rvroberts

Yes it is good. Yes, it will do the full range of guitar sounds really well. However so will the Fractal gear. It can reasonably be claimed to have the best interface and the best connectivity But again Fractal fans will still swear by their gear. I have come to believe that knowing how the thing works, knowing what you want and how to get it will probably count for more which device you chose as far as sound goes.

These are both great bits of kit!

Ok, I'm not in UK. But I think there are some things to think about. I use a pair of Behringer B112. A lot of people will say that's not a great system, but I have it well EQ'd and it sounds great live and puts out plenty of sound to compete on stage and the drummer often say how well he can hear me on stage.

Now, what I want to point out is that system doesn't sound anywhere near as good when I have a friend over and we play at lounge room level. So I think if you are mostly playing quiet ( by band standards) you really need to be thinking what sounds good at home level. And I suspect that playing through your stereo (if it's a decent one) with some careful global EQ is going to be as good as any FRFR solution intended for stage volumes. I don't think this is just Fletcher Munsen curves either. I think speakers need to operate at the kind of level they were designed for. So I'm just suggesting that one mans FRFR is not necessarily home man's FRFR! If you get me?

As far as I can see your problem isn't Line 6 but Windows. You will find lots of programs that have the same problem. Bet all the plugins for your DAW if you use one have the same problem. A 4K monitor only makes sense if the screen is large enough to let you take advantage of the extra resolution. A decent operating system would have some form of scaling to help you with this. It's your monitor and your OS not Line 6. My Mac laptop at full resolution is too hard to read stuff on, so they give you a batch of options to scale everything to your liking. You might find that you will be stuck having to do that - adjust your resolution to something less than 4K. But really that means 4K is more resolution than you need! For that screen size. We will see 8K TVs appearing next year. It's crazy - you will need a wall sized TV to tell the difference between that and 4K. But that's marketing for you! No one makes 8K content!?!? Get used to everything you see scaled to look OK.

You have not told us how you monitor you sound? You should hear a decent difference with the bass control on a JMC800.

So how do you hear your Helix? Also try the cali EQ do you hear very noticeable changes with that?

After the update did you do all the restarts? Are you also updating the editor?

How did you backup before you updated?

If you have a backup, you just need to reinstall the patches. ( it's wise to backup individual patches, then you can put back what you need, and do a bit of housekeeping while you are at it.

If you have done all that and you still don't see your snapshots, are your globals set to display them?

You need to use the same layout of snapshots and patches etc to get everything looking as it did - that's in globals. If you had a global EQ, you will need to put that back too.

Yes, it's a very manual process, and you need to prepare carefully for an update.

You don't mention what guitar you are using? If you are duplicating the recorded sound, you would do well to google what was used originally, and start there. ( I mean amp and effects )

I'm not sure what you are asking............

Globals have their effect globally - that means they affect every patch - so if you adjust global EQ, it is applied to every preset.

There are also different parameters in globals  - so some things can only be adjusted globally.

The Manual does give you a good list.

Is that what you want to know?

That was iPad correcting for me.....updater, editor and firmware.

Well, you need to install the latest updated, editor and firmware, but as far as I can see, there's nothing to stop you downloading all that onto your laptop ( or even a USB stick, and doing it all in the comfort of your own home. What gives you the idea you can't?

Yes, as Vmoncebais said - use the guitar input - you might need the pad on the guitar input depending on the level of your effects send - if it works fine with general floor type pedals,  then it's probably OK - You could use the AUX in if your effects send is designed for rack units - and you have full control over the level out if you go out through the 1/4 inch outputs (you probably will be keeping everything mono - so just use left out).

Again, you will probably need to set the 1/4 inch output to instrument rather than line.  The volume knob on the Helix should work like a master volume. You might find there is an optimum level for you specific amp.

If you do this, I suggest you experiment with an EQ block in there - might let you tune your amp more than you would expect.

I hope this is not the only thing you bought the Helix for!  Plenty of good pedal only units out there for a lot less money!

As DarrellM5 said above - but I thought your comment was very interesting - you can get too precious about IRs - its just plugging your amp into a different speaker box after all, and most of the boxes people have bothered to make IRs of are pretty good sounding boxes - So a bit of random factor can be good for some discovery - you might have made a different decision on a different day anyhow!

