Digital_Igloo

It's gonna be a while before anyone can hit Bob's Music Emporium and walk out with Helix the same day. AFAIK, dealers filled all initial (read: last summer) preorders; it's just that more preorders keep filling the gaps in availability. So far, we've shipped way more Helices than expected. TL;DR: Get your preorder in.

In that template, FS6 (HELIX PREAMP) controls both the Preamp and FX Loop's bypass—it lets you toggle between your real preamp (in 4 cable method) and one of Helix's Preamp models. Here's what you can do: Highlight the Preamp block, press ACTION, and then Knob 3 (Clear Block). Highlight the FX Loop block, press MENU, and then Knob 1 (Footswitch Assign). Turn Knob 1 (Footswitch) to None to disable footswitch control of the FX Loop.

Select the block, press ACTION and then Knob 1 (Copy Block). Choose the destination—even in a different preset—press ACTION, and then Knob 2 (Paste Block).

Footswitches can be assigned to blocks (Footswitch Assign), parameters (Controller Assign), and MIDI/CV/Amp Control messages (Command Center). There wasn't room for a Customize button on the Controller Assign page, but you can get to the same spot from the Command Center screen.

Yep, that's more than likely what happened. We updated the firmware in the Rocklin (CA) warehouse before shipping out to dealers.

Yep. Set Amplitube's input to USB 7 and its output to USB 1/2. By default, USB 7 sends Helix's Guitar In signal directly to your computer, bypassing all processing blocks. I'm not sure if the standalone version of Amplitude supports multiple USB channels, but running it as a plugin in any DAW (besides GarageBand) should work.

Mine's the SVT bright channel, if only because I'd previously never heard a bass amp in any modeler (hardware or software) nail the bass tones of my favorite records.

We've had six or eight Helices outside QA, powered on 24/7 for at least a few months. It's too young a product for me to say "sure, go ahead and leave that sucker on," but so far, all of them work perfectly.

Check out some of the factory presets. Plenty of them have multiple amps and tons of effects blocks with DSP to spare. Despite the fact that Helix is 2.3 times faster than HD500X (2.75x faster than HD500), HX models are much more DSP intensive than HD. I've mentioned many times that one should not expect to get twice the blocks as POD. Running both DSPs, you should get about 40-50% more blocks than HD500X, but that's still highly dependent on what models you choose. Everyone should read "Dynamic DSP" on page 19 in the Owner's Manual, but more importantly, I really need to finish that stupid blog. I'll go out on a limb and state that no one will ever create a multieffects guitar modeler (or synth!) that lets you implement all that the software has to offer. As DSPs get faster, the models will simply get better and require more cycles. For fifteen years, people have claimed that near-zero throughput latency while mixing on Macs and PCs is just around the corner, yet DAWs and plugins get more and more hardcore, which requires everyone increase their buffers which in turn increases latency. My studio's throughput latency is actually higher than it was in 1998. But man, it sure sounds better today! If Helix 2 ends up with four DSPs, and Helix 3 has eight DSPs, and Helix 4 has sixteen quantum-computing GPUs and 20 petabytes of RAM, I guarantee you we'll all still be having this conversation. We'll always find a way to quickly fill that sucker up. :D If a box exists that does let you implement all that the software has to offer, the manufacturer is artificially restricting the number of certain types of effects. Line 6 does this too, in Firehawk FX and AMPLIFi, because it's simpler to grok, more predictable, and doesn't give people DSP anxiety. Helix is a pro product, and we weren't about to artificially restrict you guys to one amp, two IRs, and six effects, just to make you sleep better at night. With great power comes great responsibility, as they say.

Correct. While on the Save screen, Knobs 4 (Setlist) and 5 (Destination) determine to where you'll save the setlist. The inspector header (where it says "Replace...") tells you what preset you'll replace, even if it's an empty one; eg. "New Preset". Helix has 1,024 preset locations, but fewer than 300 are filled up from the factory.

