Ka5par

It works, but I remember there being something amiss with the parameters changing and pedal travel. Lin vs. log pot maybe.

Preset Rating in the Helix App

http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Preset-Rating-in-Helix-App/839582-23508

It would be handy to have a preset rating system in the Helix app.
It could be stars: *****
Or just simply: good / bad (+ / -) and unrated

When building presets I usually end up with multiple versions of a similar sound - "Rough_01", "Rough_02" etc.
Listening afterwards I'd like to give ratings, which were the keepers.

Additional functionality would be to sort the presets according to rating (ascending / descending)

I'm not sure if I followed your explanations fully from start to end, but I don't think it's possible to have a stereo direct signal and stereo effected signal without using guitar and aux inputs, which brings me back to a decision which active DI box to get for the aux input.

Both paths are in use for the effects - one for each side.

Or just get used to not changing the sound after the fact. It might be an option if not using reverbs and delays from the Helix.

Too bad that the aux or mic input can't be set to instrument level. :(

The USB is working for me, I can record both sides.  Odd thing is, I cannot monitor through my Presonus Firestudio (Firewire). In order to monitor, I have to go into my Mac's sound control and route the output back into the Helix.  The Helix can do both in and out, I ran the output via the mic cables into a PA and another amp I have.  The stereo effects worked perfect in the recording as well as monitoring.

But can you record the DI from the returns - the direct signal without any effects? That's why I'm looking for different options.

Problem solved:

 

Melody side going into guitar input with impedance set to auto.

Bass side going into return 1, with return 1 set from Line to Instrument.

Amp used is the Studio pre.

LA Compressor on both melody and bass paths.

 

I started a Line 6 Helix Topic on the Equipment forum on Stickist.com, thanks to RCLERE for getting me there.

Not entirely. Returns don't record direct signal via USB.

Have you tried a guitar on both inputs? With active pickups you should be slamming the front end. I do wish the Helix had some kind of metering so we could monitor internal levels.

Tried a guitar with passive humbuckers:

1) guitar input 1Mohm, no pad = -3.5dB peak; tapping = -13.5dB

2) aux = -23.5dB; tapping =  -31dB

3) return = -3.5dB; tapping = -14dB

Stick, active pickups:

1) guitar input 1Mohm, no pad = -23.5dB peak

2) aux = -37.5dB

3) return = -23.7dB

Would think that active pickups would be louder, but nope...

I use a Chapman Stick with passive pickups. The solution is to plug the bass side into one of the returns to match the impedance (you cannot adjust the impedance of the Aux input). I have had no issues since using this method. I am hoping a firmware upgrade will permit adjusting the impedance of the Aux input.

 

 

 

 

I'm using the returns at the moment, but you can't record DI from the returns through USB.

So, you're measuring that at the output going into a computer or whatever? Where do you have the volume knob set? Is there a pad on what you're going into?

Full volume, no pad, max impedance.

Going to computer via USB.

Compensate maybe, but are peak levels of -37.5dB aux and -23.7dB guitar input a viable place to start with?

@ rickthestick

How do your passive pickup levels compare to these sound samples?

Here are the sound examples of Guitar in and Aux in:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24456137/Stick%20levels/StickBass_Helix-Guitar-input.wav

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24456137/Stick%20levels/StickBass_Helix-Aux-input.wav

I used just the bass side of the instrument to get more comparable results.

No boosting anywhere in the chain, full volume, guitar pad off, 1Mohm impedance.

Recorded through USB.

I use a Stick also, with passive pickups. I had Emmitt double wind them for a beefier sound and I have a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail on the melody side, switchable with the stock pickup and I have no problem getting enough gain on the normal inputs. I would think your active pickups would give you more than enough level on the guitar and auxiliary inputs. Can you describe in a little more detail what you are experiencing?

I'm experiencing low levels playing to the aux or returns. At the moment I'm playing into returns and compensating the low level with gain blocks set from +6 to +10dB depending on the patch.

The guitar input is fine.

I could record a sample of the level difference between aux and guitar inputs later.

Unfortunately, You'll have to rewire the EV-5 to work...

So, it isn't possible to rewire it through the min vol pot?

So you've found tonal differences between the aux and guitar inputs?  I wonder if it's because of the input impedance... I seem to remember the aux has a 10 Meg impedance, but the max the (variable) guitar can do is 1 Meg.

