linz

I'm going to have a lot of patch re-building to do after this, simply because I've found so many great new toys in the past half hour! I'd forgotten all about the old Boost Comp. I used that in nearly every patch on the HD500 & M13. That, in front of the new Placater (just the simple, default amp+cab block) is AWESOME! It's gonna be a long night...

I must be crazy, but I’m diving straight in - just can’t wait for some HX Reverb action ;-) Downloaded first for an offline install. Not sure if Line 6 Updater’s picking it up automatically yet.

Yeah, loving the EX-P - especially for £14! Used many far more expensive expression pedals, but it’s smooth and reliable. I’ve got 4 now.

So I've been using guitar/amp modellers for nearly 20 years now - right back to the Roland VG-8 in 1998. In all that time I've been through many, many different expression pedals. All of them have their quirks, but they usually get the job done after a bit of set up. When I got my Helix Rack & Control last year, I decided to treat it to some new expression pedals, so I bought 2 FV-500Ls and an FV-500H. I wanted something rugged for realtime control of both the Helix and Ableton Live. I had nothing but problems from the start, though. I understand the idea behind the 'dead zones' on the FVs, but they were a bit much for me - a waste of range (even with spacers fitted). I had a spare EV-5, too, but it was the opposite - I couldn't reliably get to 100% as there seemed to be no spare range at the toe down position. I put up with it for volume but, due to the size/weight of the FVs and the range of the EV, I decided to sell them and look for something else. I'm a bit short on cash at the moment, so I decided to take a chance on the M Audio EX-P and bought 2 for £14 each. I couldn't be more impressed! The EX-P was 99% plug and play, with only the polarity needing switched in the global settings and flicking the EX-P's switch to 'Other'. The range is fantastic! It's got exactly the right amount of tolerance at either end to make auto-engage a joy to use, and pitch effects work brilliantly with no fear of missing 100%. They're smooth, and the taper seems good. OK, the EX-P isn't going to win any prizes for sturdiness, but at roughly 1/6th the price of a new FV-500 (and about a 10th of a Mission pedal!), it's quite easy to justify having a couple of brand new spares. I've now got 4 - 3 for the Helix and 1 spare (which may get used for my BOSS GP-10). One big issue I had with the FV/EVs (which I thought was a fault of the Helix) was that the values in Pedal Edit Mode would jump and 'flutter' as soon as I entered. The EX is rock solid. I don't need to worry about anything happening when entering PEM until I actually move the pedal itself. This has finally opened up the true usefulness of Pedal Edit Mode to me; a feature I was really looking forward to when I first read about the Helix. If you don't use PEM, give it a try! It's a HUGE time saver. I've spent a bit of time today tweaking sounds as a I play, and it's made tone-shaping far, far quicker. I was able to 'dial' out a lot of fizz and smooth things out on a patch that was otherwise proving a bit too fiddly. I know it's kind of obvious as that's what PEM is all about, but I think it's a feature that's often overlooked. I'm looking forward to using PEM when I'm out gigging next as I think I'll now be able to quickly tweak my tones at full volume while we soundcheck. If anyone's looking to try the EX-P, make sure you get the current version. I did have one years ago, but it needed a mod (to add a resistor) before it worked properly with 3rd party gear. The latest one has a convenient switch. I've successfully tested it with my GP-10, Katana 100, and a Behringer Motör keyboard.

Sounds like a great base tone, but your audio’s all messed up in the left channel so it’s a bit hard to judge the comparison. What amp model are you using there? The crunch tone’s lovely!

