gunpointmetal

Maybe they put a second DSP in there for Spillover because a gap between presets is lollipopING ANNOYING AND GETS IN THE WAY OF PERFORMANCE! Sorry for yelling. But Seriously, DI, is there even a remote possibility of getting the switching latency within the range the HD500X currently has. It's still there, but its quick enough that it's not disruptive. It kinda pisses me off that I can't reasonably use my supersweet recording presets live because they eat up too much DSP to fit two/three channels w/effects in one patch, so patch switching is my only option, but I need it to be near immediate, otherwise it doesn't have the same effect.

Lots of people buy MFX so they only have to bring one box with them. To me, and many others I'm sure, it doesn't make sense to have to add external effects to something with hundreds of effects built in. More pedals means more cables means more points for things to go wrong. It's another band-aid and not a solution to a problem.

Comparing Helix to a real pedalboard set-up is apples to oranges. Zoom has patch changes measured in single digit MS. Previous L6 boards had it down to nearly-unnoticeable levels. Part of, I imagine, a lot of people's reasoning behind getting a MFX is to have multiple possible "pedalboards" throughout a song. Right now, you can do ONE pedalboard with multiple FX if you need quick patch changes, meaning for those of us that need the fast changes, we can't use two drive amps in stereo and still have a clean channel unless its barebones of effects, or we have to use ONE drive amp, and ONE clean amp with the effects needed for a given song, severely limiting the capabilities of the device in that context. The tones are good enough that it is USABLE in that scenario, but its definitely not ideal to have to scrap my (IMHO) awesome practice/recording patches to be able to get the switching functionality that I (and obviously others) require for performance.

The workarounds suggested are only useful to "make it work". They don't allow you to use the device to its full potential in a live situations if you need quick patch switching, effectively making them "alternatives" to what you want to do instead of being an actual solution to a problem. I hope there's 5000 threads on the patch change issue so the people monitoring these forums see that its an important thing to to work on, or at least "fix" in the next generation. I'd have paid an extra $250 for immediate patch changes.

The patch lag was worse on the HD500 when it was released, I almost returned it. But they were able to get it down to usable with some firmware tweaks and I'm really hoping the same will be the case with the Helix. Until then I'm stuck using "dumbed down" versions of my recording/home practice tones live so I can fit a distortion and a clean channel in the same patch with a few effects. The patch lag on Helix is TERRIBLE right now. Any arguments to otherwise are from people using simple patches, people playing music where a pause at the beginning of the measure won't be a big deal, or people playing in their bedroom without a band. I have some clean/distortion/clean changes that the patch lag would literally not be able to load the clean patch before I need to get back to distortion.... It's definitely something that needs to be worked on. My suggestion to the OP is to find something that will work for you RIGHT NOW. I can live with the single clean/distortion amp patches because the tones are that good, but I will welcome greatly any advancement in this area.

All my footswitches are labeled "DI is My Hero"

He doesn't want the Helix to process the output signals, he wants to use the outputs on the Helix like you would use the outputs on any other USB audio interface, if I'm reading this correctly. I've only tried it in limited testing at home, but you can totally assign different tracks to different hardware outputs and have them bypass the processing in helix all-together to just send "dry" audio out of the Helix. As far as changing patches and stuff, I don't know how using the Helix for USB audio effects that, and from what I've heard, don't try to use the newest Mac OS for USB audio.... For my use, I already have some personal fears about having a bunch of digital things all going in and out off the same hardware, so I'm gonna stick with the hard-panned L/R two-track output for my backing tracks coming straight off the laptop.

I complained about this issues when the 500 first came out, because I was coming from Boss, whose limited signal chain allowed near-instantaneous patch switching, and by the time I upgraded to the 500X, they had optimized the code to the point that, though still audible, it wasn't jarring enough to be performance hindering. Don't get me wrong, I get AWESOME TONES live using the A/B channel switching and patch changing between songs. But... BUT!!! BUTTTS!!! I get AWESOMER TONES being able to use both DSPs on a single type of tone, and being able to use multiple clean or distorted amp models and more/different DSP-hungry effects. I can't use my awesomer tones live because I'm one of those weirdos that needs to switch from clean with filters/chorus/delay/'verb/EQ to UBER heavy distortion (preferably with a couple of amp models layered, front/back EQ, couple of gates, OD, and some times delay/reverb/modulation) on a, at times, note-to-note, measure-to-measure basis, which I can't do as the hardware functions now. So, they workarounds do work, they just don't satiate my flavors the way would want them to. I understand some of the limitations of the hardware, and I suspect that over the next year or so L6 will add optimizations as they did with the 500/X to get it within MY PERSONAL TOLERANCES. Until then, I'll be using the workarounds, because the tone I'm sending out to the sound guy kills...it could just kill more, is all.

