Rewolf48

^^^ or the vibrations from sound just moving the knobs enough to be detected as if you had moved them deliberately Power Supply: make sure it is DC, the AC units are much more common - and make sure it can cope with the power demands especially if powering a JTV over VDI through it

You need decent quality studio speakers to go with your Helix then - playing along to backing tracks or recorded music with Helix isn't a problem; it is an 8in 8out USB Audio Device so anything that can drive a USB Soundcard can send sound out to it - PC, Mac, iPod (with kit), you then need to connect the Helix audio outs to some sort of amplification and speakers. But, just suggesting a little caution here; if you want to test the waters with getting back into guitar again and had considered Amplifii, then I would seriously consider buying an Amplifi second hand and seeing how it goes for a few months. If later you want the more advanced features of Helix, then you can probably sell the Amplifi for what you paid for it and buy a Helix, otherwise the Amplifii may suit your needs anyway. The Helix may be the top end of the L6 products, but it is intended for Stage and Studio use, while Amplifi is really the home practice tool.

Well Digital Igloo has said elsewhere that he will be using one of these: http://line6.com/stagesource-pa-speaker/ They have more than enough power to run as backline (amps behind the band) in competition with 50W valve amps, and are accurate enough to be used as Studio Monitors. They even connect digitally to Helix using L6 Link. And so will I because I have 2 x L2t now that I use with my HD500. The next bit sounds like a fan-boy advert, but it is true :rolleyes: I had spent ages tweaking the HD500 with other best in class speakers and never was happy - if it sounded great at home it was rubbish in rehearsal, good in rehearsal it was rubbish on stage. Basically the problem was with PA speakers that emphasise highs and lows so that they sound good in DJ situations, when the HD500 is really meant to give Studio quality output, so needed adjustment. I got the L2t and discovered that the parametric EQ, Global EQ etc could be removed and it sounded great. Setup is so easy these days - I use my L2t in monitor mode, connect HD500 to it using L6 Link and set both speaker master volume and HD500 master volume to 12 o'clock. Then take output from L2t and feed to PA. And the whole rig guitar, hd500, L2t is a single trip to/from the car Not just me though... Paul Hindmarsh (paid demonstrator for Line 6 admittedly) likes it and all of the demos of Helix you have seen so far were using L2t e.g Andertons review http://blog.andertons.co.uk/guitars/line-6-helix-review. If you want similar but cheaper, then there are good reviews of the Alto TS110A, and if you want the absolute best then if you can wait then the Atomic CLR is probably the best commercial product (professional PA gear is as good or better, but you pay a professional price as well) If you are not looking for a Live solution, then you simply want the most accurate speaker system that fits in with your requirements - studio monitor speakers. Why no guitar amp? Any guitar amp you use will impose it's own character on the sound, which is great if you have a guitar amp that you really like and want to add effects and routing options to it using Helix, but because you are suggesting Amplifii it sounds as though you don't have a precious valve amp and a quality FRFR speaker is what you need to give you the full flexibility that Helix deserves. Unfortunately you cannot skimp on any component in the chain... Guitar, Multi-FX and Speaker all have to be good quality. The weakest component will drag the performance of the rest down.

If you play live, then it is always a good idea to have a Backup Rig because there is always a risk of something failing. Not saying that Helix is delicate and I have rehearsed and played live with an HD500 regularly since it came out, so I know L6 gear is reliable, but wouldn't it be useful to have a fallback plan? If you are only using it for a studio or home use, then the justification to keep it is harder.

As duncann said - the S/PDIF inputs connect to the Helix S/PDIF output would be the way to go: Technical InformationThe Streamlineâ‚‚ is compatible with UPNP and DNLA products. As with all of our products, the Streamlineâ‚‚ can be connected to our other units via our unique MC-BUS connectivity. Inputs - 2 x Optical, 3 x SPDIF, 1 x USB and 1 x RS232 File compatibility - WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, MP3, WMA, AIFF Sample rate compatibility - high resolution 24-bit/192kHz Outputs - 1 x SPDIF

:rolleyes: Subtle sarcasm there... I can understand buying a Helix for studio/stage I can understand a Amplifi TT in the Living Room or an Amplifi for practice Not sure I understand why you would want both working together? From a simulation perspective everything in Helix would be a couple of orders of magnitude better, and routing is limited on Amplifi; so how would you do this - Helix outputs into the Amplifi 1/8 Aux Input? There are better options for amplifying a Helix out there...

I believe that you can

It's all in the HD500 Advanced Guide Appendix on MIDI Page B2 http://line6.com/data/6/0a06434c6fb051e03e8ab63dc/application/pdf/POD%20HD500X%20Advanced%20Guide%20-%20English%20(%20Rev%20A%20).pdf

Good that you found it. One question though - if both Amps are the same and you are switching between them then it is presumably because you have different settings such as Gain, Mid. etc. Are you aware that you can use an Expression Pedal to vary these settings?

In most studio situations the post effects are applied after the Cab and Mic, and that is what Helix and all other L6 modellers offer - and most of the competition as well. Most of the amps modelled don't even offer FX Loops so that is authentic. That said I quite like the idea of being able to Frankenstein some amps together - I expect the problem will be balancing the input levels, and the loss of interactions between pre and power amp stages such as the pre-amp Sag, but if the pre-amps now have that modelled (as was implied somewhere in some Helix discussion - Sean Halley was hassling about this apparently) then the other part is just about having an input gain setting for the Power Amp block.

