codamedia

Maybe that works for you... but it would not work for me. I want the feedback to be as natural as possible to the tone I use, and "high gain" (maxed out distortion) is not it! A proper "feedbacker" pedal sounds much more natural with whatever tone it is being fed..... without added "distortion". I play loud enough on stage that I can often invoke feedback just as I always did.... but that all goes away when I am on an in-ear monitor system (silent stage). A feedbacker would be a welcome addition in those situations. There is no shortage of stuff in the Helix I have no interest in, but I would never begrudge anyone for wanting those features - or Line 6 for giving it to them. Just because I don't find them useful doesn't mean they aren't for others.

One thing I don't see mentioned yet in this thread... something you might want to double check? Make sure the LOOP you want to use for this pedal is set to "Instrument Level". Line Level can often make stomp boxes behave very differently than we expect. I also agree with everything mentioned already about the input impedance. That could very well be the problem. ^^^ this ^^^ is how I would approach that problem... I would just set the "off value" as a fixed position as well, avoiding auto altogether. (eg: off = 1M, on = 32k)

I think we are looking at "preset balancing" from different angles. Your global solution is great for changing a dozen presets equally in a moments notice. I'm not debating that, or questioning that in any way. But those presets would already be "balanced" by that point. My point is that when a user creates 2 or more presets that are already out of balance (eg: a Fender clean tone vs a Plexi Crunch tone, vs Vox chime, etc... etc...)... there is no global block that could possibly balance them - they need to be balanced individually with each other.

What is tough to understand is that the person asked how to "balance presets" which this does not solve. As you say above, adjust the channel in one and "all others follow suit". The volume differences "preset to preset" will still not be balanced. You provide a GREAT option for a live adjustment tool, but not for balancing presets which is what the question actually was.

Unless you touch the gain structure "prior to the amp" (or any compression).... tones will not change with levels, your perception of them might. Nothing beats "pre-preparation"... try to get the levels as matched as possible prior to going to a rehearsal and/or gig. Choose your method for fine tuning the volume.... will it be the channel volume on the amp, will it be the output block, will it be a gain block at the end o the preset, etc... etc... Try to be consistent with this choice.. it makes life easy as you move forward. Set the choice you make to be "highlighted" when you move from preset to preset so you have immediate access to it via the small rotaries. When you change each preset... if the volume is off - bend over and adjust the volume until it's right. Then hit SAVE! Repeat #4 as often as required. NOTE: Many (if not most) people will choose to have the AMP as the highlighted block. This makes sense as it places the "important" amp controls at your fingertips, just like having a real amp sitting behind you on a gig. Instant access to gain, bass, mid, treble, presence, & volume. Any changes you make can be temporary, or permanent depending on whether or not you choose to save.

I'm not sure about where you live... but I know around here I could easily trade my Helix LT for a BOSS GT1000... likely within a day or two of posting. I never would because I am very happy with the Helix, but you are not - so why wait for money. With a full Helix, you could likely even ask for a little cash or more product to sweeten the deal. Going through each patch and either adjusting the amp's channel volume or the volume of the output block. Unless Line 6 decides to add a global block feature, which IMO would be a huge game changer (not only regarding volume adjustments). Unfortunately they won't do that. I fail to see how a "Global Block" is capable of solving any preset level differences. Sure... it could give you the option to quickly adjust a level when changing presets (if needed) but that's not practical. IMO, the only way to balance levels is by doing it preset per preset, and to be honest it's not that difficult once you decide on a common method.

FWIW I play vintage spec guitar (ie: low output) and keep my pad off. I'm a country guy... clean is my bread and butter and I don't have any issues producing clean tones with the Helix. I have one guitar with hotter pickups... and it does increase "gain" (as expected) when used, but it certainly doesn't turn my clean tones into dirty tones. ^^^ this ^^^ is the first thing to check for.

