efunkelist

It does fix most of the noise but my laptop is not the heart of my studio and I can't rely on it. I just have no idea how to fix the powersupply to my desktop because all the gear are in the same strip. I guess it might help if all the devices were TRS connected or transformer-isolated. Still, to my original post and concern; my other gear that has TRS-connections cause no noise nor ground loops with my DAW. Helix brought a pandoras box to my house with oh so many amazing sounds and endless possibilites AND it brings up the NOISE with my tube-amp. Solutions? - Change the iMac to a MacBookPro and run on battery when using the valve-amp (costs the most but I will have to update the PC some day no matter what) - get the furman and more transformer-isolators (somewhat artificial way but in the long run would be beneficial with guest-gear too, perhaps) - both, the more the merrier There's just no cure for my allergy to unwanted noise so I will have to sacrifice my salaries.. :/

I'm cleaning my dropbox and found this one: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqrhqlwui3iyymk/helix%20test%20drive.mp3?dl=0 The first test using helix for me. Both guitars and the bass is recorded with helix. Ofcourse there is loads of tired-ears-post-processing, but still... Even if the guitar doesn't have the dynamics of my real all-analogue-tube-stack the end result is better than tossing a 57 somewhere the in front of the first cone... I remember this was quite fast and straight-forward tweak for the tones on helix and then just "go" :) p.s. the link will work until I delete the file, so, if you were late I'm sorry

I've got a Cicognani Brutus amplifier. I guess the ground loop is in the Helix's USB-connection and that is totally killing me. Because if I plug the USB in I get this awful noise and hiss everywhere and when I plug it off... well... Helix becomes just another stomp-box to my board and I lose the ability to record and reamp through it. Currently I plan to invest in a furman power conditioner and an 8-channel transformer isolator. My Presonus audio interface used to be the ONLY rack-unit I possessed but soon there will be 3 1Us stacked. If I only knew, I should have bought the helix as a rack-unit as well... I wish I was into running marathons or something and would only need to buy new shoes instead of audio-gear ;D

I wish it was so but practice proved different.

True. That is why I use Helix only for my guitar sounds but STILL it'd work the best if connected via USB so you could keep your signal digital. Currently I have to connect my helix to my DAW via XLR because it is the only balanced connection and I get several A/D/A-conversions on the way and this also makes reamping unavailable (the helix's usb-channels 7&8)

The "semi-balanced" means the humbusterâ„¢ which is this: http://www.okada-web.com/customsite/fractal/products/image/fx8_humbuster.png Very easy to DIY if you know how to solder. I have these and they work surprisingly good between my DAW (presonus, has balanced connections) and unbalanced keyboard. It would work just the same between helix and the unbalanced guitar amplifier if helix had TRS connections. Sure, you can buy a transformer-isolator and run through that your unbalanced connections but this takes one more gadget to your chain and more cables. For 4CM it is four more cables... I've got an isolator but it has only 2 channels. I might have to buy a rack unit that has 8 channels because this hum/noise -issue is present with other gear too. Still, IMHO, a device that connects to your DAW really SHOULD have balanced connections. If there is still a problem you could use a transformer-isolator but if you connect the USB you might still get a ground loop or other noise because the USB is never isolated. There is a USB-isolator in the markets but it only works on 1.0 speed and even if it did work on faster connections Helix might still recognize it as a hub and not work with it.

When you put it that way, yes, it does very many things and stands out from the rest of the moulinexes around here. I just wish the connections would be TRS so they would resist out interferences better. With the 4CM method atleast I need to have transformer isolators to get rid of noises that are not coming from my guitar. That just sucks. I might have made my judgement on a shallow stand but since all the rest of my gear is on the high end of this specturm I have fallen to blame the newcomer. I'm still working on this but not making much satisfying results. I'm also trying to make money with what I do in my studio. If I don't _need_, I'd very much appreciate, balanced connections, and they lack in helix. That's why I'm not happy.

Thanks for the info, I didn't find it before. But this just makes the helix a customer-level product instead of being PROFESSIONAL - atleast in my eyes.

