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  1. - Quit HX Edit! Don't start it again until you're finished with everything following. - Go here and download the Line 6 Updater (in case it's not installed on your machine already): https://line6.com/software/ - Also download the "Flash Memory" from there (it's the actual update). - Install the updater. - Reboot the Helix while holding down switches 6 and 12 (this will take you to safe boot mode). - Start the Line 6 Updater, select "Offline Mode" and see whether it finds your Helix. - If yes, select it and choose "local file". Point it to the Flash Memory file you've downloaded.
    53 points
  2. Made the update to 3.50 last weekend. A really great update, very impressed. First thought was – Who stole my blanket…? Was a bit scared when I read the Helix forums on Line6.com and TGP, but finished the update without any problems, start to finish 25 minutes. Thanks Line6. So, time to update the Cheat Sheet… Some of you have already seen and used my Cheat Sheet in pdf and also know that I promised to move this to Excel… well this last update added some new challenge to this (new structure, more than one item with the same name etc.), so I’ll do some more work on that later. This last update, amazing as it is, adds some complexity so I decided to make a few changes. Made the printout in landscape as the font size became so small, I couldn’t read it. As landscape opened up space to add info that could be relevant. DSP was mentioned earlier so that is in. Ben Vesco’s site has been a great source to do this. Also added changes from last version in a more detailed way. If it’s a new amp/effect added (N), if it’s an update from last version (!) and if it’s a legacy (L). Also found a bass amp cab that was in Edit Pilot Guide but not in the firmware… Added the documentation of new/default amp-cab-mic combinations but skipped the old ones as when building presets now will probably be based on the new cab’s/mic’s. But all info on previous cabs, mic’s and effects are there to use. As before, all items appear in the same order as on the Helix unit itself. Not – There is info I don’t have at this point. It’s marked with “tba” and will be updated when available. From the beginning the purpose of this document was to have a short handy printout with a selection of info of interest in the guitar bag. Well, the last updates have made hardcopy less interesting. To many pages and to many lines… now 11 pages and 450+ lines/items. Today extended searchable info in condensed pdf-format is the quick way to find info without going through manual and additional info. Feel free to use it if it’s of any help. Open for feedback/suggestions to make it better. //Per Edit: I can’t delete the old files on the forum and the map is full… Download link via my Dropbox - https://www.dropbox.com/s/iavpjym4mxvr9s2/Line6%20Helix-Model%20Summary%2C%203.50c.pdf?dl=0
    18 points
  3. Hello all, Today I released a huge update to Helix Help (https://helixhelp.com). On the surface, it looks the same, only much prettier and more refined. Beneath the surface it is an entirely new code architecture that will give me much more control over updates in the future. Some enhancements you’ll notice right off the bat: Models now show up in the search box at the top of the page. You can now search by artist such as Clapton, Foo Fighters, Metallica, Stevie Wonder, etc. Its much, much faster. It just looks so much better and better matches the Helix look and feel. As with any major change, I’m sure some bugs will creep in here and there and I’ll be on the lookout for them. If you come across anything, please shoot me a message via the contact form on the site. Keep on playing. Jason
    16 points
  4. When running Native as a plug-in within a large DAW recording project, there's often a trade-off between monitoring through the plug-in/DAW vs latency (delay between playing the guitar and hearing the guitar through the software/hardware). In Logic, I often have to set my buffer up pretty high in order to prevent audio glitches if I want to monitor through Helix Native when recording a new guitar track. For me, its important to hear the sound of a guitar modeler and its effects in order to get the mojo of the track while recording. Yeah, I can use a guitar modeler in my Apollo Twin DSP, and monitor that in real-time, but its not the same. It's workable but not ideal. That's a big trade-off. I recently bought a copy of S-Gear (another popular amp/cabinet and effects modeler). Its not as extensive as Helix Native, but for the included amps I actually prefer its tone and response. But the HUGE benefit is that the software includes a stand-alone application identical to the DAW plug-in. Now I can set up routing through my audio interface so that I can monitor the sound of the S-Gear amps and effects through the standalone app with very low latency (8.5 ms), while recording the guitar along with my existing Logic tracks. I can leave my Logic buffer set high for large track and virtual instrument counts, and still have low latency when monitoring my amped guitar. Its delicious. And, like Native, I can choose to record the raw track, or the S-Gear processed track. Sadly, Helix Native does not include a standalone app. If there was one (and it would need to be a low-latency application), users would be able to 1) monitor their guitar modeling with near zero latency when recording tracks and 2) play through the app without having to fire up their DAW, load the plug-in, etc. P.S. There are standalone apps that will host plug-ins out there. That might work for this usage, but I haven't tested it. Worth a try!
    15 points
  5. Just made this, free for everyone who likes it, enjoy it.
    15 points
  6. Hi, I recently bought patches from three of the established vendors in this field: 1. Fremen - Starter Pack and free Marshal amp pack 2. MBritt - Patches 1 (32 patches, only current offering for Helix) 3. Glenn Delaune - Boutique amps volumes 1 and 2 Figured it might be useful to share a few observations. Couple of caveats: 1. I know a few people are skeptical about the value or even wisdom of paying someone else to write your presets/patches but, for me, it makes sense. I'd had the Helix for a few weeks and was struggling to get really good tones out of it. The factory presets were (to my mind) terrible. The Fender twin one is okay but most drive sounds were 'distant', mushy or washed out. I realise the Helix is not meant to create the sound of a well mic'd amp rather than an 'amp in the room' tone but even with this, I was disappointed. I was certainly spending a lot more time tweaking tones than actually playing guitar. I only have a small amount of time to play each day so, as a result, the Helix was not being used. I'd even started to look at a used Kemper to replace it! Sad times :( 2. In my previous efforts, I'd downloaded an ownhammer IR pack and found this improved things a bit but I still wasn't happy. I'd also watched and followed a lot of online tutorials about creating patches and, while I'd enjoyed tweaking, I still wasn't playing. 3. Gear. I should add that I usually use the pedal with headphones. I use either Beyerdynamic DT770s or Superlux 681s. Both are, to my mind, very good sounding cans. I've also used the 'full range' input on my Vox adio amp. It yielded very similar results to the headphones tone wise. For guitar's, I've tried instruments with humbuckers, single coils and P90s. 4. I was impressed by patches from all three vendors, what follows are just a few observations of my own, many of which will be based around personal preference. In isolation, each patches pack had some standout strengths. Glenn, Michael and Fremen clearly know what they are doing. Anyway, on to the actual review: Fremen Starter Pack and freebie Marshal amp pack: These were the first packs I tried (based on other positive reviews). I was immediately impressed with the drive tones and surprised to find the acoustic simulator in there too. Fremen's use of Snapshots is also very thorough so you get immediately useable presets (plus a nice example on how they can/should be used generally). Amp tones are based mainly around the amp models you might expect (fender for fender, marshal for marshal etc) along with careful use of drive pedals and carefully matched IRs to finish the tone off. Appropriate effects are also included and some interesting signal path routing is used too (opened my eyes as to what is possible). Blanket statement is that the tones are far more up front than the factory presets but still tend towards really well ic'd amp than 'amp in the room'. The drive tones are quite bright (strong mid/high focus) but not harsh and the higher the drive, generally the better the tone he has achieved. For me, the 'crunch' tones have a little less impact though and the clean tones are 'too clean'. Fremen's own comment is that he likes his cleans 'super clean' and he uses a few tricks to achieve this (careful use of compressors). In the starter pack at least this meant there were great drive tones and really clean cleans but a bit of a gap in between. I also found the clean tones to be a bit 'mid heavy' without any of the shine and shimmer that you get from a nice fender clean tone for example. This is personal preference thought, other people might really like this type of sound. Perhaps there are better cleans and bluesy tones in the 'big pack' but I decided to try other vendors first. Michael Britt, Helix preset pack 1: King of the Kemper, Michael Britt. Again, initial impression of these patches was really good. Similar to Fremen, the patches are based around candidate amp models with driver pedals and carefully chosen/custom(?) IRs used to get you MBritt's signature 'amp in the room' tone. Indeed, of the three sets of patches I tried, MBritts's are definitely the most 'present' and immediate which translates (especially with headphones) into a more realistic 'amp in the room' feel. In terms of organisation, the pack makes less use of snapshots and each preset seems to have a slightly different structure. This is fine, but perhaps less intuitive than Fremen's approach. A neat trick he uses on his clean tones is to use combinations of amps. For example his Fender tones use an obvious candidate Fender amp model for 'glassy tone' but then a less obvious clean amp is added in parallel to give a bit more body and focus. His ability to choose candidates for these combo presets is a big part of the value for me. All told, a really nice collection of presets. Cleans are more to my taste than Fremen's and I learned a lot from seeing how he sets up his signal paths. If you have the Fremen patches and are happy with his cleans though, maybe you could pass on this set. Glenn Delaune Boutique amps: I'll be up front, on balance these are possibly my favourite. Nice use of snapshots and well organised. Good selection of drive tones and the Volume 2 'clean pack' is just incredible for bluesy, low drive tones. Overall, a really nicely balanced tone (not too bright) and probably somewhere between MBritt and Fremen for 'room presence'. The way he constructs his patches is also quite different to t the other guys. Glenn generally uses the Amp and Cab models from the Helix (the other guys do not use the Helix cabs) and then adds an IR after that to 'tone match' to the amp he is attempting to match. He has loads of youtube videos showing the success of this approach. To my ears, it works really well. The 'feel' and response to pick attack also seems to be particularly realistic. The only downside is that the IRs are very specific to the patch and probably don't work too well elsewhere. And, aside from adjusting the amp settings (tone, gain etc) the patches are probably less use for tweaking. That said, I'm very happy with this approach. I get a well set up tone which I can play with within the limitations of a normal amp. That works for me as it gets me actually playing guitar quicker. An interesting side effect (I guess) of his approach is that he ends up using amp models that you might not expect. For example IIRC he uses the Roland Jazz model (super clean) and a drive pedal to create the Blackface amp. Disable the IR and it sounds pretty poor. With IR, fantastic. Forgive me if I have miss-remembered the specific preset here. So, all told, any of these packs would probably be helpful if you want realistic tones in a hurry. The first two might be best as 'tutorials' and MBritt really brings the amp into the room. Fremen's cleans are super clean and his higher drive tones are great fun. As I've said though, I really like Glenn's preset packs. For whatever reason, they just seem to grab me and keep me playing and his selection of clean/light drive tones are just epic. Having said that, there are presets from all packs that have made it into my 'shortlist' preset list and I'll probably get good use from all three vendors. If I had just one set, it'd be the clean pack (volume 2) from Glenn. After that, I reckon I'd be perfectly happy with any of the other packs to provide higher drive tones. So, no definitive 'best vendor' but hopefully I've highlighted a few characteristics that might help people decide if they are looking at buying. Cheers, ip
    15 points
  7. 2.9 Model Updates: -Revv Purple (Ch3) -1x12 Fullerton and Grammatico Cabs -Red Llama Drive -Steve Vai Legendary Drive -Harmonic Antagonizer Fuzz -Rochester Comp (Billy Sheehan Compressor) -Small Stone Phaser -Split Dynamics (Path A/B Routing) Feature Updates: -Output Meters -Gain Reduction Meters -Clip Indicators -IR Attachment by Name -New Switch/Snap/Looper Layout Options -New Model Subcategory Shortcuts -Update from HX Edit -A/B Compare for HX Native Available “soon.”
