regalpierot

Top man ricksteruk, really appreciate it mate

Really hoping someone can help. Only had the unit a week and really happy thus far. I've managed to work out how to assign a block to a footswitch (if you can't do that with how simple the workflow made it you are probably a drummer :) ) But is it possible to assign a specific setting change to a footswitch instead of just a block on\off. For example, I have one preset built that is working perfectly for me. During a certain part of the performance though I want to raise the drive setting on the amp (so say from 2 to 4.5), I don't want to try and do it with the control mapped to an expression pedal as to me that's too fraught with getting it wrong at the exact moment I need to change back and forth, so would love to lock in a footswitch to engage and kick the gain to a locked in 4.5, then disengage brings the gain back to 2. Really appreciate any advice.

First and foremost, I read a lot of forums about a lot of kit. Mainly synth and sampler stuff but invariably someone associated with a certain manufacturer (PM or Lead technician etc) will post a response to some critique. Intentionally or not, they either come across as overly defensive and condescending or inversely overly acquiescing and almost unnecessarily apologetic. I'm new to this forum so am not sure if Digital_Igloo works for Line 6 but his post of April 29th 9:12am is one of the best articulated and perfectly crafted answers I've seen on such subjects. Almost every product I own the community can find a weakness or criticism (all good to have and voice) but there's sometimes an assumption that owners of competitors products are to be envied because they don't face similar frustrations. I have yet, in 25 years of owning hoards of products, to find one that didn't have some blemishes that made it through QA or some things it didn't do as well as the competition. There is no silver bullet, there is no perfect product or manufacturer software or hardware wise (at least one that is financially viable), but there is a Sergent Peppers so it's what you do with the tools you have. Reverb-wise, I actually think the Helix does more than well with the basic reverb types you'd use in standard tones (basic room, plate etc) just to fill out a sound, by that I mean I have never loaded a block in and felt it's the weak link. Luckily though the advantage of a software based solution it I guess we are just a release of a new algorithm away from extending out beyond that so no doubt additional options will happen in time. I do tend to do a lot of ambient stuff but never went into the helix thinking it would replace my Big Sky or H9 but I just throw those in a send\return loop so that's been thought out. But that kind of processing comes at a cost, there's a reason the Strymon is $479 and the H9 $699 (well, my Max was anyway) so 1\3 and 1\2 Helix respectively.

Sounds great, although I think it was also a clever idea to hire a tree to be the second guitarist :)

Had my first crash last night, wasn't even aware that could happen. Latest Firmware (1.12) and I did have Mac connected with editor running at time. I was also cycling pretty fast through presets via footswitch\banking as I was just trying each one out I hadn't played with before. Exactly as other people have stated, unit seemed to freeze and unresponsive to any controls, editor displayed a message about my device no longer connected, but audio still processed through the thing with the preset that was loaded when crash happened. I am hoping this was just a combo of Mac\USB in use and me cycling too fast on presets. No other crashes or issues when not doing that. I have a gig with the Helix on Saturday so now 95% confident where I was 100% up to about 9:00pm last night :)

I haven't had any technical issues at all with the expression pedal on the unit, but it is the one sole piece I am not a huge fan of. Think it was a little over engineered unnecessarily. It feels bulky and a little odd to get just right with resistance (I much prefer the one on the Amplifi FX100 just simple central connection) and that sponged top is just a filth fest in the making. Although to me, and this is down to the individual I guess) the feel I want from a wah and the feel I want from a volume pedal are different. Clever Line 6 though in designing this gave enough options with the two external slots. I personally run two Boss FV-500 pedals into Exp 2 \ 3. The one in 2 automatically rakes the place of EXP2 on all presets so is my volume, and the second FV-500 I map out to any wah I throw in a preset. I then just map EXP1 (on board one) to any odd modulation I may want to control like rotary speeds etc. I guess the added bonus is if something is going to go on the helix in time, with constant use its going to be that pedal. Rather use it sparingly.

I was thinking about that, you'd definitely need to have the send\ret block to the looper at the end of the chain or as the loop is cycling back into the unit it would be reprocessed with any effect after it. But then if you change presets, or activate\deactivate any effect block that's going to effect your loops processed signal too (seems picky of me I know, but often times I record a loop...want it to stay as it was recorded tone wise, then layer some additional overdubs with some overdrive or delay etc while not changing the original one at all). I guess the simple answer for now would be putting my looper between the Helix and the amp. But if this feature gets put in an update I'll be so happy as really want to just have helix and nothing else going on. .

My #1 feature request. That would be the icing on the cake for me.

Aha. Thanks mate, will try that this evening.

Thanks @silverhead. Sorry, undoubtedly I posed the question in a confusing way. So I don't want to kill the signal altogether, I just want to have the clean tone on the guitar come out the amp (akin to just deactivating a single physical stomp box to bypass it or plugging the guitar lead out of the input jack and directly into the amp).

Within a mere two days of owning it the Helix is, for me at least, the next chapter. I bought it while keeping all of my stompboxes and current effect setup (largely impractical setup I had but what is a gear lollipop to do) with the mind that only when I could reproduce or better the sound of a specific unit would I retire it and sell it off. About 80% there already. I have to admit thought I think m Big Sky, Timeline and H9 will be ones that just get brought into the mix in send\return loops (love that Line 6 integrated those). With that in mind, has anyone successfully set up a midi control assignment to send activate\deactivate and preset up\down to either a Strymon or 9 connected via Midi. If so any tips. And one last related one, I promise, does anyone know if the Helix can send midi clock so that delays\modulation effects in a preset keeps attached pedals in line. Thanks in advance

Yeah, exactly what @ricksteruk said. I know its a minor gripe (all you could have on a unit this great, I love the thing) but maybe if the preset dial just cycled without engaging and had to be pressed to load, and the cursor engaged each highlighted one automatically you would get the best of both worlds for when the time suited. Maybe some future update. BTW can I tap on a quick Q. Anyone know a quick and easy way to bypass the Helix signal chain as a whole. All I seem to be able to do with the bypass button is affect the currently selected block. Couldn't find it in the manual but surely there's a way.

Does anyone know if there's a way of cycling through the presets list without engaging the highlighted preset. Both the joystick and preset dial seem to act the same in that as each sequential one is highlighted it also gets engaged. I know I could just bank down or up with the footswitches. Werid request I know workflow-wise but what I tend to do sometimes is be working with the Helix on a table in front of me, I want to scroll down or up items in a setlist but then only when I've reached the one I want press something to engage it (how most soft synths work as you cursor down or up preset banks). Would really appreciate if anyone knows a way

I have the unit about 24 hours now so just a few hours playtime. I have to say I sat on the fence for a long time on this one. I'd owned a few Boss and TC multi effects untis over the years and finally ditched them for a board designed with good quality individual stomps (Strymon, Eventide etc). Finally started to realize that individual pedals, great as they can be are impractical if you rely on a large enough board of them and have to transport them much. I also found that playing out, any non preset based pedals you either live with the same settings through a gig or try to knob adjust accordingly between tracks which I goofed more often than not. So back to looking at a single unit. Lots and lots of research and I went for this over the Kemp and Axe (interface driven). So happy with the results, it really is the next generation to me. I was concerned because much as I've loved the Line 6 stuff over the years, emulation to me even at the POD and Amplifi range just isn't there yet. But this unit is on another level. Only feature I really wish it had (fingers uber crossed that an update in the future might gift, assuming the hardware can do it) is the ability to even store one loop so it can stay in memory even after unit off. And total dream would be being able to export it as a .wav to pull over USB into a daw. If it had that, I might just marry it :)