FX Loop - Stereo or Mono with the Eventide H9

[WithALoudNoise]

Hey all!  I decided to order the H9 and add it to my pedal board.  Because sometimes (in the studio) I will run in stereo I want to have it all hardwired on the pedal board for either mono (live) or stereo (studio) settings.  If I have the L and R ins and outs wired to the Helix via FX send/return 1 and 2, I am assuming that I can just set my patch to use just FX send/return 1 for mono applications and use 1 and 2 stereo for studio patches?

 

I just want to make sure that having the H9 L and R inputs wired all the time will not cause issues with only hearing half the signal in mono situations...?

 

I hope I am making sense.  Thanks all for any of your input!

 

Michael

[FlyingsCool]

Man, this is a complex answer to answer completely, but, suffice to say, I don't have an H9, but, if it works like most stereo pedals, if you have a stereo connection, it's going to act on it like a stereo signal, so if you send it only the left, you'll only get half of whatever the H9 is producing out of it.  If it's a mono effect, that's probably ok.  But if you are trying to use a stereo effect in mono, you'll only get back half the signal if you only use 1 side.

 

Example is stereo Ping Pong delay.  If I send it through a mono path, I'll get the full effect.  But if I only send one side, I'll only get half the effect.  If that makes sense.

 

Example.  Connect Helix using a single cable in the Left (mono) output to a speaker.  Play a patch using ping pong.  You'll hear the whole ping pong effect, both sides.  Now switch the cable to the right side nothing connected to the left output.  Helix now thinks it's connected in stereo because something is connected to the right (stereo) side, and only sends the right half of the signal to the speaker (It ignores the fact that nothing is connected to the left signal and switches to stereo anyway).

 

I had tried to connect XLR Left to one speaker and 1/4" right to an amp.  Helix sent the whole signal mono to the XLR cable (because it was switched internally to mono), and the right half only signal to the 1/4" because, since there was a cable in the right side it thought it was connected in stereo.  Hopefully that helps you see all the different ways that things can work if you think about the connections (and your brain doesn't blow up).

 

There's lots of combinations of doing things, but hopefully you get the idea.....

 

IOW, if you are connected in stereo... send in stereo and receive in stereo even if it's a mono signal in and out.  Helix will convert back to mono on the other side of the block....

[WithALoudNoise]

Thanks, that is what I was thinking.  I will try sending in stereo even in mono situations and see how it sounds.  Thanks again for the input!

[MusicLaw]

Helix's 1/4" I/O FX Send and FX Return jacks are Four (4) discrete sets of Jacks.

 

These jacks do not inherently respond as Left nor Right (relative to one another). This is contrary to the way Helix's Main Amp Outs (1/4" and XLR) behave.

 

How you define the respective I/O Send and Return Blocks in Helix's Signal Path will determine how these I/O respond.

 

Check your Eventide H9 to see how it responds or may be configured for use with discrete signal paths or Stereo.

[tommasoferrarese]

You can choose in H9 editor wether to have the pedal processing stereo or pre-post routing mono, when you have two cables connected. And it should be on a patch basis, if memory serves me well..

Otherwise you are going to have only half effect, when in mono, cause I think H9 senses wether you plug into one or two ins/outs.