    14 points
  8. Why not just produce a manual or tutorial for the app explaining its functionality, features and the parameters? I just got a Spider V 20 and the Spider Remote app and I'm spending more time trying to figure out its features than I am playing.
    14 points
  9. Hello everybody, Most of you know about my passion project, https://helixhelp.com. It has been awhile since I did a complete update and well... today is the day. Here is the big takeaway: Every model/block from the Helix family is now available on Helix Help including all of the available parameters per model. I simplified the models section of the site to be a single page. On this page you will find two dropdowns. The first is the model/block category, the second, is the subcategory for the selected category. Think of the category dropdown as the general block sections, ie distortions, dynamics, wah, amps, etc. Think of the subcategory dropdown as the available types within the selected category: mono, stereo, legacy, guitar, bass, etc. You can still further filter through the models by using the filter input. For instance, if you've selected the category "amp", and are on the "guitar" subcategory, type "vox" to get all of the Vox amps or type, "fender" to get all of the fender amps. That's it. I hope you guys dig the update.
    13 points
  10. 12 points
  11. Yeah, but I think 2.8 has a virus!!!
    11 points
  12. The documented installation instructions leaves all current setlists and presets intact. Even if you perform the recommended factory reset following the firmware update, the subsequent Restore from Backup step overwrites any new or modified factory presets unless you deselect them. Since there are new factory presets in v3.6. here they are for convenience. FACTORY 1.hls FACTORY 2.hls TEMPLATES.hls
    10 points
  13. hi guys first of all I'd like to let you know that I read all the threads I found about this same subject and didn't find the complete answers, so I decided to run some tests myself (like I did on the POD HD years ago) and to create a new thread with my results (I'm on FW 2.60 by the way) ok, I'll start from the end results, so that those who just need to have a quick answer can read it immediatly, then I'll give some deeper explanations the main point of this post is: the moment you create a split/merge routing configuration by dragging down a block you get a level change: after the merge block, with all bypassed fx: with split A/B and Y you get +3dB at the output sum with split crossover you get -3dB at the output sum BUT each path by itself gets attenuated by -3dB so if you use the split A/B to switch between sounds, each of those sounds is -3dB qiueter than the same fx/amp with the same settings in a non-splitted path the good news are that the level changes do not actually occur at the split, so the two paths are both an exact copy of the signal before the split, instead the change occurs at the merge block so the right solution is to act on the merge mixer faders --- why? and why those values? • well to answer, I need to clarify two things that I've read someone get wrong and mixed up in other threads 1) when you sum two identical signals in a circuit either analog or digital you get +6dB boost (voltage sum) 2) when you send a signal to a physical speaker and then send the same identical signal also to another identical speaker you get +3dB (acoustic power sum) this is math and physics, not an opinion now, this second point is one of the reasons why something called "pan law" exists: as we said, when you have a mono signal going to two speakers (so the pan knob on a mixer is at the center position) you get +3dB of sound pressure so mixer designers in some cases decided to pad the center position of the pan knob by -3dB, gradually returning to unity gain at the extremes (in some other cases they may use -2.5, -4.5 or -6dB: the actual effect of the pan law depends on the coherence/incoherence of the signals, on speaker placement, on listening conditions, and also on mixing taste I would say, so the designers have to make an assumption and take a plunge, I don't have time to enter into this now, sorry). • now back to the Helix: you have an empty "new preset" patch you have a signal going through path 1 (I used various sine waves and pink noise) you add a gain block at 0dB (if you want you can even bypass it) => nothing changes you drag the block down creating a double path => you get +3dB at the output sum so, what's going on? - the A/B or Y split duplicates the signal to two paths, so each of them carries the same identical signal which goes to a merge block mixer channel, then the two get summed together... so you should get +6dB, but... ... since the pans in the mixer have a -3dB pan law you only get +3dB - the crossover does not duplicate the signal but splits it in two frequency bands, if you sum those two filtered signals you get the exact same signal you had before, so no +6dB boost here, but there is still the pan law, so you get the -3dB - but, as I wrote before, each path by itself gets attenuated by -3dB because of the pan law, so if you use the split A/B to switch between sounds, each of those sounds is -3dB qiueter than the same fx/amp with the same settings in a non-splitted path • please note that these are not theories or speculations, I've tested and measured thoroughly every configuration and I'm sure the Helix routing works like that • all this behaviours occur identically to mono or stereo signals, remember that all the lines representing signal flow in the Helix display are always "double conductor cables" so either stereo or dual-mono (stereo = they carry two different signals; dual-mono = they carry two identical signals) this point could be deepened a lot but I don't have time for this now --- some other considerations: • if for example you open the pan pots of the merge mixer to the extreme L and R, the pan law attenuation does not apply and the level goes back to unity BUT this is not a solution, because if you run in stereo you only get the left from path 1A and the right from path 1B • I'd like to warn you of potential problems I found with the parameters inside the split blocks I) the split A/B "route to" parameter is a balance control, not a crossfader, so moving it to the left attenuates the signal going into B while not touching the signal going into A and viceversa; so it is appropriate to use that parameter to switch from A to B but not too much to find a mix of A with B for 3 reasons: 1- as I said you only have control over the attenuation of one of the two signals you are mixing 2- at center (even position) you have more level than any other position because the two signals are at full level, so the judgement on which is the best mix is compromised for psychoacoustic reasons 3- worst of all: if the blocks in the paths are amps or distortion boxes or compressors, as long as you are not in A100, "even" or B100 positions, you are sending an attenuated signal to one of them, changing its sound and not only its level II) the split Y "Balance A" and "Balance B" parameters (added in fw 2.10 so not covered in the manual) work like this: the stereo or dual mono signal goes into the split, it is duplicated to path A and B and on each of those you can control the balance between left and right, those balance control also have a pan law but different from the merge mixer block pans ! in this case it's unity at center and +3dB at sides ! (I think the reason for this is to avoid an attenuation to the splitted signals at default settings) so if for example you use 2 amps in the paths do not use these parameters or the two amps will receive a different level than if the balance is at center. --- • to finish I'll add two other Helix Routing measurements I found during my tests: - the pan block is actually a balance control with a pan law equal to that applied in the split Y block: at center it's at unity gain, going to the left attenuates the right up to minus infinite and adds +3dB to the left (and viceversa) - unlike the POD HD500 the fx sends / returns on the Helix are all at unity gain levels (+/-0.3dB), thanks Line 6 ! --- thanks for reading, I hope to have been helpful bye Lorenzo
    10 points
  14. FIrst of all, I'd like to say thank you to everyone here that is helpful in their responses, but also those that ask questions that also prompt myself (and others) to approach things differently and explore a bit to educate yourself about rigs/blocks/effects etc. Big shout out to those who post video tutorials (Jason Sadites to name a primary one for myself, and others who just escape me at the moment). Those tutorials have helped me think about things and approach things without a guitar in my hand and allowed me to really do some neat things. Why all these words? My Stone Temple Pilots band had our first headlining show this past weekend. While the venue was, a'hem, not the grandest.....the crowd was into our setlist (after another band opened for 2 hours). All that is great....but my real satisfaction comes from programming my Helix and being happy with it, but also being efficient and well prepared for sound guys as we do not run our own sound and I dont like to let that control go away easily. HOWEVER.... While we performed great.....at the end while tearing down, I asked the sound guy (who I had already qualified as a great guy, knowledgeable, geeky like me with gear, and an overworker in his field compared to others) how my guitar sounded...and he said it sounded great. I asked what he did to help me get in the mix to file that information away when I make my next adjustments...and his response, "Dude, I didn't have to touch your guitar. I ran your guitar flat. Thats the first time I've ever run a guitar players rig flat. Anyone that has to EQ your guitar in a mix, needs to retune their PA!" I immediately put my arms in the air, and with a fist pump added a 'F*ck yeah'!! I then asked how my lead boosts were, and he said they were great. He literally had to do nothing to my guitar all night. I've never felt such satisfaction from a group of 25 presets in my playing life. 30 years, 16 of that is running direct (Boss, Line 6, Fractal). Just wanted to share as it was 2 days ago and I'm still proud of those comments. Edit: Oh, and yes....for those that say the stock cabs aren't good enough. Maybe in a studio realm they lack something a special IR does have. But my presets in this set all used 2 stock cabs in parallel.
