Best Practises Recording Helix (floor + native)

[xmacvicar]

Hi Friends!
 

Starting to get into some recording and learning Logic Pro X. Want to make this quick - does this sound right?

 

On 1 track I record the full stereo signal inputs 1&2 in Logic which is my full affected/wet sound from Helix floor, direct in USB.

 

Also on track 7 I record the straight dry sound coming from Helix.

 

This gives me the ability to use Helix Native (which I just bought today on the summer sale) to 'redo' this track down the road if I so choose to? 

 

I know I could reamp with Helix floor, but I thought just having Native in conjunction with the dry track would streamline this even further?

[datacommando]

10 hours ago, xmacvicar said:

Hi Friends!
 

Starting to get into some recording and learning Logic Pro X. Want to make this quick - does this sound right?

 

On 1 track I record the full stereo signal inputs 1&2 in Logic which is my full affected/wet sound from Helix floor, direct in USB.

 

Also on track 7 I record the straight dry sound coming from Helix.

 

This gives me the ability to use Helix Native (which I just bought today on the summer sale) to 'redo' this track down the road if I so choose to? 

 

I know I could reamp with Helix floor, but I thought just having Native in conjunction with the dry track would streamline this even further?

 

Hi,

 

Yes, that’s the way I do it, plus the option to re-amp the dry signal through Native is great. You could duplicated the dry track a few times and run each one simultaneously through a different instance of Native loaded up with various patches (depending on how much muscle your Mac has) - there you go - Helix orchestra. You couldn’t do that in the real world without a lot of hassle.

 

Having Native installed also means that if you were travelling and recording stuff you can make changes to the audio without needing the hardware Helix to be hooked up.

 

Have fun!

[JLondon]

I'm not an expert and am learning myself so ... But I'm just wondering why the need , if you have Native, to include the Helix floor at all except in the case that you want the use of expression pedals (wah, etc.) - which, if I understand correctly, will be included in the dry signal and can't be edited out later if so desired.  On the flip side, you can't use expression pedals with native if you wanted either (not to my knowledge anyway).   When recording, I just plug my guitar straight into my daw ... wait ... I think I just answered my own question.  The Helix floor may be your only daw option.  If so, If I were you I'd save up and get a separate daw for the desktop or even a portable one for on the road.  I like my Steinberg UR 28M for desktop, wasn't too much and even included Cubase elements, footprint is much smaller and cabling is way less messy.  Basically my Helix floor is now for live play only except for when I need wah or expression pedal on a recording.

[xmacvicar]

Just now, JLondon said:

I'm not an expert and am learning myself so ... But I'm just wondering why the need , if you have Native, to include the Helix floor at all except in the case that you want the use of expression pedals (wah, etc.) - which, if I understand correctly, will be included in the dry signal and can't be edited out later if so desired.  On the flip side, you can't use expression pedals with native if you wanted either (not to my knowledge anyway).   When recording, I just plug my guitar straight into my daw ... wait ... I think I just answered my own question.  The Helix floor may be your only daw option.  If so, If I were you I'd save up and get a separate daw for the desktop or even a portable one for on the road.  I like my Steinberg UR 28M for desktop, wasn't too much and even included Cubase elements, footprint is much smaller and cabling is way less messy.  Basically my Helix floor is now for live play only except for when I need wah or expression pedal on a recording.

 

Floor is not needed for sure, if you have another input device - which I do. However, I am using the floor for zero latency monitoring.

 

The dry signal I record on Input 7 can then later be adjusted with Native, at my desk, without me needing to re-connect the floor and go through the entire re-amping process/workflow.

 

This is all how I understand it to be.

[Thark]

I have a Helix floor and Helix Native but I don’t use the floor for recording, since my studio interface is in my digital mixer. What I do is record guitar direct using a Radial J48 phantom powered DI (not sure about the model, not in the studio at the moment). Works really well with Native and reamping is supremely easy ... not need to configure hardware in the studio (although I have it if I need to go old school)

[Kilrahi]

I prefer to use the HX purely as the input device. I set Native to capture unprocessed signal. I usually have a signal path in the HX close to what I want so my mind stays sharp, but none of that is captured in my DAW.

 

I then use Native for everything else. It's far easier this way. You can create multiple versions, test changes on the fly, it's insane.

[kelldammit]

I do similar with the floor, into an RME Babyface.  1 channel = direct guitar (recorded), the other channel is effected guitar, for monitoring only.  Helix Native takes it from there.

I'm also settting it up to do 4-wire with my little vox av-30, mostly for family jams over the holidays, but i wouldn't be averse to using it for recordings, in parallel to the direct dry, should i so decide.

 

Also, I mostly use a JTV89F variax for guitar stuff, so it gets powered by the helix.  It's nice not having to worry that the battery will crap out while i'm in the middle of something.

An ibanez bass is also sometimes involved, but with the helix, my radial jdi and j48 are now in their boxes on the shelf.

 

The thing i probably like the most, though, is that i can dump out an mp3 of stuff in progress onto my phone, and work out sounds/parts on the helix without the computer being involved.  It's a really cool box.