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Hillman1312

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Posts posted by Hillman1312

  1. Any update from Line6 on this.

     

    I had a more or less similar issue yesterday but the situation was a bit different.

    - I imported a setlist (exported under FW 2.82 as a backup) to replace the USER 3 default list

    - I tried to copy a preset from the imported list to an existing setlist (presets had the same name, fwiw)

    - Error message in HX Edit and Helix freezing. 

     

    Tried a couple of times, always the same issue. Then, used the "rebuild" option when starting up (10+11 upon Power On) tried again... no luck

     

    Next I first copied the preset to another position in the same setlist --> no problem

    Then I copied that copied preset to another setlist --> no problem

     

    Totally unclear what's going on, but there's something very wrong in the software (whether HX edit or Helix, don't know) when it comes to copying presets. And I would not have expected this to happen with presets that were built with the same firmware ... turns out it does.

     

     

     

     

     

  2. Hello,

     

    I'm (sometimes) running into issues when copying presets from one setlist to another. It is unclear what triggers this ... I'll try to reproduce what happened couple of minutes ago:

    - I created a tone in a "sketch"  setlist

    - Once I was happy with the tome I tried to copy it to another setlist

    - The preset would not not copy, I got an error message (not fully sure anymore what it said) and then the Helix freezes. Tried it a couple of times with the same result.

    - When I switch the Helix off and on again  the device works fine, but now I see some presets with no name or only a few letters. See the attached screenshot.

    - Helix and HX edit are both 2.82. I have had the exact same issue last week; I then did a reset (holding FS 8 + 9 when starting up the Helix) after which it seemed to work fine ..... until earlier this evening .

     

    Anyone has seen the same? What could be the cause? What else can/ do I need to do to get rid of this very annoying problem?

     

    Thanks !!

     

     

     

     

    Helix.tiff

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 1
  3. Thanks,

     

    Indeed, I was using XLR out with " mic"  signal. The band just before us used a mic'd cab, so what I did is use the XLR cable connected to that mic and connect that to the ART (via my own XLR cable).

    I asked the soundguy if he had compression/ limiter/ EQ going on a the desk but that was not the case (so he said). The way I understood it (but I did not hear it) is that the sound was distorted/muffled (lacking any better way of describing it). But strangely it went away after taking out the ART from the signal chain. Really weird .... I'll test my setup again later this week at rehearsal to double check that the patch cable I used (from the helix to the ART) is not broken.

     

    ... to be continued I guess..

  4. Dear Forum,

     

    This is slightly off topic, but as I hope you don't mind me asking it here.

     

    Today I had a gig and as I always do during rehearsal and previous gig I run the XLR out of my helix into an ART DTI isolator/transformer just as a precaution in case the sound-guy would turn on phantom power. I really never had any issues with that until today as during the (2 minute) soundcheck the sound-guy did not get a good signal and apparently the sound out of FOH was awful. 

     

    Initially I thought perhaps the output was way too high so in the Global EQ I lowered the overall output. This didn't seem to work. 

    Then, I took out the ART (i.e. connected directly to the stagebox or whatever that is called) after which things worked like a charm.

     

    My understanding is that the ART does nothing more than isolate the signal coming out of the Helix from the signal going into the mixing desk. The transformer in the ART is a 1:1 so no gain/ attenuation going on.

     

    I'm a bit puzzled as to what may be the reason for the strange behaviour.

    Any thoughts ???

     

    Thanks

  5. I've been struggling a lot during my initial months with the Helix ending up with a lot of tones that sounded ok over earphones at low volume but didn't work in live situations at high volumes. I've watched as many instructional videos I could possibly find, asked for advice here on the forum and gradually started to develop a method that works for me. Now, whether that also works for you I don't know, I guess you need to figure that out yourself :-)  

     

    Anyway, my current method is (roughly) as follows:

     

    I start with selecting an amp + cab block on path 1 simply to get a basic idea on how Line 6 set up their models and amp/cab combinations.