    10 points
  15. The article is called Understanding Helix Amp Parameters, and it's posted on inSync. The article also explains ways to hear how changing parameters changes the sound - for example, how to use the 4 OSC Generator to hear how changing Bias affects the distortion characteristics. Another part tells how to hear sag in isolation so you can compare the sag of different amps easily. I hope you find the info useful!
    10 points
  16. Dear folks at Line 6, please update the Firehawk FX in 2019! suggestions: - improve switching, it’s lagging quite a bit sometimes... - add new effects and amps like you do with the Helix products; I’d like to see POG and HOG effects and some new boutique pedals and amps - improvements for the looper, increase of recording time would be nice to make it useful and also being able to eliminate a recording without starting playback for 2 seconds, this makes the looper useless in live situation. - overall bug fixes to add more stability to the system. I love this product and I know it can do so much more if Line 6 puts some effort in updates.... not everyone wants to buy a Helix..... i know im not alone here, just hope someone at Line 6 takes proper action! thank you for your time and I’ll be waiting for feedback!
    10 points
  17. Here are some free IR links, some you need to subscribe to get some free stuff but that's no biggie: https://wilkinsonaudio.com/products/gods-cab https://seacowcabs.wordpress.com https://redwirez.com/pages/the-marshall-1960 https://www.ownhammer.com/store/index.php?ma (new free pack in development, so one to watch for) https://pluginfox.co/products/catharsis-impulses https://www.soundwoofer.se https://tonejunkiestore.com/impulse-responses-1 https://laptopguitarist.com/category/downloads/cabinet-impulses/
    10 points
  18. HELIX MODELS LIST - [2.91] All models and real reference table Hi! I realized this table with all models in 2.91 and their real reference. Obviously this is free, and you can also download the pdf version. Bye! http://www.robyrocks.it/articles/helixmodels/helixmodels.html
    10 points
  19. Well I finally decided this afternoon to take the leap and upgrade from FW 2.70 to 2.81 on Windows 10. I followed each step of the directions so I felt fully prepared for what i was going to see in the upgrade process and there were absolutely no surprises and it all took about 30 minutes..and I was going slowly and carefully to make sure I didn't make any missteps. Loaded my presets from my backup and everything seemed to work as expected. No problems with any snapshots, no problems in converting any presets, and even presets with the LA Compressor at the end of the signal chain worked as expected. Even importing 2.70 presets worked smoothly with no delay in switching so I didn't really need to do a reset. Granted this was on my studio Helix Floor, not my live unit so I still have a bit of testing to do before I update my live unit, but so far so good. I only mention this to make sure everyone's aware that just because there are some people having problems, that doesn't mean the update is unstable or unusable. I still have to check out the DAW and several other things, but I'm not expecting any problems from what I've seen so far. We hear a lot from the folks that seem to have problems, but never from people that everything went well...so I'm filling in the gaps.....
    10 points
  20. OK, found a fix. There's a bug with the folder permissions when it installs, but the app is actually there. 1. Do the install 2. Go to your Applications folder where there'll be a 'Line '6 folder with a no entry sign on it 3. Get Info on this folder (CMD-I) 4. On the bottom-right of the Info pop-up will be a little padlock. Click this and type in your Mac password 5. At the bottom of the pop-up, click the menu item under 'Privilege' for 'everyone'. It'll be set to 'No access' I think. Change to 'Read only' That's it. The app will now appear.
    10 points
  21. Glitz=Big Sky Bloom Ganymede=RV6 Modulated Searchlights=Big Sky Cloud Double Tank=Big Sky Plate Mod Plateaux=Big Sky Shimmer
    10 points
  22. FWIW...I'm writing an eBook called "The Big Book of Helix Tips and Tricks" for Sweetwater Publishing. It includes pretty deep descriptions of the parameters for the more complex effects, and I've also done a lot of testing - for example, there's a frequency response graph for the three different tape speeds in Retro Reel. I've been working on the eBook for months, but I hope to get it published either end of October or early November. If nothing else, I needed to figure out what the parameters did for myself!! I think Helix is awesome, but felt I needed to know more in order to take full advantage of it.
    9 points
  23. You can view the contents of the Helix .hlx files for patches using this online site and then copy the info down and try to emulate something similar in your podgo https://dbagchee.github.io/helix-preset-viewer/
    9 points
  24. Just noticed amongst all the grumbling about issues on here that not many folks are taking the time time to say thank you to Line 6 for all their efforts to continue developing their products under exceptional circumstances. It would have been easy for them to postpone 2.9 (or 2.9.1) with everything that's going on, but no, they choose to push it out to help us all during the strange times. Let's show some gratitude. Thank you Line6, from a grateful customer.
    9 points
  25. Hey Line6, for the last couple of months there was quite some fuzz (pun intended) about when the update will finally arrive and why on earth you even dared to give us an ETA when you couldn't- bla bla bla I won't deny to have had similar feelings - you can't change your feelings, but how you act on them, you can... And I guess I speak for quite a few people when I say this anger and frustration about how things went down is just another proof of how much this community cares and how passionate we feel about these products; how we just couldn't wait to get these immense changes. And .. this is basically .. a good thing? I guess?! Anyways- My Helix is almost 2 years old now and over that time period I .. practically got a new Helix in features on top, without.. well, paying anything. You are certainly not in an easy business and the competition doesn't sleep, which makes the effort and love you put into seemingly minor details even more impressive. I don't know how many other companies drop a bombshell like that with so many quality of life changes for free- and I don't care. I cannot remember being that satisfied still with an investment that big after that much time. You work your butts off, and it shows. You guys are awesome! Without going into the whole sound debate, which I am heavily underqualified to take part in anyways, I truly believe the Line6 Helix Floor is objectively the most intuitive, most flexible, most fun to use and sexiest guitar processor out there. And you just made it even better- immensely better; .. yet again- Since this is not nearly said enough, nor thought enough I fear for all of that, I Thank You. louis PS: Exiciting times lie ahead of us, ladies and gentlemen :) - Hopefully I'll have my third Helix in 2 more years 8)
    9 points
  26. I try to stay out of these disagreements generally but this is just a disgustingly cynical and manipulative invocation of some genuinely laudable principles to serve your own ends. Those ends appear to be an intense need to control others and get attention. You have now essentially called everyone a racist, ageist, and abuser of people with disabilities because they did not stick to your unrealistically rigid view that this should be a strictly technical conversation. Any genuine advocate of these principles of tolerance, unity, and equal access would never degrade them and reduce their future effectiveness for such a trivial purpose as imposing their own myopic will on a forum. This kind of selfishness is exactly the behavior that robs worthy principles of support and reduces them to the status of "snowflake". I believe using them in this manner demonstrates a fundamental lack of comprehension of or adherence to these values. A self-serving appeal to these principles for no purpose other than to get others in this forum to comply with you is irresponsible and completely lacking credibility, If you observe most forums you will notice that there tends to be an almost organic ebb and flow to many topics. In this case because the new firmware has become a bit of a waiting game there have been some welcome distractions and digressions along the way as the topic could not possibly sustain only a technical conversation for this duration with so little information available. This organic process also seems to unfortunately often include at least one person who feels they know better than everyone else how the topic should be conducted. Nonetheless, despite the risk of being no more than a cliche you charge into things and attempt to redefine courtesy and etiquette as requiring everyone to accede to your ridiculous commands to shut up and stand up straight in line when you could instead simply meander over to the links with which you were courteously provided that better suit your stated interest and temperament. That indeed would have been real courtesy instead of berating everyone else. Your posts remind me of a a certain personality type - it is a type abhorrent to most artists and musicians as it seeks to control, stifle, and smother. I hope you prove me wrong if you continue to post in this forum. Anyway, you are entitled to state your opinion and I hope you find a way to do it in the future without implying everyone else is some kind of immoral something"ist" for not agreeing with you over such a petty matter. I appreciate everyone who has shown patience, humor, and provided welcome diversion while we wait for the next firmware. Party on!