Here is a quick 15 minute preset that "I would use" as a starting point for White Wedding. I used my Variax 300, set to the Les Paul model... bridge position. (don't count on the preset to call up the model... you should do it) If you use any other guitars... start with the bridge position and you should expect to have to adjust the amp tone and gain structure to taste. I created it on my Helix LT... it should be streamlined enough to fit on the Stomp if required. The basic chain... Arbitar fuzz... used only on the "fuzz shots" snapshot Plexi Bright Amp.... gain and channel volume change on snapshots 4x12 Greenback 20 cab... 121 ribbon at 6" distance Chorus ... used only on the "clean" snapshot Rochester Comp .... used to apply a studio finish quality to the tone Plate Reverb .... just to add some ambience to the part. There are three snapshots Big Chords.... Used for all the hanging chords, and shots in the verses Clean.... This is the arpeggio theme on the intro and solo seciton Fuzz Shots.... this is for the tiny little bit parts that answer the clean arpeggios. IMO... I would never switch off to this tone live, but I would use it to track the song in a studio for those bit parts. What's missing... I didn't apply the flange that would be used in the opening harmonics before the 1st chord kicks in. I don't have your speakers.... this is done on my studio monitors. Any/all fine tuning. This is a rough 15 minute mock up :) I hope this helps to steer you in the right direction.... good luck. White Wedding.hlx

I'll grab my Variax tomorrow morning and see if I can get you into a starting point. Steve Stevens was using a Plexi in that era (an early 70's model I believe).... so I'll start there. Hmmmm... I quite like the Plexi model in the Helix :) Goes to show we all perceive things a little differently.

IMO... Steve Stevens Rebel Yell tones were much more advanced compared to this album with "White Wedding". It's back to the very basics for these tones.... not much for effects at all. Even that clean tone has little (to nothing) for effects.... There might be a little chorus, but it would be very, very subtle compared to the Rebel Yell clean tones. What guitar are you using? That's a critical step in getting you in the ballpark for these tones.

Which guitar part? There are 3 distinct parts through the song... Overdriven... big chords Clean theme.... with a little reverb fuzzy/overdriven bit parts. IMO.... All tones can be (and likely were) done with a Plexi.... or a JCM800 with a relatively low gain structure. Add a fuzz for those little choppy bit parts. If you know how to dial in those amps those tones are readily available within. If you don't understand the Plexi model let us know along with the guitar make/model you plan on playing this part with. I'll can try to throw you a couple of settings to try.

@rd2rk.... Well, no luck. It seems that Line 6 used a CC# (69) that is normally reserved for "Hold 2 ON/OFF".... Studio One treats ON/OFF CC reservations differently than other CC#'s.... and has no way (at this time) to work around it. So it seems to be a combination of Studio One being overly strict in their implementation, and Line 6 being a little careless in there implementation. The end results makes it "fairly" incompatible for you... in regards to what you are trying to do. There are work arounds (the values I provide above) but that doesn't help with how you want to track it directly from the Helix. None of this will have any effect on me... but I can see why it would be frustrating for you. As for the OP @FAchterberg.... the step by step I provide "should work" for you. As I say, I've tested it several times and it does work on my machine from Studio One.

Try a new USB cable? If it's not working in Ableton Live either... then it's not Studio One - and probably not Ableton either. Your settings look OK... so that shouldn't be a problem. I just started a new S1 song then followed the steps I provided above (one of my first posts).... it worked 100% for me.

Exactly... although it's all on one instrument (ie: midi) track, it's broken into lanes. It can be seen separately as tabs in the Piano Roll view so they can be edited separately. Program changes are fine, and snapshots are a little wonky. The values sent to S1 are 0,1,2,3,4 etc.... but the values in S1 are being "snapped" to the odd fractions we talked about earlier. This is offsetting snapshot 3 and higher. (ie: the wrong snapshots are loading on playback... one higher than they should be) I think the trick will be to find out why Studio 1 is reserving CC69 like it is.... and whether or not that can be released for normal usage. I'll dig around al little and see if I can find a solution for this.

I'm not talking about midi monitor.... When you add a "keyboard device" there are filter boxes... do not check those or it will filter those items, not pass them. If you are looking at if from a different angle... it may be reversed - I don't know. Today when I added the Helix... I needed to add it as an "instrument" (not a keyboard) so those filters did not apply. (I've never added the Helix before... I've never had a need to) That weird anomaly is because Studio One reserves CC69 for ""hold 2 on/off".... while the Helix uses it for Snapshots. How S1 deals with that parameter is by snapping to odd fractional numbers.... so yeah - it does create a weird interaction with the Helix. Normally you would simply enter 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 as values... but S1 is moving those to "it's closest fraction" that it has reserved. I've posted much easier numbers to remember above than the odd fractions that guy gave in the video. S1 will load those "fractions" on it's own as long as you are in the ballpark :) CC and PC messages are managed through automation channels.... not an everyday midi track. When you record into S1 it will track ALL on one track... it will just create the Automation lanes for each and every CC, PC, Mod Wheel, etc... etc.... for that track. When you just need to SEND to a device... it's much easier to just create the automation track on it's own. That all sounds way harder than it actually is :) I'm the opposite. I found S1 to be so intuitive I rarely need to look anything up. I came from Cakewalk/Sonar prior and yes it was different... but I though it made way more sense. Obviously... what makes sense is not the same for everyone :)