It's pretty safe to ignore the whole "In Progress" thing—I think I may be the only one who updates IdeaScale submission states, and will be the first to admit they don't reflect actual development. Unfortunately, the number of votes a particular idea gets has more to do with when it was submitted than how popular it really is. Regardless, I'd like to think we're pretty good at reading between the lines and pursuing things that our users want, and this requires paying attention to many sources outside of IdeaScale. You're right that "low hanging fruit" features will likely show up faster than those that are difficult or impossible to implement, but that's par for the course. Also keep in mind that no one asked for scribble strips, Pedal Edit mode, or Helix's level of routing, so expect things from out of the blue. If we just went through and checked boxes, Helix would be predictable and boring. In the end, know that Helix incorporated 165 features culled directly from IdeaScale, so obviously we take it seriously. But the real metrics can't be sussed out by counting votes. Me too.

Correct, for the same reason that software plugins such as Reaktor or Omnisphere don't respond to dedicated CCs—far too many variables. If Helix had a fixed signal path (one amp, one delay, one reverb, etc.) with no more than 128 parameters total, traditional CC mapping would make perfect sense. Except each preset in Helix may potentially end up with upwards of a 1000 parameters, and they would all change from preset to preset! One could argue that Helix should support some sort of robust System Exclusive architecture, and it certainly could, but that's way beyond the scope of 99.9% of guitarists. Some manufacturers like Roland support robust SysEx for every box they make, so a clever end user could build an editor themselves, but with Helix Edit around the corner, that's all but unnecessary IMO. Currently, you can bypass individual blocks that are assigned to their own footswitch (via Footswitch emulation with CC48-58), but this isn't ideal. Individual block bypass—independent of footswitch assignment—is definitely on the list of things I'd love to see in Helix.

Mission's also working on a new Helix-branded expression pedal with a toe switch for use with Helix Rack. Great guys over there.

There's a whole section of the manual (page 19) that discusses Helix's Dynamic DSP. Some Amp+Cab blocks take up more than half a DSP, so yes, you're not gonna get much else on a path if you add two of 'em. This is exactly why we gave you two paths/DSPs! Check out some of the factory presets that have two (or three!) amps and tons of effects. Guess it's time to finish that blog...

Tweak with your feet! :)

Yep. If Helix's XLR outputs are set to Line (Global Settings > Ins/Outs > Page 2), you should go into the L2t's line input on the same panel as the AC cable, not the mixer inputs.

Great stuff, Peter!

We're hoping to show Helix Edit at NAMM, so if any of you are in SoCal in late January...

Cool! A good friend of mine from Melbourne introduced me to them. Great guys, really down to earth.

I prefer the Rack and Control myself. There's just something so cool about editing your presets from 80 feet away. Plus, the duplicate jacks means it's a lot easier for more than one band member to share and control Helix's four discrete stereo paths.

Some sort of bypass scenes functionality is toward the top of the Helix feature request list. Here's a link. X/Y state is largely accomplished by assigning more than one block to the same footswitch and pressing BYPASS while one of them is highlighted. As a bonus, you can turn four blocks on and four blocks off, all with one switch. The whole "hold switch to load an alternate model into the same slot" isn't nearly as elegant, and it precludes Helix's latching/momentary functionality, which is WAY cooler IMO. Not sure what this means. Helix already does this, depending on the current footswitch mode (preset, stomp, looper, Pedal Edit). In stomp mode, a switch can do up to eight things simultaneously (block on/off, controller min/max, Command Center message). Potentially, this could be accomplished if scenes stored Command Center toggle states. Any of Helix's 1,024 presets can be nothing but Command Center messages. If you're talking about a separate controller-only hardware device, other companies seem to have that covered (like Keith McMillan, RJM, and Liquid Foot).

Haaahaa! I've been trying to tell everyone that the scribble strip lenses have removable plastic as well, but not everyone's been paying attention. Props!

Ugh... Yeah, I posted that and it was taken down immediately. James Limborg has at least three Facebook pages, all pretending to be official Line 6 Helix Facebook groups, and all specifically designed to pimp his patches for a competing product. He also posted a one-star review on either GC.com or MusiciansFriend.com weeks before Helix was even available, again, all designed to pimp his patches. Unbelievably shady.

The easiest thing to do is just connect one cable to the left output (XLR or 1/4"). If no cable is connected to the right side, Helix automatically sums the signal heard at the left output to mono.

1-3/8" from the front of your rack's rails. You can remove the handles, however, if space is at a premium.