I should get a wireless system for the amp to make sure :D I believe Helix is not being the source generating the noise but it is just the device making it appear in my studio, so... :/

All the gear are in the same power-strip so it shouldn't be a ground-loop-issue. I've had that before and it sounds different too. It is more of a buzz and AC-cycle hum while this one is more random kind of jittery gibbery - pretty clear on the sound sample I provided in the opening post. Besides, if it even was a ground loop it should be fixed with a transformer-isolator. I've got two in use, tried them, solved nothing. To me it seems, I will have to give up trying to reamp the real amp and just stick to reamping the modelled stuff, keeping the real stack separated and only miced live in the room... :L

^nope, it is not a sync-issue. Listen to the audio sample provided in the opening post. I forgot to mention; the noise disappearing with my laptop; I forgot to say I was running the laptop ON BATTERY. When plugged in to the mains, the noise is the same as on my desktop computer. I tried to playback mp3's etc audio - it makes no difference. The audio I play back is just fine but that alien noise comes through all the speakers all the time_constantly_ and is emphasized when the gain on preamp get's higher. It does not matter what signal is running and where. The noise is present both on my monitors (from Helix's XLR outputs through presonus DAW) and the guitar-cabinet run by the tube amp. Line6Hunter, thanks I shall open a ticket too.

For backing tracks etc I use a presonus firestudio tube as a DAW which is the heart of my home studio. Helix is just for the guitar only.

That would make sense to my noise-problems with 4CM and a tube-amp. I've got a dual-channel isolator box but would need to have that for every connection if the jacks truly are all TS :/ Now, this is what we THINK, Does anyone know for sure?

Here's an audio-example: http://www.niskahiki.com/randomness/reamptest.mp3 I first recorded a dry-track and then tried to reamp that dry-track via helix using 4CM to my tube-head. For this audio example I turned the drytrack on mute from DAW to show you the NOISE which is the problem. In the end I switched from crunch channel to lead channel which makes the noise even worse (yes, I understand that is due to the amount of gain in the distortion but still, how am I supposed to reamp when mixing heavier tones?) Please help me! That noise is nonexistent when I use a laptop but my laptop doesn't run as fast as my desktop. This is not ground loop, not the AC-cycle hum. I had that before but it is gone now, thanks to fixing the power supply in my studio and using isolators. This is some crazy digital jitter :C

Are the ¼" jacks on Helix TRS or TS? I couldn't find this info in the user manual nor anywhere else. Thank you very much :)

For amplifiers: - Orange Rockerverb - Hughes & Kettner - Diezel - Bogner Goldfinger ...and separate power-amps. We've already got all the preamps but I'd love to mix'n'match different preamps to different poweramps!

I finally received that usb-isolator.... Nope, none of my computers even recognized helix through it. Useless piece of junk for more than 30€ with shipping :C Oh well... I guess it was worth a try...

I wish I had heard this before..! :L

Thanks a ton for the link!! Can't wait to get my hands on my Martin through Helix with those :P Too bad this might lead to me being bound to take helix to my acoustic gigs - My plan was to stick with the tc-helicon I've got and leave helix at home...

www.ownhammer.com These are pristine. Looking forward to buy some, for the free one alone is almost all I'd need!! (but there's so much I want...)

Mikko Logren makes cab-sounds for fractal but sometimes he shares stuff for free. Here's a MESA -cab which is VERY good, check it out: http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/free-ml-sound-lab-irs-clark-kent-job-generation-y.103345/

This sounds veeeery nice! So, this is an acoustic guitar with a piezo..? Did I get the chain right: Guitar -> Comp -> IR -> EQ -> Reverb? Is that IR a free download somewhere? I've got a Martin with a K&K mic in it (very "unpiezo" for a piezo... :D ) and would love to use it for recording. I think it still sounds too "piezo" for my taste to use for else than live situations. And currently I don't have a nice room for acoustic micing available. Would love to use helix for recording acoustic :3

I just placed an order for the USB-isolator, we'll see if it works with helix... I will let you guys know once I get it.

I feel grateful for having a presonus 16in/8out available along with the helix in my studio. Due to the noise problems I'm going helix to DAW via the XLR's like I would do if I was on stage live. Too bad this way I can't use the beautiful idea of a digital reamp-unit via the USB which was one main reasons for purchasing the helix. Also I was totally intimidated by the idea of having ONLY ONE A/D conversion in my whole setup when playing variax models through the variax input. So far, still, that doesn't work because of the USB-problem... I guess I will end up being bound to get a software modeller for the reamp-world... I wish I could have used full analogue tube-half stack and real mics through the reamp.

But then you can't change the blocks, just tweak the existing ones! Right?