MonkeyXT

As above; I opted deliberately to get Rack & Control for live purposes. Main reason; I do anything and everything to avoid having any audio coming out to the front, and I don't use any external gear. So only control, plus my two Mission expression pedals (Helix specific for toe-switch & EXP1, and Line 6 specific for EXP2) and one upgrade-type Ethercon cable providing power and data transfer to & from Control and its EXPs. I have a 3-space Gator rack box holding Helix Rack, with my Relay G50 parked on top of it (on a mini hook-on & removable 'shelf/platform' which keeps the Relay receiver level, whereas my Rack box is aimed up at an angle at me and off the floor using a repurposed Amp stand. I can see the display easily, reach the controls easily, I have a cable-minding solution working at the back to keep my various cabling coming from the rack unit away from being pinched while parking the unit onto the stand... I can set this up almost as quickly as I was able to set up my bean PODhd set-up - and that, I used with the same mindset; no audio lines out to the front. That's my personal reasoning, and I've been happy with the results, and I'd be the last person to push my reasoning onto someone else; simply shared for information's sake. ... and there've been any number of times that I've considered acquiring a floor unit for my use at home. ... then again, Helix Native could change the face of that, dependent upon controller developments.

I remember those satellite units - I used to use a Mark III Simul-class combo with the EV12 in it and all. (I said they should package that EQ into a box and sell it back then (1988) - I can't believe it took them as long as it did to actually do so...) That's an excellent solution to your scenario - kudos. I imagine it sounds immense. Those speakers have a lot of body and are beasts. Thanks for posting; I imagine a number of people here will be inspired by this routing possibility.

I guess this hasn't happened here, but Line 6's Frank specifically posted on The Gear Page that the Helix Team has indeed truly identified the exact cause of the issue, and it will be addressed.

Definitely some intriguing items going on with this unit. They're building on all that's come before it, and naturally there'll be some employing of forward-thinking capabilities. The whole touch-screen aspect is definitely on-point; watching Lee Anderton jumping in and working at editing - and in particular saving the result and having a QWERTY pop-up - makes a strong case for those aspects. They'll make plenty of sales based on the GUI alone - the visual path display will appeal to many, since it's relatively literal in appearance (reminds me of the magazine articles which demonstrate the sound path of artists etc.). When it all comes down to it, the potential for sounds is what will divide the sales for the most discriminating - if this unit's modelling evolution is strong, it'll be a strong contender. I'll certainly pay attention to what they're doing; why not? Good to know what's out there, what options exist... My own personal take is that the interface is a part of the puzzle, but certainly isn't the deal-breaker: so long as the device can be fully edited without needing to connect to another device (computer, tablet, etc.) then I'm good - with the proviso that I'm already convinced by the sounds on tap. Helix checks all the boxes on this for me (and of course, many others). I'm all for pushing the envelope; in the end, all the contenders step up with their own strengths, and then we all have options which are all good and strong. Like choosing amongst ice-cream flavours...

Helix Rack & Control, FW 2.12.0 Last evening at a sit-in gig I was just finished setting up, so I started Helix as I got my instrument ready. Glanced at the rack and controller; all fine. I couple minutes later I looked back at the controller and it was in the semi-blank state that it is in when power is first applied to it while the rack unit boots (Scribble Strips were lit up plain/blank, no LEDs, but oddly, the patch name was displayed on the strip-screen at the top). Though I might have done just as well to flick Control's power switch off then on, I instead opted to power-cycle Helix - all started normally, and it was on for the next 4-5 hours without issue. This was a first; I'll be checking out my cabling again etc (I use the Variax connector/Ethercon cable to connect for live applications, as it's a beefier cable). Just thought to note this in case anyone else has had this odd experience.