Love that - random input! opens the mind.

Hi iamgeorge,

I think that in the Kemper and Fractal sites, (I could be wrong as I'm not on them) there is a lot more discussion about amps and cabs because of the timing of the release of their products.  They were ahead of the Helix.

I personally think that the future of all these devices is FRFR - obviously you don't.  

Knowing a Fractal guy, he bought a good power amp and a suitable speaker setup because that was the way people saw you could implement the thing in a live situation, but in the studio they were going direct into the desk.

Then I think people started to think to themselves that the sound they could tailor so well in the studio was the sound they wanted live.  That's what FRFR is about. 

Why do I push this?  Well in the studio you can put some sound processing after your amp, speaker and mic - and that is what we think of as a produced or studio sound.  That's only possible if you go FRFR.

Now, maybe you and some others actually don't like that experience - you want that kick in the lollipop of a double stack Marshall or whatever experience - fair enough - but I argue that the total sound quality out front suffers - unless you have a devoted sound engineer and he/she has access to a great rack of outboard gear, and knows your material inside out.

Sorry if I just hijacked your conversation!

Yes, I also have a few patches with 2 amps, for that drastically different sound from pristine clean to serious grunt, although I mostly do that with overdrives and EQ.

But they are, let's say "advanced" patches.  And then you are clearly juggling DSP.  Not something I'd be thinking suitable for someone who is still getting their head round basic DSP problems.  I assume when you use 2 amps you have one on each path?  I'd personally be doing that as a default for a 2 amp rig whether a stereo both on or as a switching amp thing.  

I do agree with the basic idea you put out there about DSP equal to the total of what is being used not in waiting - but maybe that's a technical limitation?  You know how you get a slight gap when you change patches?  Maybe they all need to be essentially live to avoid that?

THe answer above is correct, but I'd have to ask why you would be wanting to add an amp to a patch that already has an amp and cab?

If you are trying to mix 2 amps, you need to use the lower path,  You would also need to be feeding that amp somewhere before the other amp in its own path - it would not be logical to feed one amp into another - and is very unlikely to produce a good sound.

Think about it like real gear - do what would make sense with real gear - the virtual modelling gives pretty much exactly what you would expect from real gear.

There is tons of DSP for almost every sound once you learn how to set up a patch - read the manual - look at some YouTube videos on building patches.

I know nothing about if there will ever be a DT50 integration - but I'll say go FRFR anyhow - it's just more powerful!

The Helix allows you to use as many varieties of cabinets as you like - that's a big gain.  It then lets you place a large range of mics - another gain.

Finally and I think really importantly, it lets you put effects after your cab and mic.  That's how it is done in the studio.  Huge spread - especially if you are feeding into a stereo rig.

Finally you hear exactly what your audience hears!  

That is a game changer from my perspective - studio sound live.

The only downside is you don't have a fallback position if your Helix were to bite the dust!

And you want to say what?  That a guy who spends most of his online time putting the Helix down against the Fractal AX8 is now finding other ways to make it sound bad?

His playing is what I hear most.  

But I guess on the other hand it shows if you really want to you can make anything sound bad.  He does get a pretty good match out of those units, and that's not that easy, so maybe he's smarter than I thought.  Helix was not intended to get plugged into the front of a hotrod delux, but that would bring the sounds together right away - half the sound is Hotrod Deluxe  Then a bit of level mismatch in the effects loop - hey that Helix doesn't even sound as good as a pod.

Check videos by people who know and love their Helix - they sound awesome!

And no one who's got one and has any idea how to use it believes any of this for a second.

Well, the thing is  - a well set up Helix patch heard FRFR does sound post produced!

That's because the Helix lets you place effects after the amp and speakers.  Which is what happens in the studio.

That's the real power of the thing - a studio sound live.

Now, you can use it just like an amp and not do anything post the speaker (well you need a mic to hear it - so even the placement of the mic could be considered post production).  But put a high quality delay or reverb after that mic, and yes, starts to sound really studio!

You got a problem with that you might have wasted your money.

