waymda

Get a set of these and hear the stage sound properly as you move around. https://www.sensaphonics.com/products/3dme-custom-tour-gen2-music-enhancement-iem-system

Easily supplements a proper IEM mix (which your suggested solution will not obviate the need for).

On 1/25/2024 at 7:14 AM, theElevators said:

Here's a caveat: the mono block at the end has to be turned on.  A bypassed mono block at the end doesn't mix down the signal to mono.  Pretty sure.....

Now I'm gonna have to test that. For a while I was having issues with patches before realising I'd dropped mono gain blocks at the end instead of stereo (I run dual amp setups). I don't do it anymore, but now you have me wondering if they were all turned on when they caused the issue.

Following - can you please confirm if you fixed this. I'm still on 3.70, but if what your describing is a bug in 3.71 it would break me (well lots of my patches).

On 1/19/2024 at 9:18 PM, ullo1955 said:

Unbelievable!!! Maybe Line 6 should solve these problems.

So DC plays back your entitled BS line that demonstrates that you don't read the manual and you want to have a shot.

There's no exchange of views to be had on this topic, it's a technical answer to a technical issue on some highly technical hardware. You made your view very clear, it's the manufacturer's problem that you don't understand the product.

My view, I wish to exchange, is RTFM so you have at least a minimal understanding of what you're talking about.

A quick look at your previous posts suggests doing your own homework is an anathema to you, and you think an end-user forum should be your personalised help desk.

Best of luck with that.

An alternate approach to the routing is us a send block before the cab block as a tap for the poweramp/cab. Set it with 100% passthrough so signal still goes the cab block. You could assign a pedal to turn the send off for recording, stopping any signal to the power amp with a single click.

It does mean you need to use effects you want in you amp/cab pre-speaker block, but it can also provide a really versatile solution for post-cab-block effects being recorded and not impacting on the amp/cab, which could then be mic'd up and added to the recording/mix. For example room reverb and/or compression.

Another suggestion is as you get your routing as you want it, save as a template so you just change component blocks for future patches. Your approach may change over time, but many templates is possible.

My standard routing has amps and effects that run before amps on path A, effects that are post amp and/or cabs on path B (A routes to B). This seems to give me the best balance of CPU load across the 2 CPU and allows for complex patches, ymmv.

A thought - if you can establish the optimal input gain for Native you could normalise the recorded dry tracks in the DAW to that level. I'm not Reaper user, but my DAW allows selection of individual tracks and normalisation to predetermined levels.

On 1/12/2024 at 10:02 AM, novonobo said:

Maybe I am wrong here. When I say I put everything at 0dB in my DAW, that's the way I imagine working at unity, not adding any extra gain somewhere and feed my recorded audio dry signal into Native "as is"

Maybe - Unity means exactly what you've said no gain added (or removed) the maybe is because different elements of DAWs may add or remove gain at what appears to be a 0 setting. They shouldn't, but.......

This might be a useful reference for recording and levels

https://mojosarmy.medium.com/recording-and-mixing-levels-demystified-151ec65705fa

Some observations:

• the I/O with Native vs the Helix as described is fundamentally different so I would expect different sounds
• the Helix is being fed an unamplified instrument level guitar signal, your DAW is recording a line level signal which is then being 'reamped'
• this is not the same as recording the dry output from the Helix via USB - those levels are very low and often a cause of consternation for new users
• hence, the input levels for the hardware and software versions is not the same - at the very least you'd need to match the input levels
• you mention setting parameters and gain leveling to 0DB, but this has nothing to do with the recorded level - you should be aiming for -13dbu (if not less, many aim for -18dbu@peak) for any digital recording to ensure no digital clipping in the recorded signal - the digital signal can be increased without increasing the noise floor so no need to record hot
• there are both input and output gain settings on native that are independent of the patches created on the hardware - these will be your friend
• is there a single simple rule/approach to use across all DAWs and hardware/DA scenarios? No, you're adding complexity/hardware/driver/software layers so the solution will be complex and bespoke.

On 1/7/2024 at 1:21 AM, silverhead said:

Thinking further, I know you can use Variax Mags as one Input and Variax (a model) as the other Input. So if you can accept using the magnetic pickups for one path and the custom low E model I described above then I believe you can get what you want.