    9 points
  27. NOTE: This only works if you don't use the global EQ... (I did a search and didn't see anything, but if this has been discussed before I apologize) Scenario... XLR out > FOH (PA) 1/4" outs to personal FRFR Volume control is disengaged from the XLR so you can adjust your stage volume without changing the level to the FOH (PA). The XLR outputs can be set to MIC or LINE in the global settings, but they don't have a PAD which is common on most DI boxes. Even set to MIC, when the volume knob is disengaged the signal can be borderline hot. What do you do when the tech yells out "Can you PAD the DI"? GLOBAL EQ to the rescue. Turn it on Make sure the EQ options are flat (no cuts or boosts) Assign it to JUST THE XLR outputs Turn the volume down in the Global EQ to -10 or -20 (somewhere in that range will always make the tech happy) The global EQ is now acting as a variable DI PAD across all patches... exactly what I needed. NOTE: Since the Global EQ and the Volume can be assigned to different outputs independently you are not limited to just my example.
    9 points
  28. Thank you for the review and I'm so honored to be included. I enjoyed reading that and Yes Freman and Mbritt patches are Fantastic. Thank you so much for your support Sir. Glenn DeLaune Website | Youtube Channel | Facebook | Line 6 Marketplace
    9 points
  29. I came up with this technique for the upcoming Helix book 1.2 update, but I wanted to share the concept with the forum prior to publication because I'm pretty excited about it. I haven't seen this kind of approach done before. My sonic holy grail is "clean distortion," which is why I like multiband presets. They reduce intermodulation distortion, which can create a splattery, undefined sound quality. This technique is about a simpler option that nonetheless increases definition, especially for high-gain amps. Place the same amp in parallel, and precede each one with a 10-band graphic EQ. Send alternate bands into the two amps. Sending frequencies that are further apart into each amp keeps the frequencies from interfering as much with each other. This interference is what creates intermodulation distortion. Note that the EQ's output levels are up +6 dB to compensate for less signal going into the amp. The improvement is most obvious when you're playing, but these three audio examples should help get the point across. With each example, the first part uses this technique with the Fullerton Jump. The second part uses one instance of the Fullerton Jump amp with the same settings. Both parts are level-matched to create the same LUFS (perceived level) reading. With Chords, you'll hear how there's more splatter with the single instance. Strums shows how strums are less defined with a single instance. Stereo takes advantage of the two amps to create a stereo spread. The difference isn't as big as using 3 or 4 frequency bands of distortion, but this technique does lead to a more defined sound quality (especially for amps with heavy saturation) and leaves enough DSP power to add other effects. I hope you find it useful! Chords.mp3 Strums.mp3 Stereo.mp3
    8 points
  30. If I don't use up all the available blocks in a preset, I'll use a separate Amp and Cab instead of an Amp+Cab. The miking is a big deal with the new Cabs, so when I find a setting that rocks my world, I save it as a Favorite. Then I can use it with other amps if appropriate, or at least try it and see if it gives the same magic results. I know, that's not exactly earth-shattering :) But I do find it useful to save selected new Cabs as Favorites.
    8 points
  31. Hello everyone, I just released an update to Helix Help, https://helixhelp.com, to match the 3.15 release. This includes all of the new models, release notes, and other information. Along with this release many of the models have been updated with better descriptions and some bugs have been squashed. I am currently working on some clean up/including some additional information. I hope you all enjoy firmware 3.15! It's a doozy! Jason
    8 points
  32. Let me start with the amp.... I've owned two Hiwatts over my career... and the Helix NAILS IT, but not with the default settings. . Crank the master setting in the amp up to 10. Raise the mids to about 9 Raise the DRIVE to about 5-8 for humbuckers, 7 - 10 for singles coils. Adjust to dirt level tastes. Leave the other "amp" settings. Now the cabinet The internal 4x12 Fane Who Watt cab is great... it's the default MIC that is not! Change the mic setting to a ribbon.... I use the 121, but all the ribbons are great. Set the distance to 5" Set the early reflections to about 50% Too me.... that's a Hiwatt Tone I am very used to and is extremely dynamic to touch and guitar volume. A bit of grit, but not too much. Of course.... adjust to your tastes.
    8 points
  33. There is a kind of cool feature in the 'File' menu in HX Edit named 'Extract Files From Backup'. This command will allow you to go back to a previous backup and extract the individual presets from any of your setlists. That means if you just need a specific preset(s) from an old backup/setlist but never extracted the presets individually you can still go back and get to it easily. Ever wanted to go back to a previous firmware's backup and see all the Factory presets? Now you can. You can also use it to make additional backups of all your presets individually before every firmware upgrade. Something I always do out of an abundance of caution. This allows you to rescue a setlist that isn't loading from your previous backup by using it to extract all your presets from a setlist in that backup and load them individually until you figure out what is breaking when you try to load that setlist. If you just leave all your setlists checked the 'Extract Files From Backup' command will create multiple separate directories(on your hard drive, not on your device) under your backup directory. Each directory named for each setlist with all of your presets extracted there individually. It also extracts your IRs and Favorites if you leave those checkboxes selected. Btw, it is noninvasive in that it does not overwrite any presets/IRs you have loaded on your HX device(at least not so far in my testing) so feel free to experiment with it. It even prompts you when the process completes with the link to open the directory where your presets have been extracted. Nice! I did notice at least two bugs in this utility but they are not showstoppers. Don't know whether everyone will observe the same bugs that I did as my setlists are now almost six years old and have been through every firmware upgrade. Maybe this utility is more bug-free on setlists full of presets created only with newer firmware versions? One bug is that it does not seem to be working consistently if you just try to extract only one setlist. When you do that you may just get an empty directory with a file named "info.txt". Or, you may get a proper extraction but depending on which setlist you selected you may get additional setlist extractions that you did not select. The workaround is to just leave all the checkboxes checked and extract all the setlists. This seems to work properly. The second bug is quite minor. For some reason some of the empty presets named (by default) 'New Preset' don't seem to follow the naming convention properly and just end up as files named with only the preset number. I suspect this could be related to if the slots for those blank presets were previously populated and then had a blank "New Preset" copied back to them, but I am not sure. Again, not a showstopper but a consistency bug nonetheless. I will list the bugs over in the bugs topic so hopefully others can confirm them but overall this is a very handy capability in HX Edit that I had not used previously, nor did I find it documented in the 'HX Edit Pilot's Guide' or any firmware's release notes. If it proves reliable(Update: currently it is not, see bug two posts down) and I am assuming it will 'Extract Files From Backup' provides a much easier method of backing all your presets up individually into their own directories. That is something I have always done before a firmware upgrade by creating a directory for each of my setlists(I eventually set up a blank directory template on my hard drive for this) and then going through each setlist individually, highlighting all my presets at once and clicking 'Export'. A real PITA. This however turns backing up all your presets as individual files, sorted into directories named after their respective setlists, into a hassle-free single click affair. It also executes and completes shockingly fast. I like it, a lot!
