MakeItShredNo1

I hear you man. I've had great luck with it, but I always have backups on backups. Right now my keyboard rig is all software, and I have a complete backup rig (computer, keyboard controller, sound card, the works) at every gig. Right now I'm using a Helix Floor for my guitar sounds, but because of some quirks of our stage layout, and having to set up and break down every show, it adds a LOT of set up time and work. I'm gonna give going software for the guitar rig as well.... With a Helix on hand in case! But yeah, you're pretty sure that the ex mk ii's were the problem? That's disappointing. There's not a lot of other pedals that accomplish what I need in such a compact form.

Hey so, sorry to thread necro, but I cannot find this anywhere else - I'm looking for a very similar setup and was wondering if anyone could confirm this before I pull the trigger on a second one. I'll be using both express foot pedals into a daw (cantabile), one that I currently use on my keyboard rig, and one that I intend to buy to replace my too-large guitar pedal controller. I am perfectly fine with mapping them to different midi numbers, which I figure will be necessary. The Express mk ii is a really underrated midi controller. I was a little worried about the endurance of the switches, but one of the things I use mine for is a damper pedal, which gets toggled hundreds of times a night twice a week, and it's been a champ.

@pierm Alas, I would love to. But roughly once a month I play other gigs where I DO have need of a pedalboard and do not have the additional stage space for a rack, so I cannot get rid of the Helix Floor. That's why I explained I can't sell it. To all saying this is a fool's errand.... The situation is complex and I have considered many, many options. I do multiple different bands a month, I have to set up and break down every night - I literally have charts and graphs of the stage setup for my main gig trying to figure out how to minimize setup, and having the Helix Floor setup, wired up and living in a rack is the only current option I have that makes economic sense. It's alright if you find it strange. Can someone tell me if it will work

Remote access. For my regular gig, it's turned out that I don't need to tap dance very much at all, so I'm going to massively downscale to like an Express mkii (usb midi - the Helix is connected to my DAW already as it is acting as the sound card for keyboard sounds)

Ok, this is a questions about things that were never meant to be done, and if they are possible. So, I would love to buy a Helix rack, but because of other gigs and additional reasons, I have need of my Helix Floor and therefore cannot sell it to fund the purchase of a Rack. However, my main, twice weekly gig has a stage setup issue that would be GREATLY aided by being able to rackmount my Helix and leave it wired up to a DI and snake all the time*. Unfortunately, looking at some specs, a Helix Floor is 22 in wide, and a rack unit is 19in from screw to screw....which...leaves a bit of room on the sides, doesn't it? So, it's theoretically possible to fit something wider than 19in in a rack - perhaps on the bottom or in a customized drawer, and use the full interior width of the case. Can anyone tell me if this is likely to work, or could anyone possible test this? I understand full will it would be cutting things close, and possibly subject to variation of individual rack designs (I've seen bands bring big 15u racks for their in-ears, and some of them are pretty roomy on the sides). *or, in the case of me having another gig that week where I have to use the Helix Floor actually as a pedalboard, then I can reconnect the Helix to the DI at home before the show.

Indeed - with the Ashville Pattrn I can get SO TANTALIZING CLOSE by turning the pattern off and the LFO on....but alas no resonant peak. Which, that is true to the MF105 it is based on...but I do dearly wish Line 6 had added it in, or include a proper filter in a future update. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I'm increasingly realizing that a LOT of ambient guitar and worship guitar is going the LOOOOOONG way around to recreate pretty simple keyboard effects.

tldr; I'm looking for an effect that can create the kind of slowly moving, resonant LP filter in commonly found on synthesizers. There are several filters in the Helix that get close, but I cannot figure out how to get any of them to do all three of 1) respond to an LFO and not an envelop 2) have a resonant peak and 3) have a low pass setting. Longer version, I'm also a keyboard player. Many moons ago I fell in love with an oft-maligned pedal, the Boss PH3. Mine died some time back, but I haven't had need of that sound for a while. I've managed a reasonable replication of my settings using the Helix's Deluxe phaser, but it still wasn't quite right. Not long ago, playing keys at a gig, it finally struck me that I was essentially jerry-rigging a filter out of my PH3 (feedback on a phaser under certain conditions creates a resonant peak), and that I'd be getting closer to "the sound in my head" with a proper filter rather than a phaser-doing-it's-best-Moog-impression. So I fired up Helix Native, and sadly couldn't find a filter that got the job done, unless I'm missing a setting somewhere. I hope I am, and that's what I'm asking - is there a way that I'm overlooking to create this effect. I tried running one of my favorite filter plugins AFTER Helix native, and just nailed the tone I'm going for - so I could always pick up a filter pedal like the Earthquaker Interstellar Orbiter, but I would very much like to not have any more pedals on stage. Thanks all

