themetallikid Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 So I've got a bug to record some fun stuff for my acoustic project. Id rather not have to set up my 'mixer' (xair18) to do this, and just use Helix USB. Is that possible? I'm pretty sure I did it before, but what settings do I need to have in Reaper and on the Helix to do so. I'm wanting to record just my acoustic and then a vocal track to go with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Sure, you can do that using the Helix as your audio interface. You’ll need to use the Line 6 ASIO driver which likely is already installed on your computer as part of the HX Edit installation package. Just connect your Helix to your computer via USB and configure the audio settings in Reaper to use the Helix with its 8 USB channels as Reaper’s audio input and output device. Connect your acoustic guitar to the Helix Guitar input and your mic to the Helix Mic input. Use a dual path preset in Helix, one for guitar and the other for vocals. Set your path Input blocks accordingly. Make sure to adjust the Mic Gain level appropriately in Global Settings. If using a condenser mic make sure you enable phantom power. Set the Output block in your guitar path to USB 1/2. Set the Output block for your vocal path to USB 3/4. In Global settings, check the USB 7 and 8 assignments. By default I think these are USB 7 for Mic and USB 8 for Guitar. You can record 4 useful tracks simultaneously in Reaper. Arm 2 mono and 2 stereo tracks for recording. Assign the Record Input for the wet guitar track to USB 1/2, and USB 8 for the mono dry guitar track. Similarly, use USB 3/4 and 8 for the vocal wet and dry tracks. If you have Helix Native (or any other plugins) you can use it post-recording on your dry tracks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themetallikid Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 Ok, I think thats what I was missing was setting the outputs to USB, d'oh!!! Also for your part "You can record 4 useful tracks simultaneously in Reaper. Arm 2 mono and 2 stereo tracks for recording. Assign the Record Input for the wet guitar track to USB 1/2, and USB 8 for the mono dry guitar track. Similarly, use USB 3/4 and 8 for the vocal wet and dry tracks." Do you mean '7' for the vocal wet/dry tracks or the guitar wet/dry/ tracks, they wouldnt both go to 8 right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicLaw Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Correct. Both dry tracks would not go to USB 8. Helix's Default is USB 8 Mic, USB 7 Guitar. Thus, be sure your Reaper configuration follows suit. See Pg. 68 of Line 6 Helix v3.0 User's Guide (Rev E.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Right. Sorry about the typo, and thanks for the correction. Also you might find it more practical with an acoustic guitar to record the guitar and vocal parts separately, not simultaneously. Presumably you won’t want the acoustic guitar to be picked up in the vocal track. For the same reason you will want to use headphones for the backing tracks when recording vocals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caledoneus Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Yeap. Super easy.... Might be best to record the guitar and vox separately though so your vocal mic doesn't pick up the guitar. 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.