    8 points
  34. Hello everybody, I just wanted to let you all know that I released a new version of Helix Help (https://helixhelp.com) today with updated information related to 3.10. This includes the new models, release notes, as well as an updated "Reset Options" section with information regarding the HX Stomp XL. More updates will be coming over the next few weeks to tighten things up a bit, add more reference guides, and stomp out a few bugs. Thanks! Jason
    8 points
  35. Well, maybe it doesn't quite do it all... But it covers a lot of ground for me. I spent some time working on one of my Princeton (Princess) presets today. This preset has its origins back in one my older Deluxe Reverb presets, but I ended up making a few changes. With my Deluxe preset, I used a few outboard pedals, but with this one I decided to keep it all "in the box". This is using the Helix cabs (the 10" and 12" Princeton cab in parallel, actually). It's a nice amp model that seems to sound good with whatever you throw at it. So these are all 8 snapshots in the preset. The order of the clips is as follows: 1. Clean 2. Crunch (Tim + Klon) 3. Clean Trem 4. Crunch Trem 5. Clean Rotary 6. Dotted 8th 7. Lead (using the Dhyana Drive) 8. Ambient (Transistor Tape & Plateaux) Guitar is a Gretsch G5622t. Preset can be found here: https://line6.com/customtone/tone/5316450/
    8 points
  36. I've got 2 laptops, both are the same brand but different models one is working with hx edit just fine, the other was ok until it just have stopped opening the HX Edit app and since then no progress... ....ok. I've read this, and it was my sollution: I found the answer on reddit. There's an SD card in my card reader. When I eject the card, HX Edit runs. When I insert the SD card again, HX Edit does not run. .....maybe someone like me will need this info. ..thank You and all the best
    8 points
  37. Hi Made an update of my Cheat Sheet, Line6 Helix Model Summary, if anyone are intereted. All up to date with 2.50 update and all amps, cabs, mics and effects are in order of appearance on the unite. Some corrections are also made, if someone down loaded the previus version. Unfortunately, there will be one more page as there are just too many amps and effects in the unit :-) Or, there is now room for more... I still want to keep the sheet readable, so have kept the font size the same. Download from my dropbox - https://www.dropbox.com/s/e2jsnnqwscr6iml/Line6 Helix-Model Summary%2C 2%2C50-P1.0-01.pdf?dl=0 Have fun //Per
    8 points
  38. To the user group as a whole. (A small rant) The intent of this group is to help each other. Sarcastic, inflated, offhanded comment do not help anyone. I've been a member of the line 6 forum for 13 years. I stopped using it for years because of this problem and because of just a few people. Now that I've purchased the Helix floor, I've been using the forum again. The Helix, to my admission it is very powerful and can be confusing and I needed guidance. We all have question and get confused by the equipment, processes, and programs. Some of us have more experience with PC, some with other skills. So if someone asks a question that has already been asked (or we think is stupid) then politely point them to the correct thread. I teach Mainframe Security for a living and the only stupid question is the one that isn't asked. If they are confused about something help them in a nice way. Trashing and trashing is not helping anyone. Some people learn by reading, some by seeing and doing. Some lucky few can do both. As much as I like Line 6, we paid for the hardware and software. We should expect Line 6 to fix problems when we discovered and reported by proper means. We also have to understand Line 6 has to collect, research, test, prioritized, correct, and build a new modification release. If the software release for the Helix was crashing, Line 6 would be freaking out to create a fix. So we have to have a little patients. Also Line 6 does use these sites to their benefit. This reduces the need for Line 6 to staff their help desk. Software can and does have problem. The number of defects after a software release reflects on the degree of testing done before being released. Also a very important point, there are so many ways to use and stress the Helix as per hardware / operating software. Due to this versatility, we can and do create new creative ways to create bugs. In some ways we're spoiled. In the old days we had had 5 stop boxes if you were lucky and rich. Vol, Compress/Distortion, Flanger, Chorus, Delay/Reverb. We spent more time playing the instrument. Now our processors are so powerful and many of us are geeks we seem to be spending more time playing our processors. (one thing to remember is "everyone has an A$$, but you don't have to be one" Have fun, Playing, tweaking, do both, be nice and help each other out. Happy holidays and stay safe.
    8 points
  39. Quick update. I filed a support ticket and they got back to me within a couple hours. They suggested I remove the knob cap and try pressing the shaft directly. Sure enough, that worked. Then after replacing the knob shaft, the knob itself is working as expected, all good! Perhaps the knob was pushed too far down on the shaft not leaving enough travel to engage the switch when pushed? In any case, its working now. Like I said, I am very impressed with the Helix ecosystem :) Thanks all for chiming in. Richard
    8 points
  40. LOL! Well, that's why I suggested you don't buy IR's. Whether an IR is 'good' is wholly subjective. One buyer might think an IR is fantastic, another will think it's awful. A lot of folk who've spent time with IR's have come to the conclusion that they'd just rather stick with the stock cabs. IR's a rabbit hole you can get lost in. If you're expecting a magical solution there really isn't one - but try this one free IR to get you started, as it's pretty decent: https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4fwk8jx6m08hse/ML Sound Lab's BEST IR IN THE WORLD.zip?dl=0 So, are IR's really better than the stock cabs in Pod Go? Better is a highly subjective word, but they can be 'different'. Why do I say 'can be' - that's because the stock cabs are actually pretty good and you'll often be able to tweak these to sound pretty much the same as a lot of IR's. But I honestly think you need to start from the basics and learn a bit about what the stock cabs & mics etc can do. So, just concentrate on ONE cab to begin with. Use that to decide what you like and don't like. for example, I play classic rock so I like Marshall/Marshall type amps. A 4x12 25w Celestion cab is pretty classic. So I picked that cab to start with. I increased the output level by 3-5dB because I found it gives a fuller tone (a big reason why IR's can sound 'bigger' is just that most are set with more Cab output) plus it more clearly highlights the tonal differences from adjustments. I found through experimentation that, generally, I prefer the mic 2.5"-4" away which gives an airier more amp in the room feel without overdoing it. Adding 25% early relic gave me just a tad more 'bouyancy/fullness' to the sound, again without overdoing it. Re the mics, I quickly found that there were only a few favourites that 'did it' for me. No surprises in that these were the three big industry standards. There are really only 3 main MIC types - dynamic, ribbon, and condenser. See here: https://www.musicianonamission.com/types-of-microphones/ For me, I generally mostly go for: SM57 dynamic - this is modelled on the Shure SM57 which is probably the most used mic in recording and micing up amps 160 Ribbon (Bayerdynamic M160) - very expensive studio mic in the real world! I like the 121 too. Occasionally I'll go condenser - typically the 414 Condenser (AKG C414 TL11 The SM57 is very much 'in your face' and will usually sound louder, but the Ribbon mics & Condenser mics pick up different nuances that are more sensitive to touch playing. There's no right or wrong here' it's just what you like. Once you've found a few favourites it makes setting your cab much easier. But it's really easy to go through them all in a minute as a check in case a different mic happens to give a tone you like or are trying to match. Re high & low cut, these are essentially EQ - slide all the way to the left and the right to hear what these do. A common approach is to set these as per the real speaker specs. Look up a 25w Celestion greenback specs and you'll probably see a frequency response range from 70Hz to 5,000 Hz. So setting the low cut to 70Hz and high cut to 5000 Hz pretty much replicates the real thing. But unlike the real thing, you can 'cheat'. Sometimes I'll slide the low cut all the way to the left, and the high cut all the way to the right (off). You'll quickly find what your ears prefer and follow that for other cabs too. Mix - I leave it at 100% generally, just like in the real world. Once you've found a few favourite stock cabs that work for you (and generally I'll go for a Marshall cab with a Marshall, a Fender cab with a Fender amp etc) and set these as you like, THEN it's time to compare with some IR's of those cabs & see if you like the difference, or whether you can actually match the tone pretty much with some minor tweaks and don't need to load the IR anyway. Some IR's you won't be able to match eg they've used multicabs/mics or a cab version that's a bit rare. Think of it like choosing a car - before you buy you need to decide what makes you like - Ford, Mercedes, BMW etc (akin to Marshall, Fender, Vox etc), how many doors (3,4, 5 - akin to 1x12, 2x12, 4x12 speaker) then the specific model (eg Vox 2x12 Blues, Silver, greenbacks), then how does it feel to drive ie how does the cab sound to you? What you're hoping for is that someone can just recommend an IR for you akin to recommending a car for you. I'm afraid me old china that you really need to invest some time in to learn about all this, at least the basics. Although it's a much simpler avenue to Helix modelling than a Helix, the Pod Go is not a plug n play MFX. If you're not prepared to invest some time to learn to walk before you can run, I'm afraid you've just got the wrong unit for your needs. But I promise you, once you get a feel for the basics, it's all actually a lot more straightforward than you think - and learning about tone is a really enjoyable part of the journey because you can make some great discoveries that can transform your tone & your playing enjoyment. But don't get overly hung up on all the permutations - because it honestly doesn't work that way. Hope all this is of some help (others will have different views re approach etc, which is fine). It's a journey, so enjoy it - otherwise you could easily keep ending up at the wrong destination with no understanding as to why!
    8 points
  41. First of all, virtually everything sold in California...the birthplace of 99.97% of all regulations known to man...has a cancer warning label on it. The swashbuckling state legislators out there use them to pat themselves on the back for "saving lives". Not long ago they pinned it on coffee. That's right...coffee. Nuff said. You know what else causes cancer? Being alive. 25% of us will eventually be diagnosed with one form or another, including a whole bunch of non-smoking, clean living, exercise junkies. Little kids, who haven't been alive long enough to be poisoned by anything, still manage to get cancer. Life is rough. You can worry about everything you touch if you like, but it won't help. When your number's up, your number's up.
    8 points
  42. I saw your post while trying to fix a similar problem. This worked for me: After I installed all the latest upgrades to the drivers and the editor, I restarted the system then followed these steps. 1. Open System Preferences in OS X Catalina 2. Select "Security and Privacy" 3. Select the "General" tab 4. Look at the bottom for an alert about system software prevented from loading 5. Select to allow software from Line 6 6. Open POD HD500 Editor 7. Connect the POD to the USB Done! I hope this helps!
