp is hard (impossible?) to beat.

What do you possibly need that the Para EQ can't already do, though? Seriously?

Because if there's something wacky at the board, phantom power, or perhaps just a mismatch of level or something, the 1/4" to DI will ALWAYS work, and the XLR will sometimes create a problem. Simple, really.

One thing at a time? Yup. DO it. What I do is save the patch from the editor and keep a copy in the folder. The forthcoming Helix Native Plug-in will probably change my whole workflow, however! btw, the best thing about doing things this way in Helix is that you can record your guitar, through Helix, with all the FX and crap... and automatically simultaneously record the raw guitar to another track (I think it's USB 7) and then re-amp later if you want to. You're gonna love it.

This is why when I HAVE to mix on headphones, I have 3 sets I switch between and one set of IEMs that I switch in, too. Then I go and listen in the car and make notes. My favorite open back headphones are 20 years old and the foam is destroyed and irreplaceable... Ugh... Haven't found something I like as much yet.

It makes sense, and I had an acoustasonic as a matter of fact. But it's typically not what your audience hears anyway, as it's usually serving as a stage monitor. And in my experience, I can get a better sound for my audience using IRs and the Vintage Mic Pre and a little comp and eq than I ever could get CLOSE to with acoustic preamps/amps. That said, the next best experience I've had was with an old Yamaha AG Stomp (I bought it new in the late 90s). I tried to make IRs of what the "mic modeling" does to the sound in there, but it doesn't translate well. 4 bands of sweepable EQ, nice Yamaha reverb and very good compression. It's the one piece of outboard gear I will not sell even though I rarely use it now.

I have been using a trio of 40-year old IMP 2 direct boxes forever with my modelers. I did a side-by-side. There is NO difference in quality between using the XLR out and a 1/4" to a DI box. None. I never trust XLR outs on devices like this. Never have. I've compared the past few generations of Line 6 products and as long as that 1/4" lead isn't very long (I keep it at about 3' or less), there just is no reason to use the XLR outs outside the studio.

Oh, and the audio quality is just peachy. Sounded as good as my MOTU interface I used to use, except that when I added the vintage mic pre to the signal chain for my vocals it sounded noticeably better. Every instrument except Bass and midi tracks on this recording right here came from Helix if you're interested. https://peterhamm.bandcamp.com/album/protest-songs

I'm gonna push back... a little... functionally, it does NOT beat a dedicated Audio Interface if you have to record anything more than 1 or 2 instruments at a time. You only have 1 mic in, the main guitar input is really only for electric guitar, and it can be a little clunky if you have to add on a mixer or something to mic a drum kit. So, if you're recording a band, and that's the MAIN thing you're doing...? Keep (or buy) your dedicated interface. But... ...if you are a home studio geek like me who only records an instrument at a time... ...put it this way, I just recently sold my dedicated Audio Interface, because I don't use it anymore...

Good stuff here. I'd add one tiny thing. Lo Cut is the thing you have to worry about least if you have a "real" sound guy. Because if you do, the first thing he does to your channel on the board is to cut all those lows anyway. Hi Cut he will NOT think about, so be very careful and get that right.