porky_pie

God, I've missed the tuner debate...

Does your guitar have active pickups, and if so have you checked the batteries?

No problem, I think I have misunderstood/misread earlier posts. @silverheadI had missed your point on saving the Native preset and then copying it into HX edit, I didn't realise that feature was there. In which case, agree wholeheartedly - No problem exists. Apologies, I'll go back to being silent!

I think the point is that you can have a track saved, run it through native in a DAW and as you make changes in native there, you can hear the result of those changes by playing it through the DAW. Once you get a setting you like, the idea being then that you can upload from Native to Helix (I know this can't happen, just trying to point out that I can see a reason for wanting to be able to do it) and play with the setting. No different to being at a Helix and having a loop block as the first one, playing a piece and setting it to loop, and then changing the preset blocks after the looper to change the preset. With decent headphones, it could help you with preset selection whilst away from the unit. The alternative is to do as I suggested above, but then you have to manually change the blocks, but this could take a while if a lot of settings have been changed. Does this make sense? I don't think it's just blindly twiddling settings, then returning to a Helix, uploading settings and seeing what you can get without hearing any of it, I agree that would be insanity!

I was always on board with the tuner in the editor! Been lurking a long time, but most people have far more valid/helpful insights than I do. Wouldn't have thought Native could have been used that way, but it's not something I'd ever considered, and from a workflow point of view I could see it being a real boon. There would be no need to have it change in real time, rather adjust the settings via native while you are away from the unit and restore it in a similar fashion to restoring a backup. You could then reamp to your heart's content, and load the completed settings back into the helix. Mind you, it's only a thought exercise about a nice to have possibility. It's not designed that way, so will never happen. If my aunt had ***** she'd be my uncle!

I'd love HX Edit to also show the tuner, but that also isn't going to happen! One thought is whether you can use HX native in this fashion - I appreciate that it's a plug in for a DAW, but if you have a track recorded, you can use Native to change settings and re-amp, is it possible to then export the settings from Native to HX Edit/ Helix? Probably not, just not something I'd ever considered. Currently at work or I'd give it a go.

I'd definitely check the input block for the noise gate - It's easy to miss, and without a noise gate block it is easy to think that no noise gate is active on the patch.

Wah's should be funky :)

No need to resurrect three different threads with this... What is the question? I'd like to help.

One further point, unless I've missed it above, is setting the Helix expression pedal to "logarithmic" instead of "linear". Changing the speed of the wah might give it greater impact, which might be helpful?

HonestOpinion - Absolutely nailed it. "Pro" or "Amateur" as a label is pretty irrelevant as the gear is only ever as good as the person using it. The key word is "Options" as that leads to "Possibilities" which are then capitalised upon by the truly creative, which is where special can happen. I am lucky enough to have a Helix and a few nice guitars which would be considered "pro", but there are FAR more talented people than I using what would be considered much worse equipment and sounding far better/expressive/original. I know who I would be more likely to pay money to listen to!

One thing to check is the volume of your computer. I was finding that I had the volume level of my computer and my Helix at the right level individually but whenever I used the Helix as an interface, no matter what the computer volume was originally, turning on the Helix immediately set my computer to full volume. I don't know if it is a driver issue, but I've never been able to solve it, I just have to turn the computer volume down once I've turned the Helix on, and everything is fine again. The Helix was at the level I wanted, but re-amping, using a metronome, or playing backing tracks was coming through at a ridiculous volume. One thing to note in my setup is the Helix is connected to my monitors via XLR, but to the computer by USB. Seems the USB is the common denominator?

I agree totally with Brue58ski, but what is interesting is the approach to the learning curve - I think it will depend entirely on your current level of experience with actual amps. Certainly in my case, when it came to real amps I knew very little - Comparatively, still do. But as my knowledge of real life amps was pretty negligible, perhaps there is less to "unlearn" before approaching the Helix?

I was in a very similar position to you, OP. I initially had no interest in buying a multi-fx pedal (My previous and only experience was a Behringer V-amp which I didn't get on with) and was looking to go the same way as you, deciding on individual bits to improve and gradually put a rig together. But, with neighbours above, below and to the side, volume was a serious consideration. After a while running a couple of nice pedals through a Blackstar HT-1 at a neutered volume, I went to a music store and tried a Helix and a Kemper out of curiosity, and was blown away by the quality of both units. I ended up purchasing a full fat Helix (Chose that over the Kemper shortly after purely based on the UI, even though I spent longer demoing the Kemper), and this was about 4 years ago. My point with this story is I feel I was in the same position as you, and purchased the Helix in the knowledge that it was overkill for me (Not sure the LT was an option at this point, this is probably what I would have got at the time) but looking back on it 4 years ago, I can definitely say that I would do it again without a thought - It can pretty much be as complicated as you want it to be, but it's also possible to just load an amp, cab and go. The learning curve is not as steep as people would have you think, although you can spend forever getting things *just* right, but as far as I'm concerned that is just as likely to happen with analog gear. The difference is that you have a much wider palette of amp sims, effects, etc. It can be invaluable in working out what sort of effects and amps you gravitate towards, if you didn't already know. It can also show you what effects you think you would use all the time (Whammy for me), and actually discover that it would have been pointless. If you're not gigging, I would DEFINITELY use studio monitors if you are able to, the sound quality is much better, and it inspires you to play more often and longer. Volume becomes far less of an issue with regards to tone, and I've found the headphone out to be a criminally under-rated feature - More volume is more fun but not always feasible, and the ability to deafen yourself whilst respecting everyone else's hearing is a practical, day-to-day godsend. All of this skims over the recording ability, amongst other features - I'm never going to be a professional, but learning how it all works and recording your own playing can really highlight what you need and want to work on. In short, if you can safely afford the LT or full Helix, do it, you will struggle to regret it. Also, as they receive periodic updates, they are like a gift that keeps giving! I'm not sure (Correct me if I am wrong) that the Pod Go gets updates.

