gunpointmetal

It's quite a bit beefier than the HD500X, especially the case/expression pedal feel a lot stronger. The only thing I worry about is a cord getting pulled across the joystick or the other selection knob on the other side of the screen. If it seems to flimsy but you want the sounds, get the rack and a cheap MIDI controller you won't have to worry about too much.

Not really, I do expect it for nothing. I just won't pay for it if that's the chosen route, and in 5-6 years when I want to upgrade again, I'll probably look more seriously at Fractal or Kemper products because of the frequent, free content additions.

I paid $1500 for the full capability of the hardware, which is connected to software that isn't 100% mature at this point, so anything that matures that software and adds to the capability of the hardware, in my opinion, is most definitely included in the purchase price. The "future paycheck" comes from the fact that Line 6 has a diversified product line-up at various price points and that buy increasing the value of the Helix, they will continue to sell units to new or returning buyers, as well as create happy customers who are more likely to do repeat business with the company, or be more willing to pay for and buy additions to lower-cost things like PODFarm, FireHawk, Amplifi, etc. I don't really care if they ever add more amps and effects, there's more than enough in there. As long as they keep optimizing functionality for free, I'll be happy.

Depending on how loud your drummer is and the types of tones you're using, one of those would probably be plenty loud. I've been running two Mackie Thump 12s behind me to move some air and they are more than enough speaker for the loud crap we play. If you're doing really high-gain metal stuff, you might need two to fill the room like a cab. I run the 1/4" outs to the Thumps and the XLR out to the FOH, works awesome.

Nope, just like I wouldn't expect Line 6 to take care of hardware issues that come from use after the warranty has expired.This is a terrible analogy. Line 6 stepped into an arena with Helix that puts them pretty much in direct competition with the Fractal/Kemper hardware. Those guys have set the model for frequent fixes, updates, and code optimization as included with the purchase price. I wouldn't even switch modelers if L6 went the paid route, because I use a lot of the cool routing stuff, I just certainly wouldn't pay for anything either.

I just wouldn't buy any model/effects packs if they choose the paid-content route. I'd rather get nothing new than pay more money at this price point. At $500 (like the HD500X) I had no problem paying $100 for the fully-loaded model pack. At $1500 any new software for this thing should come straight to me for nothing.

In The global settings there is an input PAD option.

I've been plugging all my active-equipped guitars into the guitar input with the pad engaged; haven't noticed any issues.

I don't think anyone wants to see them abandon updating Helix, even the fanboys. I just hope they deal with performance-related stuff like USB audio issues some people are having, the patch-change latency, and the occasional strange footswitch/level issues before they worry about adding more amps/effects/cabs. I think, though, to stay competitive at the price-point they've decided on, they're going to have to start giving (yes, for free) those updates in the near future, otherwise a lot of users will dump Helix for Kemper/AFX just because of the perceived value of such frequent updates and additions.

I'm sure most phone apps and microphones aren't going to be incredibly accurate, but if you have a base level, you can at least do a comparative measurement to get in the same range.

I'm only for buying models/effects if I can get credit as a return for the ones I don't want. At this price point the only direct competitors ARE Fractal and Kemper, and neither of them is charging for models, so I personally think it would a be a silly thing for L6 to do with this format. I'd much rather see platform stability and functionality increased before more amps and effects, though. I've noticed this with people using modelers even outside of internet forums that a lot of people request amps/cabs/effects not necessary because they need it to achieve a specific goal but more because "HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE?" syndrome. You know, where you really want that Dumble model on there even though 90% of your use is in extreme metal genres or synthy pop-rock, but how cool would it be to have that in there anyways.....

Windows 10 kills with audio. Just gotta go through and turn off all the stupid Windows background crap just like you would with ANY version of Windows.

I suggested unhelpful people with nothing to add to the conversation should not keep adding unhelpful nothing to the conversation. I can't really help it if someone's internet feeling got hurt.

Does it do the same thing if you connect the USB while the Helix and computer are both already on? I'm using Windows 10 64-bit as well but haven't run into the issue (yet).

