Digital Clipping Check

[Nerdlingers]

Hello all,

 

Helix user of a momentously heralded 2 weeks here (please hold your praise and applause but I appreciate the sentiment) and I was noticing some noise in the signal. I did what I could to mitigate it but couldn't completely remove it. Like all Helix users I'm sure I've been consuming as much information and content as I can on the product and I happened upon this video by Aaron Short Music about gain staging:

 

Call me naive but I had no idea about digital clipping, is there a way other than your ear to find out within the Helix to know if you're having this issue? I've had to reword the 8 or so patches I've created but it would be nice to know there's already a built in function to kill this before it breeds. 

[DunedinDragon]

The simplest fix is to hook the output up to a mixing board or a DAW and manage the signal level output from the Helix.  This is how I dial in all my presets using a small 6 channel mixer.  This isn't just for gain staging but helps in leveling out the volume levels in all your presets/stomps which makes you very popular with the sound crew.

Short of that the easiest way is to make sure that when you add a block you're not constantly increasing the output level of your signal chain.  So you can do this by simply listening to it without the block turned on and with the block turned on to make sure you're maintaining the same general volume level throughout the preset.

[Nerdlingers]

5 minutes ago, DunedinDragon said:

he simplest fix is to hook the output up to a mixing board or a DAW and manage the signal level output from the Helix

Thank you Duneduin I have done this but still noticed that noise which I found out was digital clipping (which again I didn't know was thing until that video). I appreciate your reply though especially the advice of:

8 minutes ago, DunedinDragon said:

the easiest way is to make sure that when you add a block you're not constantly increasing the output level of your signal chain. 

So easy to keep adding volume. Cheers mate.

[DunedinDragon]

Well the real question here is what are you hearing the digital clipping FROM?  In other words, what is your output device when you hear it.  For example, if you were playing through a FRFR speaker or through a mixing board, if that device isn't gain staged appropriately the clipping could be coming from there rather than the Helix.

[BBD_123]

On 9/28/2019 at 7:33 AM, DunedinDragon said:

Short of that the easiest way is to make sure that when you add a block you're not constantly increasing the output level of your signal chain.  So you can do this by simply listening to it without the block turned on and with the block turned on to make sure you're maintaining the same general volume level throughout the preset.

 

^^^^ This. Starting with the AMP BLOCK alone. Set the amp block Channel Volume so that there isn't a big jump in gain when you turn the amp block on and off in an otherwise empty signal chain.

On 9/28/2019 at 9:43 AM, DunedinDragon said:

Well the real question here is what are you hearing the digital clipping FROM?  In other words, what is your output device when you hear it.  For example, if you were playing through a FRFR speaker or through a mixing board, if that device isn't gain staged appropriately the clipping could be coming from there rather than the Helix.

 

Also true. I managed to run the Helix a bit too hot into a Yamaha MG06 mini mixer and *there* was the source of clipping - the mixer, not Helix. Once I turned down the physical Volume knob on the floor unit, the problem went away.