    Next I change the amp+cab block to an amp block and on path 2 create 2 instances of the cab that came with the original model. The cabs are put in parallel and one of them will be mic'd with a 57 or 421 (at 1 or 2") while the other will be mic'd with a 121 or 160 ribbon mic (at 3 - 5 "). The split will be an A/B split so I can adjust the level going through each path.

     

    The ribbon mic paths will have a relatively high early reflections level and very often I add a room reverb in the path with the ribbon mic as well with a fairly high mix (35-45%).

    Depending on the amp and/or cab I sometimes add a shelve EQ in the path with the 57 or 421 and cut around 2-3 dB above 2 kHz. Typical high cuts are around 5-7 for the dynamic mics and around 8 for the ribbon mics.

     

    I prefer to use high and low cuts on the cabs, usually the low cut on the ribbon mics will be a bit higher than on the dynamic mics (dynamic ~80, ribbon ~100-120). 

     

    Following this I tend to use the "Sadites" type of mastering section consisting of a parametric EQ and a studio comp (with level and gain around 5) at the very end of the chain. The EQ is very often not used I need to admit.

     

    Starting from this I start playing and adjust the amp settings to my needs. I find that very often the stock settings give you a very decent tone. More than often I dial back the presence to avoid any "ice picking" sounds when played at high volume.

     

    Only after that I add effects. I only use the basic ones most of the time, i.e. boost/overdrive, delay reverb and chorus. The delay and reverb go in after the cabs, the chorus very often after the amp (not sure why I do it like that). 

     

    Having said all of this, there is no "one size fits all" approach and many of my presets have some variations, like e.g. an additional tilt EQ position just after the cabs are combined.

     

    Oh and by the way ... I generally program in mono (just a personal choice)

    Very important is to test you presets also on higher volumes and/or different speakers. Nowadays I use an Alto TS308 at home to develop the presets. This is a rather bright speaker, but I find it to work pretty well (and I believe it is nearly identical to the Headrush FRFR 8" version). The PA in our rehearsal room is much "darker" but the guitar sound still cuts through sufficiently.

     

    Hope this gives the basic idea of what I do. Ask me in another year or so and I may do it totally different..... still learning every day, and I find myself playing with the device more than playing the actual instrument from time to time :-)

    • Like 2
  6. Probably easier to send the XLR to the FOH and use the 1/4" to your onstage monitor amp (or FRFR). This allows you to have a constant signal to FOH while you can control the volume of your monitor with the volume knob of the Helix. This is how I use it and works great.

    • Upvote 1
  7. For what its worth ... I use an Alto TS308, which is said to be (pretty much) identical to the Headrush. For home practice, or just for fun, it sounds fine to me. I take the speaker Also to band rehearsal and then crank it up. So, there's no real comparison to be made with studio monitors but the Headrus (or Alto) will give you a bit more flexibility in terms of use. Just my 2 cents .....

  8. 58 minutes ago, BigJayBrian said:

    Imo LT isn't worth it, even more so if you have to buy additionnal gear to compensate for it's "lack" of features (like a separate headphone amp, a soundcard for a mic, etc.). 

     

    I personally don't see the need for a separate headphone amp for the intended purpose. The LT can be set such that the main volume control doesn't affect the XLR or 1/4" outputs. And, the OP does not talk about singing :-)  so a mic is probably also not needed. At the same time the LT has all the power and flexibility of its bigger brother whereas the stomp is much more limited in DSP and number of blocks. Thus, the LT would be my logical choice in this case (assuming space isn't an issue).

  9. I built a clean preset on the Archetype model and it has become my favorite clean sound. Some chorus after the amp and delay if needed. To get that sustain you will want to use a compressor. The LA studio comp will work but you could also try the others like the red squeeze  (I like that one as well). The Placater clean also makes a nice clean tone, which sounds very good (to my ears at least) when you are just about to hit that breakup point. Good luck !

    • Upvote 1
  10. Thanks for the advice. I just exported my setlists (for backup purpose) and noted that I got error messages for the "ToneLab"  setlist. That was probably what has been causing the issues. Did the reset and then imported my presets again. It took quite long for the Helix to rebuild all presets but so far so good...... I think this solved the problem.

