hx effects HX Effects: how to have consistent volume over multiple patches?

[LucDegelin]

I created a bunch of patches for an upcoming gig (first time live with the HX FX). Some patches are merely a clean sound with a compressor, others add a pitch shifter to that, and yet others are more complex with a Fuzz, Overdrive and Distortion.  As most of the individual effects have one or more parameters to set their individual volume (or level or drive), not all effects have the same overall volume level.  I want to save the sound engineer from a heart attack each time i change presets so i was wondering if there's an easy way to set the same output volume for all those patches.  Now i attempt to balance the parameters of the different effects separately, but i'm afraid it's not good enough like that.

Any suggestions?

TIA

 

PS this is for an active bass guitar, and I don't use any expression pedals.

[craiganderton]

Is the question more about what process helps create a more consistent volume for each preset, or the optimum way to adjust levels in the Helix, once you know what volume you want?

 

In either case, even if you set all your presets to a consistent level, you may have to tweak them for best results when performing live. I set all my presets to a consistent level in the studio, but these are just "baseline" settings that provide a starting point. Some need slight changes when playing in the context of a band or even a solo performance.

[LucDegelin]

@craiganderton it's the first. i want to avoid volume spikes (or drops) when changing from one preset to the next.  I guess there's no magic trick that would normalize to a consistent volume regardless of the selected preset.

BTW i'm using the HX Effects, not the Helix.

 

How do you tweak your settings from studio to live performance prior to the actual gig?  During soundcheck?

Thank you for feedback

[theElevators]

The simplest thing to do is to use the same basic chain in all your presets.  Sure, you can have all different types of overdrives/distortions/octavio's between songs theoretically.  In practice, when you do a sound check, the sound guy sets you up for one preset.  Deviating from the basic signal chain is a recipe for unexpected volume jumps, EQ inconsistencies and so on. 

 

I use the same basic distortion/amp setup in all my presets and that definitely simplifies things a great deal.  When I first tried using an acoustic sim, it was such a nightmare!  At home it sounded nice and round, but on stage during the sound check, all of a sudden there was way too much bass, and it appeared too loud all of a sudden. 

 

Good thing I had an EQ block that I had added at the end of the chain, and I was able to dial in my acoustic/electric balance very well. 

 

 

So there you go: even though you can, don't have drastically different signal chains between your presets, that's speaking from experience. 

[LucDegelin]

Clear. There's no magic trick. Guess I'll have to try my presents in as many different situations as possible (home, studio, live) and make the most of the soundcheck.  It's down to tuning the individual effects of each preset.

Thanks for your input