Please set your global EQ to roll off drastically below 100hz and again somewhere above 5KHz  - that's to restrict your frequency response to sound like a guitar speaker.  You could do that inside each individual patch instead - if you really want to - but most of us have got great results with the system I just described.

Expect to be impressed!

I'm a big believer in saving individual patches. Then you can bring them back one at a time. This helps solve problems like a corruption in one patch. Also as naming of patches can cause problems, people who don't understand computers, use nemes with !?*\ etc. And so on.

It won't work.

Do you have any strange or wrong names in your patches?

This thing is a computer. You can't name a patch something like a/d for example.

Don't load the set list load patch by patch (hopefully you saved your patches?).

Anything that would be an illegal name for a computer will cause this type of problem.

I think you can't write an illegal name on the helix itself, you don't get those characters, but the editor being on your computer lets you type anything.

Q1 - from my experience given everything else is the same amp+cab or amp/cab combo are exactly the same.

Q2 - I think one big thing people keep missing about the helix is that it's a full recording studio in a box (except for the actual ability to record!).  when going FRFR, you get to do the kind of things you do in the studio.  That includes putting effects after the cab and the mic - don't underestimate the mic in cab sims.  That means you can have wonderfully pristine delays and reverbs that feel so much more like they are in a space - especially if you are going out to FOH in stereo.  And if you are in a studio situation again you get to post process the total amp and cab sound.  Even EQ can just sit your sound in the mix that bit nicer after everything else in the chain (like you were sitting using EQ on a desk)  Too many people sound like they just want to simulate some amp setup.  Yes, you can do that, but now you get to control your sound right to the engineer level - live, it's a huge jump up because rarely do you have the total and undivided attention of a good studio level engineer - but now you feed all that to the desk and the guy out front just needs to get a passible balance - which before was the best you could hope for!

Hi FarleyUK.

OK - don't use the pad - you don't need it.

Instead trouble shoot the problem.

First unplug the guitar lead from the Helix - does the noise go away?

If so turn up the gain on the amp - is it still quiet? 

Then just plug in your lead - do not connect it to the guitar - make sure the other end is not contacting anything metal - don't hold the tip etc - what happens - You should hear that bit of extra noise you would expect through any amp - but not anything extreme.  If you do - get another lead.

If its all good, plug in your guitar.  If you suddenly get a lot of noise, it's your guitar.

If when nothing is connected you have noticeable noise - it's the Helix.

I've used valve amps for more years than I'd like to admit!

I'm not missing them! I find a bit of sag puts back any lack of sponginess that you might get from old amps. And that's for people who like old school sounds. I find that some of the amp models actually do behave with natural wildness when pushed especially with overdrive and distortion, and in general I think that's all perish crap!

But each to their own. You and I know they are missing out. Even Nevil Martin from Guitarist magazine, a respected player and reviewer, famous for his skill in reproducing classic guitar tone has gone Helix.

You need to export your IRs separately.

There are 2 ways to do that - either screen capture your IR list from the editor and replace manually after update 

- or -

My prefered system - but a bit laborious the first time you do it - but not probably more than having to load them all manually!!

Rename the IRs before you back them up.

Rename them 001, 002. etc down your list in the editor.  Then when you back them up they will be in correct order in your computer and you will be able to select the lot and drop them in in one go when you have finished your update (after the restart!).  Remember, that will be just not this time but every time.

Add any new ones to the end of the list and keep your numbers consecutive.

One small problem with this is you will probably find your Ownhammer IRs have names that are too long - so you may need to remove a few characters to fit the 001 (it needs to be at the start of the name!!).

Would be nice if it were easier, but its not!

If you are not totally married to your DT50, sell it and get a decent FRFR box - it will simplify your life and you will hear pretty much exactly what your audience hears - why wouldn't you want that? (Expense not allowed for!!)

Good to hear you finally got there to 2.01 - as Zooey says, maybe it's a good enough place to be for now.  I suspect as there are a few issues (that really don't effect a new user much) you could just wait out this batch of bugs - I expect that there will be a 2.11 shortly - that's how it went last time 2.0 and then shortly after 2.01 to fix a few simple but annoying bugs.