DunedinDragon

In a way that's somewhat the idea behind being able to save favorites if you could simply modify your favorite and it would automatically endure across all instances of that favorite wherever it might be used, but that's not how it works. You could submit this to IdeaScale and, if described properly, might be popularly supported. Under the current architecture of the Helix I'm not sure how practical it would be. What you're really describing is the concept of inheritance in which a change to a favorite would endure across multiple instances of use of that "favorite" in all presets. But in the current architecture all presets are standalone and static. Also there's the case in which a preset is not stored in the Helix itself, but stored in a backup or on the hard drive as a copy of the preset. This would undoubtedly add significantly to the load time of a preset which I'm not sure I'd be willing to endure. That's just one possible implication but there are many more I can think of. On the surface it's a great idea. I'm just not sure whether it's worth it to make it work seamlessly in the current way presets are handled. Maybe the next version of the Helix could incorporate a more comprehensive flexibility within presets to allow such things rather than trying to retro-fit the concept to the current architecture.

There's no trick to sending direct to the mixer, so I'm assuming you're talking about simply hearing the preset at home in some accurate way. It's really less about the audio interface and a LOT more about the headphones. I very seldom ever do that, but in my case it's really just about a good pair of headphones with a fairly accurate representation of the sound. BeyerDynamic DT770's have been a very popular choice and that's what I use ( 80 ohm version) and they come pretty close to what I use live on my PA which are Yamaha DXR12 speakers. I also have the option of listening to my presets through a good pair of studio monitors (Yamaha HS7) as both my headphones and monitors are connected directly to my Helix floor. Between the two I can get a fairly good feel for what it will sound like through the PA. You can rest assured the 'fizziness' you speak of is there in your amp. Just move your head in line with the center cone of the speaker and you'll hear it loud and clear. Headphones probably emphasize it more as they aren't as susceptible to changes in what you're hearing based on where you're standing relative to the speaker. But then neither are PA speakers generally. A higher end pair of legitimate studio headphones will give you your best shot at getting a good representation.

I've had my Helix USB Audio drop out occassionally but I've always been able to fix it by de-selecting the Helix USB audio on my PC and go to my internal PC soundcard, then re-connect to the Helix driver. That seems to fix things up for me. You might try that.

Under Preferences/Audio do you have ASIO Helix selected or ASIO HX Stomp? Ableton lists them separately. Are you able to generate the test tone on the preferences page?

The system my band uses live every week has a laptop that provides backing tracks and coordinates MIDI stage automation commands with my Helix and several other devices. The key is having a separate MIDI automation track that sends the automation commands at the correct moment as the track progresses. I use Ableton Live but I'm sure there's a way to do it in Reaper much the same way. It's just a simple MIDI track but configured so it sends the MIDI PC and CC commands out to an external device (in your case the Helix). I would wager if you google 'sending midi out from Reaper' there's bound to be some instructional videos out there and that's where I'd start. As far as Helix specific MIDI capabilities here's a great online guide that's kept up to date consistently. If all you want to do is change presets you just need a simple set of commands (1 PC and 1 CC) at the beginning of each song that selects the appropriate preset. If you want you can then continue to have the same track make snapshot or footswitch activations through the course of the song. I don't personally know of any utilities that will automatically record MIDI automation tracks, but if you wanted to do that you'd have to program the Helix to actually send them outbound since it doesn't do that kind of thing by default. That's as much, if not more work, than just putting them into a MIDI out track by hand. https://helixhelp.com/tips-and-guides/universal/midi

You have to remember that impedance is really an electrical circuit issue which a straight through cable doesn't affect even if it changes the ends of the cable. A dynamic mic creates it's signal by electrical signals being created by a voice activating a diaphragm which is a MUCH lower signal than one created by electromagnetic forces like an instrument. You really don't see these Z changers used much these days since most modern mixing boards and such can detect the lo-z and compensate for it automatically. Back in the day PA heads were often lo-z or hi-z for mics. There would be different models of Shure mics that were hi-z and came with 1/4" cables and lo-z came with XLR cables. We often carried these type of devices around so you could convert to different PA heads. But for your application it might be just the ticket.

