DunedinDragon

If it puts your mind at ease I have one of my Helix Floor units that's been attached to my main desktop computer since I got it in 2015 and is used as my audio interface with my two Yamaha HS7 studio monitors and it works just fine every day since then with no problems. I figure since I have to power up my speakers anyway, powering up the Helix is really no different than If I had a standalone interface that requires power. Both, as well as my Casio stage piano are all powered on and powered off via a single Alexa enabled wall plug in so it's easy to turn them on and off.

Since this is your first foray into an all digital rig it's really hard to say what you'll find a need for. That's because it's not about digital, it's about modeling. The way you worked with a traditional rig is often due to the limitations of space or convenience. In the modeling world all of that goes away and the doors are open to a much wider range of possibilities because your entire rig is "virtual". A classic example might be you would like to design a preset where you start off with a simple, straight-forward chunky mono setup with a classic amp such as a vox with a vox cabinet and a few effect that at some point instantaneously changes to a different, more aggressive amp going through a Marshall cab mic'd differently with some polyphonic effects such as a key change and is in stereo. Not something you'd likely attempt too much with a traditional setup, but something that's easily achievable in the modeling world, but only with an LT or a Floor due to the expanded capabilities. Modeling is more like having access to a HUGE studio with a large inventory of gear that you can reconfigure at will even in the middle of a song. That kind of thing may or may not appeal to you. I don't commonly use it, but I still have a Floor unit. That's because it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

That seems to me to be a limitation of the VooDoo Labs GCP, not the Helix. You should touch base with them to get an answer

Technically that noise isn't happening between "patches", it's happening because of changes in the patch when engaging the snapshot. In other words some change you're making to one of the blocks in your preset is significant enough to create the sound when it changes. It could be the variax change or any other element since the preset remains live while the changes get made. But without knowing more about the changes it's hard to guess what it might me. Often it can be something that creates a big difference in the output volume or gain in my experience.

Another consideration which might save you a lot of time when upgrading is you can export individual presets or individual setlists to your hard drive BEFORE you start an upgrade so you can recall them as needed.

It could very well be the format of the PC message from the RC-500 that's causing problems. In essence the Helix expects two messages to select a preset. One is the CC Msg for the preset change and the next is a PC message designating the preset number. These are technically sent as two distinct messages, but that may not be the way the RC-500 formats the message. The PC message number may also not be a direct correlation to the RC-500. For example, to select preset one you would typically send a CC:32 value of 4 followed by a PC:0. Preset 2 would be CC:32 value of 4 followed by a PC: 1. It might be useful to download a MIDI spy program to see what's actually being sent.

Absolutely. Everything works the same in both, you just have to trim things down a bit to fit within the contraints of the Stomp.

I think you may want to be a bit more descriptive about your problem. I'm assuming "setting it to 10k" refers to setting your Guitar-InZ to 10K but it could be anything such as your low cut filter. But I'll just assume you mean you changed it from Auto to 10K. First, why? Auto should work just fine. That's the default and that's where it works at first. Did you try changing it back to Auto and see if that fixes your output problem? What leads you to think your input impedance needs to be set to 10K?

That's probably because very few people ever mess with factory presets. They prefer to just build their own by examining the factory presets and learning how to do things. Not to mention these presets change with pretty much every Helix firmware release and no one's willing to keep up with that.

The vast majority of the time harmonies (other than oriental genres) tend to revolve around the basics of the 1 (tonic), 3, 5 and 7th in the key you're playing in. Where you place them might vary depending on the sound you want to achieve. For example if you're playing in the key of C and your tonic note is C, your basic harmonies will be E (3rd), G (5th), and B (7th). However the sound of that harmony can have a different sonic feel if instead of going UP the scale, you go down the scale on some notes. So the sound of a 1, 3, 5 will be different if you play it 1 (C), 5 (G) below the C, and 3 (E) above the C. This often makes a harmony that feels tighter because all of the notes are closer in timbre. That's just the very basics of harmonies which is a very complex study when you get into it deeper. The main thing is that the harmony intervals usually need some minor adjustment out of the basic 1, 3, 5, 7 key of the song depending on the chord progression just as they do when you're playing lead.

