brue58ski

Did you notice the Dual Pitch effect? He only hs two effects on at the same time at beginning of 1:04. One is a Red Squeeze compressor I believe. He keeps adding effects as he plays. Perhaps that has something to do with the tone he's getting. You can see the settings of the first page of the Dual Pitch effect.

Holy smokes DI. That is the coolest thing ever. I probably won't use it but...very nice.

One thing about the reverbs. and this has been true for me since the POD XT. is that they don't compare to the reverbs I got in an Alesis Quadraverb circa the 1990's. Line 6 even essentially came from Alesis. They just don't sound as smooth. grainier. I can't really come up with the right words. But they were better IMHO.

I find it intriguing, although I'm going to guess that because of room differences, it may not work as hoped. Absolutely worth a try, I think.

I have a pdf file called Variax Editor Functions - Advanced which was created for the old Variax but everything in it applies. I don't know how to get it to you unless you want to post your own email here. (I wouldn't). It's too big to attach here. Isn't allowed. It doesn't seem to be possible to PM people anymore. I've looked and web page it used to be on is gone.

Just cause I'm curious, are you using TS or TRS 1/4" connectors?

Me too. Same experience, same solution.

The inputs on the rear panel are 1/4" TRS plugs only. Are you using 1/4" TS plugs? In other words, does the cable you are using go from a female XLR to a male 1/4" TS plug? If you are, the front 1/4" inputs are set up to accept both TS & TRS plugs where the rear is only TRS. So I'm going to guess your 1/4" plugs are TS and is essentially shorting out your signal because of how the three connections in the XLR are connected to the 1/4" TS's two connections and how those can get shorted out using a TRS only input. If you don't know the difference between 1/4" TS & TRS, I've attached a pic. The top two connectors are TS. The bottom one is TRS. If you can't get an XLR to 1/4" TRS cable, just use the front inputs. If this is the issue, that''s why the front inputs, which are setup to take both TS and TRS plugs shows such a strong signal. Hope this helps. TRS.jfif

I work with video and audio equipment and I have, more times than I care to admit, tried to hunt down a problem only to have it be just a switch. You ain't alone brother.

Just a (very) quick explanation. IR's are often made by running a signal through the cab/mic. The signal is usually a tone that cycles through all of the frequencies once. The tone is a pure tone so when it is recorded, the recording reflects how the cab reacts to certain frequencies and then Helix uses that recording to simulate that amp. Note that this is a very simplistic explanation and not the only way IR's are created but it should at least help you understand just what they are. Another way to look at it is it's just a very complicated EQ reflecting how that particular amp/cab combination boosts, cuts, frequencies. When I dial in a tone, once I get it close, I will often quickly run through all of the cabs in Helix just to see what happens. There have been enough times that I have found something that fits better that it's another trick I use in my arsenal of tone building. Back in the day (as you know) you actually had to have the physical cab and mic and would have taken forever to do what now takes less than a minute to do in amp sims these days. Amazing times. Just thinking of another "trick" to help you create patches. Put the looper at the very beginning of your patch and record your guitar. Then start to loop it. then create your patch.The guitar you record is dry so it will be as if someone else is playing while you adjust you parameters. By doing that you aren't stuck holding the guitar and turning knobs at the same time. I use this a bit as well. Hope all this helps.

I think he meant the ability to assign all the parameters of a particular effect to snapshots at the same time but each parameter could still be adjusted and store separately. I've had this issue with the parametric EQ. Wanted to assign just about every parameter to snapshots. Would have made it a lot easier to do instead of having to right click and select snapshot for every parameter.

Boy, that wasn't even close to my experience. Not that it won't be but it's not the only posibility. My experience with my Variax and Helix was, I was playing Us & Them. Let's see, what does Gilmour use for that song? A Hiwatt, Strat, and a Univibe. Put them together. WOW that's close. That happened a few times. I've also experienced some of what you described as well. But I didn't have to wait for months including an entire winter before I could "finally get back to playing and enjoying guitar. And the fact that he has a guitar and something to play it through would pretty much indicate that NEED has nothing to do with it. I didn't NEED a Helix either, but I got one. Just don't want to scare him off.

Or just use the looper.

I know there are and they are very DSP intensive from what I understand. So a deeper dive so to speak. Maybe more parameters to play with. Don't really know. Sounds like fun. One quote from Eric Klein is " The Good: Man oh man, some of the new models are... FUN. Like twisting knobs for an hour fun (blues lawyers exempt); you'll want to bookmark the release notes for detailed instructions". Can''t wait.....but, I'm gonna have to.

There's more truth to that than I would like to admit to myself. I would refer to my ears as a little above average in regard to hearing how to fix a sound/patch. Sigh.

Since datacomando said that the "dark horse" won't be in Native, that slightly reinforces my huge guess that it's going to be Variax related. Of course, obviously, time will tell. I can't think of anything else that would only apply to those 3 products.

I haven't read everything in here and I see you don't have Logic running all the time but are you getting the audio into Logic using the Helix's USB? If you are, could you be monitoring both the computer and Helix at the same time? If that's the case, you might be monitoring the Helix's signal through both the computer and the Helix at the same time due to the USB connection. The two signals would be out of phase due to the computer's latency and could cause all kinds of things. Try unplugging the USB cable and playing if what I'm saying is true. Just a stab in the dark.

Yes. The same for the Helix floor rack & LT.

This was posted on the Line 6 Helix Family Facebook page yesterday. I am half suspecting the dark horse has something to do with the Variax since those products mentioned are the only ones that have the VDI input for the Varaix. But that would be a huge unsubstantiated rumor.

I do wonder if they may implement the Variax for this which has a piezo pickup for each string and I believe they are each processed separately. Since they just added being able to control each string's volume on the Variax through the Helix, it has caused me to ponder this possibility. Ooops. Look what i did. I think I may have just started a rumor.

The "best guess" that I've seen is not until at least the end of this year, beginning of next year. So we can all relax and just dig into the Helix we have for few months at least.

Yes. Just pour a beer on your stomp while playing very loud.

I agree. I've been a "Line 6" boy since the XT owning that, the X3 and HD500X. The Helix was what I've been looking for. If they do improve on it, I'm not so sure it would be a significant enough improvement to justify spending the money for it. Maybe if it had a better tuner (Just funnin').

I think there is a USB level parameter somewhere in the global section. Like in the Inputs/Outputs area. I;m not at home so I can't confirm.

So you can't use the old Variax's power supply? Is that true?