I've worked it out, thanks to your tip. I'd thought I'd gone through all the obvious troubleshooting steps, but apparently not! It turns out that disconnecting the speakers entirely worked as you anticipated, but when the Helix is not on, I then obviously have no speaker sound from the PC (which is why I also want the speakers connected to the PC to avoid having the Helix on the whole time). On my previous PC, whenever I would turn my Helix on, the default sound in and out set itself to go through the Helix, however the new PC is only changing the default input, seemingly not the default output. Changing the sound out to Helix manually solves the problem completely. Thank you for your help!

I originally posted this a couple of days ago, then deleted it as I thought I'd solved it, but apparently not... I have run my Helix into my PC through studio speakers (Helix connected to PC via USB, with the speakers connected to the Helix via XLR, and PC via line in) for a number of years, and everything has worked perfectly. I have recently rebuilt by PC and reconnected everything in the same way. Whilst this still works perfectly whenever I am just playing guitar, if I start a backing track at the same time the guitar volume drops dramatically. This means I have to increase the output block db on the helix considerably to compensate. Of course once the backing track stops, the guitar is restored to its previous volume but as the output setting on the helix is now much higher, it is EXTREMELY loud. I'm not against volume, but I feel my neighbours will be... I appreciate this is probably more of a PC setting I've missed, but there are smarter people than me on here, and wondered if you had any ideas?

I've sent them both to you via PM. To echo Lone_Poor_Boy, he's quite right about this forum being incredibly helpful. Spent a lot of time listening (well, reading) and learning, and occasionally getting help from people far more knowledgeable than I, so thank you all for your input.

I struggled with piezo settings originally, as I recently got a piezo equipped LTD and wasn't quite sure of the easiest way of dealing with things. My computer setup sounds similar, and the way I tackled it was by using two cables - regular pickup jack on guitar to guitar in on Helix, and piezo jack on guitar to aux in on Helix. On the preset, if you set the input block on path A to guitar in and the input block on path B to aux in, you can then use path A as a regular guitar, and path B as the piezo. I found that the key to getting a good acoustic sound was using an acoustic IR, I used a free IR that I found online. I can share this preset if you'd like.

Thanks for looking at this and trying to help, I appreciate it - I have just restarted the computer to screenshot what I did, and it now works! I've changed absolutely nothing, so not quite sure what happened there.

The output block on path 2 is set to multi and the output block on path 1 is to path 2, which is how I want it to be, I think. I need the signal to come from reaper, run through the signal chain on path 1, run through path 2 and out, so I thought I'd need input block on path 1 to be USB 3/4 (The output track on Reaper), output block on path 1 to lead to path 2, then output block on path 2 to return to Reaper. The above makes sense to me, but I receive no dry track from Reaper so something must be amiss. If I have path 2 input as USB 3/4, then it works, but obviously the signal does not go through path 1.

I am trying to reamp a track through Helix from Reaper. I have recorded the dry track that I want to reamp, and set the output track to be USB 3/4. On Helix, when I set the input on path 1 to be USB 3/4, i get no signal going through. However, if I set the input to USB 3/4 on path 2, it works as expected. Any ideas on where I would find the settings to change this, or any tips for obvious steps I may have missed? I'm ready to feel like a fool for missing the obvious...

Replied to this in the other thread, but just so you see it... I had this problem not too long ago. You can use the aux in for guitar, but the impedance is much higher and as such is normally better for active/hot pickups. I got the tip of my cable out by screwing a long screw into the lodged tip so that it was stuck on the end of the screw, then simply pulling it out. It may take a few attempts as the clips are quite stiff, but it did work for me. Hope you get it out!

I had this problem not too long ago. You can use the aux in for guitar, but the impedance is much higher and as such is normally better for active/hot pickups. I got the tip of my cable out by screwing a long screw into the lodged tip so that it was stuck on the end of the screw, then simply pulling it out. It may take a few attempts as the clips are quite stiff, but it did work for me. Hope you get it out!

It was a loietnt cable picked up from Amazon. A lesson has been learned, although to be fair I couldn't physically remove the tip from the other end with pliers!

It's been an age since I asked about this, but finally got over the fear of sticking a screw into an expensive electrical opening and wanted to thank you for your help - Everything extracted and Helix fully functional again!