I have no doubt that you believe everything you say about the tone you're getting and how impressed you are about the differences between the HD500 and the Helix. I also believe that, based on the description of what and how you play, you're more of a marginal case than most of us. After getting my Helix over 15 years ago I got rid of my HD500 because I saw no need for it. And over the last 15 years I've also gotten rid of every traditional amp and physical cabinet I owned for the same reason. Everything I play or perform on goes direct to a mixing board either live or in the studio. I may represent the far extreme from the way you approach modeling, so my experience is quite different. I also have a long history of live performance and studio work dating back to the late 60's, so I'm no novice. I wouldn't say I specialize in any particular genre of music. I've played rock, blues, country, jazz, funk, punk, aggressive metal, melodic acoustic either strummed or fingerpicked using various electric and acoustic guitars as well as banjo and resonator guitars. I'm not a big advocate of drenching anything I play with effects as I only want to achieve a functionally accurate tone that sits well in a mix with other instruments and matches the feel of the genre I'm playing. Based on that description of how and what I play there is no doubt in my mind I would never be as happy with the results of working with an HD500 as I am with the Helix. The reason I say that last statement is based on the fact that I'm not trying to please myself when I dial in a preset, I'm trying to achieve a sound my audience will identify with based on their music listening experience whether on a recording or live. In all of my years recording and playing live that's only become possible with my Helix as the core unit for processing my sound.

If you're just doing everything by ear I might suggest a simple, cheap audio interface that would allow you to plug in the Helix XLR out to a XLR input and your spotify audio output into a USB input and just use the headphone output on the interface. An M-Audio M-Track Duo would probably work fine for $69 from Sweetwater.

Peak levels are pretty much the basic core of live music gain staging for ALL channels. Perceived levels have always been more the domain of broadcast or recorded music. Pre fader signal levels have always been important but became much more important as we moved into digital equipment. Fortunately in recent year the mixing board technology has become a bit more forgiving in that regard, but it always comes at the price of automatic limiters that get engaged on the signal once it exceeds certain boundaries. A VERY bad thing in a live performance for dynamics. Generally speaking once you get your signal levels gain staged appropriately the fader positions pretty much fall in line and are relative to where the channel sits in the mix for most live setups which is ultimately the job definition for the soundman.

I think it's important to bear in mind that the OP's post was prompted specifically by the live performance soundman's need to have a consistent signal level coming into the board, not about loudness, and those are two separate issues. Volume or loudness is pretty much irrelevant when you're going direct from the Helix into a mixing board as the OP is doing. Volume/Loudness will be controlled by the channel faders on the mixing board and will be adjusted relative to the other instruments and voices on their various channels. What needs to be managed from the Helix when going direct is easily controlled by adjusting the level on the output block which can be measured by simply selecting the output block and examining the signal meter readings on the Helix unit. It doesn't really matter what that actual level is as long as it's consistent preset to preset or snapshot to snapshot. The soundman will make the appropriate adjustments on the gain/trim knob to get the signal where he/she needs it to be in order to be consistent with the rest of the instruments and voices. Only then will they concern themselves with volume levels both for mains and for monitors via the faders.

Add it as a comment to the original idea.

Personally I think the vast majority of "fizz" problems come from trying to fix it in isolation. It's only a problem when it sticks out and interferes with the end mix of things. Personally I can't remember the last time I ran into that problem, but then I don't overabuse distortion in any situation which is the most common source and I also only listen to it through my live PA with other instruments when I'm dialing in my presets. And I haven't even come close to having that problem using the new Helix cabs and mic placements.

I don't think the driver is your problem since that's the same driver I have on my PC and it's working fine.

This has to be something with the internal configuration of USB ports on different PCs. I have my studio Helix Floor unit connected to one of my main USB ports on the rear of my ASUS PC, sometimes for hours (even overnight sometimes by mistake) and it's never timed out so it's not likely a driver problem, but simply how some manufacturers interface to the USB ports as either a direct connection to the bus versus an internal hub. I'm also on Windows 10 so it's not likely to be the OS itself, but I could see how having certain configurations of the OS or security software could play into it. I have had my Helix Floor stop working as an audio interface on occasion but that's easily fixed by selecting a different audio device such as the internal sound card on the PC then when I reselect the Helix as my audio device it functions fine.

