dcomara

Hello, I use Helix Native with my Focusrite scarlett 8i6 3rd gen in Studio one 5. It works amazing and sounds as good as my Helix floor does recorded. My suggestions are to make sure you have latest Focusrite drivers installed. Use the Focusrite Control software and make sure your unit is set to instrument level. You will not need to use your gain knob if it is set correctly. Right now you are set to line level if you need the knob at 12. Make sure you use the control software as that helps you set routing and other things with your interface.

Hi, I don't really have any experience with Pod Go. I agree that pops and clicks are a matter of your CPU and computer system not handling the buffer size. Depending on the driver and the DAW you use you need to change it to a higher sample size. There are a ton of videos on youtube on how to change those settings for all kinds of devices. The quality of the driver software that the manufacturer of the interface creates has a lot to do with the sample rate you can run also. As far as the focusrite 8i6 it sounds fine for my use. The mic pre's sound fine, are pretty neutral and flat unless you activate the "air" feature which adds high end. Better doesn't really mean much until you can actually tell the difference in sound. I'm honest I probably can't. I record vocals in a closet and mix on presonus monitors. The 8i6 is 300 bucks, it does what I expect for the price. The Helix was 1500 and it is a terrible "interface" but a great hardware amp and effect sim. They were made for different things. Heck I had to send my Helix in for repair because the mic pre fried the first time I used it with a condenser mic. I'm not saying any product is correct for someone else, but in my experience use the right tool for the job. My Helix makes nice guitar amp and effect sounds. I use it for that. The interface works well to convert sounds to digital and stuff them into my DAW.

Hi, glad it was useful. 1)Yes for the clock source. When I use the Helix I switch the clock source from my interface to the Helix. My 8i6 can change, the Helix cannot. It is always set as a Master clock source. It works without messing with it but I figure it may keep digital issues from arising. 2)I only use the Helix usb to run HX Edit. That way I can manipulate all the sounds from Helix and the routing on the patches via my computer and not actually touching the hardware. I don't have my computer recognize the Helix as an audio interface, just my 8i6. I was terribly disappointed in the Helix as an interface as its latency is just terribly high even at super low sample rates. My 8i6 is like a third of its latency so I prefer to use it for everything. Actually pretty happy with it for 300 bucks. I even use it for just noodling on the guitar as I have all my studio monitors and headphones connected to the 8i6. I can play through the helix much like a mixing board I suppose. Ultimately using the Helix more like a piece of studio gear wired in as an insert.

Hi, So I don't have an Apollo, but I am using my Helix floor via spdif with my focusrite 8i6. First from what I have learned the Helix cannot be changed from Master. So you will need to set your Apollo appropriately. With your apollo you have your onboard processors for certain things, while with my 8i6 I actually use the Helix for monitoring with effects while tracking. Thus I can actually route guitar vocals or bass through the Helix for effects in my headphones while tracking. I will then record both the wet and direct DI in my DAW (Studio one) . My headphones and studio monitors are all going through the interface. Nothing but spdif is going through the Helix. As far as signal flow I have Di into 8i6 split into to sends one out the spdif one straight into the Daw. Then Helix processes whatever I want and back out spdif to the focusrite. Then into a separate channel in the DAW. This actually lets me get away with no latency monitoring with affects similar to your Apollo for even Vocals. I will usually have the Helix plugged in via USB for running the edit software so I don't have to move to the unit. The Focusrite Control Software is pretty amazing and is why this works. It allows me to basically track and route stuff with no latency through the Helix and have everything sent to the DAW. I will use the Helix preamp model, Studio compression and reverbs for vocals as I'm tracking so that it sounds more natural than just the plain DI sound. I record the DI in the DAW so that it can be used with any plugins I want. One of the big things is to make sure you keep track of open loops through the spdif as it will make a hell of a feedback loop. So mute things appropriately. Hopefully this helps.

Going to agree with this. I have actually been recording with my Helix Floor the last few nights. I use a WIn10 Laptop not a Mac and record into Studio one pro. With the Helix it is mostly a matter of your CPU and Memory creating the latency. I have 32 Gigs of Ram and an I7 8750 processor and I still have to balance the block size to get a decent latency with Helix and not get drop outs. I still get a USB round trip latency of around 20 - 25 ms which is honestly almost unusable without monitoring off of the Helix itself. It will work well though. I have been experimenting with Helix re amping and it is really a great feature. Best of luck but you most likely need to upgrade or replace your machine to get consistent reliable latency.

Hmm sorry I see that you did turn the phantom power on. I would build a patch from scratch for the mic and see if that works better. I've used my helix with a condenser mic with the 48v and it worked great with nothing in the signal path.

I think that mic needs phantom power. You will need to turn that on.