jester700

Truth is, high bitrate MP3s CAN sound very good. Not perfect, but way better than the vinyl and cassette of my youth. And yes, you're right about the emperor's clothes.

IMO it's unlikely the Helix is causing hum in the signal path. But if you only get hum when using it, maybe it's the source of EMF when you're in the non-humbucking positions. Have you tried plugging directly into the amp but having the Helix switched on at the time? Do you have hum then?

Except M-Audio isn't really that small. They make a bunch of stuff and sell a ton. Also, that a company goes under doesn't mean the stuff stops working. My Parkers are my favorite guitars. ;-) Also, I had to ditch some great old JBL speakers because the drivers were no longer available. How is that any better? No slight to JBL, mind you - my current monitors are 308s. It's just business. But I wouldn't run from a great speaker just because the company is small. If I were buying new monitors, I'd be looking hard at some Kalis, for example. Of course, it's nice to have a familiar speaker you find everywhere, even if they don't sound the same in every room. NS-10s, for example, sounded equally crappy in almost every studio you went to back in the day! ;-)

True, But M-Audio has been around for a while now, and is generally well reviewed. I'd trust them. In reality, many speakers are in need of surrounds after a decade anyway - including big, old brands.

+1. I love my Helix - best modeler I've ever had. But DigiTech just does pitch better. My HarmonyMan intelligent shifter (for "twin guitar" parallel 3rds) and my whammy for drop tuning (same algorithm as the Drop) are just better.

Agreed - Helix's harmonizer is decent on guitar. Not so good on vocals. There is a 2 voice max per block, but you can use more than one block (use a Y split and then merge or it gets really weird really quick). I've set up 4 harmonized parts before, but you get more artifacts the further you shift, so I like to keep it to 3rds & 4ths. If you needn't hear the part clearly you can add in further shifts and turn the level down a bit, EQ it, chorus it, etc. You can set up a momentary footswitch on the block so that when it's open the pitch shifts a diatonic third but when pressed is a perfect fourth. This can solve the usual "twin guitar" issue where the line is mostly parallel thirds but occasionally a fourth to fit the underlying chord. Not automatic, but pretty cool.

Part of these "kids these days" disagreements - now and going back to at least Socrates - is that (as above) there are many examples of "I did/learned this, which kids don't do these days". But the truth is, many people didn't back then either. And many kids today DO. I see many first year college students who are sharp, critical thinkers already and can troubleshoot PC problems like a pro. I wish I could hire those right now. Others can barely make their iPhone apps work. As it has always been, since my dad & grandfather would regale me with tales of their friends who didn't have the brains of a stump...

I agree with your general points, but...No. No we didn't. The US has NEVER been a bastion of critical thinking on the whole. It has never been widely taught in schools because it's actually not in the best interests of government to have a populace that questions. It's better for them to have a trained workforce, which is not the same thing. What "results" do you mean? The world is not yet run by millennials - those hosing it up are exactly those saying "kids these days" and "get off my lawn". And though I also chafe at our over litigious society, it's unfortunate that "McLawsuit" is a term. That story wasn't what you think it is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants Now, I agree - standardized tests are not the answer. I work in academia, my ex was a 5th grade teacher, my current is a college History prof., so I see the effects of mollycoddling the next generation. But it's also a more complex world, and they're now learning stuff in high school I didn't have until college. And most people I know of my generation and older aren't any better at critical thinking than younger folks. Well, beyond the fact that young people have less life experience and thus will be a bit...dense... in many ways. But then, so was I at that age. And so were my parents. To the specific point, SOME updates simply can't be automated beyond a certain level; there are points that will require input. So these things will happen. Some will complain and threaten to go elsewhere. Some actually will. Those folks will realize that things are the same elsewhere. ...and on it goes...

BTW, I forgot to say - thanks for the reminder. Ben's site was in my bookmarks but I'd forgotten about him...

IMO not all presets suck. Many are certainly overeffected. But if I want a quick fix of an old Heart sound, for example, I can load up one of the "Barracuda" sounds, turn off the effects, and start tweaking quickly. Even if I end up with something quite different, I'm likely starting in the ballpark. Many of us already have a good idea of what amps & pedals were used for classic sounds like that, but not everyone is. And I don't always know what I'm after when I'm dorking around with gear; sometimes I'm just seeing what sparks a new idea path. And if HX Edit is being used, all this file shuffling is quick & easy. So my greater point is, we all have preferences in guitars, amps, pedals, and uses for Helix. I'm not gonna criticize anyone else's.

True, but you'd only have to do it once. Load up anything you're interested in, and after it rebuilds, re-save it.

