rlhjr34 Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 My plan is to pick up a rack unit this week. I have a small home studio setup and want to place the rack unit into my rack on my desk. Then connect the rack unit to my Focusrite via USB and run it through my monitors on my desk. In addition I would like to connect it to my Mesa head as well and use it as an effects unit for my amp or through my FR/FR monitors depending on my need. Is this a pretty straight forward setup that will work with out hiccups? Or will the unit struggle to run smoothly with a dual connection setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 I doubt you'll run into any struggles from the dual connections, but you may introduce some latency in the recording process. Not a problem if it's within bounds and you're monitoring source and not recorded signal. The other potential might be some signal to noise issues through the Mesa head that you might have to tame with a noise gate. Personally I prefer to keep things as simple as possible in the recording process to get the cleanest and most articulated recording I can get. It's really easy for things to get mushy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eklein Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 You can't connect Helix Rack directly to your Focusrite via USB. Audio cables, fine, and both units to your Mac/PC via separate USB cables, fine, but even if the Focusrite has USB hubs (not sure if it does), Helix won't support it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 Since you are like me (I use an Apollo audio interface instead of Helix for my DAW) just hook Helix up via audio cables to your Focusrite, and run the other set of audio outs to your amp/FRFR setup. Simple and done. Then use the USB cable from Helix to your computer for the editor. Works like a charm for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlhjr34 Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 `Thanks for all the input guys. I am mainly thinking this though. I plan to run the Helix through my monitors for quiet time practice and using the modeling features. Then when it comes to the rest of the time I want to run just the effects in front and behind my amp and if I record it will most likely be with that setup mic'd up. I suppose I may tinker with a recording or two through helix to mac (should have mentioned that was my desktop originally but forgot). 90% of the time I will be using it with out recording but just want the option to go through FR/FR monitors on my desk when I want to use those, or the effects with my actual Mesa JP2C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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