    • Thanks 1
  11. Hello Forum,

     

    Ever since I updated to 2.81 I'm seeing some strange behaviour in HX Edit. I'll try to explain, but as it doesn't seem to happen all the time I could not yet pinpoint the real problem.

     

    What I did was the following:

     

    I have a setlist which I call "ToneLab", which is basically sort of a sketch book for making presets. Once I'm happy with a new preset I save it (CTRl + S). Next I select the preset and click " copy". Then, I go to my "Live"  setlist which contains all the presets I use live and "paste"  the preset wherever I like in the list. Now, ever since I updated I note that this copy method doesn't always work. Sometimes only one path gets copied (in HX edit at least). Sometimes nothing gets copied at all (except for the name). Sometimes the signal path of the new preset is replaced by the signal chain of a neighbouring preset. And today, the preset copy seemed to go ok, but when I wanted to select the amp it showed the settings for the chorus, when I selected the chorus it showed the settings for the compressor, etc. Really very weird, almost as if HX Edit had no clue what the actual unit was doing. Now, when I re-started HX Edit the problem seemed to go away (not tested for all the instances above, only the last one).

     

    Long story short, something goes wrong when I copy presets from one setlist to another in HX Edit. 

     

    My question to the community here is if I'm the only one having this problem or if this is a known issue?

     

    Thanks !!!

     

     

      

  12. Couldn't help to do some experimenting and created a very simple patch:

     

    Amp + Cab (Divided duo) followed by the LA studio comp with the peak reduction and gain both at 5. Standard settings on the amp+cab.

    From my DAW I sent a simple loop into the Helix (input USB 7/8) and then re-loaded the preset every few seconds. Indeed random drop outs as already known.

     

    Next I decided to add a gain block AFTER the compressor with the gain at 0 (i.e. it basically doesn't do anything).

    Then did the same thing and it seems that the issue is now gone.

     

    Now, before going "yeah, we may have a solution/ workaround"  can someone please do a similar experiment and report back. 

    Perhaps I was just lucky ......

     

     

    Update: Just confirmed the above for two of my original presets....... 

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2
  13. For what its worth and to keep this thread active on the topic, I'm on 2.81 but the issue with the LA studio comp is still there. 

    Really annoys me and I'm at the point of modifying my presets to avoid the issue (i.e. get rid of the compressor). I'm playing live with my LT so I want it to be consistent in volume/performance.

  14. On 8/13/2019 at 12:06 AM, BBD_123 said:

    Unfortunately, I can say that I am having issues with random drops in patch volume associated with patches with the LA Comp at the end of the chain. These seem to be impermanent, so one time a patch will load quiet, then the next time, with no Ch Vol adjustment, it will load at the correct, original volume level.

     

    Indeed, I have the same issue. No problems with the update at all, but this volume issue is quite annoying and seems to be random. If I reload the patch over and over again it would sometimes drop in volume other times not. Very weird and hopefully it gets resolved soon. I do like this "Sadites" idea, but as I will be playing live I may change my presets for the time being an get rid of the LA studio comp at the end of the chain. Other than that I don't see a need to roll back to 2.7.

  15. Not sure if this is a bug, but I set my "Stomp select" to "off" in the global settings. When I touch the " TAP"  footswitch with my hands it will however go to the Tempo menu.

    Is this supposed to be like that? I prefer to not have touch response for any of my stomp switches. I'm on 2.81, not sure if I had the same in 2.71, happened by accident earlier this evening ...

     

    Thx

  16. Hello Helix community,

     

    I'm working on a preset for playing Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, but I'm having trouble getting close to that fuzz tone.

    So far I have the tone as attached to this post. It is essentially a Fuzz pi followed by aTop Secret OD. I did that as I could not really get the tone using only the available fuzz models.

     

    Would appreciate if someone would have a listen and propose some possibilities to get closer to the tone of the record. The clean tone is good enough for me although could be a bit more dirty. No worries about that.

     

    (Please note this patch is to be used live.)

     

    Thanks !!!

    Satisfaction.hlx

  17. An option to consider is to use something like the ART DTI. It is an isolator and (sort of) adapter in one. Can be used in mono or stereo as you please.

