PeterHamm

By your own math, half the people who bought helix would be buying a feature they don't want to pay for. What other devices in this product segment have such a feature? Doesn't seem odd that you have to hook to a computer to do that at all.

imho, the compressors are a strong point. There are 3 I like and I'm learning my way around the multi-band comp.

You just made it one day later by askin

Dude. SO MUCH YES! As someone who has experimented on and off with using computers in live music since the late 80s... (I had a Mac Plus on stage for patch changes and tracks in the late 80s)... I'm all done with that crap. That's why I love Helix. That said, I think that perhaps Helix Native and a cheap midi controller and audio input device on my Mac might make a decent backup rig in 2017... But I don't need a backup rig these days.

Helix Native is the solution they are going for, and it's a good one. I, however, think a bean would be cool. But not enough people buy them, as demonstrated by the blow-out on the HD bean.

imho, the amps are far more realistic in Helix. For instance, I tend to ride the volume control a lot, and change the tone on my guitar a lot. This means that I can, with a real amp, have an overdriven sound when my guitar is full up, but a cleaner sound, even functionally totally clean, when I back down. HD 500 let me do that like a real amp to a certain extent. For me, Helix is EXACTLY like a real amp used to be to me. I am one who finds that if you use the right cabinet in Helix (and I felt this way about HD 500 before it), that you don't need third-party IR to get your sound, but maybe that's because the kinds of cabinets I like the most are modeled very well in both HD and Helix. So there's one perspective just on amp sound...

To you? maybe there will be a difference. To your audience? Nah. fixed it for ya.

Depends on your use. In the house and in the mix, in the typical club or church, your audience won't hear the difference between HD 500 and Helix. if you need the additional flexibility Helix offers to make your sound (I do 3 simultaneous sounds, for instance, on a regular basis), then HD 500 will be limited. If Helix only sounds better to YOU and to no one else, the question is... does it make you play better, enjoy it more, and therefore does it help your audience enjoy it more, even if they can't hear the difference. THAT is a very big question.

All those I/O? You seriously need the full Helix, sir.

Or... if you want the same kind of subtle "more tone" control, but it doesn't have to be exact, I use the Minotaur with the drive all the way down and adjust gain and tone as desired. It's a great always on "more tone" knob.

I'm a flanger-hater. Always have been... but... that Harmonic Flanger set real subtle is to die for! Try modulating a reverb with it. HOO boy... (I know, supposed to be stuff I hate, but there's so much I love!)

Yup. Great tip. I've done this.

WHOAH! MIND BLOWN! Never knew it could do this!

yup, I probably lifted that from someone else, but that's what I've been saying for years and years about modeling. I think part of the reason I love modeling so much and actually actively dislike real amps is because I do a LOT of recording.

Yup. Me too, and according to Line 6's market research, virtually everybody else...

Wow, to me the amps all sound so different! have you tried going direct USB into your computer instead of through the mixer? That way you'll at least see if that mixer is doing something wacky to your sound.

Valve driver. Interesting you say that. I loved it and used it in every patch in HD 500. Don't like it in Helix as much, but since they have the only two gain pedals I ever need (timmy and klon), I'm good. So do I NOT like it? Can't tell. I like other things so much more that I don't use it so I'll never know... There are several things I think I liked better in HD 500. Orange amp, wah (but I don't use wah that much and have found one I like). But mostly the things I don't like in Helix are things I don't like or use in the real world anyway, like high gain amps and 4 x 12 cabinets.

I would try a pair of those K12s and see what you think... If you're allowed.

I think the very last part of what you say here should be a pinned post!

Maybe it's because I am a beta tester and have therefore installed firmware or re-installed firmware many times more than all y'all (that is a thing)... but I have all my global setting idiosyncrasies memorized and it only takes me a minute (or less) to re-set them up. But I agree, this will be a welcome thing, and I think it's already coming.

You mean insert one and have the others automatically move down one? Sorry. Nope.

Again, that upper line is super-fine in granularity. A guitar that registers a string in tune over and over with that much precision in my experience doesn't exist. If it's just under or at or jumps between one or two segments below and one above, that is, to all intents and purposes, when you're talking about a .009 or .010 set of strings on a standard guitar... in tune... Honestly, I think what you're seeing in many cases is a tuner that is too "good" for some to consider usable for stage use.

There are no TRS balanced 1.4" jacks on Helix. Using TRS to XLR with Helix's 1/4" output is the wrong way to do it. It may work, but it's the wrong way, and is giving you no benefit. Use regular 1/4" guitar-style patch cables for the 1/4" output. If you require a balanced connection, use the XLR outputs.

In many cases, yes. The specific granularity of the tuner on Helix is so fine that it will appear fidgety because the actual note coming in is fidgety. Like with any very accurate tuner, I'd always rather err on the side of being JUST flat, since I know most of my notes are fretted and therefore a tad sharper anyway. In fact, I tune my lowest string by fretting on fret 2 and tuning that string to F#.

I promise you, not the best way to do it. Because most of the notes you play you don't play that long. A note picked on a guitar with anything but really heavy strings will go down in pitch over time. If you hold the note and tune to one held note, you end up with a guitar that has every string tuned sharp to a different degree. Tune closer to the attack.