I actually bought a used Zoom G1Xon as a backup and have, on occasion, used it as my only pedal for some small gigs. It’s surprisingly good for the money and it sounds just fine using the same Alto speakers I use with my Helix rig. Got mine for £50. https://www.zoom.co.jp/products/guitar/zoom-g1xon-guitar-multi-effects-processor-expression-pedal

Yup, what Phil and SpaceRacer said ;-) Also, once you've set the first snapshot (push in and turn the model selector), you can change your Variax model on the guitar itself and save the Snapshot you're in to keep the selection. That can be good and bad: I've seen me sometimes change the Variax model knob, mess about a bit then save the snapshot, but forget to change the model back to what I wanted in the first place. Great feature though. One problem I had early on, was that I had to disconnect the VDI cable a reconnect while the unit was on. If I didn't, the model/tuning wasn't being updated by the Helix. Seems I don't have to bother now, so that may have been a quirk of my setup. Worth trying a quick disconnect/reconnect though if it's not updating.

I’m not at my Helix right now, and I seem to be having a brain freeze! I just wanted to reassure you that it’s definitely possible as I use one main patch with 4 snapshots for a full blues gig, and switch between Strat, Les Paul, Acoustic, and Resonator. I also have a footswitch assigned to alt tunings. I’m sure someone will come along soon to give you details, but I’ll post later on when I’m back in the studio.

Hi, I love pedal edit mode, but my expression pedal nearly always kicks in and causes the current value to jump. I can see why expression input would be useful, but I'd prefer to be able to turn it off so I can make adjustments purely with the switches and avoid any parameter jumps. I'm using Helix Rack with Helix Control and 3 x BOSS FV-500s. Maybe they're a bit more sensitive than the Helix Floor's built-in expression pedal. Anyone know of a way to deactivate it?

I can confirm the same issue using the Cali IV Lead with a Variax connected via VDI. (Helix Rack - FW 2.21) I set up a patch with just the Cali (Amp + Cab), set Bass and Middle to 0, and left it for about an hour. I tweaked it to fairly high gain and adjusted the EQ to get a fuller sound. It went from heavy gain to practically zero, then a quick flick of the Bass parameter and all was fine again. Just thought it might be interesting to test if it was input-specific, but I guess not. Weird one!!!

Maybe I'm not quite getting you, but I change subdivisions using Snapshots all the time. My main patch switches between dotted eighth, quarter, and sixteenth note values.

I'm certain that the Fender foot switch will be sending out some sort of proprietary control data. I can't see any way you'd be able to replicate that using the Helix. Are you thinking of trying the Helix's CV out? The only way I could imagine being able to control the GT, would be to use MIDI. As the Mustang amps don't include 5-pin MIDI, you'd need a way to convert the Helix 5-pin MIDI out to USB. That's usually pretty tricky, but I know there are solutions out there. First is to use a Raspberry Pi (or similar) to convert the signals via Linux software - http://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=101390 The other is the Primova Sound MIDX-20, a clever box that converts things for you - http://www.primovasound.com/midx_20.html I've successfully used a Raspberry Pi in the past to do something similar, but the MIDX-20 seems like a lot simpler. Good luck! :)

I bought a Helix Rack and Control, but the Control was delayed by about 10 days. The whole system felt about 10% as useful without it. I make my own MIDI controllers, but nothing compares to the dedicated controller. However, if you're certain you don't need it, then you can control the looper using MIDI commands: CC 60 - Looper Record/Overdub switch (0-63: Overdub;64-127: Record) CC 61 - Looper Play/Stop switch (0-63: Stop; 64-127: Play) CC 62 - Looper Play Once switch CC 63 - Looper Undo switch CC 65 - Looper Forward/Reverse switch (0-63: Forward; 64-127: Reverse)

Well, that's just amazing! Totally transforms the Helix for me. That flexibility means it'll be suitable for all sorts of other plans I have ;-) Thanks for the quick response!

