regalpierot

And, heads up as you are just starting to use the thing, not sure if it's the same on Windows but most definitely on Mac (happened about 4 times to me in the few weeks I've owned Helix) there seems to be a known issue when connected to USB with the Editor open where the Helix can just freeze. Audio still routes through it and is processed with whatever preset happened to be on when the problem occurred, but none of the controls or foot switches function. You have to restart the Helix to get it back to normal. Scary at first, and gives you that awful 'now I have to deal with a return' feeling, which you don;t, because quite a few folks seem to experience the same thing so hopefully a future firmware fix. I will also say, hours and hours or use and a few gigs in with Helix and issue has never happened unless I was running and connected to the Editor so that's definitely a quantifiable risk.

Ah Ribulous, numerous paragraphs filled with condescension and by all accounts what sounds like remarkably embellished tales (at least I hope it is, because if the notion of a bunch of old timers playing a private party 'belly aching' at the mere mention of the Line 6 forum is kinda beyond sad) But, still, odd alleged conversation where the band waxed lyrical about your Axe (convenient that) still not a single mention of what specifically about the Helix made it something you now apparently store next to your numerous shoe boxes. So I retain the calling b*llsh*t. And yes, I apologize to what I consider to be a particularly great forum and community for further contributing to this pointlessness. I'll step out now.

Just saw this. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to do this, really appreciated.

Almost a day and absolutely no response with anything of consequence to 'I will throw this out to the lions to feed on: I have worked with both extensively, the Helix is back in it's box and on a shelf.' So I'm calling b*lllollipop, something of an attempt to troll some folks who love their Helix's. Like, love, or adore Fractal or Kemper that's perfectly legit, but I would deny anyone who claims to have extensively used the Helix to present factual reasons why you would ever relegate it to being retired in a box on a shelf. Just sayin'

@Ribulous, slightly odd analogy explaining bias to all, the last line did stand out. And probably mostly what OP was looking for. What specifically was it that made you allegedly take a $1500 unit and seemingly shelve it in favor of the other one?

Love it. I'm a stickler for dust covering the finer equipment in the studio so of late have been using the plastic bag the Helix was in in the box. Definitely interesting Incidentally, roughly how much was shipping to US from Bulgaria for something this size?

Nice one, thanks for sharing. See you have the Kemper there so love to hear what you think of each in comparison after you get time hours in on the Helix. A lot of online stores are having May 26th as availability date so clearly inventory is making it into the distribution channels once more. Nice complaint to have Line 6, demand outweighing supply and all that. Well done.

Maybe it is, clumsy as the years go on, much as I love the joystick I find that when I'm using it to cycle through blocks in a chain to get from one to the other I'll invariably mistakenly spin the thing which worst case scenario will alter the block. When you spin back in the previous amp\cab\effect it takes on the settings of its default, naturally. Normally I just away from and back to the whole preset to put it back to where I started from but invariably I've altered a number of things in the edit session and all those also get reverted. Stupid gripe I know, but just wondering if anyone else finds themselves inadvertently doing this?

I just ordered mine from zzounds.com, after mine they said they had two more in stock. They also price matched with 'Full Compass Systems' so $142 all in, no tax and free shipping. Been mulling around some of the other options people have posted, and in reality spending the cost of a new pedal on a backpack is weird for me. But after gigging with the helix and now deciding it's going to be my go to for practice sessions etc I think the quality and fact it was built with the unit in mind tipped me over. Just sharing the availability with others, haven't seen them come in stock anywhere else.

On a similar trend I hope L6 ad a simple boost block at some stage (similar to a TC Electronic Spark or so, mainly a clean boost with possibly a slight touch of OD if wanted). The TC Electronic G Sytem had a dedicated boost pedal for all presets and it was amazingly useful. What I'm typically doing now is just building a multi control with maybe boosting the gain and the channel volume on presets that I want to be able to hit a pedal during solos etc but I'd love a single effect that would handle that so I'd just have a standardized solution across the board.....literally and figuratively.

Wise words DunedinDragon, clearly you have indeed been involved in dev and project management because that echoes a lot of my own experiences and opinions. I sometimes wonder how things went before the internet and formus and easy access to communicating towards manufacturers. Sure it is advantageous for dev teams to truly gauge what features and fixes are being requested en masse, and heaven knows it's a plus for product managers to quickly see the bugs that slip through the cracks and users find. But I more means that 25 years ago I bought a unit, I found a few flaws here and there and things I wished it did, but the notion of picking up a phone or writing a letter to the maker was such a hassle that I just worked around them and spent more time playing and less time wishing. Now, I'm almost writing on a forum or EMailing support 48 hours after owning a thing and compiling a wish list of functions and features.

