rd2rk

Just started using Reaper (Sonar orphan). Same configuration (i7, W10) as my previous post. Added 3 instances of Native with factory hi-gain presets to project using S-Gear, DPro (2 instances), EZKeys and EZDrummer. CPU went from 4.5 to 10 max (fluctuates between 6-10). People's results seem to be all over the place on this. This thread is going on 4 months old, be nice to hear from somebody official on this. DI?

Dropouts continue with 2.30.

Another consideration... Helix: 3.58x22.05x11.85 14.6 lbs $1500 Sonic Port VX mobile interface: Pocket sized Negligible $160

If you're using a single speaker (mono) you'll be using the LEFT/MONO output. The DXR8, and most other PA type powered speakers, have an XLR "THRU" jack which you can take direct to the board. As for whether or not the full Helix floor model is worth $500 more than the LT, it totally depends on your needs. You should DL the manuals and compare features online. Do you need the additional routing options? Are you using the Editor to create your sounds, and only making minor adjustments on the fly? If I only knew then and IF both had been available, I'd probably have gone for the LT.

Did you switch off the rack itself?

The 2.3 update appears to have gone off without a hitch! Now I sleep, tomorrow (with the neighbors at work) I play! Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

Who uses one cab for everything?

+1

You can use MIDIOX as a sort of host by using Port Routing. Here's a screenshot of the way I use the Helix to control a Boss Katana amp, which is not class compliant. Both devices are connected to the computer by USB. You need to have MIDIOX running to make it work. EDIT: Image removed to recover Attachment Allotment

Gotta say I don't remember on that one, but I know I don't have any presets with the amp's bass set at zero. Is that a known bug?

Nope. Sitting there in the comfort of my living room. I've had this box for over a year, never been out of the house, plugged into a quality UPS with AVR. It totally froze up ONCE, a simple reboot solved the problem. This is totally baffling. Not a freeze, just stopped making sound. All reset procedures failed, then after a while, it just started working again. I restored my presets and I've been rebuilding my IR list (numbering as I go this time!), and it's been working all day. Sunspots? Gremlins? Dunno, it's unsettling in it's seeming randomness.

Yes, but sleep mode is disabled on my computer. It didn't actually freeze, just stopped outputting sound.

It was working, I went to dinner, then it wasn't! Looks just like it's alive, all other functions, lights, display, normal, but no output. No headphones, 1/4", XLR, USB (audio to DAW), NOTHING! Of course, there's no way to know what's happening on the input side, but nothing from the Guitar or AUX In, no returns, no MIC. The signal chain up to the Helix is fine, plugged direct to powered speakers, no problem there. I did ALL the resets (after I backed everything up, which would seem to indicate that USB is OK), the resets did nada. I fear my Helix is dead. Before I call support (OF COURSE IT'S THE WEEKEND!), have I missed anything? UPDATE! After I sent the previous, I'm busy cleaning up, suddenly it comes back to life - at full volume screaming feedback terrify the neighbors level. I run and turn it down, seems to be working again. NOT OK! Don't need that kind of mysterious intermittent grief! Anybody got any ideas?

Yep, and it didn't work, which is why I suspected timing.

Thanks again DB. Still more of an investment than I'd care to make, but nice to know. I quoted your post over to another thread where someone was wanting to control the Helix from Ableton. I'd explained the sequence of commands required to switch Banks and Programs, and noted that when I tried it with the fcb1010 there appeared to be a timing problem. Hopefully it will be of help to him - assuming that he encountered the same problem with Ableton, he never posted back whether he got it working or not.

