HELIX and external mic/sound source

[fvh1969]

Hello, hoping for answers.

 

Among other things, I'm currently gigging with a small PA, guitar, an amp mic'ed through a small mixer and backing tracks which I sing and play guitar over.

So the mixer has a vocal mic, an amp mic and a stereo lead from my iPad hooked up to it.

I was looking for a good floorbased unit to replace the amp/pedalboard to make travelling easier.

 

But could the Helix be able to replace my mixer as well as my guitaramp/pedalboard?

I see that there's a mic in on the backside, and probably some way to hook up the iPad for playing stereo backing tracks.

But is the Helix able to independently send the sound from the mic/ipad to the speakers without being affected by the volume pedal?

 

I would of course need the volume pedal for the guitar parts, but my question is if I can have a set/fixed volume for the vocal and backing tracks?

 

Thanks a lot.

[silverhead]

Yes to all your questions. You can use one of the Helix paths for your guitar processing and include the VOL pedal in that path. You can use the second path for your completely independent vocal processing and include a Return pair of inputs at the end of that second path so that your stereo backing tracks are completely un-effected. Connect the Helix outputs directly to your powered PA speakers. No mixer or amp/pedalboard required. The VOL pedal will affect only your guitar .

[fvh1969]

Thanks a lot for that, silverhead - that's fantastic! 

The only problem then would be to find a way to control vocal and tracks volumes as I go. 

Maybe expression pedals?

[tedulrich]

For immediate control during performance, you can use expression pedals.  If you don't need immediate control you can drop into edit mode and change block parameters via the footswitches and onboard expression pedal. 

[silverhead]

I think you'll have to experiment with the options there. You can control the tracks volume using your iPad and/or with the Return block level. You can control the vocal with a VOl/Gain FX block assigned to an expression pedal controller.

 

One thing to be aware of is that it can get cumbersome using the Helix for vocals and backing tracks if you need to have many different presets for your guitar tones. The issue is that each preset has to duplicate the vocal and tracks settings and blocks. You can't, for instance, leave the vocal settings and tracks active in one preset while you switch the guitar settings to another preset. You can use snapshots to have several different guitar settings in the same preset as long as DSP permits but you may find this limiting depending on how complex your vocal settings need to be and how many different amp models and guitar tones you need.

 

If you are using an acoustic guitar it will be much simpler but for a wide variety of electric guitar sounds as well as vocals it might get cumbersome to duplicate the vocal settings in each preset. It's OK at the start, but if you want to tweak your vocal setting and have it stay consistent throughout the gig you will need to tweak it in all presets.

[fvh1969]

Thank you for that.

 

Yes, I thought that it might be a problem, which is why I asked this in my opening post. If I understand it correctly, the mic/backing track part can't operate totally independent from patch changes.

But for the sake of simplicity: If I were to use only one good amp model throughout the evening, and then use the Helix in a sort of stomp mode (just like I would with my current rig, which is an analog pedalboard and an amp), and turn on and off the effects I'd need, would this too effect the mic/backing track side? 

[strabes]

If I understand it correctly, the mic/backing track part can't operate totally independent from patch changes.

This is correct, but once you get your vocal/backing track/basic guitar routing setup done, you can just duplicate that preset and change the guitar settings as needed.

 

But for the sake of simplicity: If I were to use only one good amp model throughout the evening, and then use the Helix in a sort of stomp mode (just like I would with my current rig, which is an analog pedalboard and an amp), and turn on and off the effects I'd need, would this too effect the mic/backing track side? 

Helix has four independent stereo paths. You can set up the footswitches to control blocks on any of the paths. If you have an overdrive on the path you've set up for guitar, it's not going to affect the vocal or backing tracks paths. 

[fvh1969]

Thank you very much for all your inputs - very helpful.  :)

[MusicLaw]

If you're routing Analog Stereo backing tracks to your Helix via two of Helix's FX Returns, the Block's Level Parameter allows adjustment of the backing tracks' volume. You could also insert a Stereo Volume Gain Block after the Stereo FX Return Block to allow adjustment of the backing tracks' volume.

 

To avoid the need to bend down to turn either block's level parameter to adjustment the volume, assign a footswitch to each Block and the treadle as a Controller for the Level Parameter of each block.

 

I'm not at the Helix at the moment to give this a try, but I believe Helix's onboard treadle should allow control of the backing track's Volume in one of two ways. One way would be accessing Pedal Edit Mode, then selecting the Block, then the Level Parameter and making the adjustment. The other would be simply selecting the footswitch assigned to the Block that enables the treadle and making the adjustment.

 

Give each method a try to see which affords the best and most direct control. As you've also got the guitar and vocal related paths to maintain and adjust, see how the above may work for you.

[fvh1969]

Thanks a lot for that, MusicLaw!