Helix Floor Stereo Out FOH/In Ear question

[theroniusmax]

I generally run my Helix Floor direct to the board and play a lot of gigs where sound is provided by the venue. I also use in-ears as much as possible these days, and don't haul an FRFR with me - trying to keep the amount of gear I'm hauling down to a minimum. :) 

 

Best case scenario - the venue has a digital mixer hooked up to wifi, and I have a dedicated monitor mix so I can use my iPad to dial in my own mix.  

 

Worst case scenario - wedges, and no accomodation for in ears, so I'm at the mercy of the venue, and usually struggle to get enough guitar in my monitor mix.  

 

My question - if I'm not specifically panning effects left and right, and if I run the XLR left out to the board and the XLR right out to my in ears, will that "work" or will the FOH mix be weird (so for example, do modulation effects automatically send stereo outputs if both outputs are plugged in and I'd only be sending one side to FOH, if that makes sense?)

 

Thanks!

[ricstudioc]

Well, most FX on Helix have mono/stereo versions, so simply using them takes care of that issue ref left/right, but -

 

On 9/14/2024 at 7:07 AM, theroniusmax said:

if I run the XLR left out to the board and the XLR right out to my in ears, will that "work" or will the FOH mix be weird (so for example, do modulation effects automatically send stereo outputs if both outputs are plugged in and I'd only be sending one side to FOH, if that makes sense?)

I'm not seeing here where you'd be getting a band mix from FOH into your in ears - if the rest of the band is also running direct this could be an issue. 

 

A while back a former band asked me to rejoin them on a series of tribute type shows, since my original departure the band had gone to in ears, which I had never used.  While I was fine with the idea (and the band FOH guy is really really good) I still had concerns about my gtr mix in my headset.

 

My solution - picked up an inexpensive small format mixer (Harbinger?) for about $50 - the size of a paperback book, but had an XLR input on one channel.  I send the FOH stereo from the XLR's, but I told the sound guy to send me a band reference mix only, without my guitar included.  (From the stage box, hence the XLR)  I then took a 1/4" out from the Helix and brought it into one of the other channels, and fed that mixer into my in ears.  Problem solved - I have a solid ref mix from the band and still maintain control over my guitar level.

[theElevators]

On 9/14/2024 at 10:07 AM, theroniusmax said:

I generally run my Helix Floor direct to the board and play a lot of gigs where sound is provided by the venue. I also use in-ears as much as possible these days, and don't haul an FRFR with me - trying to keep the amount of gear I'm hauling down to a minimum. :) 

 

Best case scenario - the venue has a digital mixer hooked up to wifi, and I have a dedicated monitor mix so I can use my iPad to dial in my own mix.  

 

Worst case scenario - wedges, and no accomodation for in ears, so I'm at the mercy of the venue, and usually struggle to get enough guitar in my monitor mix.  

 

My question - if I'm not specifically panning effects left and right, and if I run the XLR left out to the board and the XLR right out to my in ears, will that "work" or will the FOH mix be weird (so for example, do modulation effects automatically send stereo outputs if both outputs are plugged in and I'd only be sending one side to FOH, if that makes sense?)

 

Thanks!

On the Helix Floor, you have a dedicated headphone out knob which controls a stereo 1/4" out jack for your headphones.  So why not use that as it was intended?  If you need to have an XLR jack for your headphone mix, why not get an TRS to XLR adapter?  The added benefit is that you can run to FOH in stereo, if you choose to do so, as opposed to always having mono.  Also sometimes you need to dial in the volume of your FOH volume vs. headphone mix.  Same applies to the Global EQ--sometimes you only want to apply it to one output instead of across the board. 

 

So in terms of the stereo/mono mix, in theory if you have all your effects in mono, XLR L/R should be identical.  To guarantee that that is the case, you need to put a mono block at the very end of your chain.  Note that the legacy folders contains stereo versions of delays, reverbs, etc.  So put a simple mono gain/volume at the end. 

 

I have seen a lot of weird issues where mono is not always mono, however.  Some effects, like the doubler starts having really weird issues in mono--volume starts dropping because of phasing issues.  Also you may lose some gain when you split your signal as you describe. 

 

I never use IEMs live personally.  I do have a cheapo stereo IEM transmitter that I use during late night practicing at home.  For that I use the headphone jack, controlled by the headphone volume knob, as I described.

[theroniusmax]

Thank you! Good call, the obvious solution, using the headphone jack, is great! Appreciate it!

Also appreciate the suggestion on the mono block!

 

Thanks again!

Theron

[theroniusmax]

On 9/14/2024 at 11:36 AM, ricstudioc said:

Well, most FX on Helix have mono/stereo versions, so simply using them takes care of that issue ref left/right, but -

 

I'm not seeing here where you'd be getting a band mix from FOH into your in ears - if the rest of the band is also running direct this could be an issue. 

 

A while back a former band asked me to rejoin them on a series of tribute type shows, since my original departure the band had gone to in ears, which I had never used.  While I was fine with the idea (and the band FOH guy is really really good) I still had concerns about my gtr mix in my headset.

 

My solution - picked up an inexpensive small format mixer (Harbinger?) for about $50 - the size of a paperback book, but had an XLR input on one channel.  I send the FOH stereo from the XLR's, but I told the sound guy to send me a band reference mix only, without my guitar included.  (From the stage box, hence the XLR)  I then took a 1/4" out from the Helix and brought it into one of the other channels, and fed that mixer into my in ears.  Problem solved - I have a solid ref mix from the band and still maintain control over my guitar level.

Thanks! Was thinking about getting a small mixer for that as well - that would work!