tjbassoon

That doesn't actually address the question. I'm not looking specifically for stereo output effects, but for discrete routing within the unit on the returns. edited post for further clarity.

Simple chain to test this out: Send 1 out. Return from a stereo effects unit with effects panned hard left and right to Return 1 and 2. Signal chain in the Helix is: Inpult (multi) > FX Loop 1/2 (stereo symbol) > Ping Pong Delay > Multi out (mono 1/4") What I would expect is the hard panned left signal from the effects loop to be in the left delay of the ping pong, and the right only in the right. Maybe it's just that the ping pong delay doesn't operate that way, but I would expect it to. Anyway, it doesn't. Both of the left and right effects from the FX loop are sent to all the delay sounds. The fact that it doesn't sound this way indicates to me that we don't have discrete stereo paths in those effects at least from the FX loop. In this instance I would want left and right channel separate delay sounds. Thoughts? Does the output have to be stereo for the stereo effects to not be summed in and of themselves? Maybe the ping pong delay needs to be set up differently than default?

Got my XLR-TRS cables soldered up (tip to hot, ring to cold, ground to ground, no bridging) and they are working great. No additional noise at all, just had to make sure my output source was set to Line and the Send/Return was also set to line. New question but it deserves its own thread.

I guarantee there isn't a bassoon specific cab model out there. :-) Using a piezo kind of pickup though, not a typical Dynamic/Condenser microphone, and it's to the guitar input jack. I think though yeah, if I need the sound the best bet is no cab model and try some preamp models.

OK, if you compare any pitch tracking effect that is advertised as Monophonic (as all the Helix shifters are) to the stuff produced by EHX (which isn't just polyphonic, it's "we don't care what signal you throw out, we'll convert the pitch to this ratio" but also necver has any smart harmony (within a key) features) you're going to come up short with the digital effects. I do wish there were better multiphonic shifters on the Helix, those generally work better on bassoon. But for single notes, it's got no trouble following me at all, anywhere in the range of the instrument, with no noticeable latency. The only stuff that I've used that's any better is the EHX stuff (even the Voicelive stuff can't track the very bottom range of my instrument at all).

I'm curious what other devices you're comparing it to when you say it doesn't track well. Also what signal flow and exact blocks you're using to come to this conclusion. I'm not saying it doesn't track badly for you, but my experience is quite different, so I wonder what you're doing to have a different experience.

I use a bassoon with the Helix. Haven't had it for long, but pitch shifting is part of my bread and butter historically, and the bassoon is notoriously difficult for digital effects to track. My other right is a TC Helicon Volicelive 3, which does custom harmonies amazingly well and tracks beautifully. I will disagree with the other people on the board and say the pitch tracking on the Helix is some of the better that I've used. I've set up patches for Dual, Simple, and Whammy. Keep in mind I don't use amp/cab models in my playing most of the time. I'm not sure what the exact complaints are from people on the board regarding the pitch shifting, why they don't think it works well. Is it the "lack of polyphony"? Someone pointed out lack of user scales. I think I saw one rack unit for guitar that had user scales (AxeFX maybe) but to be honest that's a super rare feature in guitar units. I would welcome an addition of this to the Helix, but I have my Voicelive for that. What I find works well is to set up two pitch shifters in parallel paths, so you can have one that does say, octave up and octave down, and another that does 3rd and 5th. Then you don't get the problem of a second pitch shifter serially adding pitches to your already pitch shifted effect. This works really well to create organ/HOG like patches. That all said, pitch tracking always has room for improvement on any effect. It's gotta be a difficult thing to make programs for.

In this application I'm using not a guitar, and I'm finding a lot of the cabinet models take the high end off the sound. I'd like to retain the high end like you would find in an acoustic amp, but something to add some warmth to the sound maybe. If a cab model isn't what I'm looking for, am I really looking for a kind of preamp (the studio one probably) or something else? If suggesting an IR, free and easy to download only please.

Inputs A and B can be sent to the same output, if that's what you mean. You can't as far as I can figure out, mix down both paths together. However, you can use the top path alone to have your two inputs, then recombine those at the end of the chain. In this picture both inputs are Multi, but you can change them to whatever you want. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bw7zdsuiwyZ-UTlGLTNVSmp2NGc

Ha, that's the other one I use! Scott makes the buffers that get bundled with the bassoon pickups that I make.

OK, good to know. I like to roll my own cables, so I'll make a pair of XLR>TRS balanced cables, so they'll be more flexible for other uses down the road.

There is a setting for presets on one row and stomps on the other. See page 38 of the latest version of the user manual. Arranging Preset, Snapshot, and Stomp Switches 1. Press and then Knob 6 (Global Settings). 2. Move the joystick to select the Footswitches submenu. Ins/Outs MIDI/Tempo Footswitches Displays Global Settings Preferences EXP Pedals Firmware Version 2.00.0 Stomp Mode Switches Footswitches On 8 Presets 8 Switches Snapshot Mode Switches Auto Return Preset Mode Switches Banks Up/Down Switches Touch Select Footswitches 3. Turn Knob 2 (Preset Mode Switches) to customize the middle eight switches: • 8 Presets—Two banks of presets (the default) • Preset/Stomp—One bank of presets on the top row, switches from stomp mode on the bottom row • Stomp/Preset—Switches from stomp mode on the top row, one bank of presets on the bottom row

I'll be using it with my bassoon. Probably great with electric violin. In another thread there was discussion of using the aux input for piezoelectric pickups, so if you have one of those instead of a magnetic coil, try the aux input for possibly better results.

If I wanted to plug in a source to the Helix that had XLR outputs only, what would the best kind of cable to use for the Return jacks on the Helix? I may want to run some of the TC Helicon Voicelive series stuff into the Helix. I could go into the Mic input, but that would be MONO only, and I actually want to run it in stereo into the Helix using the Left and Right XLR outputs. I suspect this would also be useful for some stereo looping equipment. TRS 1/4" cable or just regular XLR > TS 1/4" to work best? And in my instance do you suppose I'd use them as Line level (my assumption)?

What's the output impedance of your guitars? The Aux in according to the manual only supports 10kohm, not in the 5+Mohm range. That said, my pickup in my instance was designed with a preamp in mind. I'll see how it works without.

Relevant to my interests as I'll be using this with Piezo almost exclusively. However, my solution with all other gear is to use a buffer/preamp that gets me in better range for most pieces of gear. L.R. Baggs Gigpro is my normal go-to for this. But it's good to know I might find the sound still better in the Aux input compared to the Guitar input.