If you're still interested, here's a possible solution to the message timing issue posted by DBCROCKY in another thread: DBCrocky, on 19 Sept 2017 - 06:05 AM, said: FWIW, From John Fast of MIDI Solutions: Hi Dave, Thank you for your inquiry. I've also received requests from a few other customers to add some timer functions to the Event Processor, it's difficult to add as a one-off custom modification but I'd eventually like to make them permanent addition to the product, unfortunately I'm currently working on some other projects and may not be able to complete it for a while. However I thought a little more about this and it occurred to me that the footcontroller is likely sending exactly the same number of CC messages after each PC message, so if the Event Processor could count down a specific number of CC messages before allowing them to pass that might be another way to resolve the problem, and the Event Processor offers a sequence function which can do just this. Attached is a file containing the settings to program the Event Processor to filter exactly four CC messages after every PC message it receives. If you examine the settings you'll see that the sequence definitions contain six steps, this is because one step is required to allow the PC message to reset the sequence, four steps are for filtering CC messages, and the final step is the repeated step to allow all future CC messages to pass. You can modify the settings to count down any number of steps by right-clicking on settings #8 and #9. Best regards, John Fast, MIDI Solutions Inc. www.midisolutions.com F0 00 00 50 28 00 F7 { Clear All Settings - allow all MIDI events not specified below to pass through unchanged } F0 00 00 50 28 21 00 00 02 00 7F 01 03 00 7F F7 B0 00 00 { Setting #1: Filter all Control Change events on all MIDI channels. Continue to process settings (right-click to edit) } F0 00 00 50 28 24 07 09 01 06 06 00 02 00 7F F7 C0 00 { Setting #8: When Program Change events on all MIDI channels are received, jump to step #6 of the sequence beginning at setting #10, with 1 event per step, containing a total of 6 steps. Continue to process settings (right-click to edit) } F0 00 00 50 28 24 08 09 01 06 7C 00 02 00 7F 01 03 00 7F F7 B0 00 00 { Setting #9: When Control Change events on all MIDI channels are received, jump to the previous step of the sequence beginning at setting #10, with 1 event per step, containing a total of 6 steps. When the first step of the sequence is reached, remain at the first step. Continue to process settings (right-click to edit) } F0 00 00 50 28 45 09 02 02 00 7F 03 03 00 7F F7 B0 00 00 { Setting #10: Sequence Event: Control Change with the Control Change number obtained from the incoming X value and scaled to the outgoing range 0 - 127, and with the value obtained from the incoming Y value and scaled to the outgoing range 0 - 127, on all MIDI channels. Continue to process settings (right-click to edit) } -------------------------------------------------------------------------- If my earlier explanation worked for you (sending messages from Ableton didn't encounter the timing problem), please post back about it. Thanks.

1) If such a device existed, it might also solve the problem of doing bank/preset selection from an external device (my previous post that you referenced). Unfortunately......:-( 2) Yes, not worth the time/effort 3) I didn't know that you could control the LEDs using the latching function of NOTEs. Thanks for that! I also didn't know about the MIDI Solutions Event Processor. Thanks for that, too! Though the problem doesn't really justify the expense, knowing that a hardware device like that exists could come in handy in the future. I had looked into BOME, but the effort/investment/return ratio didn't add up. With your tip about the NOTE latching, I tried using the Filters in Cantabile to accomplish the transposition from NOTE to CC, but no luck. I'll try the Cantabile User Group on that, I could just be missing a trick. 4,5,6) Again, not worth the time/effort/expense I'll post back if I get it working in Cantabile.

First, let's get my goal straight. DEVICE SENDS NOTHING BUT A PC ON LOAD! The rest of this is academic, but interesting nonetheless. "I looked at the S-Gear Manual here: https://www.scuffham..._usermanual.pdf It seems it says you use PC messages to send presets, and you use CC messages to control amp parameters, like Volume, Tone, or Delay Time. This is typically how PC and CC messages are used. "So again, perhaps you explain to me exactly what CC messages you need to send to change presets, and why a toggling CC is needed?" From the S-Gear manual: Switch Controllers are used to apply on/off status to an S-Gear parameter. There are two ways in which a typical foot controller will send switch messages, some are ‘latching’ where the device sends a value of 00 = off and 127 = on. Others are ‘momentary’, where the foot control sends value 127 whilst the pedal is depressed and then 00 when the pedal is released. The two S-Gear switch modes allow you to handle both types of message. ------------------------- What that means is that, if when I load a preset, I also send a 000 or 127 CC value, depending on the saved status of the function assigned to that CC, it'll toggle ON (if saved OFF), OFF (if saved ON), or do nothing if I send OFF or ON to a function that's already saved in the corresponding state. This is how we use configuration of the controller's messages to sync the LEDs. But suppose I don't CARE about the LED sync, I just want the preset to load the way it's saved, but turn things ON/OFF afterwards? Using S-Gear's MOMENTARY setting combined with a NON-TOGGLING CC on the controller, I get what I want because the controller (in this case the Helix) DOESN'T send NON-TOGGLING CCs on preset load! Whereas, if I use toggling, I have to configure each preset because the Helix SENDS toggling CCs on preset load. See? It's the difference between messing with every preset to match up states to get synced LEDs (which I don't care about), or just plug and play! One of the differences between S-Gear and Amplitube is that you can't choose momentary or toggling mode for global control purposes. You can configure presets to work like that, but only by messing with EACH preset. And yeah, good luck finding any info on the Amplitube MIDI implementation. My experience with their support folks is that they don't know either. Now I have to go to work. Continue later?