Hey codamedia, gtrdude72 is asking about a setup I suggested where the real preamp and helix preamp will never be on simultaneously. So to answer your question gtrdude72, it doesn't matter what order the preamp and fx loop are in, just that they are next to one another. In my brain, I always set my boards up with increasing gain from left to right, so since I use the helix preamp for high gain, it goes after the fx loop. But in terms of tone, it makes zero difference (when set up as I suggested). Later in that post I mentioned running helix and real preamps in parallel. In that case, the helix preamp and fx loop must be on separate paths.

You'll be unlikely to hear a difference - I'll skip the technical stuff, I have only a basic grasp of it, the short version is that it is a lower resolution version of the IR. As for getting more blocks on Path 2 - this comes down to the fact that some effects, reverb in particular, take a lot more processing than others. Amps are another (you have an amp on path 2). The Paths represent the separate processors in the Helix - so you can only put so much load on one processor or the other. Distortions, compressors, EQ, and some modulation blocks take very little power - but amps, reverbs, some delays and IRs take a ton. So sometimes making very complex patches can be a dance of where-to-put-what so the load is spread between processors. Someone on the facebook group made a chart of how much DSP each effect takes - I wouldn't spend too much time trying to read it, but it'll give you an idea of how processor intensive the various kinds of effects are. It's pretty intuitive - amps are more complex than fuzz pedals, bucket brigade choruses are more complex than a tremolo. Helix DSP Values-2.50 v3.xlsx

So - we're assuming you currently have the Helix, Fender and cables set up as described in your first post; Guitar--->Helix-->Helix send-->Amp guitar input-->Power amp out-->Helix return-->Helix main out-->Power amp in In the Helix, you either have an FX Loop block, or both a Send and Return block. All effects you place in the Helix before the FX Loop (or send and return) will be before the Fender preamp - the FX loop will be the Fender preamp itself. If you turn this block(s) off, you would be bypassing the fender preamp. And all effects in the Helix after the FX loop will be after the preamp (what you typically say is "in the loop" of the amp in a more traditional setup). So, couple things to consider: 1) I have a very similar amp (a 1x12 Hot Rod Deluxe). I know a lot of people use it as a pedal platform, but I've never liked the way it reacts to high gain pedals. So, what I do is use the Fender preamp for clean sounds and light breakup sounds with pedals from the Helix, and then use a preamp in the Helix for high gain sounds. To do this, first insert a Helix preamp right next to the FX loop, and bypass it. Then assign that preamp AND the FX Loop to the SAME footswitch. Now, when you step on that footswitch it will toggle between the Helix preamp and the FX loop (which is your Fender preamp). 2) If you are using the Fender as a clean platform, then you may get better results with a much simpler setup - simply place your effects in the Helix in the order that you normally would in a traditional pedalboard (distortions before reverb and delay, etc) and the plug the Helix straight into your amp. No FX loop, no messing around with 4 Cable Method. Coming from a high-gain/metal background, this is something I resisted for a long time, but after seeing the guys on That Pedal Show get such great results with it, this is now the method I use for non-metal gigs. Guitar -> Helix (all effects) -> Amp guitar input 3) Once you get a handle on the Helix, you can do all kinds of crazy setups with real amps. For instance, I often run a Helix preamp in PARALLEL with my Fender preamp. So I'm mixing the sound of my real preamp with Helix preamps. You can get some very huge sounds this way. Spend some time with the unit, and the flexibility of it will become pretty quickly apparent. Just try not to get TOO lost in endless tweaking (fun though it is) and forget to actually play yer geetar.

Hokay - Helix is a very intuitive, but very powerful piece of gear. That means you can get something awesome happening very easily, but to get to every nook and cranny of what the Helix can do....you're gonna have to do some kind of research. There's videos, manuals, and - since you said you are a hands on kind of learner - templates. Seriously, they're awesome - there's a template for all kinds of things. Hit the Preset button and move over to Templates, and you'll find a treasure trove of ideas to play with. It sounds like you've already got the basics of the 4 Cable Method (4CM) down. Your friend has the right idea - General Rule of Thumb is delay and reverb in the loop of the amp - but from the way you describe it, he may not actually be using your preamp (the way you describe it sounds like you don't have a preamp at all - modeled or real - which probably won't sound great). However, the setup you describe in the first paragraph is correct: So if that's the case, you're good to go. As for snapshots - the easiest way to think of them is by having each snapshot turn on/off multiple pedals simultaneously. First, assign some effects to pedals. Now go into Snapshot mode - your pedals should say Snapshot 1, Snapshot 2, etc. (You can rename these later) Now turn some of your effects on. Save your patch. Select Snapshot 2. Change the effects - turn some different ones on, and maybe some off. Save the patch. Now when you select Snapshot 1 it will go back to the setting it was when you saves the first time - and when you select Snapshot 2 it will jump all the effects on and off to where you had it when you saved the second time. Snapshots are WAY more powerful than this, you can tweak knobs and all kinds of things. Like I said, intuitive, but very powerful. This is a great primer on the idea.

