Helix as interface to Ableton Live for looping/backing tracks monitoring cue mix & having separate outs for FOH?

[carolinebelk]

I have been reading other forums trying to figure out if this one performance stage scenario can exist only using the Helix.

 

Current setup:

Plugged into Helix currently is a guitar in the guitar in with effects going through line 1a and a synth into aux in with no effects on 1b, vocals with effects on 2a and another synth in Return 1 slot with no effects on 2b. They are all currently going out the Multi. I have USB plugged in and running Ableton Live as the interface in and out and the Helix Tempo synced to be a slave to Ableton Live's bpm.

 

Is it possible to:

-Create a monitor cue mix so I can hear everything plugged into Helix and any backing tracks or loops created in Ableton along with a click that only I can here in my in ears or headphones?

-Send these instruments/mic plugged into Helix as separate outs to FOH so they can mix them separately along with a separate out from anything that comes from Ableton, which would be backing tracks or loops created while playing?

 

Those are my 2 big questions. I am able to send USB 3/4 for example to the Cue Out in Ableton Live's Master out section, which when using my UAD Apollo twin interface for example, I can hear everything and be the only one hearing the click just fine through it's 3/4 out but I am wanting to bypass having to use another interface. I can see the audio bouncing in the little fader attached to the cue out when it's set to 3/4 in Ableton and the Helix is the interface so I know a signal is reaching that point but I do not understand where 3/4 can be coming out of from the Helix so I can hear everything going on along with the click? I understand I may need to route 3/4 to a different out within Helix, like the headphone out but to do this, will I also have to use up an entire Helix line in path for this to simply route out?

 

You also hear my wanting to make sure FOH can mix individually correctly if this could work. If the better thing to do was use another interface or place a mixer in there so FOH can get sound then I understand but want to know what is the best solution here. Any help or suggestions welcomed!

[DunedinDragon]

Without understanding what your intended use is (live performance as a solo, live performance in a band, just playing at home) it's hard to know what to recommend here.  But I use Ableton Live extensively in my band to provide coordinated backing track support as well as overall coordinated automation control over the Helix as well as other components such as  lights or video screen projections, so I can tell you what I've discovered and where that has taken me.

I send my Helix audio outputs to the mixer via the XLR out.  That doesn't include vocal output which is sent directly from my vocal mic to the mixer.  But I see no reason why you couldn't send your vocal through the Helix and route it independently to a separate channel on mixer using the 1/4" output for example.  I'm not sure what advantage that might have over a direct route from your vocal mic, but you may have your reasons.

I eventually ended up using a dedicated audio interface for Ableton that sends my Ableton outputs to different channels on the mixer using a iConnectivity PlayAudio12 which allows me to have up to 12 distinct audio output channels for backing tracks, click track and cue tracks to the mixing board or other outputs devices (one of which could be an IEM fed from the headphone output) from the tracks in Ableton using a single USB connection from Ableton to the audio interface.  You could easily route your Helix output direct to Ableton via a send/return for looping purposes and all of that going through a single XLR output to the mixer which is what I do.  Isolating the click track and cue track would probably be more easily done through Ableton through an audio interface like mine given that you're using at least the Ableton Live Standard edition which allows you to have up to 12 distinct audio outputs for your Ableton tracks (Intro version only allows 2 outputs), one of which could be your click track and cue track both of which are easily accomplished in Ableton especially if Ableton is controlling the tempo.  You could also control the looping functions via MIDI from the Helix through the USB connection.  I chose to have a separate MIDI controller which is a Morningstar MC8 which has far more robust MIDI capabilities than does the Helix.  One of the additional features of the PlayAudio12 is it provides for setting up an automatic failover if you wanted to run dual Ableton sessions on two different laptops.

Ultimately where I ended up is putting more control on the Ableton side for routing, MIDI control and audio management simply because it provides more robust capabilities for such things than does the Helix.