This is the only way I can think of as changes to the Variax model on either path are applied to both input paths (the Helix is forcing the Variax to apply settings not processing the Variax within the Helix).

No idea how precedence is achieved but you can't (for example) have Path A having a variax with every string at full volume and Path B with just the 6th string at full with an octaver applied.

Have you adjusted the Hum and Ripple parameters of the amps to zero? They both introduce modelled 'noise'. I hate them and always make them zero.

From the manual

Hum & Ripple: Controls how much heater hum and AC ripple interacts with your tone. At higher settings, things get freaky.

On 12/4/2023 at 10:09 AM, IMMikeMurphy said:

that sounds great in my in ears (Alclair Audio Dual XB)

Just on this, if you get your patches sounding great for in-ears they may not sound good in FoH (any in-ears). Unfortunately the compromises of each reproduction system means you need to target patches for a primary source and live with what you get in secondary sources. Having EQ over your monitor send may help.

On 11/20/2023 at 6:33 AM, boynigel said:

I want to lube the pedal mechanism to fix this.  What lube(s) yield good results in the long term?  I'd prefer not  having to repeat the process too frequently.  "Mime is money"

OMG mime is more than money, its a life suck. Can you tell I'm not a fan :)

My modelling journey has been long and everything is a compromise.

I came from a multi-amp/cab and effects rig and was loud on stage.

I moved to modelling and tried:

• SS amps to guitar cabs
• Tube amps to guitar cabs
• Combos
• Wedges
• FRFR PA speakers
• Powercabs
• Various iterations of IEMs

Any use of guitar cabs limited the palette as speakers and cabs are so fundamental.

Using tube amps meant I was inherently loud for them to sound good and to hear myself as I want.

Cheap IEMs, are just that. Good IEMs are molded, seal well and are expensive and you need to tune whats sent to them to work well.

My (current) ideal is a quiet stage, not silent, (good edrums, and bass through wedges to the others) and my guitar and vox (and full mix) in high quality IEMs. I don't miss "moving air" at all and hear a better mix than the audience will.

Its a highly portable set-up, easy to set-up, consistent and I'm not fighting to hear what I want/need. And I know what the audience will hear, and can verify it through multi-track playback.

On 10/18/2023 at 1:07 AM, codamedia said:

Do you know what you want?

Morerer, biggerer, fastererer, newerer, braggierer, soonerer!

The above all apply. Another thing to consider is starting with one or two basic patches that he tweaks at practice. Yes it will bore the pants off everyone, but:

• they will be heard in context (ie with the band) which makes a huge difference
• they'll be heard at volume in using the play back system to be used live
• he will be able to save the new versions seperately and compare what sounded good at home with what sounded good with the band and get better at building patches

Ultimately they have to sound good with the band, not stand alone and thats very different.

On 9/11/2023 at 10:06 AM, SoCalguitardude said:

I’m trying to assign multiple effects to a single Snapshot. But when I hit “save preset” the Snapshots are not saving. They are reverting back to old content.

This makes me wonder if you think Snapshots allow changing of the effects in each slot - they don't.

This provides the basics on what snapshots are and how to use them 

On 8/26/2023 at 7:11 PM, wildbillmojo said:

Any suggestions?

Put your pedal in a loop - thats why the Helix is designed with all that IO, to allow you to use existing pedals that are not modelled yet, or that you love more than the modelled version.

I can't see how an IR will help - 

This is not intended to be snarky, but if you like what you got from your friends quad cortex then why not get one and sell the LT? You would already have another user locally that could help if nothing else.

The issues you have described with the LT are not fixable with a zoom session or two in my view. As you're using an amp, and want splits out for IEMs/FoH, and leveling across several patches/effects someone needs to be in the room with you, helping you tweak and learn at the same time. Ideally at a band practice as what really matters is the sound in the mix - not just the backline sound.

With no info on where your located you might find someone nearby with one of the Helix user groups in facebook - such as "Line 6 Helix Family User Group OFFICIAL and ORIGINAL"

The integration of the Helix with the DT series of amps is not the same as with the HD500x. Likely as the DT series are now legacy hardware (unfortunately).

However, there is still pretty deep control available from the output block including the poweramp settings via L6 Link. I no longer have my DT amps, but you will find the parameters you can control in a tab on the output block. From what I recall you can change paramters at a preset and within that snapshot level (with the same thump you could get with the Pod with certain changes).