As I've posted a few times on here I am a new, but incredibly impressed Helix owner. Love the thing. I have to say, hand on heart though I am not a massive fan of the GUI when it comes to editing block parameters. I wasn't really huge on that UX whenever I did it on my Amplifi unit (horizontal meters on multiple pages, just counter intuitive to what I'm used to). Even though the editing is just a part of it, I really wish they'd have an option to either edit the current way or when you went into an effect block the GUI looked like a zoomed in stompbox look with rotaries for the parameters and then the physical rotaries automapped to those. Would be a really nice touch. I do like on things like Amplitude (and I strongly dislike IK Multimedia) how there's a familiarity with tweaking an effect. Oh well, can't have it all I guess. Wonder if others find that specific part of the UI great, or not their cup of tea?

Always nice in whatever scenario to have a plan B versus the horrendous anxiety of being 20 mins before showtime and still fiddling about with an unexpected fault, even if you get things running the general adrenaline and blood pressure spike will drain you for actually enjoying the experience. Good point, the resale value probably not worth the insurance policy. I reduced my backup to three four mini form factor pedals, a TC HOF (reverb), TC Flashback (delay), TC Polytune Mini (tuning) and SL Drive (overdrive or distortion). Every set we do I make sure I can at least replicate the songs to some extent with some combination of those four. All four plus patch chords plus small powersupply all fit in an expression pedals box. Every lb and square inch matter when you are lugging stuff back and forth so works for me. Luckily not needed to even go go that battle box yet.

Just to play devils advocate, and this is from someone who would value a 'retail addiction' support group for such things. Before the Axe gets beyond the return date, return and get your money back (or, gulp the Helix). I've done things like that so many times, convinced myself of the practical application (the $1400 backup solution) and then a year down the line realized that the thing is gathering dust. Unless you're one of the rare few with lots of time and interest you simply won't spend the time creating a certain preset sound on one then going back and replicating on the other. And the more time you spend distracted from one the less time you are spending becoming an expert in it and truly committing it to muscle memory (always envious of my friends who just stick with a single solution and know it cold). Of course, take my advice with a pinch of salt, worse things in the world than having two awesome toys. But just do consider if you bought it because you really needed it and will really use it, or you got the invitation to buy and the temptation was too much. If the latter,now is the window to potentially avoid that 'Jesus that was a mistake' feeling two months from now when the new smell and package opening is a long distant memory. I know I know, buzz kill post for sure but intentions are good.

I agree, more choice isn't always a good thing. It can complicate things unnecessarily and waste more of that finite time (depending on your situation of course, with young kids I am definitely working in small windows) or most definitely your finite creative time (I have mine clocked at 20 mins, after that I'm on a downward decline so I detest when technology and menu browsing steals some of that valuable windows from me). I guess I also think that all my favorite musicians ever had one or two amps and a fixed set of pedals and didn't seem to magically swap them out numerous times throughout a gig. I also agree with Phil_m about overlap, with any synth or preset\model heavy guitar solution I've owned (even with the Helix truth be told) there's plenty of times where the difference is so subtle that only you, or the sound trainspotters will ever notice or care. Personally, I never listen to music or watch a live act and really like or dislike a song specifically because of the type of amp or cab or model of effect was used (if I can even tell). But, it's all down to personal taste. I gigged with the Helix for the first time this weekend and the workflow, the screen, the clever way things are laid out and the sound blew me away. Best guitar solution I've ever owned. And hands down an Axe owner and a Kemper owner will give me a 100 reasons why they love their solution. It's all good.

My 2 cents. I kept one of my H9s because it really is like owning all those awesome 'Factor' pedal range the company produced in one form factor. The IOS interface really is like using a PitchFactor etc. But also, clever old Eventide have started producing algorithms you couldn't really replicate on a stomp and specific to the H9. If I didn't already own a H9 Max before I got the Helix? Hmm, debatable, think you could certainly make do with the Line 6 beast. But if you have access to one, or can get one in a good second hand deal, as @tj said they play very nicely together. Plus, all the excuse a gearhead might ever need, the Helix is black and the H9 is white so you absolutely need to get one :) @tj. I've been using my Disaster Area midi clock device and midi controller for controlling the H9 but really would like to tie it all into Helix controls. I know there was some discussion on here and some folks said clock was definitely sent (maybe remembering that wrong) from the helix Midi din connection. Have you tried and found that definitely not to be the case dude?

