duncann

Excellent idea. I find myself stumbling over the non-number sliders often. Voted.

Maybe they'll add something like what was in the HD editor, which didn't have any sort of save as either, at least within the confines of the device itself. Instead you could save as to a new file on your computer. But when working with the device it's easier to just plan a couple steps ahead if you know you're going to be working on a new revision of a patch and start out by copying the original first. That way you can always go back to the original short of a catastrophic Helix failure.

It's a little bit of an issue but nothing major. Lowering the pickup a little helps, at least with passives, rather than padding the input. I really like that all but one wah has frequency adjustments. Makes them much more usable, but ultimately because of that, it doesn't seem to make much difference which one you choose. They can all be made to sound very similar.

Always been a guitar player here since forever. Never knew I liked playing bass until I actually got a bass a couple of years ago. Never used one with a real amp either so my first foray into this was with an HD500. Got decent results with it but there seemed to be always something missing that I could not identify. And it was a real pain to even get to that point. Nightmarish inducing. Things improved dramatically with the addition of the bass model pack for the HD, which is actually using Helix's modeling method and then ported to the HD. Then Helix shows up, and I can say I'm not disappointed in the least when using it for bass. It's pretty easy to get a nice growly, piano-like tone that easily fills the lower frequencies and behaves nicely with the effects. My one and only bass uses Nordstrand Big Singles. I'm partial to the SVT Bright. The tuner tracks really well with a bass, but the low B does move around quite a bit. Still accurate though. Haven't tried any wahs for bass yet and you're mention of it says I should try it one of these days.

Right-click on it.

What makes the HD a '72 Pinto and Helix a Ferrari? Is the block selection and arrangement on an HD inferior in some way I'm unaware of? You have to start somewhere when making a preset, so why not use prior knowledge and experience with the HD as a starting point. In the end, it may be that that starting point will have been a mistake. Or maybe not.

Not directly. The best you can do is reconstruct in Helix what you have in the HD for a starting point. But then you'll likely have to start changing things to get closer to the HD tone, because generally the same amp/effects/cabs with the same arrangement won't sound the same in Helix. It might be close, but not close enough without further tweaking. It also could depend on how complex the preset is.

Oooo! Comprehensive keyboard shortcuts. Awesome. The editor has grown on me and is quite pleasant to use, even with the lacking keyboard control. Really stable too. Never locks up or crashes, even with Reaper running using Helix's USB audio while changing things with the editor. Or changing things on Helix with the editor and Reaper running. Both on Windows 7 and 10.

There are two ways I've found to do that: 1. Use the device itself to do the save to a different location. 2. Before you start editing the preset, make a copy of it to a different location, using the editor, and edit the copy.

Nice passionate playing! Problems with your hands is a guitarist's worst nightmare. Hope your case is something you can work around and just say fu to the frailties of the human body.

Helix's edit program just recently came out. It needs work, it's a beta, but much better than editing on the device. You could indirectly control Helix, or the HD for that matter, from a tablet by setting up a remote desktop connection. http://line6.com/support/topic/19535-control-helix-app-from-ipad-or-android-tablet/ Don't know how well this would work for HD Edit, as it's not in the least designed for a touch interface, but I see no reason why it wouldn't technically work. Helix's edit program has a bunch of sliders that would actually work well for a touch interface.

Here's something that may be of use (free): http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_FreqAnalyst/ There is also a built-in vst called ReaFir, probably less useful than the above link. iZotope makes a rather expensive suite of tools, one of which is specifically tone matching: https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mixing-mastering/ozone/ I think you're on the right track with trying to see what the frequencies look like because you may be running into some phase cancellation when turning on the distortion amp leading to the perception of something missing. Or you could just continue to use your built-in hearing. Likely less accurate, more time consuming, and very susceptible to ear-fatigue without you even knowing.

Maybe the editor doesn't like it if you change the DPI settings in the OS from the default? Might be worth a check.

Helix Editor v1.10: The mix parameter for the deluxe phaser is absent on the controller assign page.

I predict the generalized answer to this is NO!

I kind of look at it as finding the least disruptive and destructive way of maintaining workflow. The current editor relies too much on mouse control, which requires you to quickly spot and sync your vision to a moving mouse cursor, and is a really crappy experience, as per DI I think. But after using the editor a little longer now, it's growing on me and is by far the best way to tweak Helix, for me. I'm even sort of starting to like the slider controls. Perhaps they can tone down the color saturation on them a bit. One thing is for sure, the physical downsides of tweaking Helix directly are gone.

Just curious. What other units with the same or similar quality/resolution of modeling have seamless switching? And would that be a factor when switching presets?

You're right! I don't know where I got the idea that they fixed it. I'm almost certain I read it somewhere, but now I can't remember. I hate when that happens.

I noticed the 4 & 5 thing when they first released the new firmware. It was a mistake and they've since fixed it. That test mode is something you can use to test all the buttons, encoders, switches, pedals, etc. on Helix. There's also some other weird test/diagnostic/debug? mode if you hold switch 1 while powering on. Not sure what it all does but brings up a blue striped screen with a moving white block on it. The encoders can change things, some having to do with fx loops, outputs, and pedals, and displays values in the scribble strips depending on what the encoders are set at. Just something fun to mess around with in a moment of boredom.

Nice review. Certainly lots to say. Setting the high cut to around 14kHz seems too high. I usually end up somewhere around 7-9kHz. Try a ribbon mic for something a little more tame. Or instead of using the high cut on the cab block, try a low and high cut eq block. It's got a different, more aggressive curve to it. I'm generally satisfied with the effects on Helix, with some exceptions. The delays are really good. Nice and clear, defined. There's something funny sounding about the auto-wahs (mutant filter and auto-filter) that I can't seem to dial out. Maybe it's just me but a lot of the time I can hear the "steps" these filters go through as they do their thing. It's subtle and mostly ignorable. Never noticed this on the HD. The octo reverb seems different to me as well. Again, compared to the HD one. The difference is very difficult to describe so I won't try and instead say that to get a similar octo effect on Helix as on the HD, I had to use the octo on it's own path with 100% mix and two EQ blocks and one autofilter (with zero sens and zero frequency depth) after the octo. One other thing on effects, it's still currently missing some commonly used effects, such as an auto-volume. And it's still a bit sparse as far as filters go, compared to the HD.

The device the AC flanger is modeled from doesn't have a mix parameter. So just ignore the one you see in the editor. It doesn't do anything anyway. http://line6.com/support/topic/9285-ac-flanger-mix-control/?hl=flanger

Yep. If you're able to reproduce this 100% of the time, I'd maybe try a complete reset, 9 & 10, if you haven't already. Backup first. If that doesn't solve anything, something weird sure is happening. Try opening a support ticket.

It does show the name if you hover the mouse cursor over a block for about one second. But because of the delay, it's easier to just click the block to see what it is. Now that you mention this, I can seem to fathom why the specific block name just isn't there in the first place. lol.

Lo Cut: 20Hz Low: 150Hz Mid: 1.8KHz High: 8.0KHz High Cut: 20Khz All Qs are 0.7 All Gains are 0.0dB The EQ defaults to ON.

It's seems to be working fine here. Tried it both on the device and with the editor.