     

    I use it as a "phantom blocker" for my Helix LT. So the signal path would be :

     

    Helix XLR out --> ART XLR in --> ART XLR out --> Mixing board XLR in.

     

    But as you have HX stomp you can use a T(R)S into the ART and then either use a T(R)S out or go via the XLR. The beauty of this device is that it allows to use different types of cables/ connectors while always offering isolation of the signal.

     

    I'm not a studio engineer so maybe I overlook some disadvantages of this thing, but I do not hear any reduction in sound quality and at least for my configuration I have confirmed (by measurement) that no phantom power reaches the Helix.

     

    Anyhow there is debate on whether phantom power would cause problems. I've read about people having no issues at all, some others say there's an effect on the sound and some others warn for damage of the Helix. Whatever the truth may be, better safe than sorry in my view .... Cost for an isolator is relatively low.

     

    Hope this helps ...

     

     

    PS: I think you can also use a DI box in your situation.

     

     

  18. Thanks for sharing !!

     

    I browsed through the long list and to be very honest some of the presets I tried sounded too harsh to my ears. Need to say I was listening with my AKG headphones, so part of it can be due to that of course. I'm just afraid that if would listen to the presets with my speaker and crank up the volume it would not improve (probably gets worse). I saw you were using the 57 and 421 mics a lot. Maybe try the 121 in one of parellel blocks???  Personally I prefer mono patches, but that's just me... and likely for that reason I was quite distracted by the effect that you put in one of the parallel cab block just before the cab itself (think it is a chorus effect). Great idea to get some extra stereo effect and ambiance, but it did not work for me.....

     

    On the positive side you gave me some good ideas on positioning of effects, amp settings and the like, so thanks a lot for that!

    I'm still learning day by day to get better sounding presets; this forum is a great place to learn !

     

    Good luck, thanks again and I hope this is somehow helpful.

  19. Ok, so I got help from some forum members, did the Google thing, watched a number of youtube vids on the topic and then did some further experimentation at home. By blending a ribbon mic and a 57 or 421 I was able to create some tones that did not (or far less) suffer from the harshness. I'm now refreshing (most of) my patches using that idea. I further experimented a bit with high cuts, but still optimising that to get good results. This Wednesday another rehearsal which allows me to crank the Behringer amp again and see if the results are better now (should be, but at home I couldn't get too loud so let's see). 

     

    Seems creating patches (for live use) is not at all easy and actually it would benefit newbies (like myself) or guitar players without any sound engineering experience (also like myself) if Line 6 would give some guidance on how to set up patches that don't suffer from the harshness. After my research and support I'm slowly starting to understand how tone creation (for live use) can be accomplished on the Helix. The problem, as I see it, is that Line 6 made it extremely easy to create a signal chain and to set all the numerous parameters etc. At the same time, the vast amount of variables available to us is so overwhelming that it is probably easier to mess up a tone (as I realised did) than to create a good one.

     

    For me the key takeaway of this exercise was that cab and mic selection play a crucial role (not the only one of course). Creating dual cab configurations with different mics and settings is a great tool to create a good tone and it saves you from diving into an EQ straightaway.

     

    Now, this whole threat started out basically as me asking for an opinion on the Behringer keyboard amp I bought couple of weeks ago, but over time boiled down to me rethinking how to create patches. And in a way it all starts to make some sense now........ If you can play music through the Behringer with more than acceptable quality (as said, I A/B-ed it with an EV ZLX 12P and the EV sounds way better, but on its own this thing sounds very nice) then why would it not be possible to also get a more than decent guitar tone out of the amp. Initially I blamed the Behringer for the harshness but actually it was my initial approach in creating presets in the Helix. Lesson learnt and I'll probably keep te Behringer for the time being. It is mainly to get some stage volume and a good monitor sound while I'll also send out a signal directly to the PA. I'm now considering a statement that if it sounds good on the amp during rehearsal (i.e. at +/- gig volumes) then the FOH is probably even better. But that's no promise, just a wild thought :-)

     

    I'll further tweak my presets and may post some of them on custom tone should anyone be interested... this will take a couple of weeks, so be patient.

    To those who helped me out, thanks!

     

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