But then I'd still be limited to 10, yes? That would allow me to have footswitches available while still in Snapshot view, but wouldn't give me additional footswitches. (I know, more than 10 seems excessive, but I run into it quite often with worship patches as well as cover gigs where I try and stay in one preset to make tweaking between venues easier)

I'm sending CCs to control the individual blocks. Because within the Midi footswitch, every time I stomp a switch it toggles between 127 and 0, if I send 127 and then turn the block off with a Snapshot, pressing the switch again does nothing. If instead I could set the Midi footswitch to just always send 127 (which I can, and many programable footswitches can), and then have the Helix just toggle the state of the block when it receives 127 then the footswitch would always toggle the block. I realize why this wasn't first implemented - it is likely not the most obvious use case. But I think it would be very useable and useful for some situations/midi pedals. In my case, I don't need to monitor the on/off state of a block from the MIDI pedal - I just need it to toggle when I hit the button, no matter what it did last.

So, I often find myself running out of pedals in stompbox mode. So I made myself an arduino MIDI footswitch to get four more switches and a second expression pedal all in one box (I'm rather proud - it's simple, but I made it). The problem is if I ever need to leave stompbox mode and change Snapshots or Presets, the pedal can become unsync'd with the Helix. For example: I am in stombox mode, I hit the arduino pedal to turn on a phaser. Then I flip over to Snapshot mode, change to a snapshot where the phaser is off. Then when I hit the Midi pedal again...nothing happens. Because the midi pedal just turned the phaser off, which it already was. I could solve this with a second midi input - but besides not having a place on the chassis of my pedal to put a midi input without drilling, it would mean another cable on stage. Especially when there's an easy solution, it would just have to be implemented in software. I would love it if there was an option to have a midi CC toggle a pedal. Currently, if the Helix receives a CC message <64, it turns the assigned pedal(s) off and a CC >64 turns the pedal(s) on. But, if instead the Helix toggled the state of a pedal whenever it received (for instance) 127 on a certain CC, then external pedals and the Helix itself would always be in sync*. This would allow external pedals have momentary options to function with the Helix in both stompbox mode and between Snapshots and Presets. It would also open up the option of leaving your Helix on Stopbox or Preset view, while still having access to a selection of bypass switches for single or multiple effects, all with a single MIDI cable. *in function. That is, stomping on an external pedal will always do a thing. If you have a way of monitoring On/Off State on your external pedal (led, etc), then THOSE will go out of sync, which is why I think this functionality should be an option and not default.

So the Helix doesn't let you just have a specific effect running no matter what else is going on, nor does it have the option of spillover between presets (this is a much discussed topic, and there's very good reason for it). HOWEVER, Snapshots can almost assuredly get what you need. I also play guitar in a worship band, and I use snapshots and it lets me have all kinds of wacky effect changes in the middle of songs, and I can alter the snapshots week to week - say if this week I need a dotted 8th delay, but next week I need 3 different flavors of "crunchy with reverb" but no dotted 8th delay, I can get rid of that snapshot (with the patch safely saved on my desktop for future use if I want) and replace it with an additional crunch snapshot. Snapshots won't override something unless you tell them to, so you land on the last chord of one song - bring the pedal up (which you assigned to the Mix parameter in your reverb), let your lovely reverb cover the space while you change Snapshots (not presets) to the one you use for the start of the next song, bring the pedal down, and away you go. Just for clarity's sake, this is all within ONE preset, which DOES allow spillover between snapshots. The workarounds others have suggested are perfectly good ideas, but I think you'll find this doesn't require external hardware unless you REALLY NEED to switch patches between songs. Snapshots are very powerful.