Helix Control is indeed capacitive touch enabled - it handles just like the Floor version. The Control display: I've never counted, but it seems that it's built to display anything which can be used at maximum for a preset name. The tuner display on Control is fine - with that said, the screen is gigantic where the tuner display is concerned; I personally turn around enough to look at that. I actually created a solution which has my Rack box mounted low for stability, but angled up at me for visibility. I've used the floor display for tuning... but for some reason, I prefer to use the big one where possible =] I opted for the Rack version to avoid audio lines coming out to the front with me; it all stays at back with the brain. To complete this, I use a G50 to connect =]

I really like the optimizations noted; that gives us all the more flexibility with the creation of patches by maximizing the horsepower. Outstanding. From a parallel thread I'd seen on The Gear Page I note that it seems there's a fix which I gather is baked into this which addresses the EXP 1 value jumping issue. Also excellent. Kudos Line 6.

... the above certainly sounds right to me; I thought I was just setting it wrong or expecting too much of it, but I can confirm the same behaviour with my Helix Rack/Control using firmware 2.12.0.

Try creating a preset starting with the WhoWatt as the amp, running clean; you might be amazed.

Just an observation which applies back as far as I have known Helix firmware versions; that mysterious tendency for the patch to suddenly pop up as 'E' - edited; I realized yesterday that it was the exact moment that my EXP 1 position value made that magical unaided jump down from 100% to 1% that it suddenly read 'E'dited... It's never mattered audibly for me, since I was using EXP1 to handle Wah duties generally, and hence was only called-upon by toe-switch as required. Meantime, that's been busy jumping down and showing the mystery 'E'dit condition - also goes along with my note that many of my personal patches' wah position values have wound up along the way being saved at the 1 or 2% positions. ... which of course is an issue if one is using something 'live' like a volume block with it, or the more recent feature of auto-engage by position parameter. One of those 'ah-hah!' moments for me.

Further to above; last evening I did some more playing/testing - although leaving the patch on didn't seem to demonstrate the EXP1 value drop, once I was playing and moved from one patch to another and back, the wah in my patch did unfortunately engage itself. Just to clarify; there's no physical movement of the pedal - no earth-shaking volume (quite the contrary; late-night quiet volumes to be sure) and the value saved to the preset is 100%, which for my settings is OFF. Checking the position parameter does indeed show 1% - sometimes 2%, and I've even observed this value going from one to the other before my eyes. If I want to use auto-engage, I'll have to move the duties over to EXP3 (I only use 2 expression pedals with Helix Control currently, so I have that option, and thus far I see no signs of EXP value jumps on either #2 or #3 for myself or any other reports that I'm aware of to date *knock on wood* But I've wanted to add the 3rd EXP to do some more transitional functions, and this will prevent me from doing so until it's ironed out.