These changes are NOT mapped to the amp models like they were in the HD500.

I also recall others here having deeper control via midi.

If you enjoy the DTs persist, its an even better set-up than the HD500 when you consider the substantially better amp models in the Helix.I do recall preferring the full amp models over the pre-amps in the Helix.

Unfortunately, my desire for an easy, replicable, controllable workflow and outputs led me to using powercabs, and then ultimatley direct to PA and high quality in-ears, with a full mix back at me on a silent stage. My days of living for amp in the room sounds have passed. 

On 5/13/2023 at 7:00 PM, gobygoo said:

Here's the recording (strat bridge pickup). Obviously, without any post eq/leveling/effects or anything like that:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wg46yq7sg80gy4g/hx.mp3?dl=0
Does that sound like what you'd expect from this amp and settings ?

Well we don't know your settings, but yes that sounds like a strat through a litigator.

On 5/13/2023 at 7:00 PM, gobygoo said:

I tried to improve with EQ, but once I added some bass and drums, The EQ stopped making sense.

Not sure what you mean here - EQ on the stomp, in the DAW, on the amp model? Keeping in mind that mix EQ is about making space for sounds in the mix and helping the right bits 'poke out', what you think is a great tone solo'd is not always an even close to useable tone in a mix.

Jason Sadites has a huge range of videos that help getting good sounds, but you might find one of his most recent ones particularly useful 

I've had timeouts restoring back-ups before, generaly straight after updating firmware, and thorugh the same cable and USB port that had just worked for the update.

The solution has been pulling the cable out of the PC, shutting down the Helix, restarting the PC, starting the Helix. It seems like an intermittent USB driver thing.

One other instance involved a corrupt preset, determined by bringing each set-list in one at a time, working out which one and forcing a skip - complete PITA.

On 5/12/2023 at 3:20 PM, gobygoo said:

Honestly, I think my problem is that there are so many parameters to play with, that I find myself meandering my way, and very quickly I get ear fatigue, and then everything sounds bad.

So yes, many parameters, so try to reduce the degrees of freedom (available choices).

Suggest pick an amp you know in real life and likewise a cab. Ideally somehting you know you like mic'd up and with which microphones. Then change settings for each compnenent to extremes so you hear what they do and how they interact, then make incremental changes from stock to get closer to what you want to hear. Its painstaking and boring, but helps you quickly learn what works for you and what doesn't and becomes applicable across other blocks.

And take breaks, because, yes, ear fatigue is very real.

Additional information needed - what is "that quick volume spike when changing snapshots?"

I have had one instance of a weird volume spike in snapshots in 150+ maintained patches each with 4 snapshots.

Some back and forth with L6 determined that Snapshots change parameters in the order thay are set in a serial, though very fast, manner. Not in parellel. In the case of my problematic pact/snapshot it had been developed/played with over a period of time and one of the stroed changes caused an issue with volume. Tracking it down wasn't feasible, and even if I could, it could not be remediated. So I rebuilt the patch from scratch with only the required changes.

If you mean something more systemic, eg all your snapshots have volume changes, you need to reconsider what youu're changing and what you're not. Its unlikely to be a snapshot issue per se, more something to do with not ensuring correct volume levels at for each snapshot by adjusting the various parameters available to you. For example, you can't expect to push the gain of an amp without an associated volume change and a need for a channel volume adjustment. Thinking about the changes for each block and whether the change needs some compensation within the block or elsewhere will help.

On 4/16/2023 at 3:49 AM, eztoots said:

Thanks for the Line6 developpement team for checking these ideas and implement them in the Helix ecosystem.

 

Ez Toots.

Implementation tech at Solotech

You're an Implementation Tech and you can even be bothered to read the second pinned post of the forum about posting ideas in IdeaScale. Must be struggle doing your job if you can't be bothered reading doco.

What a painfully pompus post.

On 3/29/2023 at 11:24 AM, boynigel said:

by default i don't use cab blocks because i use my LT into the effects loop return of my guitar amp.

Well that will make it tricky, a leslie a speaker with a moving baffle and/or horn - so you're putting an emulated speaker into a real one. In addition, although not strickly stereo its an effect best perceived through binaural hearing (ie might as well be stereo) because of the movement of reflections in the space the speaker (cab) is in. That might explain your perception of it being more like a chorus.