When I get Helix - I just know it is going to happen, but I am not pre-ordered and I will probably leave it a few months or even Firmware 1.1 depending on reviews, I will still be keeping the HD500. First because I need a back-up rig even if the sounds are a bit compromised (or a it's raining cats and dogs outdoor stage at festival rig) Second because Helix doesn't support Computer to Variax interactions yet, so can't be used for Workbench HD and probably not for JTV firmware upgrades Hopefully a firmware upgrade will resolve those issues as it did for the HD series

As Jose said: on the Helix you can do it with a button, which can be momentary (i.e. 4th only while the button is pressed)

It has fixed the ability to do a quick record in Audacity - Reaper was OK, but Audacity couldn't see any input signal. Had to do the update without connecting the HD500 though as Monkey was struggling to give me any options to press for some reason.

Yes - you do that on an HD500 as well No - Talk Box requires small speaker pushing air up a tube into your mouth and then you gurn to shape the sound which is picked up by a microphone sent to the PA. No built in speaker and tube for you to dribble down on the Helix, but you can easily add one on an FX loop.

Not at Launch *** Drink *** [whoops wrong forum ;) ] Add your vote to: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Switchless-or-Spring-loaded-Wah-mode-for-Helix/739780-23508

The IR block will support Acoustic Guitar IR's that can be an effective Acoustic simulator adding body for example to a peizo input.

I have added it on Ideascale because it is something that I found an odd omission and I hope that a Firmware update or new model is forthcoming that will include sidechain on compressors (or on the related idea of filtered side chain inputs on the Gates). http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Side-Chain-Compression-for-M20d/778461-23508

Like the UK voting system then - first past the post wins... means that the party that got 12.5% of the national vote gets 1 seat in parliament while another party that only got 4.7% of the vote gets 56 seats. There is a psychological aspect here - if you see an idea that has -13 votes you won't even bother looking at it just assuming that it is flawed when it could be a really good idea such as real time Helix control of Variax with 60 votes for from Variax owners and 73 down votes by people that don't own a Variax and who by your logic have to downvote all Variax related ideas so they can have another metal amp added. Fortunately I believe that L6 do actually look at each idea on it's merit, and it is only between ideas such as "Give us a Boogie Mk IV" vs "Give us a Boogie Mk II" where the relative votes will have any real influence

If you mean simulated Cabs, I don't know. The room sound was into an L2t, the video sound was direct from the outputs of Helix mixed with the microphone with ducking of the mics

Did you follow the links and watch the video of the guy playing his guitar over a WiFi link? (yes it is a pre-sales video and I don't necessarily trust it) With ac you have real world 750mbs and in the 5G band it is practical to get really low latency. Another tech company Killer Networking claim 1ms latency and no drop outs for real time streaming of video not just audio: http://www.killernetworking.com/products/wireless-ac-1525

And a MIDI guitar mode with integration via HD500 and Helix?

I am sure there is including a number of audio feeds, especially with 802.11ac. There are even starting to be some commercial products such as "Jack" but there is some time to go yet before it hits the shelves. http://www.gizmag.com/jack-wi-fi-guitar-interface/35287/ http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/namm-2015-jack-the-wi-fi-guitar-cable-launches-via-kickstarter-613123 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/432967670/jack-the-wifi-guitar-cable It looks to me as though this is inevitable, and logically the stereo in-ears + dual channel instrument + control connection will be relatively easy to achieve; if I was a maker of digital radio gear for musicians I would be seriously considering this sort of technology after all 802.11ac is available in a phone these days so it is not as if the chips are not on the market.

My view is that while Line 6 appears to be a giant company with worldwide scope, in practice it is actually relatively small and the number of people with the skill set to develop the products is limited. I get the impressions that they work the product range in cycles depending on perceived urgency, and the current priority is Helix so everything else is ignored. These days it is possible to get an impression of what is going on inside a company and how they work without going there, and the information and implications based on that content are quite revealing. Look at this page for example: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Line-6-Reviews-E14108.htm

The 1/4 outputs from the HD500 are mono unbalanced so there is no point using a TRS. The HD500 can be used for re-amping.. with another soundcard. There is no method by which you can take an unaffected input into the HD500 and send it over USB to be recorded while simultaneously listening to an effected signal without capturing the input before the HD500 or via the FX Loop (or I suppose monitoring a VST simulation of you can live with the latency) There is no method by which the recording of the unaffected input can be fed back into the start of the HD500 signal chain without it coming from a separate soundcard, although the effected signal can be recorded via USB assuming your computer can cope with multiple sound devices

Had two glitches last night, so there might be some intermittent issues: a. Edit failed to load all of the presets from the HD500 - I manually downloaded them to get around this b. The upload appears to have failed... The last points is based on the sound as I closed HD Edit that was ringing in my headphones changing dramatically and the sound from the Patch on the HD not matching what I had just built. It was quite a complicated attempt at a Synth Pad sound in parallel with a Dr Z Amp where the Pad is massive, but as I was shutting down the Synth Pad vanished and I couldn't get it back again in the HD500 alone, but I hadn't tried very hard 'cause it was time for my cocoa. Will try again tonight. Patches like that one where complex Synth sounds and a decent Guitar sound are running at the same time are pushing me toward Helix as the HD500 just doesn't have enough Blocks to play with.