Some information to add to what's come before regarding EXP1 dropping to 1-2% on its own: I'm using Helix Rack & Control - and I've continued to experience the EXP1 value random drop (which for me has made auto-engage with EXP1 unusable). Last evening I did the firmware update, going from v2.11.0 to v2.12.0 Backups went fine (though, again, I wish the character restrictions for file names were being kept in mind for Factory Preset names - I back up both setlists AND individual presets for double-security, and there are several presets in the last few versions which use the ":" plus one "?" - and since the system uses the preset name as the filename for export, those are illegal file system characters, and hence the backups falter and stop as soon as they hit one of those - keep an eye out for that. BTW: to address this, I used the editor to rename those presets before exporting, substituting '-' in place of the colon characters, and doing this unveiled a strange editor renaming bug which sometimes blanked the name to 'new preset,' and other times seemed to randomly paste in other preset names (without me using any keyboard shortcuts etc). In all cases, I was simply typing in or editing the name, and hitting 'enter' - got this mixed bag of results. Maddening.) So, I put in v2.12.0 - went very smoothly, and I did all required resets etc. etc. and even gave things a couple extra chances to do rebuilds on re-set (only needed the one extra time after I put my setlists in place). All good. I never leave my Helix connected via USB during everyday use; only for backups/updates/housekeeping. I was busy doing a guitar over-haul in between all this, so I left Helix parked on one of my few auto-engage wah presets to just sit there and wait for me to be ready to play - this way, I'd soon see if the value would jump down to engage it. Another BTW: as before, ALL (very few, just tests but still...) of my auto-engage wah patches again had the bypass/position relationship flipped around and required me to re-set that and re-save. Ditto my various multifunction switch assignments and the LED status being flipped yet again - maddening to have to do housekeeping on ALL of these (a great many of these for me). Helix stayed parked waiting for ... probably about 40 minutes - no value jump on EXP1 therefore no unexpected auto-engage wah. SO I started play testing, and as before on that simple auto-wah patch and stayed there a little while, marvelling at the fact that the wah wasn't auto-engaging. I switched presets, and got a poor sound - OH NO - then soon realized I'd forgotten to import my 3 IRs (yup, just 3 to date) and some of my main presets rely on one of these, this one included. So I hooked back up to USB and used the editor to pop them into place. Boom, all good. I went back to playing. OH NO - wah came on by itself... Immediately noted settings, and deleted the block and re-added. Before I even started playing again, it came on by itself. Previously, I could re-set by moving it and parking it again, and it would generally go quite a while without jumping... now, however, it was relentlessly coming back on. What?! ... then I realized; I'd left the USB connected, which of course should never be a problem. However, this does add a data point to consider. I unplugged again, and carried on playing some more. *knock on wood* EXP1 didn't auto-engage again for the rest of the time I was playing. Admittedly, that wasn't a super-long session at that point, as it was very late... but it was certainly VERY different behaviour as compared to when the USB connection to the computer was live. I have a feeling this could at least give a pointer as to what sorts of events within Helix which might trigger the EXP1 drop. Also of note; sifting back through some presets I've had going back to my first experiments with Helix, I noted that my wahs were almost all saved with a position value of either 1 or 2% - I think that suggests that the EXP1 drop behaviour goes way back. I wasn't experiencing a problem with it because I use the toe-switch function to turn wah or other EXP1-assigned functions on and off. I always save at 100% position initially to keep it close to toe-switch-on - however, upon re-saving after edits, I imagine those were jumping down to 1 or 2%, and that would be reflected when I'd re-save... Data for the EXP1 pool, as well as my first real comments about Editor (which I only use for backup/restore housekeeping otherwise - I do all preset building etc. on Helix itself). (Excuse long-winded explanations...)

Excellent - nice sounds, nice application of the capabilities of Helix.

Perhaps Line 6 modelled a bad preamp tube? =] I kid... I suspect you'll find that you have either a volume block or some other parameter(s) feeding into the input gain side of your MK IV which tie to Expression pedal #1 in your preset, and the issue with the EXP1 value jumping down to 1% is affecting your sound - that would explain what you describe, and the fact that jumping away and back to that preset fixes the sound. The issue is well-documented, but to simplify, you can either bypass/disable that block to test it out - you can also try clearing that block and re-creating the volume block, as this has apparently solved this for some (not me, but worth a try).

It appears so =]

Interesting; at this prompting, I just did the same experiment, and the odd behavior did NOT present itself; the amp/cab models simply scrolled through as they ought to. As above, using Helix Rack/Control and as of this experiment, running firmware 2.11

Isn't that a Sustainer driver by the neck on that guitar? That would be one possibility to explain the infinite and octave jumping aspect - it could be that it's a situation of enough volume and such that it kicks in and feeds back naturally from the monitoring kick-back... but the pair of switches toward the butt end of the guitar also suggest Sustainer device.

Test-out the Who-watt with compression giving it a squeeze going into the amp - you'll be surprised.

Since 2.11 I had one hung start-up which resolved upon a re-re-boot. That was the first time and hopefully *knock on wood* the last time it hangs up like that.

SKU meaning unique inventory item - for instance, the editor is savvy enough to know that it's working with Helix floor, or Helix Rack, or - ? It's always interesting when DI drops a little 'teaser' like the above; gives a nice sense of things going on in planning and implementation phases for the Helix user base, and that's always great news.