Hi folks, I've just ordered a Helix Rack and Control (don't tell my girlfriend!). One of the things I'm hoping to use Helix for, is a simple stage rig for my band's smaller gigs. I'll only need simple processing, so I'm sure I'll have enough DSP to run one Amp Sim, Reverb, and Tremolo on the first path, then use two paths for the other guys; one keyboard input and one mic input for vocals. They'll only need a bit of EQ and a simple (mono) reverb. What I'm a little unsure of is whether I could use a 'Send' block on all 3 paths to do a simple monitor mix. Does anyone know if this is possible? I've looked through the manual, and it specifically states you can only use one of each Return socket per patch (which makes sense), so I'm hoping that means the Send block can be used multiple times with the same physical output. Thanks for your help! (Hope I'm making sense)

I don't own a Helix (yet), but that seems like a cool idea. The only problem (in my experience) is the side-effects of a system that recognises held switches and double-taps. At the moment, I assume, a single press of a switch actives that snapshot instantly. If you want double taps etc, you'd have to sacrifice the instantaneous nature of the snapshot feature. In other words, you'd have to wait until the switch is released for anything to happen. I know this has been a bit of an issue for users of TC's Nova System, and I can understand why. We're mostly used to stomping on a switch and something happening instantly. I'm working on my own MIDI foot switch, and I haven't come across a method that allows instant switching AND recognition of multiple taps/holds without having either some time delay or sending the message on the switch being released. Hopefully there's some cunning trick I haven't thought of yet :-)

Great demo, and the guy can really play. Also, I now know what would happen if someone cross-bred Louis Litt and Dave Matthews! ;)

I had some time to spare on a trip to Newcastle (UK) today, so decided to pop into PMT. it's the first time I've seen the Helix in person - it was the rack version. It's stunning! The display/UI are excellent and the build quality is just as good as if hoped it would be. Spying a beautiful PRS Custom 24 Floyd, I had them set it all up direct into a Mackie powered monitor. The feel was what really grabbed me. It's incredibly responsive to dynamics/volume control, and that's what I really wanted to know about most. There were only 2 patches on the demo unit, but it's so easy to program, I didn't mind having to tweak. The foot controller's great, but it would've been nice if it had a built-in expression pedal. The scribble strips are a god-send! I was a little disappointed with the lack of effects vs. my old Pod HD Pro X, but I'm sure I could work round that and hopefully there'll be more added later on. It had firmware 1.05 (I think), so there are probably some improvements I didn't get to see. Overall I'm pretty tempted. At the moment, I'm using a heavily modified JTV-69 with GK pickup and an on-board arduino for MIDI control, into a GP-10 and a Mac mini running s-gear, and that's hard to beat - but the Helix is probably a bit more practical. I wanted to post this because I was quite sceptical about the unit as a whole, but I couldn't really fault it. It's definitely something you need to try in order to appreciate and I'm glad I finally have. Loved the PRS, too!!!

You're weird. I like that!!!

It's a while since I sold my G-System, so I could be wrong, but I think you'll find TC's MIDI implementation woefully lacking. It's fine for a simple MIDI setup, but Helix itself is really where TC should have been years ago. I agree the effects in the G-System are lovely, and the hardware itself is beautiful, but I sold mine cause it was so poor on the MIDI side.

Thanks again DI! I think I could make it work that way - might be a slight compromise, but probably worth it. In an ideal world, all the USB ports would be selectable as either part of a signal path or just routed through a specified (or all) output(s). Maybe one for a future update ;-) I assume there's no way to 'insert' the USB IOs in the chain, i.e. instead of the physical send/returns?

Thanks for the quick response! That sounds cool. However, does that mean I wouldn't be able to route a backing track to FoH? At the moment I send a full mix plus live synths etc. to FoH, and also have the same plus my click/cues to headphones.

Hi folks! I'm seriously considering selling a large chunk of my gear and replacing it with a Helix. If I go this route though, it'll mean using it as my primary audio interface. I think I've figured out from the manual and forum posts that there's plenty flexibility in the inputs to meet my needs, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer on whether my on-stage IEM monitoring will work. Basically, I want to send a click/cue track from my Mac Mini via USB but ONLY hear it through the headphone out. Is this possible? I'm hoping I can do that without having to use up one of the 4 paths. Thanks in advance!

Yup, that's what I meant :-)

You could try assigning a patch with the volume preset to 0%, right next to the one you're using so that you can use the JTV switch the same sort of way you would with a volume-down Les Paul middle position. Just a thought.