So - thread necro. But I said I'd report when I had used the setup at more gigs, and I have. (it took a while because I don't always play shows where I read charts) So, as I said, I have the AirTurnBT-106 with a two footswitch, TS/TS compact pedal. I had it on standby for a few more church gigs and a jazz gig. But I never ended up needing it. I've got through several shows now with the Yamaha MD-BT01. Basically, you just have to use the Yamaha app to connect it, and then it works like a champ. I can only speak from my personal experience, but I'll be using it exclusively for now.

Greetings Line 6 users. So, I just finished a thing that I thought denizens of this forums might have interest in. I just finished a cycle based on the classical elements. It's instrumental rock with some prog and video game/electronic influences. All the guitars are recorded with Line 6 Helix Native - in fact, Helix Native is all over the cycle, being used on almost all the synths and even occasionally the drums. It was absolutely essential to writing this piece, and crazy-convenient to be able to pull my live patches into Native and tweak them to different songs. Also, I really loved having an interface and effects I was familiar with for when the "sound I heard in my head" for synth of drums required effects - instead of mucking about with who-knows-what VST, I could just reach for Native and double-quick have the effect I was going for. Awesome. (Overkill? Probably. But the workflow was completely worth it.) Also for the interested, all the electric guitars and basses are Carvins. The only other guitars are an Alvarez acoustic that is only on "Four Months." Let me know what you guys think. I've been mostly teaching lately, so this is the first thing I've written in a while. If the playlist doesn't work on the embedded video, click the Youtube icon to open in Youtube or a direct link here.

With a real tube screamer: In front of a high gain amp, I run a tube screamer Level 10, Gain 0 and Tone generally right of 12 o'clock In front of a low-to-mid gain amp that's breaking up a fair bit, I like to blend a little tube screamer gain with the amp so Level 9~10, Gain around 9 o'clock, Tone to taste (generally more extreme than in the above example - depending on if the amp is naturally bright or dark) In front of a clean amp, set to break up only if I /really/ dig in Level 10, Gain 0 and Tone right of 12 o'clock. see first example. I think it's really intriguing that Texas blues guys and super heavy metal both use the tube screamer in much the same way - knock off bottom, push the mids and effectively tighten up the amp. Just with the gain of the amp in radically different places! I tend to think the tube screamer is not the best tool for the job into a mid gain amp, but sometimes it's the tool you have for one reason or another. On the helix, I struggle with getting the tube screamer "clean" enough. It tends to add more distortion at 0 gain than a real tube screamer (at least my tube screamers, into my amps - YMMV). So I have gravitated to the Minotaur model for much the same jobs as I would use a real tube screamer.

erniedenov and jbuhajla mentioned this idea, but to elaborate: (also, my "Quote" function isn't working for some reason in my browser, sorry) There are three general places you put a volume pedal in an FX chain. The very beginning This will basically mimic a guitar volume pot. If your amps are breaking up, moving towards the heel on the volume pedal should clean them up (depending on how gain-y the amp is set) in addition to lowering the volume. Between the "gain" and "time effects" This typically means after the amp, but could also be between distortion pedals and other pedals if you're running your amp clean and getting gain from pedals. This will leave your base tone as is - moving toward the heel position will not clean up - but leave the "trails" on your FX like delay and reverb. As erniedenov mentioned, in Helix you can place the pedal between the amp and cab, which will give you full signal hitting your amp but attenuate the signal hitting the speaker, which can do different things on different cabs, but typically causes your signal to clean up easier due to less speaker breakup (YMMV in modeling). The very end of the chain. This essentially mimics a master output volume. The pedal does not effect tone at all, but does effect time-based effects. Full heel down will completely cut off the output, including trails on reverb and delay (assuming you have the minimum level set to 0%). As for the taper - that's something of a matter of preference, as long as you remember that our ears perceive sound to be logarithmic - that is, increasing dB by an order of magnitude (x10) is perceived as "doubling in volume." (read more here) So if Helix shows the volume pedal at "50%" you will hear it as more like 80% of full volume. That's why logarithmic tapers make such good volume swells - add in that we tend to unconsciously change how fast we move our foot as it gets closer to "toe down" and it's tricky to make a volume swell sound "natural" on a linear taper. That being said, I almost always run my volume pedal on linear because I don't use it for swells, I use it to tame my output in quiet parts and linear feels right to me. No answers, only better questions.

