Weak_Ends Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 (edited) Hi, I'm pretty new to the Helix concept so be gentle ;-) As a guitarist I have a guitar patch for every different song I play with my band. I also sing backing vocals and sometimes lead- is there any efficient and practical way to copy paste just the vocal part to every song? Or do I have to build them from scratch for every song? Or is there a way to have a general voice setting that's always active, regardless of which guitar patch I'm playing? Thanks! Edited April 3 by Weak_Ends Missing word Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 That’s a great question, and it’s a feature I’ve been missing since the old POD X3 series. It had a feature called Lock Tone 2 which supported exactly the situation you describe. Your vocal tone (Tone 2) remained unchanged as you switched presets. That feature was dropped in the POD HD series and was also not included in the Helix/HX series. I miss it. I don’t know of any efficient way to do it in Helix. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theElevators Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 use 2 independent paths. IMO it's not worth it, unless you have a small coffee shop gig. Too many things can go wrong. I have a video how to set up independent paths: You can create a template preset, then make copies of it and tweak it. That's what I do--I copy a preset and modify it, I never build something completely from scratch, because I have figured out my "rig". By default, new presets have 2 signal paths. All you need to do is tweak the input and the output, and 2 things will be routed independently. You can route each path to a different output: Return 1, 2, 1/4" XLR, or EVERYTHING. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 On 4/2/2025 at 6:06 PM, theElevators said: … You can create a template preset, then make copies of it and tweak it. That's what I do--I copy a preset and modify it,… Yes I think that’s the best way. And it works fine until the time inevitably comes that you want to tweak your vocal tone - maybe just a touch more reverb, or delay, or add a controller, or….. Then you have to edit not only your template preset, but also every preset you’ve created from it to date. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weak_Ends Posted April 3 Author Share Posted April 3 Thanks guys! So I started off from the wrong end, I used a lot of presets that i downloaded online, or started off from different presets. I'll try to begin with a good template with separated vocals and guitar effects. Then I'll copy paste and tweak every sound. How about adding bass? What's your experience using all three during a live gig (our bass player plays without pedals)? @theElevators what do you mean by a lot can go wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 Assuming you have a more powerful dual DSP/Path Helix device I would add the bass guitar (using the Aux input at Instrument level) on Path 2B, with vocal (using Mic Input) on Path 2A. That leaves all of Path 1 DSP for your guitar. How is your bass player amplifying his sound? But....How is your bass player amplifying his sound? With no pedals I assume he has a bass amp? Helix Path 2 could probably handle a bass amp/cab model but that might leave little DSP for your vocals. Otherwise you'll need to configure the Path 2B Output block to feed his amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theElevators Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 On 4/3/2025 at 1:10 PM, Weak_Ends said: Thanks guys! So I started off from the wrong end, I used a lot of presets that i downloaded online, or started off from different presets. I'll try to begin with a good template with separated vocals and guitar effects. Then I'll copy paste and tweak every sound. How about adding bass? What's your experience using all three during a live gig (our bass player plays without pedals)? @theElevators what do you mean by a lot can go wrong? Helix can run 4 signal paths. Granted, you will sacrifice DSP, so you won't be able to add as many blocks as you want, if you take your processing power and slice it by 4. You won't be able to go to town with your effects at all. In terms of things going wrong... It's difficult to make adjustments to your balance live. That's the biggest issue that I see. Also, no preset works 100% when you first try to use it live, so the EQ / gain will most likely need to be tweaked. Add to that, the fact that you have multiple presets--it just becomes an unnecessary pain. Imagine, the vocal microphone starts feeding back in the middle of the song, for example. If you only control one thing (guitar), then you can quickly reach down, turn yourself down, etc. Now if you're running 3 things, then you will start to scramble. Second issue: monitoring situation. The beauty of running your guitar through the Helix is that you can control your on-stage volume yourself, while the XLRs are left to the sound guy. Now you lose that ability to quickly make volume adjustments, because Helix does not come with a hands-on mixer. I guess you can let the sound guy control your balance of all 3 things. But I would not recommend this. For home rehearsals, if you have HX Edit open and you can quickly make adjustments: levels, increase reverb, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weak_Ends Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 Ok thanks @theElevators and @silverheadit actually sounds like a hustle live, having all three plugged in. I have the Helix Floor, haven't reached any DSP so far but I could sacrifice some effects for better reliability. I'm not keen on surprises live though, so I might just keep my Boss voice processor then and have it on stage separately. And the bass player (yes he's connected to an amp live, but in our jam studio he's directly lined in to the mixer) never showed interest in using fancy effects, but I think it could add some flavour to some songs. We do have a really good sound guy but I can't rely on him every time, he's doing it as a friend. Thanks for your advices! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 The idea of using the Helix, or any guitar modeling system, to handle vocals has always been foreign to me and never made much sense. The value and purpose of live or recorded sound mixing falls well outside of the design intentions of the Helix which is to handle the processing of one instrument, the guitar, and it does that job exceptionally well. Likewise handling all instruments and vocals in a performance to satisfy the needs and requirements of everyone involved in a live or recording production falls into a separate domain of technology only addressed specifically by a mixer. And today's mixers are just as advanced at doing that as is the Helix at managing the needs of producing the correct guitar sound for any song. Why would I try and force the Helix to do something it's not particularly good at given how easily and effectively I can do that with a Helix and a mixing board? That makes no sense to me in the real world of music production. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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