I feel confident it's a software issue which can be addressed. The spring - apparently Mission (whose expression pedals I use with Helix Control) has an optional spring that can be added to their expression pedal line in order to pop them back to extreme position ('off' I guess is the intention) - I believe this is similar to how some Morley (and probably other) wah pedals work.

The issue presented there is in how I set this up; in order to remain intuitive for me and my long-time reliance on the toe switches of various FBV/etc controllers, I prefer to have OFF set as parked at 100% - unfortunately that would disagree with the persistent position-jumping error. In this case, I will continue to leave my main patches' on/off controller as the toe-switch (I use the Mission Helix-specific EXP with the toe switch). Thanks for the idea; if I decided that I just had to use it 'auto' style, that's what I would do. I'd even consider one of the spring add-ons in order to let the pedal relax to heel-down on its own.

Wow; here's a surprise. Helix Rack/Control running firmware 2.11 - zero issues with installing (aside from the persistent issues with created function switches LED status, and auto-engage functions 'flipped' from how I had them set up initially when importing/re-building after firmware update). Auto-engage wah I've set up on EXP1 is still jumping to 1% and thereby activating on its own randomly. I previously eliminated the wah block and re-added a wah to auto-engage afterward - same behaviour; it comes on itself randomly. Perplexing this would still be here.

Helix Rack/Control with current newest firmware 2.11 - As with previous updates; grouped functions on a stomp switch tend to display an unintended LED status - whereas my presets, for instance, would have an LED OFF as default to the preset, after updating/re-importing/re-building, these functions switches often show the opposite status. This appears to happen primarily on 'maxed-out' (8-function) switches. There's a touch/arrive at LED status desired, then re-save workaround... but this is a LOT of presets for me. - Auto-engage function on EXP - I had left a few auto-engage wah blocks across a few test presets (not widespread in my presets due to the auto-on issues) - I change the defaults so that the wah is OFF at toe-down position, and comes ON when lowering toward heel-down (off at 100%, on at 99% and below). After updating/re-importing/re-building, these wahs' behaviour had flipped back to the default. The blocks were OFF as intended when calling up the preset. However, moving the EXP pedal to engage the wah did so, but only at 100%; at 99% and below, the block disengaged. So the percentile parameters I input remained, but the Bypass State selection set from within the parameters screen appears to be ignored on re-import. I had to go back into each of these and re-set the bypass state, and then re-save as a work-around.

Simple back-up and installation process for me late last night to update from FW 2.10 to 2.11. However... I can say that I find it maddening that a couple of things don't re-import as expected, one of which has been around since the beginning for my part; - Importing presets with functions grouped onto a footswitch (in this case, maxed out to 8 functions) always flips the LED status for me; meant to be off, but comes in as on, so I have to go through and do the touch-to highlight a block in the state that I want reflected by the LED ring, then re-save. Not a big deal, except that I have a great many patches affected by this - these pre-date Snapshots, so that's how I was going about a lot of my patch state adjustments, and haven't felt the need or desire to alter the paradigm of those presets. (And it's recorded here on the forum that others have observed the same behavior) - Auto-engage; I set it up so that, for instance, wah engages at the very top - toe-down - position, similar to pressing down for the toe-switch. It's more intuitive for me that way. Firmware 2.10 made that simple enough, by going to bypass assign, and while looking at the parameters you want to set (for instance, engage at 99% or less of sweep), you change the default behavior by simply tapping the bypass button *from that screen*. However... upon re-importing after cleaning house for the new firmware update, the bypass state of the auto-engage is flipped back around: bringing up the preset has the wah off as expected. However, moving the EXP pedal to engage on those presets I set up for this now engage ONLY at 100% - so the parameter I chose was maintained, but the bypass behavior relative to the pedal movement is flipped back to what appears to be the default. Required going into each one and re-assigning the bypass state, and re-saving. Fortunately I hadn't gone whole hog on changing to auto-engage wah (though I sincerely want to) - otherwise flipping those would have kept me quite busy, along with the function switches. I'm inclined to consider these factors to be bugs, as they create unexpected results after re-import of presets. Makes the housekeeping more intensive than intended, I suspect.