codamedia

On 4/16/2024 at 10:23 PM, nutstae said:

So I have no room for the Lead. I want FS4 to function like a solo boost, but I'm not sure how much functionality this pedal offers.

Can someone share their understanding, please?

Use your imagination when setting things up... it's very flexible. You can change on/off states & parameters, just as you can with a standard footswitch. Keep in mind, parameters can only be changed by a single controller... eg: if a parameter is already adjusted by a snapshot, it can't be adjust again by the footswitch. 

If you get a footswitch with LED's... retaining LED status can be tricky between snapshots. The FS may look like it's on, but the new snap may have reloaded some settings/positions. 

I approached it differently. I bought a BOSS FS-6, then wired a 10K resistor across the R/S (ring/sleeve) of the TRS cable. This gave me one F/S that acts as a footswitch (I use it to toggle between stomp modes) and the other acts as a fixed expression pedal. The latter is my "boost"! It increases the output gain by 2.5db and subtlety adjust a few other parameters.  Since I set my "EXP input" as global - the LED on the boss always stays lined up with the changes they make in the preset. 

On 4/9/2024 at 3:36 PM, Schmalle said:

If the footswitch has LED indicators (like the Catalyst's LFS2) it will no work with the Stomp.

This is true if the footswitch gets it's power from the device/cable...

Some third party footswitches (eg: The FS-6) use a battery for the LED's

On 4/8/2024 at 7:41 PM, kittyhooch said:

Any suggestions welcome.

Double check the presets on your Helix and make sure the input is set accordingly. That has caught me several times.

For full Variax operation that needs to be set to "Variax" or "Multi". 

FWIW... I use a BOSS FS-6 with my HX Stomp. Rock solid... doesn't budge!

On 4/2/2024 at 5:59 AM, noah2453980 said:

I see the meter on HN go up to about -16 dB, but my track meter goes up to -9 dB. 

Which Helix Native meter are you referring to... there are two which help in getting the gain staging accurate within the plugin. 

On 4/2/2024 at 5:59 AM, noah2453980 said:

Input and Main are set to 0 dB within HN

Adjust the level controls as needed to get the right values on the meters, don't just set them to 0 and hope for the best. 

I like to set my input level on Native around -18/-20... hard hits would push it to about -12. Set like this I find Native reacts similar to my LT with the same preset. Next, gain stage the plugin as you add/remove blocks) until the output meter is very similar. 

I'm not familiar with Main Stage so I don't know what your meter options are... but I can say that "Dbfs" will be very different from any "K metering" when referring to numbers only. I honestly don't care about getting a match in numbers here... I just make sure I'm not peaking anything. 

You are not mentioning what you use for an interface. If you have the option, set the input you use to "Instrument" or "High Impedance". That will load down your pickup in a more familiar way than LINE or a Mic Pre will.

On 3/21/2024 at 10:35 AM, Crunch71 said:

To use the unit professionally, 6 snapshots are needed.

There is nothing wrong with posting the request on ideascale, but that comment is a little extreme isn't it? I would think that all those people that do use the unit professionally would disagree with this!

On 3/21/2024 at 10:35 AM, Crunch71 said:

Snapshots are the only viable way to use the unit live as there is no delay between changes.

Whenever I see this argument I wonder how a guitar player cannot find 500ms to stop playing between songs, or even within a song if they ever "needed" to change a preset.

It could be many things... 

On 3/9/2024 at 4:28 PM, Dkapprio said:

For the past few months the volume in my in-ears has been going up and down randomly at live shows. I've tried everything and finally deducted that its the Helix.

Have you worked with the sound tech about the problem? If the volume is changing in your "in-ears", then it's changing at the FOH as well, and in everyone else's mix. You would not be the only person to notice it. Is it your entire "in-ear mix" or just your "guitar" in the mix?

You are not saying how the in-ear mix is provided. If it's from FOH... if a tech is playing with your trim/gain control at the console, it is going to affect your mix. This can also happen with dedicated monitor boards that don't have proper isolation splits. 

On 3/9/2024 at 4:28 PM, Dkapprio said:

I will literally be in the middle of a riff and my volume will skyrocket or drop significantly and its extremely irritating.

Here is something I've learned the hard way many years ago. If you are using the volume pedal, remember it is light sensitive. If light is creeping into the the Helix it will affect volume.  I had the problem more with direct sunlight on festival stages, but I would think a venue with a bright light coming in from the wrong angle (periodically coming on/off) would also cause the problem. (note: I use an LT, I'm not sure if this problem exists with a full Helix or not). 

FWIW... the entire focus feature drove me crazy. "Global > Footswitches > Stomp Select > OFF". Focus stays on the block I set it to when saved... crisis averted when something doesn't "look right" at an inopportune time. 

I know that does not solve your problem, I'm just saying that entire feature.... when toggling between two effects on one switch, never worked as I expected it to. I don't change anything on the fly so disabling the feature serves me well.

