Line 6 Helix Acoustic Sim Patch

[ur2funky]

This is my effort to get an acoustic guitar tone using a Strat and the Helix into a QSC K8 (P.A. style speaker).  

You need two acoustic IR’s for this preset to work. They are Acoustic1B1 and Acoustic1B2 and are included with the patch in this dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0ibev1vu2eemikv/AADo4nn6QPmxdjnCmbpoWd3Da?dl=0

1B1 goes with the first IR in the chain and 1B2 the second. Or try using any of these acoustic IRs here;

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hqe6b253kax9yn9/AACAiOnOI28q7I2uRd7HgX_ga?dl=0

A single coil tone gives best results, preferably neck and/or middle position.

Starts with a basic clean tone with two Overdrive pedals. The Overdrives only work with the ‘Acoustic’ switch OFF. Engaging the ‘Acoustic’ switch bypasses all gain, so you can switch back and forth to the 3 different gain levels and the acoustic tone with just one switch.  

With the Acoustic tone activated, you can also use the ‘Mando Banjo’ or ’12 String’ switches. They only work with the ‘Acoustic’ switch active.  

If anyone could help improve the ’12 String’ setting that would be greatly appreciated!

If anyone could help improve the ’Acoustic’ setting that would be greatly appreciated!

You may find it helpful to move the looper to the first block so you can dial-in tones as the loop plays.
 

*Not intended for Piezo or Variax guitars. Adjust Reverb/Delay/Drive settings to your taste. A single coil tone gives best results, preferably neck and/or middle position. I dialed this in using a Suhr S guitar - Helix - QSC K8.

[roscoe5]

Awesome. Thanks for posting. Can't wait to try it.

[roscoe5]

Cool patch.  A lot of thought and functionality put into this one.  Nice to not have to switch presets to get acoustic sim.

[jshoenfelt]

Can't wait to try this out.  Thank you.

[jshoenfelt]

Works great, I tried it out this evening at practice.  Thank you so much, I have been looking for this type of patch.

[gbakerjr]

I can't get the patch or either of the IR's to load.  I get that yellow strip across the top of the editor screen that says it's an incompatible file.  Any thoughts?

[ur2funky]

Sometimes when I download files to my Mac it automatically puts .txt on the end of the file.  Maybe your computer has done something similar.  The IR files should end in .wav and the patch .hlx

 

Check this first.

[gbakerjr]

Nope...The file name extensions are correct, and I downloaded all three files (2 IR's and the patch) a second time just to make sure something didn't get corrupted in the download.  Interestingly enough, I have the same problem with the bundle file that came with the most recent firmware update.  Same error when I try to import it. 

 

I downloaded some Helix patches from the CustomTone boards just to make sure there wasn't something wrong on my end...They load fine.  I ran through about a dozen of them.  Weird.  Incidentally, it shouldn't make a difference, but all of my machines are running Win10 Pro 64.

[ur2funky]

This preset was made with the latest firmware, if that matters.

 

I've heard from a couple people that have downloaded and used the patch and IRs from the above link.  It worked for them.  

 

And the IR's in the second link should work without the patch.  At least they've worked for dozens of people on this forum.

[gbakerjr]

I'm on the latest firmware.  I'm sure it's something on my end, but I have absolutely no clue what.  I haven't tried the IR's in the second link, but I'll take a crack at it.

[ur2funky]

The only other thing I can think of is sometimes computers hide file extensions from users.  So maybe it appears as a .hlx but is really something else?

 

When I download patches/IR's from Dropbox, my Mac doesn't change the extension, but adds one to it, which I have to then edit off.  And this doesn't happen when I download patches from CustomTone.

 

But If I download as a 'zip' from the blue Dropbox tab, it doesn't add the extension.

[jaminjimlp]

Nope...The file name extensions are correct, and I downloaded all three files (2 IR's and the patch) a second time just to make sure something didn't get corrupted in the download. Interestingly enough, I have the same problem with the bundle file that came with the most recent firmware update. Same error when I try to import it.