 

You might find that the mic input with DI box is or can be made to sound similar to one of the guitar or aux ins - however it might not!!  I would borrow a DI box from someone and try it if I were you (or try at a shop) - IMO most active DI boxes work well these days and even the cheap ones sound pretty good.

I'm not quite sure about the tonal differences because of the level difference. I've not yet recorded and level matched the inputs to fully test this.

I was also worried about if the levels could be matched without clipping the mic input at the same time. There seem to be some level switches on the DI-s, but I don't know if they drop the level too much.

Now to find someone with an active DI.

I use a Chapman Stick with active pickups, but low output with Helix:

http://www.stick.com/instruments/pickups/actv2/

For now I've plugged the stereo output of the instrument to the returns of Helix.

This doesn't work well for recording, because I can't record the direct unaffected signal from the returns through USB.

I've avoided the aux and guitar inputs because I couldn't match the levels / sound between them.

So now I have looked into getting an active DI box for connecting one output of the Stick to the mic input (using phantom power to avoid a power supply).

Is this possible? And is it possible to match the mic and guitar inputs with the DI box?

Would any of these be up for the job?

Palmer Pan 02:

http://www.palmer-germany.com/pro/en/PAN-02-DI-Box-active-PAN02.htm

Palmer Pan 02 pro:

http://www.palmer-germany.com/pro/en/PAN-02-PRO-DI-Box-active-PAN02PRO.htm

Radial Stage Bug SB-1:

http://www.radialeng.com/pdfs/StageBug-SB-1-Acoustic-UserGuide.pdf

Radial Pro48:

http://www.radialeng.com/pdfs/manual-pro48.pdf

Thanks!

I would like to have more different filters on Helix.
Especially some classic analog synth ones - MiniMoog, MS-20 etc (need to investigate more to be specific).

Is there such ideascale submission already?

It has happened 3 times during the 1,5 months that I've had Helix.
At first I thought it was limited to the SPDIF output, but last night it happened also using the XLR-s.

It's like a sudden full volume burst of digital something noise thing, that really startles when it happens.
Through me off while playing a song at the rehearsal.

As the occurrence is rare, it's difficult to troubleshoot. Might help recording non-stop always while using Helix.
Has it happened to anybody else?

From the replies it seems that reverbs are fine in the scenarios where you don't hear them :)
 

One issue with it is the polarity, that doesn't bother me that much as it can be reversed in the controller assignment.

But it seems to have a logarithmic taper, or have I got it wrong?
It starts with a very gradual increase and skips quite a lot values at the end of the travel.

I use gain blocks at the beginning of each patch as the output from my instrument is very low into the returns and thus don't have the log / lin option.

Is there a way to make it linear other than swapping the pot?

Maybe a feature request is in order, to make a global setting for the external pedal?

Or it might be better to have the option to choose different curves at the place where you assign the pedal to a parameter on a per assignment basis?

I was looking at this thread again.

I have connected my iPad to the helix using a 1/8" to 1/4" cable and run it to return 1 on the helix.

I then create a return 1 block in the patch and fiddle with the settings and it works well.

 

But what did you mean by "no need to create blocks for this, just select returns 1/2 or 3/4 as stereo input"?

Is there a setting that for every patch I wouldn't have to create a return block?

That would be great.

Is there a stereo input global setting?

 

Thanks.

Not a global setting unfortunately.

Navigate to a input icon and you can change the input source. This is a setting for each patch separately.

There may be more suitable products out there, but I just used a bike chain lube that I had.
I just used it as little as possible, just enough for it not to be *squeaky* clean.

Yeah, same thing knife or ruler, toe or heel:
http://line6.com/support/topic/18575-line-6-staff-squeaky-expression-pedal-answer/?p=144718

The scenes could be also described as "snapshots" of the current situation that goes on in a patch.

That makes me think of a situation where you'd swap out an effect with another one and save it as as snapshot.

So switching snapshots would load different blocks to a patch.

Maybe, just maybe it'll be quicker to load just one different block than an entire patch, thus reducing the sound switching gap.

I saw some mono fillers on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/line6helixusergroup/permalink/522325924617752/

And here's my non-invasive method:
http://line6.com/support/topic/18575-line-6-staff-squeaky-expression-pedal-answer/?p=144718