For my purposes, the limitations Lawrence lists aren't a big deal. So, for anyone in the same situation as me, here's a ZIP file with all Helix Native factory presets since Native 1.01, which was around Helix Firmware 2.20 or something. I've saved the .hlx setlists, saved out the individual presets in separate folders, and made a Master folder with all the presets. Anything in that folder named the same from version to version has only the latest iteration. I THINK I did this right. I restored factory presets after each Native update. I thought there would be more changes with each version change, but there were usually only a few new presets. Let me know if you catch anything I missed. I can redo it if necessary. Helix_Native_Factory_Presets.zip

It might be easier to do this with Native, assuming factory presets come with each version.

It will, of course, depend on how well you can learn to "computer", but my attitude is that most things that CAN be done on a computer are BETTER done there - though I know others may disagree. I've had a few little hardware based home studio rigs (and still do), but computer DAWs are just a whole other critter - an awesome critter. Mixing, editing, mastering... and in many cases the software is free or cheap. Take your time, don't stress about it, and ENJOY the recording process as you do playing. Then you can decide what's best for you with a clear & open mind.

If you're skittish about the newest 2.80 firmware, I suggest you just update to 2.71. It is a much easier procedure, and it has most of the models and features of 2.80, especially if you use Helix as a standalone unit, not connecting with PC or any other Line6 devices. I assumed you were using some kind of standalone recorder, whether a separate mixing board and tape/hard disk recorder or an all-in-one hardware unit. I have a 24 track hardware device for location recording and Helix works just fine with it.

You don't NEED to update firmware. Helix was pretty stable by 2.3. There have been several new amp models, effects, and features since then, but your will work fine. Maybe look at https://line6.com/software/index.html and see if any of the newer updates has anything you really want. Yes, you can record right into a hardware multitrack using XLR or 1/4" outputs on the Helix.

That's true. This was a difficult update. Though so far it's the only one like this, and hopefully the only one for the rest of helix lifespan. I don't think any of the others have been too hard on us 50-something guitar guys.

THIS is proper thinking. I updated because I don't have a critical need for Helix to be 100%, so I'm willing to play with new features at some risk of issues and maybe help find glitches. Any major software change is like this, from firmware, to apps, to computer OS. Companies try to beta test thoroughly, but until it gets into "the wild" with the entire user base, things will likely be missed. This is simply the reality of software development. To expect different is just not reasonable, IMO. The greater difficulty of this update was PLAINLY spelled out, as were the step by step instructions. There are those having problems despite following instructions, but most that I've seen have gone back, said "oops", done it correctly, and are working. Anyone seeing "major code rewrite" and still opting to update a "critical production system" instead of waiting a bit for the x.1 update is playing with fire. With any brand or software type. Agreed on the 3.0 designation. My guess is the new feature set wasn't enough to name it that way, but as another IT guy, the code rewrite warranted it.

It's been said many times but worth repeating often: NO modeler with an FRFR speaker will feel exactly like a guitar cabinet in a room. Because no FRFR speaker acts like a guitar cabinet. They are built differently, for different purposes, and interact with the room differently. If you want to sound like a miked amp & cab on a recording or through a PA, modern modelers can do this perfectly, IMO. But for the room interaction and feel you're used to from an amp cabinet, you need an amp cabinet. I rarely did the "cranked amp in a room" thing in my formative years, so I've been pretty happy with modeling quality for over a decade. Of course, IMO Helix was still a big improvement for me.

The speed of electricity isn't the same thing as the speed of electron movement. Electricity travels through copper at a significant fraction of the speed of light - around 95%. You could think of electricity as a wave and atoms (and their electrons) as the medium.

+1 to the above. I also have JBLs (LSR308). Those Kalis are getting raves and would be at the top of my list if I were looking today, but I'm used to my JBLs. Do remember that your patches will still sound different through different rigs (even other ones that are meant to be "flat" and "accurate" and at different volumes. But this is a very good way to get a close approximation.

I always thought he often sounded like he was using two single coil pickups in series. It had a bit of strat cluck but with more fullness and power. That's how I approximate his sound, but I'm no purist.

Here's a freeware program that seems to do similar stuff, though it doesn't have the pretty interface or all the features of the Redwirez one. Still, if (like me) you're not sure if making Custom IRs is a good path for you, you might want to try it out. https://github.com/ValdemarOrn/IRWorkshop

The Digitech harmony man (one of the best "intelligent harmonizer" FX ever) has a split input so that you can use one feed for tracking (just clean with maybe a compressor as mentioned earlier) and a second feed for the effected actual signal, which could be post-fuzzbox. I'd think that Helix could allow this kind of routing if it were desired, and it would be the best of all worlds.

It does depend on the sound you're after. For drop tuning, or octaves, I agree. For "twin guitar" parallel thirds using distortion, although you're right that it tracks better if the harmonizer is first in the chain, I think it sounds better if it's post distortion. The IM distortion you get when adding the new voices wrecks the "sweetness" of that sound to my ear. And yeah, my DT Whammy (latest version) drops better than the Helix, It has the same algorithm as the DT Drop.