    8 points
  43. I apologize in advance for the long post, but hopefully there's a few tidbits of info that may be useful to some members of the forum in here. We've seen a number of discussions recently regarding where to set your Helix master volume setting, the pros and cons, and the speculations. I've mentioned several times that I normally have mine set at 11 o'clock when I'm working on and normalizing the volume of my patches, and have had it there with no problems for the last 3 1/2 years. However I have had some concerns about that that particular setting that really doesn't relate to better or worse quality of tone, but revolves more around having a better setup that's more easily managed. This stems from the fact that my rig is setup to use an on stage Yamaha DXR12 as my stage speaker which I position behind me on a half height stand in a normal backline situation, and a separate XLR output that goes direct to the mixing board using an inline phantom power blocker. I've disengaged my Helix master volume from controlling my XLR outputs and have set those XLR outputs to Mic level with my 1/4" output going to the DXR12 at line level and being controlled by the Helix master volume knob. This isolates any on stage volume changes made on the Helix volume knob from impacting the XLR signal level output to the mixer. And although this has worked perfectly in a wide range of settings with different PA's or with just using the DXR12 for instrument and vocals only through a PA, it has concerned me at a couple of levels for a while that made me start considering a change in the Helix volume knob setting. As far as background info, as you may know, when you disengage the Helix volume knob from affecting an XLR or 1/4" out, the Helix defaults to sending a signal that's equivalent to having your Helix volume knob maxed out on that output line. Even sending that XLR signal out at Mic level (which is quite a bit lower than Line level), there's still a considerable difference in the signal strength that goes into the mixing board, causing it to need the gain setting on the channel to be cut down considerably due to the volume levels within my patches which are higher due to having my Helix volume set at 11 o'clock. This isn't a huge issue as it can easily be gain staged at the board to unity, but it could present problems on certain mixing boards that might not have very capable channel preamp setups on their mixer. So by raising the Helix master volume up to 3 o'clock and adjusting my internal preset volumes lower, I can minimize this major disparity between the two signals that could potentially be a problem. Although I might lose some of the overall headroom for making volume adjustments to my on stage setup, I've never had to raise my Helix volume above 12 o'clock. So setting it at 3 o'clock gives me ample room for adjustment, and actually more headroom within my patches for adjusting master and channel volumes on the various amp models. I did this adjustment on six of my presets this morning and all went quickly and very well, although there were a few things I learned in doing it that may be something people need to consider. Although it's generally held that making volume adjustments in your preset using the channel volume of the amp won't affect the overall tone of your patch, that's true except for patches that contain effects after the amp since they're receiving a much lower input signal. Most of my post amp effects tend to be EQ's, compressors, reverbs, delays, twin harmony, and an occasional chorus or phaser, but that's pretty rare. First I didn't notice any kind of quality level difference in the sound by having higher Helix volume setting once I adjusted my amp levels. What was most noticeable were the level of dynamics in picking or plucking the strings harder. Not a huge difference, but noticeable. I suspect this may be attributed to the circuitry modeled in the amps that may act as a limiter if the channel volume is very high. What was most affected was my post amp compressor which is typically the LA Compressor. With the lower amp channel volumes I noticed I needed to raise my Peak Reduction or amount of compression from my normal settings of around 5.5 to up around 6 or 6.5 and that I needed to also raise my compressed/dry mix from around 80 to up around 90. I suspect these are artifacts from the greater dynamic range I got from the amp models when I lowered the channel volumes. Other than that I can't say I ran into any problems with the reverbs/delays or EQs. I wasn't working with any patches that used the Twin Harmony, but that will be the next thing I concentrate on. In the end I was able to accomplish what I set out to accomplish with my disengaged XLR output line signal now falling in line with the rest of the normal XLR inputs from other sources which is exactly what I was after. Hopefully some of this info will be useful to others.
    8 points
  44. CLICK HERE if your Helix/HX hardware has already been updated to 2.80.0 firmware. CLICK HERE if your Helix/HX hardware is running firmware 2.71.0 firmware or older. Bug Fixes in 2.81 The active EXP Pedal (1 or 2) was not saved with the preset On Helix LT, the XLR Outputs would reset to Mic level upon power cycle After loading two presets in a row containing a Looper block on Path 1B or 2B, audio could sometimes drop out In rare cases, restoring a backup made on 2.71 could cause headphone audio to be lost In hands-free Pedal Edit Mode, moving an expression pedal could also affect any Wah, Volume/Pan, or controller assignments Changing IRs via controller or snapshot could sometimes result in an audible crossfade between IRs Presets with Input > S/PDIF blocks would not pass audio until another preset with a different input block is loaded When Global Settings > Preferences > Snapshot Edits is set to "Discard," tempo would not reflect this setting when set to "Per Snapshot" Command Center > MMC > Record, Punch In, and Punch Out commands could not transmit correctly In rare cases on Helix Floor, Helix Rack, and Helix LT, FS6 (MODE) could fail to toggle between footswitch modes Adjusting certain Frequency parameters (typically those below 1kHz) could change at different increments between hardware and HX Edit In HX Edit, assigning both a block and Command Center command to the same footswitch could result in erratic behavior when attempting to change the LED color Snapshot-controlled Command Center > CC Toggle or CV Toggle values could sometimes not import correctly from older presets In rare cases, undoing a footswitch assignment remotely from HX Edit could result in a firmware crash In HX Edit, repeatedly pressing Up/Down arrows could inadvertently jump to the bottom of the controller parameter list In HX Edit, attempting to undo hardware changes after a Global Factory Reset could sometimes reload preset data from before the reset In HX Edit, performing an Undo/Redo function could sometimes cause a Cab > Dual block to change to a Cab > Single block In HX Edit, performing an Undo/Redo function could sometimes cause a stereo effect block to change to a mono effect block In HX Edit on Windows, the Edit panel's sliders could sometimes fail to appear In HX Edit on Windows, customized Command Center text could sometimes be truncated On Windows, the Win Defender pop-up could block installation of Helix Native or HX Edit Known Issues in 2.81 On Helix Rack/Control, connecting an expression pedal to Helix Control could sometimes cause the pedal position display to behave erratically Pitch/Synth > 3 OSC Synth, 3 Note Generator, and 4 OSC Generator are louder than in 2.71 In rare cases, the Dynamics > LA Studio Comp model can sometimes cause a drop in preset volume In HX Edit, applying a custom color to a Snapshot footswitch can sometimes not be reflected on the hardware. For now, apply snapshot footswitch colors from the hardware In HX Edit, if the current preset has not been saved, importing a different preset, setlist, or bundle does not currently clear the Undo history In rare cases, Helix/HX devices can become disconnected from HX Edit. If possible, always connect your Helix/HX device directly to the USB port closest to your computer's power connector. Never use any sort of USB hub, which may include the front USB ports on the front of towers Helix Native will not open in hardened runtime builds of Cubase 10.5 Some tempo synced effects can act authentic with the global setting set to transparent if tempo changes are controlled via snapshots. In HX Edit, importing a setlist containing Command Center > Instant commands may transmit the messages even if no new preset is loaded Logic Pro X is currently unable to write snapshot or switch automation data for Helix Native In HX Edit, performing an undo after a block cut or clear can delete the block's footswitch and/or controller assignments In HX Edit, moving an effect, amp, cab, or IR block can sometimes inadvertently reposition a Split or Merge block In HX Edit, certain Output > Powercab and DT parameters cannot currently be assigned to snapshots via Alt+click/Option+click. For now, press and turn the knob on the Helix hardware In HX Edit, Ctrl+click/Command+click on certain Output > Powercab and DT parameters may not reset them to default settings In Helix Native, changing models can clear automation assignments of common parameters (such as Amp > Bass or Delay > Time)
    8 points
  45. SUCCESS!! So I was having the same frustrating SPINNING WHEEL issue while using Logic Pro as many others... but I made one change that seems to have fixed the problem! I just turned off my internet connection (WiFi) then tried opening the plugin in Logic, but this time instead of it causing the constant spinning wheel, it prompted me for my account login info (...because of no internet connection). But this time where I had previously been connecting over my home Wi-Fi... I instead connected to my iPhone via PERSONAL HOTSPOT... typed in my password and it loaded right up! And after that first successful attempt I now seem to be able to use my home Wi-Fi without any issues and everything seems to be working as it should! DANG....FINALLY!!!
    8 points
  46. From my own experience, this appears to be due to an issue with the Logitech GHUB software, likely an IRQ conflict. Exiting the software from the system tray before plugging the Helix in stopped this issue from occurring.
    8 points
  47. I'd like to add another "perspective" to this debate. These modelers are tools and ultimately in the right hands I believe you can get amazing results with both. At the same time in the wrong hands you can make the most powerful units sound really bad as well. I don't understand these posts from some people in here containing a long video of using just one modeler and then saying "I can't get these sounds from the Helix". No offence but chances are that you couldn't get them from the Fractal either. I believe that a big part of the learning curve in every modeler is that guitarists are now forced to learn how to tweak good guitar tones or purchase tone packs. I don't think it's a debate of "which one sounds better". If both can sound like real tube amps then there's no other comparison besides specifications and features and how they fit the specific user's needs.