There's really no "opinions" involved in this situation. The sound engineer is simply wanting to have a consistent signal level so he can gain stage the band. That's a simple process performed on each channel so that the signal level coming into the mixing board is at the same level on what's referred to as the Pre-Fader Listen (PFL) input which is before any EQ or mix volume output of the channel and achieved by adjusting the gain/trim knob on each channel. That's done to make sure there's ample headroom in the signal level so it doesn't overmodulate or distort, and that's the level that needs to remain consistent because the overall mix of instruments which is done on the channel faders will determine the mix of the instruments and IS done by ear. What the sound engineer is trying to avoid is having to re-adjust the gain/trim knobs because the inbound signal level varies when you change presets which adversely affects the mix.

Every Helix comes with the capability to connect and control external devices via USB or by the multi pin USB connection on the larger units. It's up to you to set everything up correctly to make the connections and send the appropriate CC and PC messages to whatever you're controlling. You define the MIDI messages through HX Edit program typically or you can do it directly through the Helix interface. Other than that, it's not clear what you're wanting to do exactly. You can just plug it into your Mac, but the Plugins you're controlling would have to be configured in some way on the Mac (depending on the device and the plugin) to receive MIDI commands. In the same way you can control the actions of the Helix from external MIDI devices also. It's all extensively covered in the manual.

The simplest way is to select the output block on your signal chain which will then display the signal level output on your Helix device. By adjusting your output block level you can adjust signal level output to a consistent reading without affecting the tone of your preset. Normally at about 60 to 65 percent on that display will give you an adequately consistent signal the sound man can work with. If you have access to a mixing board you can just plug your Helix output into a channel and then using the gain/trim knob on that channel set to 12 o'clock you can adjust your output from the Helix using the output block to adjust the signal level to a unity reading (0 db) on the mixing board.

Technically the PRX One is a FRFR system, just an unconventional one. I'm not sure there's any particular benefit of the PRX One over a more typical FRFR powered speaker other than maybe the ability to produce a stereo image or maybe get better coverage on stage.

This is all so silly that it's almost laughable. I record daily through my Helix which is connected via USB to my Windows 10 computer. In addition I have two separate keyboards (88 key electronic stage piano and a 48 key MIDI controller keyboard) connected via separate USB ports to a hub connected to my Windows computer. My Helix serves as my general audio interface and that's where my studio speakers are connected as well as my headphones. That's the entirety of my setup and I do tons of multiple track projects weekly consisting of multiple guitar, bass, banjo tracks along with pianos, organs, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer piano, string sections, horn sections, drums, 244 piece orchestra, harmonicas, choirs, pedal steel, country fiddle, a wide array of synthesizers...and tons more. There's no fancy hardware other than my Helix with a USB connection and a powered USB hub for any other instruments I need to record. I configure my DAW to work with my Helix ASIO and everything just works with no serious latency. Honestly the issue here is thinking you need to have a bunch of extraneous physical hardware to do any kind of serious recording and that's simply not true at all.

It's been a long time since I did this but as I remember the secret was to use snapshots to change the Key and Scale parameters during the lead so they harmonized correctly over the chord pattern.

I personally think this is well outside the range of what Helix as a product and Line 6 as a company do. There are any number of external devices that specialize in such things and they specialize for many reasons. One of which is having access to virtual instrument libraries which is a considerable task and an essential part of augmenting live performances with additional instruments or synths. The band I'm with has been doing this sort of thing for 3 years now and Helix (as a guitar processing unit) fits nicely into that situation and is greatly simplified by being under programmatic control of that system. But when I originally began trying to develop the abilities using the Helix as the centerpiece it fell way short of what was necessary to be competitive so I moved on to more specialized setups from companies that are built to address that kind of stuff. I do use the iConnectivity PlayAudio12 device for track routing and MIDI routing and realtime failover which is spectacularly useful, but well outside the range of what the Helix was built to do. Keyboard players with high end workstations can certainly do such things these days, but there's a reason they're three times the price of the top Helix unit. There are other units made for this sort of thing that are finger pad triggered such as Native Instruments Maschine and others if you want to have a dedicated person on stage triggering things but they don't have keyboard skills.