Maybe just a simple device like this might make things easier? https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LittleIMP--whirlwind-little-imp-lo-z-xlr-to-hi-z-1-4-inch-inline-impedance-matcher

Well the elephant in the room is the Return block being used for the second vocal mic. The question for me is what kind of mic is being used and how is it being physically connected? Clearly the difference is you have a Mic level instrument coming in at instrument or line level with no preamp (which is what you would have on a mixer and is part of the circuit for the Helix Mic input). Have you tried using a Studio Tube Pre as the first item on the signal chain?

I hope you understand those formats and tagging structures change pretty much with each and every new firmware release.

Other than EQ, Helix has limited capabilities for Freeze and Looping. They might be sufficient for your needs, but you'll have to figure that out once you get the unit and start learning it. EQ on the other hand is probably much more comprehensive than your separate unit because there's a wide range of different EQ tools. As far as routing external pedals, most often people tend to just go into them before the Helix, but you can route them inline if you want to place them more appropriately in your signal chain pre or post amp. In the case of the Looper and Freeze pedal those would certainly be candidates for that. But you would need to add send/returns in any preset that might use them, so it depends on how you organize your presets. For example, I use a preset for each song in order to allow me to customize the amp/cab/mic and other aspects I want to tailor to the song so there's a number of presets I probably wouldn't need to account for those external pedals. How you approach it may be different so the answer is.....it depends.

Well I took the extra step and looked through the manual and there's not a single discussion in the MIDI section about how to set the MIDI channel. This looks like the MIDI stuff was an afterthought as far as features and you're probably only going to get an answer by contacting their support people.

I think the problem you face is simply that HX Edit is a simple console program that depends entirely upon the Helix unit to enforce the limits and rules. That allows the same program to work with multiple Helix devices in a transparent manner. That's fine for building presets, not so fine if you try and load a preset too big for the Stomp because the Stomp is enforcing the rules. I would imagine Line 6 wants to avoid incorporating unit specific code into HX Edit because that then requires that code to be updated whenever things change on the Stomp, and I honestly can't blame them. That would be a rookie move as far as programming and would be at odds with the entire design and purpose of HXEdit.

Okay, it's been a few years since I used my BB with my Helix but here's a few things to consider. The reason you're getting the drums in the mix with the Aeros is exactly what I mentioned previously. You have the BB audio signal coming into the Helix and you have the Helix routed via 1/4" out to the Aeros. That signal includes the BB audio, and the guitar modeling audio, so that's what goes into the recording loop on the Aeros. I would probably have the BB come in via a dedicated 1/4" input on it's own separate signal chain from guitar and combine with the Helix guitar modeling output going to the XLR out to the Headrush AFTER you use a 1/4" send that goes from the Helix to the Aeros (no return signal from the Aeros).

I don't know if it's included or an add on but here's the product page. Somewhere there I'm sure you'll find out. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/max-for-live/

If you're talking about SysEx commands you will need to buy the Max for LIve add-on.

This is maybe the main reason why so many folks simply go direct to the PA from the Helix and most other modelers. There's no real reason to have an amp on stage if you have decent floor monitors. Each amp will have it's own unique sound and settings and is why most people that want to use a stage amp use a 4 cable method so they can choose to send the fully formed sound of the Helix to the amp and avoid the tone stack of the amp. You'll still encounter differences though based on the speaker cabinet and mic's used on the amp on a live stage. All of that complexity makes it easy to make the decision to go direct to the PA and avoid all the hassle.

It's not clear to me where you have your drum audio signal going from the BeatBuddy. You say you have the MIDI Out going to the Aeros Loop Station, but MIDI Out doesn't have audio so I'm guessing the MIDI out is simply to control the Aeros. Assuming you want all audio (guitar and drums) going through the Powercab independently, you would want two separate audio lines (one from the Helix and one from the BeatBuddy) going into the Powercab. If you're routing your BeatBuddy audio through the Helix that explains why it's on the loops. A long time ago I used to use a BeatBuddy with my Helix, but I just used the Helix to send MIDI commands to control the BeatBuddy. In that case my Helix and BeatBuddy went directly to the PA with audio signals.

