Helix Acoustic patch

Dominic

what is best way to build this?
Which amp model to use and how
Any of the pre-sets like the Roland JC 120 make a good start point ?
Especially for PIEZO

Cabicular

Use one of the free acoustic IRs to give the piezo a bit of body. I use an LA studio compressor just to even the acoustic out a bit and a nice dusting of hall reverb

Cabicular

No Amp or cab model btw

TimmyO

I can heartily recommend spending the few dollars on a 3Sigma Audio acoustic IR of your choosing. Just use one IR block to host it and your acoustic sound will be far better than an hours worth of EQ fiddling. :-) 

Dominic

thanks chaps

menamestom

I've had a play with the 3Sigma D45 IR, that sounds great.  I can do a clip if you want to hear what it sounds like....

Strat_a_tat_tat

menamestom said:

I've had a play with the 3Sigma D45 IR, that sounds great.  I can do a clip if you want to hear what it sounds like....

Yeah... would be good to hear that. Thanks.

menamestom

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

menamestom said:

I've had a play with the 3Sigma D45 IR, that sounds great.  I can do a clip if you want to hear what it sounds like....

Yeah... would be good to hear that. Thanks.

Okay, very quick one.  Guitar UST, then IR, UST, then IR

The IR has a bit of reverb as well, it's just how I left the patch set up.

I only spent about 5 mins on the patch, I'll probably tweak further before recording in anger.

Cabicular

Tell you what mate
you are an excellent player
loved that

Strat_a_tat_tat

Nice tone... and nice playing.

Thanks for the demo.

menamestom

Thanks guys.  I'll get a full track done when I get a chance.

Roland

Dominic said:

what is best way to build this?
Which amp model to use and how

Not being a Helix user I hesitate to post here. The recent wave of processor mean that we can get a decent acoustic guitar simulation without taking an expensive and fragile instrument to a gig, and having to deal with feedback. This is the method which has worked for me. 

It might seem obvious, but many people don't realise that there are many different acoustic guitar sounds. They range from a warm spectrum filler, like a J200 in a country song, to a cutting rhythmic Richie Havens sound, and somewhere in the middle is the bright Taylor sound which drives a pop song along.

Use six blocks/effects, which ever your chosen processor calls them. Amp, multiband compressor, graphic EQ, parametric EQ, impulse response and reverb. Actually there's a second parametric, but I'll come to that later.

In another thread someone, let's call him X, said that the IR is key. I wish I could find the post and quote it because the IR so important. If possible make an IR by matching your electric guitar to the acoustic you want to simulate. Use the neck pickup, and put new strings on the acoustic. As an AxeFX user I can do this easily. If you can't make one yourself then there are loads of IRs available, but you'll have to spend a lot of time and effort sifting through them to get one which sounds right for you.

Working backwards through the effects. The parametric EQ is there to take out any resonance peaks. The graphic compensates for the response curve of the microphone used to make the IR. It can also reduce the low end, say below 150hz, to make the bottom E string clearer. As X said in the thread I can't find, EQ won't do much to compensate for an inappropriate IR.

The multi-band compressor is there because an acoustic guitar sustains differently from an electric in different areas of the spectrum. There are no easy answers about the settings. I use a three band, divided at around 375hz and 3750hz, with compression ratios between 1.5:1 at either end, and 3:1 in the middle.

The amp is a studio pre-amp, with everything set flat.

So you spend a couple of hours adjusting all the setting until it sounds right. Of course, when you take it to rehearsal you realise that they need a bit more adjustment. When you try and gig it you find the band is playing that bit louder. That's where the final parametric EQ come in. I set if around 3.5k with a wide Q and a 3dB boost, and kick it in with a foot pedal when needed.

Does that help?

TimmyO

Nice post :-)