helix Helix, Variax 89, Mac mini and monitors

[bonestaak]

I have a Helix with Variax (James Tyler) guitar and I have a Mac mini with it currently attached. A Tascam US 2x2. I regularly play music or watch Youtubes with tests etc. on the Mac, but sometimes I also want to play guitar, either through my headphones or sometimes through my presonus-eris-e5-xt-active-studio monitors. Now I always have the problem that I always have to start a Tascam app because the guitar is of course mono so if I just switch from my mini to guitar, I have to switch from stereo to mono, otherwise an irritant noise. Any idea for an external music card or mixer where I can connect all this directly and (easily) jump from one to the other? p.s. at the moment I am not running Big Sur (yet) because this will probably cause problems with my Helix.

[PierM]

Looks like you are overcomplicating things that are easy. Like using Helix as audio interface, and that's basically fixing all your problems.

[datacommando]

3 hours ago, bonestaak said:

Any idea for an external music card or mixer where I can connect all this directly and (easily) jump from one to the other?

You already have the solution - your Helix. 
 

Your PreSonus Eris E5 monitors can be connected to the XLR or 1/4” Jack outputs on the Helix, your Variax into the Helix and the USB hooked up to the Mac Mini. Use Audio/MIDI Setup app on the Mac and select the Helix as the Audio In/Out device. Then the audio from iTunes, YouTube, GarageBand or any other DAW will be routed to your monitors, or headphone socket on the Helix.
 

Park the Tascam or stick it on Fleabay.

See USB Audio page 68 Helix Owner’s Manual - Rev E

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

Edited April 27, 2021 by datacommando
Added ref page 68

[bonestaak]

Hmm,  i dit connect Variax with the shielded utp  to the Helix lt   and usb to the mini,  phones from Helix to the headphone..  noise in the background (on quiet parts of music from youtube) i got ssssssshhh  noisy like old tape recorders.  And when i am not playing guitar or mp3s  i hear a hissss

[datacommando]

21 hours ago, bonestaak said:

And when i am not playing guitar or mp3s  i hear a hissss

 

There could be many reasons for the "hiss". It is difficult to assess without knowing the complete setup. You also say this is happening on your headphones. Is the noise there when you playback through the Eris 5 monitors?

 

When you play back music from YouTube, that is not a great reference for audio - the quality is not always that good, it may be coming from there. The audio playback from the Mini enters the Helix on USB 1&2 and bypasses all of the amps and FX. You need to trace things one at a time. If your Variax sounds O.K. my guess would be that it is not the Helix. You need to investigate a little more.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[bonestaak]

23 hours ago, bonestaak said:

 

For now i just only connect  Variax jtv  first with the digital utp  to the variax and  from  Variax  XLR output to  eris  speaker TRS in (balanced)  (i left right eris speaker out)  Then i have a big hiss,  not dependent of volume knob on Guitar.  Even when not playing i got hiss. 

Tried the same with the standard (balanced TRS  cable from Guitar to input  Guitar on the Helix,  ..  Hiss.

(off course remove the utp then).