Mystic368

On the subject of Scott Uhl (a great channel, BTW), he mentioned he did a Stadium demo for Line 6 at NAMM which doesn't appear to have posted on the Line 6 YT channel yet. Eric Klein also mentioned the Scott Uhl demo as having occurred the previous day during his own NAMM demo with Paul Hindmarsh that posted to the Line 6 channel a few days ago. It was interesting to hear Eric Klein state the Stadium (unlike the Helix OG) was designed from the outset for a ten year lifespan and over-engineered to accommodate new functions some of which haven't even been foreseen yet.

A lot of (if not most) IoT stuff and most Internet infrastructure devices (network switches, routers, firewalls) use a Linux kernel in some form. Hell, a lot of virtualized Windows servers are sitting on hosts with Linux kernels.

Find a friend with a MacBook, load Stadium App on that, make your USB-C connection and you will be able to update from firmware 1.1 to 1.2. Once on 1.2, you will be able to do everything you need to do from Windows Stadium App over Wi-Fi. If, on 1.2, you still have problems connecting to Wi-Fi, set the Stadium clock manually and that will take care of it. This is what I had to do and it worked.

Don't blame the Stadium XL hardware. My personal experience with my Stadium XL and my Windows PC and my MacBook Air M4 is: Windows PC -> Stadium via USB-C is broken (Problem with the Helix Stadium Windows USB driver. Look in Windows Device Manager for evidence of this.) Causes the Stadium App to crash every time on a connection attempt. Windows PC -> Stadium via W-Fi is working MacOS -> Stadium via USB-C is working MacOS -> Stadium via Wi-Fi is working There's definitely a problem with the WINDOWS USB Driver for Helix Stadium.

You're right. There is a workaround, however, but it involves sending CC messages from Stadium Song MIDI Flags and using additional external hardware to convert CC messages from the Stadium to Note messages expected by my 4Cast MVP. My path is Stadium MIDI 5-Pin DIN Out -> CME WIDI Master -> CME WIDI Jack (USB-C powered) -> MIDI Solutions Power Adapter 5-Pin DIN In-> MIDI Solutions Event Processor Plus 5-PIN DIN In -> 4Cast MVP 5-Pin DIN In. The Stadium is on one side of a room and I go MIDI over Bluetooth (CC Messages) to the WIDI Jack / Power Adapter / Event Processor Plus / 4Cast MVP devices that are all on the other side of the room. The Event Processor Plus does the CC to Note Message Conversion. In my case, there is good news. 4Cast told me they have added video playback triggering via CC messages in the new MVP firmware version currently being tested prior to release in Spring. That will allow me to eliminate the MIDI Message conversion and remove the MIDI Solutions Power Adapter and Event Processor Plus out of the MIDI signal chain described above. At some point, a Stadium firmware update might add MIDI Note messages from Showcase MIDI song flags if they get enough requests for that. Alternatively, check with tech support for your DMX light controller and see if they have any plans to introduce light triggering via CC messages in the near future. That's coming in the new firmware for the 4Cast MVP so I lucked out there.

Thank you to the OP and contributors for a very useful discussion!