    8 points
  48. Agreed! Some of the guitar cabs are far better than many bass cabs... for bass use! One important trick for me is to avoid the use of certain mics (57 Dyn cuts lows!). In my experience, a close (1'') 414 Cond or 121 Ribbon give me the best results. If some cab is too dark, then the 47 Cond helps (this is what comes with the SVT by default). Then the 4038 Ribbon boosts lows too much, it is useful sometimes, but I am not sure if there is the need to boost lows when there are so many cabs that work well. Avoiding medium distance "57 Dyn" is what makes MANY guitar cabs usable for me. My favorites bass cabs (Forgive comments in "Spanglish"): Also "No cab" works really well for me. With some EQ to tame and "voice" high frequencies, but totally transparent with lows. It avoids phasing issues. We bass players have enough with our "FRFR" cabs, they are not that "transparent" in the lows, so there is no need to make the problem twice as bad. I have certain theory why some "good" or "professional" or "thoroughly recorded" cab models are not so great with the Helix or any other modeller. Their responses are anything but "tight". 1x18 Woody Blue may sound good with headphones, but I doubt it is good with the full band and using any practical real cab in stage with the full band at high volume. To me it sounds really BAD. I can understand why some bass multi effect users are enthusiastic with their presets tuned with headphones without a band and then in the first rehearsal the band tell them "This is for guitars, your old bass amp sounded way better". ================== About the blend: Some overdrives / distortion have. And this is great because this avoids certain subtle problems that appear when using parallel paths. The problem with parallels paths (besides being very limited in number) has to do with phasing issues, they are different for each amplifier or overdrive. These issues are far worse in bass than in guitar. I know that this topic can be very controversial. Some ODs don't have a blend control, but they work at low / moderate gains "as if" they had a clean parallel path. If you play bass I recommend to try Teemah! for this reason. Teemah! and Obsidian 7000 are my favorite dirts. I have a preset that is simply Teemah! plus an EQ (instead of cab) plus effects, this is one of my favorites with the band. Because it is "rich enough" but "TIGHT". And I need my bass to sound very tight in many songs / band situations. Next in my "OD" list are 3 bass amps (SV Beast and Tuck'n'Go) and then Clawthorn Drive. There are many usable blocks to create OD / Distortion, some are bass amps, some are guitar amps. IME many of them are totally unusable for bass. But there are some surprises, for example the LEGACY heavy distortion (this one requires a parallel path). Or the Tube Screamer emulation is too "treebly", but does not CUT bass, so it admits EQ to restore bass... and does not require a parallel path! (it works better in a band context this way). I really would like to add a blend control in overdrives and distortions. Now I know it is not trivial to add if done properly. Hope it helps.
    8 points
  49. Gold Dust Woman, for the life of me just can't remember the progressions so a Verse and Chorus button. Forces me to look down when I hit the switch. And looking at the signal path constantly is kind of silly hence the Song Notes mode for the screen or add another screen somewhere with the next generation. My failing memory...might as well get some use out of it and offer a new feature.
    8 points
  50. Here is a document I have been working on but is not really ready for prime time yet. It is drawn from a variety of unquoted sources (my bad) and as I mentioned not yet fully edited but in the interests of giving you some general knowledge to work with I will post it up. There are probably other users on the forum who can provide more explicit settings for the compressors on the Helix and there are also user provided presets on CustomTone (good luck sorting through them) that serve as great examples. Anyway, here goes, a completely deranged and disorganized guide to compression that is designed to give you a working knowledge of compressor settings and operation rather than provide you with the settings but may nonetheless shed some light on the subject. There is a great link to suggested compressor settings for a variety of instruments as well as some other sample settings towards the end of this post. There is also a section further down on how to use the Helix 'LA Comp' compressor as well as a general section that applies to the Helix's 'Deluxe Comp'. For those of us who use compressors in a preset, most of us probably have it on all the time (and that is ok), or perhaps have it setup to switch off when we want more dynamics, for instance when we kick in a distortion pedal or heavier sound on a solo via a snapshot or pedal assign. I think however that the compressor is a prime candidate for assigning parameters to snapshots so that you can change the values on the compressor to match your tempo, attack, or song part (intro, verse, chorus, solo, bridge, outro) instead of just switching it in and out or leaving it on all the time. The HX line of devices added a gain reduction meter to the firmware at some point. You can use this by selecting any compressor block and look to see when the threshold you set is being crossed, and also how long it is being engaged until it is released. The gain reduction meter is extremely helpful for setting the threshold and release settings. I have gathered a bunch of notes together over time from various websites regarding compression so this work is the result of others much more well versed on the subject. My apologies in advance for any inadvertent plagiarism. I would be happy to cite sources or remove text if anyone sees their text here. Some notes may be redundant as they came from a wide variety of sources. I hope this assists some folks in getting their heads wrapped around compression parameters and their usage in different scenarios with the guitar and bass but also with vocals, drums, etc.. Why use compression?: Reduce sudden peaks/spikes. Smooth and make levels more uniform and less jarring on guitar, bass, drums, vocals or other instruments As a boost Add sustain, particularly on clean presets, but can also sound great with distortion and overdrive Articulation, dynamics (incorrect settings can squash these) Push an instrument more out front Make an instrument sit better in the mix 'Chicken pickin', funk, and other particular genres or styles Special effects (sometimes pumping or breathing can be a good thing) Suppressing microphone feedback, 'ringing' out a PA Leveling overall recording output in the mastering process Reduce masking of overlapping frequencies between instruments by sidechaining (description further down in document). First a brief description of common compression parameters (the 'Deluxe Comp' on the Helix has all these settings): Note: On some simple, for example two knob compressors, two or more of these parameters' functions may be collapsed into one knob. For example, turning up the ratio may simultaneously turn down the threshold. (contributor: njglover) Threshold is how loud your signal has to get before the compression kicks in. This is essential because you may not want your entire signal to be compressed. Some units have no threshold knob- for them, the threshold may be "fixed" and can only be adjusted by changing the input level of your signal. In other words, increasing the level of your signal by turning up the guitar volume or adding a pedal with a boost, etc. before your signal goes into the compressor. Alternatively on some two-knob compressors, as mentioned above, turning the compression knob may simultaneously raise the ratio and lower the threshold. Ratio is how much your signal gets compressed once it passes the threshold. Ratios are figured in decibels (dB); a dB is a unit of how much a signal increases or decreases relative to where it started. With a ratio of 4:1 for example, the idea is that for every 4 dB your signal goes over the threshold, the output level will only go up by 1 dB. Generally, ratios of 2:1 to 4:1 are considered light or moderate compression, and ratios of 10:1 or higher are considered heavy compression or limiting. A hard "brick wall" limiter has a ratio of infinity:1, meaning that once your signal crosses the threshold, the output will not increase more than 1 dB no matter how high the input signal spikes. Attack controls how quickly the compression reacts to your signal, and Release controls how long it takes to "let up" and stop compressing after it's triggered. These controls are interactive, and the right settings for them will vary depending on the music and your playing style. You'll have to experiment, but for some compressors (not all) a decent rule of thumb is to start with the attack and release knobs in their middle position, and adjust from there. Keep in mind that on most compressors the 'Attack' setting gets longer, aka slower as you turn the knob clockwise. That means when the knob is at its minimum, all the way counter-clockwise, the attack will be at its fastest(e.g. 1ms); this means that the compressor will almost immediately start applying compression to your signal. Somewhat counter intuitively too fast an attack setting on the compressor can actually squash your guitar's attack and dull the transients at the front of the picked note. Turn it all the way up and your attack will be its slowest setting with the compressor taking the longest time possible(e.g. 1000ms) to engage. "So the fastest attack will be the knob at 1, the slowest attack will be the knob at 10. (contributor: optimist)". Extreme min/max settings on either attack or release can cause pumping or breathing. Output Gain controls how much the volume of your signal is increased coming out of the comp, and this is necessary because compression lowers the overall average levels of your signal. Increase gain when using higher ratios and lower thresholds to maintain your output level. Almost all compressors have a booster at the end, which provides "makeup gain" to bring your signal back up to the level you want. This is what accounts for both the increase in audible sustain and harmonics, and also the increase in the noise floor. Knee - Set on hard-knee, the compressor waits until the signal crosses the threshold, then it reduces the signal at the specified ratio for a punchy sound. With soft-knee compression, the ratio gradually increases as the signal approaches the threshold, resulting in a more natural feel and a wider dynamic range. So here goes, some general information and tips on using compression in no particular order: Note: Sometimes 'pick attack' or 'string attack' is mentioned in this document and refers to how fast or hard the string is being plucked. This is not the same as the 'attack' setting on the compressor although 'pick attack' may influence your choice of the compressor's 'attack' setting. Use increased sensitivity(lower threshold) on slow attack times to make sure compressor engages. Use a higher ratio for more pronounced compression. The more compression (higher the ratio) the higher the makeup gain needs to be set. Compression ratio and