Digital_Igloo

There's no micropitch, but try this: Add a Pitch Wham block. Helix automatically assigns it to the EXP Toe Switch, so you'll want to reassign it to a different footswitch (touch and hold the desired switch and press Knob 6 [OK]). Press MENU, Knob 2 (Controller Assign), turn Knob 2 (Controller) to "None," and press HOME. This unassigns EXP 1 completely. Set Knob 3 (Toe Pitch) to +1. Set Knob 1 (Position) to 51%. This is roughly 2 cents sharp. You can also create a second Pitch Wham block (must be on a parallel path!), except set Knob 2 (Heel Pitch) to -1 and Knob 1 (Position) to 49%. This is roughly 2 cents flat.

It doesn't really work that way. MSRP/MAP is directly tied to parts and development costs (among other things). If Helix shipped with a backpack, it'd cost $1649 instead of $1499. That's why we didn't include the backpack. BigRalphN would've spent $1649 and tossed the backpack in a closet when he could've spent $1499. :D

A few ways to do this: With a typical parallel path (one split and merge), path paths A and B hard left and hard right in the Merge > Mixer block. Make sure none of the post-Mixer blocks are mono Move the Mixer block down to create a duplicate output block. Pan these hard left and hard right Use both Paths 1 and 2 and pan their respective output blocks hard left and hard right

Pretty much. Full preset spillover is one of those things that everyone would love to have, but almost no one is willing to sacrifice what's necessary to get it. I wonder if DigiTech received flak from people wondering why they didn't use that extra DSP to give them more blocks or next gen modeling instead. I was at Roland when the Fantom-G was released. It was the first workstation to do true multitimbral performance spillover (play a chord, hold the sustain pedal, switch presets, and seamlessly blend into the next chord). The trick was that it required a special Live Set Mode where the 16 simultaneous parts would be split in half so every other preset would get either parts 1-8 or parts 9-16 to smoothly spill over. I'll give you one guess as to everyone's reaction... "THIS SUCKS! WHY CAN'T ALL SIXTEEN PARTS SPILL OVER?!"

Sorry, didn't mean to sound defensive—I'm honestly interested in the push encoders you mentioned. Mechanical Engineering would love to tear them apart and see what makes 'em tick. We're always looking for ways to improve things. :) Secret: Helix's UI was more inspired by german supercars than other music gear.

It's not ideal, but of course it's acceptable. If it wasn't acceptable to the vast, vast majority of guitar players, more than two boxes ever made in the history of guitar processors would have full preset spillover. The $3200 AxeFX II XL+ and MFC-101 doesn't do it. The $2400 KPA and remote doesn't do it either. If you ask 100 people if they're willing to give up half their blocks or half their sound quality for spillover, all 100 will tell you no. We know, because we actually asked. And again, you can seamlessly blend between tones with spillover right now in Helix, within the same preset. We also have other ideas for potential future implementation, but can't talk about it now.

Out of curiosity, which push encoders have you experienced that don't have some amount of play? We went through every single push encoder in the building, and in all of our studios, and Helix's are as good or better than all of them. There are $50,000 boxes with push encoders that have more wiggle. Duncann's right; the push functionality requires some amount of play.

Was the USB flash drive missing from your box?

8 TEMPLATES > 01D Super Serial x2 is exactly this. Page 18 in the manual explains how to build it manually.

Just press and hold that parameter knob again—Helix jumps to the correct page. When you're done tweaking, press HOME.

Yes, and it's very simple: Press and hold the knob for the parameter you want to assign to a footswitch. Helix jumps to the Controller Assign screen for that parameter. Press Knob 6 (Learn Controller) and then press the desired footswitch. Helix automatically assigns the footswitch to that parameter. Turn Knob 4 (Min Value) and Knob 5 (Max Value) if desired. Swap min and max values to reverse controller behavior. Press HOME to exit the Controller Assign screen. Repeat steps 1-4 to assign additional parameters to the same footswitch. Each footswitch can be assigned to up to eight different items (Block on/off, parameter min/max, and/or Command Center message). EDIT: Phil beat me by seconds! <shakes tiny fist>

I've written about spillover about fifty times in the past three months across a dozen forums. Should probably write a blog and just link to it. The only way to get preset spillover is to dedicate half your DSP to spillover and only spillover. That means all presets lose half their blocks, or all models lose half their sound quality. Line 6 is not going to sacrifice sound quality, but if you're willing to lose half your blocks, you can always start with 8 TEMPLATES > 02C TwoTones A-B or 02D TwoTones Blend, both of which have spillover delay and reverb built into the preset.

Sometime in December. Maaaybe late this month.

$149.99 MSRP/MAP.

Helix would be the same. If the VOLUME knob is maxed and your Merge > Mixer and Output blocks are set to unity, the signal should be unity all the way through (assuming you've set your Global Settings > Ins/Outs > Levels appropriately).

It was one of those things that one person in one user interview casually mentioned as being vaguely less-than-optimal in HD500, which triggered a flurry of internal "yeah, that's always bugged us too!" conversations. Helix is the result of seemingly hundreds of situations like this. No stone left unturned. :)

Super secret Pro Tip: Hold FS5 (just left of MODE) and FS12 (TAP/TUNER) while booting Helix. WARNING! THIS WILL PERMANENTLY CLEAR OUT ALL FACTORY AND USER SETLISTS AND PRESETS AND RETURN ALL SYSTEM SETTINGS (including XLR and 1/4" levels) TO DEFAULT.

Keep in mind that each path (1 and 2) have their own processing. If you fill up path 1, you've still used up less than 50% of the total available DSP. Route path 1 into path 2 and you're golden.

FACT: ALL PRESETS SUCK.

HD500X works this way; Helix is different (by design) and displays both states—the current state is lit; the alternate state is dim.

An Amp+Cab block should use the exact same amount of DSP as separate Amp and Cab > Single blocks. Obviously a Cab > Dual block would use more. A 1024-point IR will use a little more DSP than a native Cab > Single block. A 2048-point IR will use a little more than twice the DSP.

Wait... Did you add a "the" before Helix and a superfluous space between sentences to my quote? I was like "Huh? That's something I remember writing but there's no way I wrote it that way!" Just for that, I'm editing your quote as well. :D I'm obvious biased, but Helix was meticulously engineered to maintain signal integrity all the way through. "Tone suck" is in the ear of the beholder, but we're running the same converters (well, 8-channel versions) as boxes that cost a lot more. Reports from the field in this regard have been overwhelmingly positive.

Yeah, a metronome in Helix should be Global, and appear in the Tempo panel when you touch TAP.