On 3/11/2024 at 9:41 PM, boynigel said:

Are they saying they're not going to play together anymore in the future? Seems weird

Not sure why that would seem weird? When MAC or Microsoft updates their OS they change things.... developers are forced to update/change along with them and are given "x amount of time" to do so.  I've certainly seen my share of software drop dead with OS updates over the years. 

I doubt Line 6 is planning on abandoning HX Native and HX Edit on a MAC at this time. Open a support ticket with Line 6 and ask them if they are working on an update. I have a hunch they are quite aware of this. 

On 3/11/2024 at 10:29 PM, mattvollmer said:

I found quite a few. You just have to use the search terms, "half damper pedal." The Roland DP-10 is an example of one.

I was actually wondering what "midi damper pedal" you had found since you had referenced midi values. The DP10 is just a two stage momentary.... that will not work with the Helix, and will only work with specific subset of gear, primarily certain Roland pieces. 

On 3/11/2024 at 10:45 PM, mattvollmer said:

The video you linked to, I actually came across it last night. I think that might be my best route since I already know that an exp pedal can sweep the parameter the way I want it to, I just need it to retract when I lift my foot. I never thought about rigging it up with a rubber band or a cut up bike tube before, but that clearly does work.

It really will give you the flexibility you are looking for. For a controlled sweep an EXP is required - the trick is merely to get it to return which (with that video) is much easier than I thought it would be. 

On 3/10/2024 at 11:24 PM, mattvollmer said:

Your link you provided does say that damper pedals that have half-damping capabilities can send MIDI CCs 0-127. That leads me to believe that it could work.

IF you can find one, they are still fixed CC's, not sweeping. It would DROP the pitch, then return it - you will not have control (with foot) at how fast the pitch drops. If the effect you are using in the helix has a way to vary the drop speed, that is your only hope. 

I'd recommend buying a spring loaded expression pedal. Also hard to find, but that would give you the control you really require. Or, buy any cheap expression pedal and do this remarkably simple mod. (it doesn't have to be the expensive expression pedal in the video)

On 3/10/2024 at 3:42 PM, mattvollmer said:

The key word there is "usually." I did more research and saw that some damper pedals are capable of "half damping" which keyboard players like to recreate the sound of only partially pressing down on the sustain pedal for lighter sustain. This capability leads me to believe that it must have different MIDI values based on how far down you are pressed on the damper as opposed to just "on/off." 

What damper pedal are you looking at? In my experience, the pedal itself does NOTHING.... the functionality is built into the keyboard or device. SUSTAIN and DAMPER pedals are simple ON/OFF momentary switches which won't do anything on a Helix - although it can be programmed to do something on an HX Stomp. 

If you wire a 10K resistor into the damper/sustain pedal... VOILA! The Helix comes alive using it as a 2nd (or 3rd) expression pedal with a fixed value!  You just need to know what you want to control with it. 

On 2/13/2024 at 3:48 PM, neutron619 said:

I tried a simillar experiment with the Vox AC15 (which I think is called the "Essex A15" on the Helix). I expected simillarly positive results. In this case however, the pre-amp doesn't sound or behave in any way resembling what I'd expect. Running the gain all the way up increases the volume but doesn't really introduce any overdrive / clipping / distortion into the tone.

As stated above already... a real VOX gets it's dirt/drive/character from the power amp section... therefore the pre-amp alone will not give you that tone. 

Some amps get their character from the pre-amp, some from the power-amp, some from a combination of both. To complicate matters further, the "standard" speaker option is often another huge factor in an amps tone. EG: Place a bluebell/silverbell cabinet on a Fender Deluxe... the deluxe starts to sound surprisingly like a VOX. 

On 2/8/2024 at 6:38 AM, vincentm77 said:

I like the Brit2204, but it doesn't really get clean, even with low gain/drive

Have you tried the new 2203? IMO, it sparkles on clean settings yet still delivers the dirt with ease. 

My needs are very different... but I accomplish what you are looking for by establishing a great clean platform/tone, then stacking overdrives for various dirt sounds. Granted, I have a Helix with more block real estate. 

On 1/16/2024 at 6:29 AM, chris_edbowen said:

if you have any old Macs don't throw them away just use for the JTV

For hardware management... a used Windows PC is far more economical. $50 will get you an old laptop that can be used to manage all aging hardware. In this disposable world there are thousands heading to recycling every day that are still in good working order - they are just outdated. 

On 1/28/2024 at 10:16 AM, ninecows said:

The USB 3 standard is more than 15 years old. To sell a product today that is (randomly or suddenly) incompatible with USB3 is not something that can be excused by writing USB2 in the manual.

USB 3 backward compatibility has been flakey at best over the years... some machines are really good at it, others are not. I have my Helix connected to a USB 3 port... just because it works for me doesn't mean it will work for everyone. 

Regardless of what you connect, when having problems with USB there has always been three rules... even if these don't give you problems with other peripherals. 

1. Don't use a HUB
2. Try a different cable
3. Try a different port

One of those will solve the problem the majority of the time. Every computer is unique... every user is unique in the peripherals they have connected (yes, they can interfere with each other). There is no single answer. 