 

I downloaded some Helix patches from the CustomTone boards just to make sure there wasn't something wrong on my end...They load fine. I ran through about a dozen of them. Weird. Incidentally, it shouldn't make a difference, but all of my machines are running Win10 Pro 64.

I believe it's exactly what ur2funky says... if you open up file explorer and go to the top and left hand side and find "folder options" go to the tab where you can change so that you can see file extensions I would bet that they are hidden (default ) that way you've got txt or something else afterit like... *.HLX.Txt or *.wav.txt or *.hlx.Doc or something similar.

[gbakerjr]

It's definitely not the file extension being incorrect.  I keep my file extensions viewable for just that reason, and they're named properly.  Just for the heck of it though, I went in and renamed the two IR's and the patch file, making sure the extensions were .wav and .hlx respectively.  Same result.  I also tried importing from another computer, just to rule out any type of computer-specific hiccup.  No go.  The IR's in the second link load fine.  Not sure what the deal is, but it's awfully confusing.

 

The wording of the error is "URI is incompatible with data".  I Googled that phrase and didn't come up with anything.  I'm going to start a new thread with that in the title to see if anyone else has experienced it.

 

I appreciate everyone's thoughts!

[ur2funky]

Well the IR's in the second file are the exact same files as in the first, I just changed their names to make loading easier.  

 

The first IR in the patch is the Taylor314 Shure 57 and the second is the J45 Neumann M147.

[gbakerjr]

Wow...Interesting.  I didn't try to load every IR in the second file, I just tried a half-dozen or so as a matter of trouble-shooting.  So I don't know for sure if I loaded those two specific IR's or not, but I'll try them as soon as I get a chance.  This is really friggin' weird!  I don't have a drop box account.  When I downloaded from the first link, I downloaded each file individually. When I downloaded from the second link, I downloaded all the files as a zip file, since there were so many of them.  I'm going to download the files from the first link all at once as a zip file and see if that makes a difference.  I can't imagine it would, but at this point I'm out of guesses....

[ur2funky]

... download all the files as a zip file....

 

This!

[gbakerjr]

Ahhhh.....Downloading all the files from the drop box at once as a zip file did it.  Everything loads fine.  Interesting though.  I wonder what changes the file when you download individually as opposed to in one large zip file?

[ur2funky]

But If I download as a 'zip' from the blue Dropbox tab, it doesn't add the extension.

 

Post #11  :)

[gbakerjr]

It must be a difference in how the Mac handles the download.  I'm on Win7, and I can guarantee beyond a shadow of a doubt that the file extension was correct in the files that wouldn't load.  That was the first thing I checked, and then double and triple checked as we were working through this thread. 

 

After further examination however, while the file names are identical, the files sizes are not.  The files I downloaded individually are significantly smaller than the ones downloaded as part of the zip file.  There's obviously something happening in the download process.  Guess you learn something new every day!

Hey...How do you like your Suhr?  I've been interested in Suhr guitars for a while, but the closest dealer to me is several hours away, so I don't have a good opportunity to check them out.  I was kicking around doing a custom order with them, but I'd like to play one or two of their guitars before jumping into a $5k order.

 

Gary

[ur2funky]

I'm glad you got the patch sorted and I hope it was worth all the effort!  lol.

 

I'm a huge Suhr fan.  Just an FYI, with the dozen or so I've had, the price difference between their $2k models and a custom $5k makes no difference on the quality of the guitar.  They're all built by the same hands at Suhr.  All great stuff.

[billbassler]

The preset file doesn't load into Helix. Error: Model specified in the file is not recognized. Firmware: 1.06.0

[ur2funky]

I'm running the latest Beta firmware 1.11  I believe.  I guess it won't work until you update, sorry.

[Jmontana19kc]

Thank you ur2funky!  I downloaded the acoustic IRs and used a couple in my preset and they are amazing.  I haven’t tried your preset, but plan on it tomorrow.  Thank sooo much!