So way back on page 6 is a mention of the BD2, or the Keeley modded BD2. I would add to these the Keeley Super Phat Mod, Keeley's take on an ideal BD2. I would love to see these pedals, and I'm really surprised there isn't more clamor for it. The IdeaScale submission has a paltry 4 votes, counting the one I just put in. After heading Andy Timmons use of the BD2, I've fallen in love with the thing, and I started noticing it on more and more players' boards. Equipboard lists 93 pros who have at least been spotted with one - not that having a bunch of users automatically makes it awesome, but such a widely used pedal would make a great addition to the Helix. https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Boss-BD-2-Blues-Driver/919195-23508 http://equipboard.com/items/boss-bd-2-blues-driver

Ah, it's a reference to Kingsley Amplifiers preamp-in-a-pedal boxes. His plexi preamp is called the Constable http://kingsleyamplifiers.com/products/pedals/58/ When I said I was jonesing for a Kingsley preamp, that's what I meant - I'm on the waiting list for a Maiden, his version of the Dumble preamp.

Sorry mate, didn't quite get if that was sarcasm? Indeed, I'm pretty excited about the possibilities here. I tried to make Fender clean work for years, never quite digging it. Your ear eventually gets used to it - "well, it probably sounds better in a mix." But still, I knew it wasn't "the sound" - which is why I used the Quad X the past couple seasons (gigging in my area is VERY seasonal). Finding that sound in the Helix, PLUS it liking the Bogner Red in front of it - my mind reels at what mischief I can get up to now! Indeed - me and the mesa models never got on. I dunno why, I've recorded with real Mark Vs, but something about the Helix models don't jive with my setup. I've tried a few more, per your suggestion - some are real nice, but nothing has tickled me quite like that plexi. It's making me reconsider getting a Maiden/Page DS from Kingsley and get a Constable instead! But, then again, I'm getting such a good sound out of the Helix I may not need a Constable! I very nearly got "the sound in my head" with the Archon clean, but it didn't like having the Bogner red in a Helix FX loop in front of it. I wish some of the two channel amps like the Shiva or the JCM800 had their clean channel modeled as well.

Every time I've seen a gear demo, or talked to someone in that mysterious place known as "real life," and someone says "this amp kind of does that 'plexi' thing," or "this pedal is supposed to make your Fender Deluxe Reverb sound like a plexi" it's always mid-gain (or sometimes even massive gain, beyond what a real plexi ever could on it's own), and bass-y - a sound which had no appeal to me. I grew up on cheap Marshall amps, but when it came time for a "grown up" amp for gigging - well, mostly I've gone straight to house with modelers, but I also have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Which is a great pedal platform, but it definitely isn't the sound I hear in my head for clean tones. None of the modern Marshall preamps in either the Helix or my previous HD500 scratched the itch either, so I used models of Fender amps - but I've been jonesing for some Kingsley preamps lately*, and I got to wondering about the Constable. I mean, most of the distortion from a plexi is supposed to come from the phase inverter and the power tubes, not the preamp - so then does the Constable even sound like "that plexi thing?" And no, no it doesn't - at least not "that plexi thing" that gear reviewers on YouTube mean**. No, the Constable sounds like the clean sound in my head!!! K - lightbulb. What does the plexi bright preamp on the Helix sound like into the FX return of my HRD? Why, friends, it sounds like the clean sound I've been chasing, that's what it does!!! So here's the real kicker to me - I've been using a Carvin Quad X preamp live with the Helix because 1) I didn't bond with any of the high gain amps in Helix and 2) my favorite high gain pedal (Bogner Ecstasy Red) didn't sound right into any of the Helix preamps (that I was using at the time). BUT, man it marries PERFECT with the Plexi preamp. Sounds super organic and lush. Score another point for Helix. *(with any luck my name is up on the waiting list any day now!) **The Constable is a great preamp, and I still want one - because it sounds like an actual Plexi preamp, which isn't what most people seem to mean when they say "sounds like a plexi" - just for clarification.

I love the dirt pedals for what I've always used dirt pedals for - pushing amps to overdrive or tightening up high gain sounds. But what I haven't found is in the Helix a mid-to-high gain pedal that scratches my particular itch, so my Bogner Ecstasy Red stays on the board, and I'm eyeing a Wamper Dracarys. I tend to use "real" pedals actually with pedals from Helix - typically a Minotaur for tightening things up, and a Teemeh for after-distortion boost, for which they do a smashing job.

I've done a cantata and a few rehearsals with this setup, so far no problems so long as I verify that it is working and connected before the show/rehearsal begins. With forScore, using a MIDI shortcut does not preclude the typical "Page Up/Page Down key" shortcuts (that AirTurn uses) - so for the first couple rehearsals I had the Helix/MD-BT01 setup and also an AirTurn with a momentary footswitch as backup. So far I have not needed the AirTurn, so eventually I'll stop using it. It remains to be seen how reliable it will be. I'll post again when it's more gig-tested.