threshold are related, since both increasing the ratio and lowering the threshold will result in more compression being applied to the signal. Use a fast release for faster return to normal level. Tempo as well as string attack can profoundly affect compression. Set attack and release settings shorter for fast pick attack or fast tempo otherwise you may hear pumping or the compressor may not kick in properly and miss notes that are above the threshold you set and should have been compressed. Slow attack times allow the transient and initial attack of the note to come through. Setting attack too fast/short may cause the initial attack on the string to be squashed and result in a loss of dynamics. If release time is set too long, it may compress a quieter note that rapidly follows an above-the-threshold note. Medium release allows a quieter note that is below the threshold to not be compressed. Longer release times can add sustain and sound more natural on acoustic instruments like the acoustic guitar where a note or chord may ring out for quite a while. Electric guitar ratios are often 4:1 or even 6:1 although lower settings work fine as well. You may want a lighter compression on overdriven or distorted tones as there can already be a fair amount of compression from the amp and distortion effects. A ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 may be sufficient here. Mastering and busses often uses slower attack times depending on the source material. Pumping, breathing, and distortion: Attack time settings affect the sound quality in terms of overall perceived brightness or high-frequency content. If you use very fast attack time settings, the compressor will activate very quickly, reducing gain instantly at the waveform level of the sound. However, too fast an attack or release can cause distortion or unwanted artifacts like pumping or breathing, particularly on bass or low notes as the attack and release are actually faster than the cycle(hz) of the note being played. Since transient information at the front or attack portion conveys brightness character, especially with percussive sounds, immediately reducing it with the compressor will dull the sound. Selecting a slower attack time will allow the transient portion of the sound to pass through before the compressor starts clamping. However, if the attack time is too slow, ineffective and tardy compressor action may result. Low frequencies (e.g. bass guitar, detuned or just low guitar strings) can be distorted by too fast a release time. Super fast release times, along with a fast attack time setting, will distort low-frequency sounds, as the compressor is capable of gain change within the period (the 360-degree cycle of the lowest fundamental frequency) of the sound's waveform. Likewise, over-long release time settings are another form of distortion, since gain reduction is "stuck" clamping the sound down for an unnaturally long time period. "Pumping" and "breathing" are engineer jargon words for obvious compressor artifacts or side effects with maximum compression. Sudden and usually unwanted deep gain reduction is called pumping, while a slower return (release) to operating level with a noticeable rise of the noise floor is called breathing. For a more transparent sound you may prefer a release time that has the shortest possible time that does not produce a "pumping" effect, caused by cyclic activation and deactivation of compression. These cycles make the dominant signal (normally the bass drum and bass guitar) also modulate the noise floor, producing a "breathing" effect. For more sustain you may opt for a longer release time. As previously mentioned, fast release/attack times may create distortion, since they modify the waveform of low frequencies, which are slower. For instance, one cycle at 100 Hz lasts 10 ms, so that a 1 ms attack time has the time to alter the waveform, thereby generating distortion. Compression settings especially for guitar: This is an interesting blurb regarding the Rockman compressor. The problem to solve, when you want to design a compressor for the guitar, is a double problem: Act as a limiter during the first part of the note - a strong peak (think fast attack) Act as a sustainor during the second part of the note - a slow decay (think slow release)" Side-bussing compression: You can side-buss the compressor with an EQ block to selectively compress frequencies or provide both a direct signal and a compressed signal to the mix. Sidechaining compression: You can sidechain the compressor such that for instance a kick drum hit will momentarily compress the bass guitar in such a way as to reduce the masking of the kick-drum by certain frequencies in the bass guitar. Sidechaining is essentially used to cause the trigger instrument to cause another target instrument to be momentarily compressed. Ringing out microphones and feedback in a system: A compressor can be used to aid setting up a system when it is being ringed out, i.e. its main feedback frequencies are being removed with an equalizer or a feedback elimination type unit. The compressor will have a low threshold level and infinity-to-1 ratio with hard knee characteristics. With no signal present, we will gradually increase the volume until the first feedback frequency rings. The compressor will catch it and keep it at a constant safe level, making adjusting the equalization an easier task. The process will typically be repeated until the third or fourth feedback frequency has been ringed out. Sample Compression settings (source citations needed): First a great link for compression settings for various instruments: http://anythingpeaceful.org/sonar/settings/comp.html Note: You may want to try an attack setting of 20ms-25ms or more for electric guitar. This will allow more of the initial transient of the guitar note through and make for a more articulated sound with better attack and dynamics. The recommended value of 7ms in this chart for electric guitar is fairly low although good for fast picking or catching and suppressing loud sudden peaks/jumps. An interesting article on how to set different compressors http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/setup.shtml Helix 'LA Studio Comp' Parameters And Usage Tips Note: The 'Mix' control as on most compressors can help by adding back in the initial pick attack as well as potentially brightness or tone to the signal by providing some of the uncompressed signal in your path, particularly on higher 'PeakReduc' settings. PeakReduc - This will set the 'amount' of compression and also adjust the threshold (how high the input level, or the often related, how aggressive the pick attack needs to be, to trigger compression). These two parameters(ratio, threshold) are collapsed into this single control on the 'LA 2A'. The ratio control being the ratio of dbs being reduced you are used to seeing e.g. 2:1, 4:1 and threshold referring to what input level is required to trigger compression. I don't know how or even if the attack and release are figured into the PeakReduc when it is adjusted. The original 'LA 2A' analog compressor the 'LA Studio Comp' is based on did not have attack and release controls (similar to a two knob compressor pedal) but instead used the "combination of an electro-luminescent panel and a photo-cell to determine the attack and release characteristics of the LA-2A". I am not sure how Line6 modeled that circuitry but that is what would set the attack and release in the original effect. Gain - This is referring to the 'makeup' gain knob you see on most compressors. Generally the higher you set the compression (PeakReduc) the more the signal will be reduced and the higher the 'Gain' will need to be set. "This control does not affect the compression. The gain control should be set after the desired amount of compression is determined using the Peak Reduction control. Once the Peak Reduction control is set, adjust the Gain Control to achieve the desired output level." Emphasis - Use this to have more or less compression on the sparkly high end of your guitar signal. "The LA-2A was designed for use in broadcast applications. The audio signal in FM broadcasting undergoes pre-emphasis and results in a 17 dB boost at 15 KHz. Due to this increase in signal level, transmitters are subject to over-modulation. The LA-2A provides a control (R37) which controls the amount of high-frequency compression. Increasing the resistance of this potentiometer on the original device by turning it counterclockwise will result in compression which is increasingly more sensitive to the higher frequencies." So, to put it another way, this large 17db bump at 15khz in the original LA-2A compressor meant that they built in an 'Emphasis' parameter that kept compression flat across the frequency spectrum but allowed you to apply additional compression to the high frequencies. I suppose in some respects similar to a two band "multi-compressor". I don't know exactly at which frequencies Line6 or the original effect applied that additional compression; on the original maybe around 15khz as that is where FM broadcasting signals were boosted. I am not sure of the answer to that question. It is worth noting that on the original device turning the 'Emphasis' control counter-clockwise (down) actually increased the amount of compression applied to the high frequencies. Type - This parameter will adjust the ratio settings used in the 'PeakReduc' parameter to much higher values, generally you will set this to 'Compress' for guitar. Setting it to 'Limit' will change a 2:1 ratio into for example a 10:1 ratio more ideal for limiter use. A few sample settings for different instruments: If you want to use a little compression to bring the electric guitar forward and give it some punch or sustain, try these settings. You may have to experiment with the threshold setting in particular as various compressor models use threshold differently: Threshold: 1dB Ratio: 2:1 - 3:1 Attack: 25-30 ms Release: About 200 ms Gain: Adjust so that the output level matches the input level. You don't need much added gain. To get a handle on the potential muddiness of the amplified bass guitar use a little compression. Compression can also help control uneven levels that result from overzealous or inexperienced bass players. Remember too fast an attack or release on bass because of the lower hz cycle can cause distortion as the compressor is cycling faster than the note. Try these settings for a start: Threshold: 4dB Ratio: 2.5:1 - 3:1 Attack: 40-50 ms Release: About 180 ms Gain: Adjust so that the output level matches the input level. You don't need much added gain. These are good settings for strummed or picked acoustic instruments: Threshold: 6dB Ratio: 3:1 - 4:1 Attack: Around 150 ms Release: About 400 ms Gain: Adjust so that the output level matches the input level. You don't need much added gain. The release is set very high because of the amount of sustain that acoustic instruments such as a guitar or dobro can have. If you play an instrument with less sustain, like a banjo mandolin, or even a ukulele, you may find that a shorter attack and release work just fine. Excellent video on compression - more general and less guitar-centric:
    8 points
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