I think one of the biggest problems we have generally in the expectations of what HX Edit should do really comes down to the assumption that devices such as smart phones and tablets are the equivalent of full-fledged computers, and they aren't. The first clue is the USB B connector on the Helix. That connector is most commonly and traditionally used on printers and scanners and is designed to work in a master/slave fashion with the PC being the master and, in this case, the Helix being the slave. This is one of the key reasons why you can't use HX Edit offline to manipulate presets and configurations. All of those type of operations are performed directly within the Helix, so that's what HX Edit does. It simply provides a nicer interface but relies totally on the Helix (Slave) unit to conduct those operations and report back on whether it was successful or is allowed. Where HX Edit deviates from this model is it has the ability to provide certain support features to the Helix because it's coming from the master or smarter, more flexible device. A tablet or phone is a smart device, but not comprehensively smarter like a computer that has access to the internet and can conduct remote execution of programs in conjunction with another computer on the internet (such as installation of firmware), tons of storage and retrieval options to hard drives or even cloud storage. In other words things that really differentiate computers from smart devices. What many people don't know is that in it's initial release of the Helix HX Edit only did things like store/restore presets and update the Helix firmware. Things that only a computer that has the storage and intelligence can do. I suspect a tablet/smart device version of HX Edit could be reasonably constructed from the ground up that only does the configuration options on the Helix, but not the storage, backup, and firmware installation but I wonder how useful that would be. I know I wouldn't be interested in it. The question is, does it buy Line 6 more users or more headaches because it doesn't do such things?

No two different amps in the entire world produce the same volume at the same settings and never have, so why would their modeled versions be different given that modelling is simply a mathematical version of those circuits? It's not that it's necessary, it's simply the same reality you face should you walk into your local Guitar Center and plug into two different amps. Those two amps will respond very differently to how their knobs are set because that's what they're designed to do. Nevermind that the amp is only one thing in the signal chain that can affect your volume level. EQ, compressors, overdrive pedals all have a cumulative effect on sound volume. Line 6's job is to provide the most accurate representation of those amps and effects possible, not baby step you through setting them up. If that sort of thing is too overwhelming for you, maybe this isn't your kind of business.

I use 3.52 daily with HXEdit and I have no connection issues and no slowdowns and it's been that way since the release date. I think something is messed up in your installation.

You could submit this to Line 6's Ideascale which is where they (and other users) evaluate and vote on ideas. It's not something I'd be very interested in since I rarely, if ever, run short on footswitches and when it comes to something like that I just use a traditions footswitch (not necessarily a snapshot) to engage whatever boost I need whether it's for a lead or just a dynamic build for a section of the song. But that's because I use a preset for each song so I have plenty of room on my board for whatever I may need to change during the course of that song.

Did you ask him where he found the flux capacitor to get him all the way back to 1972 to buy his studio gear?? That 24 track tape machine must have cost him a fortune in order to avoid having tracks stored in digital format......

The term "digital artifacts" is SOOOOOOOOO 2010......;)

There's plenty of hand built viewers and maybe even some editors out there since the format of the files is a common, readable format. The issue comes with them being updated when new things are added with new firmware. For example there's a web based Helix Preset Viewer that works great and has been around a long time, but it hasn't been updated with any of the newly defined objects and such so it shows many items in new presets as "undefined". Since Line 6 doesn't release any details about updates until after the release, you might be waiting a long time, if not forever, for your utility to get updated. Those are just viewers. Full editors get to be even more problematic as they can brick your Helix causing you to lose all sorts of presets and setlists since they actually write, rather than just read, the files. And I wouldn't expect Line 6 to invest in supporting a linux based editor since that's such a marginal marketplace and it would likely be impossible they could ever recover the investment. But you can always feel free to submit your idea to IdeaScale along with the other submissions for linux support that have been ignored for the last 8 years.

I suppose you could 'Frankenstein' something together, but it seems to me you'd be better off dependability-wise to just have a cheap, small analog mixer where you have a main out and a monitor out so you only have to gain stage a single signal out of the Stomp and manage the in ears and front PA speaker volumes separately.