What you are doing here happens automatically between the Helix and S1...... when the Helix has the S1 template loaded, and when you use the default S1 key commands. (I use custom commands so the stock template doesn't work well for me) However, in order to send CC messages to the Helix you need to add it as an external device in Studio One. External Device > Add new Instrument > set the parameters as required (EG: Midi channel 2 since you use that for the Helix, and set the output to the Helix) Add an automation track Drop the box that says NONE and choose "Add / Remove" From the right side, expand external devices for the midi channel you want. If there is is no midi channel separation, then there is only the one channel connected. Choose and add CC69 to the automation track (this might show as "hold 2 onoff") Add nodes where you want the snapshots to change.... don't forget to add a node at the start as well. Right click on each node... and enter the proper value for the snapshot you wish to call. (don't try entering value with the mouse... just right click and enter) NOTE: Enter these values and S1 will actually adjust it automatically to the value that works. (the actual values are hard to remember, these are much easier) Snapshot 1 = 0.00 Snapshot 2 = 1.00 Snapshot 3 = 1.75 Snapshot 4 = 2.00 Snapshot 5 = 3.00 Snapshot 6 = 4.00 Snapshot 7 = 5.00 Snapshot 8 = 6.00 This just worked perfectly when I tried it... snapshots change as planned on playback. (As complicated as that may look at a glance... once you know the procedure it takes seconds to program)

@rd2rk .... IME, Studio One is very easy to setup devices, record midi and send midi. No hacks, no routing issues, no problem at all. It might have different ways of approaching things... but once you learn that it's a snap. EG: for something like this you program an automation lane, not a midi track.

I can certainly understand a drop in faith when gear lets you down... I have been there many times over my 40+ year career. That said, I have never ditched an amp just because a tube failed... I have never ditched a pedal because a jack or switch failed, I have never ditched a guitar because a pickup failed and I will never ditch my Helix if a preset became corrupt. Those are the reasons I carry backups to my gigs and have always carried backups to my gigs. The concern is when "tubes continue to fail", or "presets continue to become corrupt". IE: Don't let the "one-offs" scare you away! Just my 2 cents.

I'm not sure it directly related to monitor size... as much as the difference in the monitors themselves. IMO - different monitors will produce different results, it's important to listen to more than one set of "quality" speakers. Most often fixing a "problem" on one, helps the tone in the other and vice versa. You will never make the two sound the same, but you can make both sound great - and that's the secret!

Maybe you misunderstood my suggestion above.... it gives the exact same results you are getting now from the internal pedal, but it will free up EXP 2 for independent external use. Maybe you want to do more complex things... in which case it may or may not work. But for controlling Volume/Wah... it works perfectly.

Yeah... absolutely. For me that kind of defeats the purpose of a toe switch.... but whatever works for someone is never a wrong option.

When you only use the built in expression on the Helix... that is still exactly how it works even though the toe is changing between EXP1 and EXP2. The volume has to go up to engage the wah, and the wah has to go up to go back to volume. (The OP has stated that THIS is how he is currently using the built in expression) The only difference is that when you do them both from EXP1... the toe is toggling the on/off states rather than switching EXP modes - but it's the same results! You cannot engage the TOE Switch without pushing the pedal "toe down". NOTE: I guess if you have the volume set to never go past 80% that would be an issue (it would jump to 100 when disengaged to go to wah)... but IMO that's not how I would ever use a volume pedal so it wouldn't concern me.

This can still work.... even when you use an external expression for EXP2 and EXP3 to control other things. Assign both the VOLUME and WAH to EXP1 Have the TOE switch toggle the on/off states of the volume and wah block. I own an LT which only has 1 external EXP.... and that is exactly how I do it to free up EXP2 for many other uses. It works 100%

I used to run a full range (coax) eminence in a Peavey Bandit.... and just plugged my Helix into the effects return of the amp. No tone controls, but the master volume, reverb and presence worked. It worked really well and would still be using it today if it hadn't been stolen.

My hearing survived... :) Those were great times, mostly because there was no shortage of live shows and a living to be made. Even back then I owned a modeler for recording... it was called a Rockman.