No offense intended. I appreciate your desire to help. I don't use amp sims live, that's what the Helix is for, so I'm not carrying around an expensive, finicky, fragile computer. Helix, guitar, TS210, GO! Amp sims I use for playing around with at home. Different sounds. Load a sim, hit a preset. Do I like that? No? Hit another preset. Do I feel creative yet? "If I understood why you need Toggling CC's but sending the default on preset select was an issue, perhaps I could help with a workaround." I have several amp sims, acquired over more than ten years. THOUSANDS of presets. Every amp sim implements MIDI differently. Certain sims, like Amplitube and S-Gear, ONLY work with toggling CCs - and implement them differently to boot! Because the Helix insists on sending toggling CCs on preset load, it would require configuring each and every sim preset to a Helix preset, this on, that off, defeats my purpose - FREEDOM! SPONTANEITY! I TELL THE ROBOT WHAT TO DO! For the robot to do whatever it wants is a violation of Asimov's Second Law! :angry: The FCB/UNO takes no such liberties. As a dedicated MIDI controller, it allows for a degree of programming power that the Helix, as a MODELER first and a CONTROLLER second (or third or fourth after audio interface and mixer) is not designed for. If the FCB/UNO only allowed for 10 stomp type pedals (and had decent expression pedals with toe buttons, and had scribble strips, and wasn't so butt-ugly....) it would be perfect! I looked into the VooDooLabs Ground Control, doesn't even do toggling, no editor. The Macmillan SoftStep, way overkill for my purpose. So for the time being - until Xavier, creator of UNO, finishes his rumored upgrade/redesign/replacement of UNO - or Line6 provides a DON'T SEND option for the Helix (HA!) - I'll use the Helix for the sims that don't require toggling CCs, and use the FCB/UNO for the rest. If I ever come up with lists of "GoTo" presets in Amplitube or S-Gear, I can always set up a Helix bank specifically for them, with syncing lights and specifically labelled scribble strips and all the bells and whistles! But for now, I JUST WANNA ROCK!

DB - I know how it works. What I want it to do is NOTHING on preset select, while still allowing me to use toggling CCs ON DEMAND. Helix sends TOGGLING CCs on preset select BY DEFAULT! That's what I DON'T want! Apparently, as jbuhala pointed out, there is no way to turn off that behavior. This differs from the uno equipped fcb1010, which is fully flexible and programmable in that regard (see my previous post). Since your next question will be "why not just use the fcb", because it has less buttons available for this purpose, and it's as big as a small car! It would be nice to be able to consolidate all of my needs with the Helix. Since synced lights are not in that list of needs, my workaround (non-toggling CCs and NOTEs) will suffice for TH3 and BIAS FX, but S-Gear and Amplitude require TOGGLING CCs, so I'm S.O.L. on those.

DB - I get why this was included as a feature. I do this all the time with my fcb1010_uno board. The difference is that uno allows you to CHOOSE whether to implement it (per preset), and which signal (on/off/no change) to send. Unfortunately, uno only gives you 5 buttons to use like this. Helix has 10. Much better, but annoyingly inflexible, and therefore less than useful to me. As noted previously, I can use NOTEs to control TH3, and I think I can use non-toggling CCs (neither of which is automatically sent on preset load) to control BIAS FX. No LED syncing, but the scribble strips are GREAT.

Spikey - you got me there! Though my C64 with 28.8 and Quantum Link comes close! Those were the days!

I remember how fast Compuserve seemed on my IBM 8088 when I got my new 56Kbps modem. WOW!

Plain old Centurylink 30Mbps, ancient Core2Duo, got no problems.

Spikey - I'm controlling amp sims. I'm using a setlist of blank Helix presets with the buttons configured to toggle the devices in the amp sims' presets using Toggling CCs. Helix automatically sends the PC associated with that Helix preset, which changes the sim's preset, that's good. But all of the Toggling CC values are sent along with the PC#, which turns off (or on) all of the devices in the sim's preset. That's the problem. If I could get the Helix to send ONLY the PC# when I call the Helix preset, then I can use the buttons to send Toggling CCs as needed. You can suppress the sending of the PC#, but NOT the Toggling CCs. I thought that I'd worked this out when I had my HD500x, and even told someone how to do it, but I can't seem to find that (ancient) post. I could also be hallucinating. I normally use an FCB1010 with UNO to do this, but you only get control of 5 CCs in Stomp Mode, and 10 would be better. I've been able to get around this in one sim, TH3, by using non-toggling CCs or Momentary NOTEs. For some reason, Helix doesn't send the momentary signal when changing presets, as opposed to the Toggling CCs. Unfortunately, all of my other sims require CCs, and some of my other sims require Toggling CCs, else you need 2 button presses to make it work.