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But the core amp tones of the S-Gear may be slightly better for what they do (clean, overdriven, classic rock crunch). I also have Helix Native which I got cheap as I had a Helix device, and it's far more versatile and has TONS more effects. To me that's the biggest issue, you have to use it with other plugins and that can get messy or annoying. There's also no pedals including overdrive/boost, fuzz, etc. It can do cleans to overdriven tones and some classic rock, but it can't do anything heavier (which you probably don't need). There's no stomp boxes, there's no models of accurate vintage spec amps, just a few options. S-Gear is pretty simple to use and it has good quality although very minimal effects (such as a room reverb, chorus, and delay). It sounds to me like you mostly need a clean tone without much hassle, and I think the S-Gear (Duke model) is exactly that. VERY important - you've gotten some good advice in this thread. Last thought - every interface mfr and even Sweetwater have articles on optimizing your computer for audio. But when I switch back to direct monitoring with the HXS, I do notice the increased responsiveness.įWIW - I can't use that computer with Amplitube because it has only 8gb RAM, and Amplitube is SUCH a memory hog! Even on my 16gb i7 I have to go up to 128spls to avoid glitches.
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I can use it with S-Gear and THU and if I ignore it, I get used to the latency and just play. Real world - I use my HXS with an ancient i5 laptop in the office that only allows 128 samples (20.2ms). Some of the higher end interfaces (I've heard) get down to <2ms. Helix/HXS only goes down to 64spls, whereas my 18i20 would go down to 16spls (3.6ms) if I had a better processor. How low you can go (less samples=lower latency) without audio "glitches" (static/dropouts) is largely dependent on your computer's processor (mine is 7th gen i7 laptop) and RAM. Most mid level and all higher level interfaces have better latency than Helix/HXS.Īt 64spls (samples), Helix RT round trip latency reported in Reaper (HW tests with Oblique Audio RTL Utility are very close to this) is 12.5 ms.įocusrite Scarlett (I have the 2nd gen 18i20, 3rd gen is slightly better) is 7.6ms.ġ0ms is the generally accepted threshold of HEARING latency, and some folks claim to be able to "FEEL" latency as low as 2ms. IOW - the time it takes for the note to travel through the interface, the "HOST" SW (standalone or DAW/VST HOST/plugin) and back out the interface to the speakers. That's the time between when you PLAY a note and when you HEAR it. HXS (and the Floor for that matter, I have both) are convenient interfaces for recording the hardware using "direct monitoring" - you hear the notes as you play them because you're NOT monitoring through the host SW/plugin and interface.įor use with plugins, you need to consider latency.