When you buy tech-based anything, you're already planning on it being "obsolete" at some point in the (probably) near future. Helix is a sound processing computer, so, like a laptop/tablet/desktop, there will be better/faster/newer long before the thing you bought is no longer useful. If you're looking to buy something that will maintain value, buy a super high-end tube amp and keep it spotless. If you want a sick guitar processor for less than a Kemper or AFX Ultra, the Helix is it. But these kinds of items (even amps) are limited-life items if you're using them live.

All of the workaround suggestions are nice, and repetitive. . . . Building patches with clean/dirty in one patch is a not a solution to a problem, its a band-aid for now. The issue I have is..... I don't use modeling to get one sound for recording and then a different one for live. I want to take my recording patches, with all the amps and cabs and effects and maxed out DSP and tweak them to be used live. Unfortunately, do to the patch change speeds, I have no choice but to create dumbed-down versions of recording patches with much simpler delays and modulations or other effects and one amp model for clean or dirty if I want to use the thing in performance without the dropouts being a distraction (to me, and MORE than obvious to people out front), which really sucks and basically means I have two different units....one that is awesome for recording, and one that is less awesome (by varying degrees depending on the patch I want to use and how many substitutions or effects I have to leave out) for live playing. So basically, for live, I have all the functionality of my HD500X in a box that is supposed to have much more. If its good enough for you and your only suggestion is a repeat of "use a dual tone patch", you should probably just refrain from participating in the conversation for sake of sounding like a fanboy shill.

Every time someone suggests "Buy a Second Helix" I wanna punch myself in the face....at that point you might as well go back to analog pedals, as you're going to be carrying 40lbs worth of gear and tapdancing all night anyways.

I'm sure IK appreciates you pirating their cab models.

This is effectively what running a clean/dirty preset with path switching is already doing.

"EQ with your ears is good" Sometimes I want to be more precise than that. You don't see pro audio engineers EQ'ing with their eyes closed in the studio....

What does sanity have to do with it. Cool for you guys if you spent a whole a bunch of money to emulate your current rig. If it was working for you, why did you change? I have been buying and using MFX since the Boss GT-6 specifically to avoid being stuck to any particular sound or set of sounds to, you know, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT...maybe... We have this whole box full of amazing sounding things, but some of use are left to use half of whats available at any given time because to get the clean/dirty/effects settings we need without jarring (not in a fun way) audio dropouts between patches so we have to cram two half-presets into one to avoid it. I'm not going into the threads where people are complaining about MIDI pass-through issues and telling them "I don't use the Helix for a MIDI interface, so your complaints are ludicrous. What kind of sane person would hook up a MIDI device through the Helix?!?" So if you're not actually part of the conversation, or have anything to offer. Why bother?

Lol, why do Mac users get all butthurt when someone makes joke? I was kidding. Lots of people use both for many things. I've spent more downtime on various projects in the last 5 years waiting on people to get their Macs checked out or trying to solve an impossible driver issue based on an OS or software update then I ever have troubleshooting any of my PCs, which 99% of problems are solved after a few minutes of googling around. So my personal experience has been that Macs are no more stable a platform than PCs, and when something does go wrong, it never seems to be an easy fix, and the problems are often caused by a lack of foresight from Apple in their OS programming and update process. Maybe I've just been lucky with PCs and most of the people I know with Macs have been unlucky? But this so OT....... Good luck with your MIDI issues. Hopefully one end or the other will have solution for you soon.

Yeah, its been pretty painful having all my hardware work flawlessly with my computer through the last three OS versions in Windows on two different machines, lol... I'm sure L6 sees this as a bug and will be working on it in the next FW along with hopefully a new driver for people who like to pay way too much for their computers ;)

No problems with Windows, but as mentioned, there is a dedicated Helix ASIO Driver for Windows. The only way this gets fixed is for Apple to stop f-ing up there own OS or for L6 to release their own driver. .....or switch to PC ;)

I'm thinking they'll come up with some sort of optimization like they did with the HD500/X, whether or not it will be enough to be useable live has yet to be seen. I don't see a problem with people continuing to bring up the issue, because it is an issue that limits the functionality of the device, and the more people bringing it up, the more it seems like a large-scale issue, the more likely it is to get worked on, IMHO.