That picture doesn't even display the boutique pedal shelf, but I didn't even use them in the main loop but rather swapped in and out where the Mastotron and Memory Boy were as that was a kind of ever changing and modular part of the rig. I'd bought some pieces that were used exclusively with analog synths and a few I routed some samplers through. I somewhat condensed all those into a single entity then just routed whatever instrument I was working with through that. In all honesty it was an unpractical mess, if I gigged I'd have to split it apart and only take certain parts and even in the studio for the units that didn't have presets I'd have to dial in all the specific settings just to continue working on a part while maintaining the tone I used last time. Not a thought out solution. I'd tried some single units over the years (G System still in that pic) but kept hitting on the flexibility, and sound, couldn't match the individual stomps. Jack of all trades and master of none etc. Kemper and Axe just never did it for me (both great I'm sure) and when the Helix was released I did a lot of waiting and online researching. Have it two weeks, and absolutely love it so much. Interface alone is incredible. I use a lot of Midi controllers for writing other parts and the thing reminds me of two units I think were designed with quality and workflow in mind, the NI Maschine Studio and the Ableton Push 2. Just, great. 85% or so of what is in the pic is retired now. Sold, traded or sitting on a shelf (just in case). I maintained three things that I integrate with Helix 1. Strymon Big Sky. - Helix aint there yet for the more ambient and lush complex reverbs but that is understandable. For all standard reverbs I'm more than happy with it though. 2. Eventide H9 - Sold one, kept my max. I only use it for the pitchfactor (arps etc) effects which are pretty amazing. 3. TC Electronic Triple Delay. - Love that at a flip of a single switch you can change all three delays to serial mode so the first feeds into the second and that feeds into the third all in time. Really capable thing. Aside that though, one single footprint that as soon as the Helix backpacks start shipping again will be easily transportable. No looking back.

OK, well fingers crossed. This will either be another blank page or hopefully the rig helix replaced.

Well that didn't quite go according to plan. Anyone know the secret of getting an image up here (I guess everyone else on this thread). Jpeg says that extension not allowed on this forum. Bmp says 'message too short'. Png completed without error but clearly just a blank result. Definitely I'm missing something simple (oh, and I'm just dragging the image onto the text area, so maybe my workflow is goofy)

Here's what my Helix just replaced

Perfect, thanks again chaps. Yeah I'll grab the manual tonight to hone in on the loading (dialing in numbers and the shaft number I need to work out, I'm sure its all in there). I only have the Helix a few days, think when I went to load an IR as a block all I saw was 1024 and 2048 or something, loaded one and made zero sound difference so thought I should move on to other things and ask the experts. Appreciate all your help, and links etc. Great little community here.

Thanks mate, will give that a try this evening. Logically, it sounds like that is undoubtedly the issue. Fingers crossed, muscle memory was having me fade out when I should have faded in and vice versa and the results were not amazing.

Thanks so much all for taking the time to respond. Hate to be ubernewbie and all with follow up but just getting my head around the IR thing (strange concept to me that it isn't an algorithm but a series of samples) and have limited time to try and nail this before Friday show. So I download that .wav collection from above link for the Taylor, (thanks again fukuri). Do I then use the editor to upload that group of files to the Helix, where I assume I'd just add the IR as a block in building the preset right?

Anyone have a tone that can, to some degree anyway, have an electric simulate an acoustic. This kind of thing if so, really really appreciate any advice (either for building or if you could post the thing I'd be so grateful)

That worked perfectly. For some reason I also thought maybe a control and a simple activate\deactivate couldn't exist mapped to the same footswitch but low and behold, I now have a single switch that Macros to switching one effect on, a second off, and boosting the drive level then reversing all that when un-engaged. Love this unit so much. While I have the 'probably easy answer' thread open so don't want to take up valuable space with one more probably stupid question. I have two external expression pedals, both Boss FL500s running into FS2 and FS4. One operates as normal but for the one that is taking the FS2 function away from the onboard expression pedal and acting as a volume is seems somehow reversed. Pedal up sets volume to max, pedal down sets volume to minimum so I'm goofing swells like nobody's business. Is there a setting to reverse that back to the normal way a volume pedal would control max\min volume. Cheers.