This is still a performance (as in live performance, not the performance of the pedal) issue that should be worked on. They got it down to nearly-non-audible levels with the HD500X, but I really do think it sucks donkey balls that I can't use my "fully-loaded" clean and distortion patches with multiple amps live yet because the change latency is so much as to be distracting.....

If they wanted to make that also an option, cool, the only option, not so cool.

I'm pretty stoked for the sliders with my touchscreen laptops! At least they didn't do something stupid like make the editor only available on iOS and require a bluetooth connection to use it.....

I use a pair of Mackie Thump 12s laid on their sides like floor monitors at the back of the stage on either side of the drummer and I've been good in places with or without PA support. I think if I was playing a large room without a PA (but really, who's going to set a show in a large room and not have a decent PA?) I'd probably put them on speaker stands with the woofers at shoulder level just for better coverage. They're super light (less than 40lbs each) and plenty loud. If we're playing a place with a really nice PA, I just bring one for a little pants flapping behind me.

depending on the amp you can set that low pass in the cab block all the way down to 5-6kHz, which kills a lot of the fizz. An SM57 1" off a speaker is going to be pretty bright anyways. I'd try the low pass and mic selection options. Make sure the input pad isn't turned on, either.

I'm pretty impressed with the volume knob reaction, actually. There has to be something fishy between the pickups and the input.

They were OK releasing it without the editor because its super simple to program without it.

All of my guitars with arguably hotter pickups than the JB get real choppy and no sustain at settings much lower than that, probably around -20dB. But I can trigger them open almost all the way to 0, just no sustain and weird artifacts.

I don't see how you'd have a problem replicating that type of compression on the helix.

I never used it on my HD500X. I know that a lot of the L6-baked amps didn't have 'em. It's lower mid-range never played well with my super downtuned guitars.

Elektrik is an old Line 6 amp ported over from the early HD stuff if I remember, and I don't think any of the L6 original amps have all the DEP parameters. Just the nature of a "made up" amp model.

The only way to do it instantly is to have all of that in a single patch and switch "channels" like the two-amp rigs in the 8th set-list. I've played four shows now with Helix. The sounds are great. The connections are great (still waiting for the other foot to drop on the Phantom Power issue). But having to put my cleans and distortions in one patch for a song is HUGE PAIN IN THE lollipop compared to just switching presets. For one thing, I have to use a bunch of the footswitches to do all the effects on/off/changes I need to do, and I really don't like having to put effects on the bottom row of buttons. I am having to do as much tapdancing as I would with an amp and a multi-loop switcher, which is kinda lollipop considering I didn't have to do that with the HD500X. It's also limiting in the fact that I can't use the extensive multi-amp, effects-laden patches I build at home for recording purposes because it takes 15 years to switch between them and they don't fit in a single preset. I don't know if its possible in this iteration, but please, please, please(!!!!!!) make sure the next gen can load a whole bank of presets into RAM or something for immediate switching. I have some sick dual-amp distortion patches that I can't really use live because I need to switch channels in just about every song we play. I have some sick crazy-effects clean channels that I can't use live, either.... And seriously? "Just buy two Helix"?!?! The whole point of buying a MFX is to have LESS stuff. Two Helix processors would be heavier and tale up more space than any pedal board I've ever owned, plus the different routing and cables needed to make it useful....

Not a single issue as a soundcard or updating with Windows 8 or 10 (two different laptops), all my screens are good, It's already been kicked around at a few shows and held up nicely.... I think the issues are no more than anything like this that goes into mass production.

That sounds like user error, honestly. My helix sounds just as good, actually better through a "real" PA than it does through my Mackie Thump monitors that I use at rehearsal. Sounds like your FOH guy was not doing his job, something got bumped, or something was wrong in the signal chain between your gear and the FOH.

Spillover isn't even the real problem...the real problem is the lag between fully-loaded patches.

No matter how good your FRFR system is its not going to sound like "amp in a room" tone until the microphone is taken out of the equation. My experience has been that what most guys like about the "amp in the room" sound is the tangible response between the speaker and guitar, which I've never had a problem with since the HD500X. But, most of those guys also have no idea what they're amp actually sounds like because they dial it in with their head 3' above the speaker and off-axis, shredding the front row's ears with beaming treble.

This was kinda the point of my previous post. It doesn't need to be FRFR, it needs to do what a pair of Mackie Thump 12's can do, but in one box, at around that price point. I don't care what you call it if it can do what an average pair of powered PA speakers can do with "minimal" negative sound coloration. The difference between FRFR and the average powered PA speaker in a real-life performance environment is probably not super noticeable, and with some simple I/O (maybe with the phantom blockers built in, eh? eh?, since those XLR outputs aren't so great) you're going to send out to the PA, its really just a monitor that looks like an amp for those of us who like the look of a 4x12 but prefer the ease-of-use of PA speakers for consistency reasons.