Tonio_ Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Hey guys I'm just wondering whether there is a way to run 3 IRs in the Helix. I know you can do it with Cabs and with Dual Amp setups, but what about just standard Single Amp tones? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litesnsirens Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Depends if you are talking in series, or parallel, or a combination. It also depends on what resolution of IR you want to run. First of all, I don’t think you could run 2 high def IRs in parallel but you might be able to depending on the rest of your signal chain and how mush dsp it’s chewing up. If you were to run the lower def IRs you could put 2 on each signal path which means you could run them in series or parallel (on each signal path). How you choose to set that up just gets endless after that. There is no way to run 3 all in parallel all on the same signal path that i can think of. 2 of the 3 will be in series with each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Generally you don't gain a lot with combining IR's like you do with stock cabinets. Because of the way stock cabinets are designed, the most common use of additional cabinets is to be able to mix different mic's and placements as a given cabinet can only have one mic. That's not the case with IRs. The number and mix of mic's can be quite large within a single IR depending on how it was captured. In many cases it's not unusual for IRs to be captured with different combinations of speakers as well, so combining them in Helix is somewhat redundant and not very efficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonio_ Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 1 hour ago, litesnsirens said: Depends if you are talking in series, or parallel, or a combination. It also depends on what resolution of IR you want to run. First of all, I don’t think you could run 2 high def IRs in parallel but you might be able to depending on the rest of your signal chain and how mush dsp it’s chewing up. If you were to run the lower def IRs you could put 2 on each signal path which means you could run them in series or parallel (on each signal path). How you choose to set that up just gets endless after that. There is no way to run 3 all in parallel all on the same signal path that i can think of. 2 of the 3 will be in series with each other. In parallel of course! I've actually found a way, will post a picture later. Basically, on Path 1, you split after the Amp block, have one of the IRs go out into Multi, while placing a Volume block (or anything with low DPS tbh) on the other split end of the path. Have the split path with the Volume block go into path B. Split path B, put 1 IR on each split path, merge the two paths together. Sounds great. 40 minutes ago, DunedinDragon said: Generally you don't gain a lot with combining IR's like you do with stock cabinets. Because of the way stock cabinets are designed, the most common use of additional cabinets is to be able to mix different mic's and placements as a given cabinet can only have one mic. That's not the case with IRs. The number and mix of mic's can be quite large within a single IR depending on how it was captured. In many cases it's not unusual for IRs to be captured with different combinations of speakers as well, so combining them in Helix is somewhat redundant and not very efficient. Hmm... I don't agree. Mixing single mic IRs of the same brand, let's say a V30 from inside the Friedman 4x12, is actually a very good way of getting a desired mix going on. Considering the fact that the built in mics in the Helix are few all and the fact that you have to Hi Cut them in order to get a somewhat realistic sound, doing the same thing with IRs is just better, since you don't have to bother with EQs and you have plenty of different mic options at your disposal. The pre-mixed IRs from ML Sound Lab and Ownhammer do sound amazing indeed, but what if you want to customize the mic placements yourself? Say you want to have a really dark SM57 and a really bright R121. Let's say I want the following mics: a Mohave 200, a Shure SM7B and a Royer 121. Easy, I take the IRs, I audition the mic placements by themselves, then I blend them in to taste with the merge block. And no EQing needed whatsoever, meaning that you're 100% sure that you're not cutting "realistic" frequencies and that your virtual mic'd up speaker sounds just like a real mic'd up speaker. Because, IRs don't need any EQing, Hi/Lo Cutting or whatever to sound realistic, they are already the exact replica of a mic'd up speaker in a cab. A more extreme example: let's say I want to add a room mic to the whole deal (the MK84 for instance) and that I also want to have the 7B and the 121 on the same speaker. Just as easy! You take a pre-made mix that combines the 7B and the 121 (meaning that there are the little imperfections of both of the mics on the same speaker, something that a Cab block or 2 IR blocks can't reproduce), put the Mohave on another IR and then to top it off grab a "room mic" IR. Lots of options. Something more subtle would be to take a pre-mixed IR that you really like, let's say the Modern mix from Ownhammer that has the SM57 and the MD421, and you want to embelish that mix with some expensive mics :D So you take a Neumann U67 and maybe a Room placed MK84 or something like that to beef up and sparkle up the already great mix to begin with. Etc. etc. Soooo many options with 3 IR blocks, it's ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilrahi Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 2 hours ago, Tonio_ said: Because, IRs don't need any EQing, Hi/Lo Cutting or whatever to sound realistic, they are already the exact replica of a mic'd up speaker in a cab. The stock cabs are IRs . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litesnsirens Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 I had to hi cut and lo cut any and all IRs I used in the helix. Could just be my taste but typically 5kz hi cut and 120hz lo cut. And I used lots of different IRs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lungho Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 I typically make the same cuts when using IRs. To say "IRs don't need any EQing" is not exactly accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verne-Bunsen Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 I’ve been using MixIR from RedWirez to combine multiple IR files into a single compound IR file. It works great! Right now I am running a 3-IR combination consisting of the 3 Sigma Blues Deluxe 1x12, Twin Reverb 2x12 and Blues Deville 4x10. One IR block. Really digging how it sounds with the Helix Deluxe Reverb. There are other options for combining IRs, there was a discussion on the topic here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.