On 1/24/2024 at 10:30 AM, johnwnyc said:

I really hope they devise a name system or at least an icon-based system for this. It's sort of a mistake of Design 101 to have two very different things called by the same name.

Line 6 already sub-divides them into folders which (IMO) is much cleaner than cluttering a single folder with two of everything with the mono/stereo suffix added to each name. 

When creating a chain.... as soon as you use a stereo effect you need to stay stereo the rest of the way. Any MONO effect (after the stereo effects) will collapse the entire chain back to mono. If you plan on collapsing to mono, then just use mono effects to begin with unless the model doesn't exist in mono. 

Long story shot...

There is no way to balance presets, or gain staging without using your ears. 

Meters get you part way there.... remarkably well. But beyond that, you need to put in the time. 

Learn how to do it, don't rely on tech to do it! 

Helix floor is near perfect already... If I had my choice, I'd like a more powerful version of that without a built in EXP.

Just give us the connections and let us choose our own EXP and/or external switches. Make sure the external EXP TRS connections are designed the way it is for the Stomp... Tip/Ring separately assignable to EXP or Footswitch. 3 or 4 TRS connections would provide a lot of external option that nobody is forced to use unless they want them. 

On 12/21/2023 at 11:01 AM, thirdspace said:

I have probably missed the point completely, but can you set up different functions for the same switch depending on which snapshot you are in?

Say in Snapshot 1, FS 2 sends a MIDI CC, but in Snapshot 2 the same switch recalls a preset. 

Is that possible?

Using "commend center" you can come close, but not as you are hoping.

You can assign a footswitch to several things in command center. MIDI CC, MIDI CC Toggle, Snapshots, Presets, etc... etc...  Once you choose one of those, it is forever set on that switch within the preset. You can use different values per snapshot, but you can't change the assignment type. 

EG: If you set the switch to MIDI CC or MIDI CC Toggle, you can have a different CC value on each snapshot, but you can't change the assignment type to "presets".

I used to loop the MIDI In/Out and send a CC message back to itself. If you know the Helix midi implementation, you can make that switch control almost anything on the Helix, and do something different on the next snapshot by sending a different midi command. If you have external midi devices, you still need to loop back to the Helix eventually... and use dedicated midi channels per device. It adds a level of complexity, but still works. 

The midi loopback system works great... but you will need a solid understanding of MIDI and Midi Implementation to use it effectively. 

Time out errors are usually "communication" errors. Try a new USB cable, and/or a different port in your computer. 

There is a remote possibility that the user model defaults are corrupt... but I'd look to the more obvious/common problem first. 

On 12/15/2023 at 9:27 AM, bobruz said:

Just to add to weird Exp. pedal behavior. 
I have an EV-5 exp. pedal that I use for synth volume from Helix using MIDI.

Occasionally, when plugged in.  The pedal will only go down to 2-3% when heel is down.  Goes up to 100% normally.

But will not go to 0, leaving a bit if synth still audible.

Pull exp. plug out of Helix and re-insert it once or twice.  Problem gone magically.

Seems contact resistance is a factor in some cases.

bobruz

I have a couple of EV-5's... 

1. EXP's self calibrate on start up. I always place the exp in toe down before I start the machine. Once it loads, I do a full sweep of the EXP (heel down, toe down) so it recognized the full range. Since I started doing this, I never have a problem. 
2. I have two EV-5's myself... and the problem can also lay within the pedal. I've had to take the back off and manually adjust the pot to so heel down always landed on 0 and toe down always landed at 100. Be careful of the "min" control on the sides of those exp's... they will also cause grief.  

On 12/14/2023 at 7:29 PM, albertorss said:

I can understand that some impedance value could change there, but I'm pretty sure that it should be adjustable somehow

Yes it is adjustable per preset on the input block. The behavior of "auto" is adjusted in global settings IIRC. 

If this is set to AUTO then you may be getting some unpredictable results depending on the first effect in the chain. By default AUTO uses the first effect in the chain whether it's on or off.  Also, if this is set to a low fixed value then the high end and gain will be gone. Set it to 1M as suggested by rd2rk and the surprises are gone.

On 12/12/2023 at 11:42 AM, philmandoo said:

Volume fades in and out as if set up for a volume pedal. I notice a little crackling random noise to it too - once I unplug it everything is normal.

I'm at a loss... it's as if your EXP 2 input is acting as a loop rather than a controller.

Is this only with an external EXP 2 connected? For troubleshooting, what happens if you don't use an external EXP and toe switch the internal pedal to EXP2? Does it still inherit this behavior? 

• If the problem goes away then that would point to a hardware issue at the EXP2 jack
• If the program continues, then it's likely software related

On 12/11/2023 at 3:55 PM, itsjustashwin said:

Thank you guys, here is the preset. The hxview link did not work. Hope someone can share the settings here. The preset has about 8 snapshots I believe. 

ROCK.hlx 8.57 kB · 2 downloads

That's a Marketplace preset... nobody can open that without owning it. 

If you own that preset, try what silverhead is suggesting. Download the trial for Native, enter in your credentials and you should be able to load/see this preset.