Variax Tuning Problem When Changed by Helix

[Thark]

Not sure if this is a problem with the Variax or the Helix. I suspect the latter since the problem is popping on both of my JTV-59s. What is happening is that I have a Helix preset in which I change the Variax tuning to open G however it occasionally seems to mix standard tuning in with the altered tuning. So, for example, on the high e string it will sound both a D and an E ... very disconcerting.

 

Is there some setting in the Helix perhaps that I've missed?

 

Keith

[silverhead]

Most of the time this is caused by your ears hearing both the alternate tuning through your monitors and also directly hearing the natural (unaltered) tuning of the string. To rule this out, make a recording of the sound. The natural sound of the string will not be recorded; you should hear only the alternate tuning. If you hear both notes in the recording there is a problem. Otherwise this is normal behaviour; to drown out the sound of the natural vibration you need to have the speaker volume loud or use closed back headphones.

[Thark]

Ahhh! Fooled again. That was it. Amazing that the unamplified string sound is loud enough to hear.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

[Kilrahi]

1 hour ago, Thark said:

Ahhh! Fooled again. That was it. Amazing that the unamplified string sound is loud enough to hear.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

 

That will forever be the downside of the Variax. I adore mine - but even after a good long time of using it I still occasionally get borked and start fiddling with all the settings because the natural true tuning of the guitar is overpowering my brain. 

 

On the plus side, what amazes me is that most of the time, even in intimate room settings playing for people, I seem to be the only one who notices. The other people seem to all focus on what the amp is outputting. Obviously part of that is proximity, but I do think another part is that as a guitar player, without even realizing it, we've always focused a great deal of our attention on the natural resonance of the guitar in our hands. 

[silverhead]

Yeah - it is surprising how loud that  string vibration sounds to our ears.  But it does make sense that the player hears it and the audience doesn't. The player's ears are much closer to the string than the audience is, and even closer to the string than to the speaker/monitor.

[zivdud]

Very true. Specially when it comes to playing in 1/2 step and hearing you physical strings in standard. Solution: crank it up, worry about hearing issues later. Lol.