I'm not a developer, but I have worked in I.T. for a long time and I knock out the odd automation script now and again. It cannot be a language localization issue with the driver installer with respect to German since I (as a U.S. user) also have a non-working Windows USB driver that presents as 'other device ' in Windows which repeatedly crashes the Stadium App on a Windows PC that is USB-C cabled to the Stadium. If you look at the installation log for the Stadium App on a Windows PC, you can see the Line 6 Windows USB driver has a dependency on a generic USB device driver library that is quite old. It could be a misconfiguration of the Line 6 Windows USB driver .inf file, the Line 6 Windows USB .sys driver itself, or the USB device driver library that the Line 6 .sys driver relies on. That's for Line 6 to figure out via a trouble ticket. I submitted one as did user ReverendLove, I believe. As an aside, this thread has over 800 views. It's rather disappointing to see not a single Windows user has posted to say they had issues (or not) with the Stadium App on a Windows PC repeatedly crashing with a USB-C cabled connection. That was my Zero Day out-of-the box experience with the Stadium XL on firmware 1.1. I only tried the USB-C route on Zero Day because Stadium XL Wi-Fi would connect but not allow firmware download. I worked around both issues by using the Stadium App on a MacBook and a USB-C cable to get to firmware 1.2. After that, a helpful user here posted the fix for Line 6 account login not working from Stadium XL Wi-Fi Since then, there is nothing I need to do with the Stadium that cannot be done from the Stadium App (on Windows) with both the Windows PC and the Stadium XL connected to the same Wi-Fi network. I did a firmware fetch and update to 1.2.1, I can remotely control the Stadium XL from the Stadium App and I can transfer Showcase audio files to the Stadium XL via Wi-Fi from the Stadium App. All using Windows. As it happens, I decided to buy a MacBook (my first MacOS machine) before I was able to get the Stadium XL to firmware update over Wi-Fi. Do I need The MacBook now for the Stadium XL? No. Am I keeping it? Yes. The refusal of Windows 11 to respect my preference to NOT group files in my downloads folder by 'date modified' as in "Yesterday," "Last week" "A Long Time Ago" was pi^^ing me off. I would set 'Sort -> Group by -> None' , to eliminate that 'feature', leave the folder, and return to the folder to find Microsoft has 'helpfully' reset my preference to "Sort -> Group by -> Date Modified" so I'm back to that "Yesterday", "Last Week" "A long Time Ago" view of my Downloads folder again. It is totally disrespectful to override a user's preference settings like that. That was the last straw for me with Windows at home. Also, Apple silicon is far better than Intel/AMD laptop silicon and has been for a while. I daresay some Apple users will have had their frustrations with Mac that drove them to Windows. Each to his or her own. In the meantime, it would be helpful to user ReverendLove (at least) if a few lurkers of this thread could post their experience of USB-C cable connecting their Windows machines to the Stadium XL. Does the Stadium App crash repeatedly for them when USB-C cable connected? If not, how does the Stadium USB driver (not the ASIO driver which is a separate thing that DOES work on Windows) appear in Windows Device Manager? I suspect most Windows users are now using Wi-Fi to connect with the Stadium XL which, as a connection type, is working for all purposes (remote control, firmware update, and file transfer) so they don't care sufficiently about the non-working USB-C cable connection to bother posting about the broken Line 6 Windows USB driver installation. Regards, Mystic368

Hello, Wait. I'm a little confused. If you can do firmware updates over Wi-Fi, if you can connect the Stadium app on your Windows machine to the Stadium XL via Wi-FI for remote control, and if you can transfer audio files via Wi-Fi to the Stadium XL, how are you currently negatively affected by a non-working Windows USB driver? What is a non-working Windows USB-C cable connection preventing you from doing? That's not to say Line 6 shouldn't be addressing it, of course, but I'm just wondering what you cannot do over a Wi-Fi connection that requires a USB-C cabled connection. I suspect it would be unwise for any working musician to rely 100% on the Stadium XL at present but bugs in general are being resolved quite quickly. I'm just an at-home hobbyist, so there is no urgency from a personal perspective. I can certainly understand the frustration of working musicians trying to use it as a tool to make a living with, though. If you fall into that category, I can certainly empathize.

I was going to request MIDI note output from the Stadium for a different reason but don't need to any longer. I have a 4Cast MVP video playback box that currently uses MIDI Note input to trigger video playback and cannot use any other MIDI message type to do that. I contacted 4Cast support this week who told me video triggering using MIDI CC messages is a feature in the new MVP firmware now being tested prior to release which is great because the Stadium CAN send MIDI CC messages. This will allow me to eliminate the MIDI message type conversion between Stadium and MVP that I am currently using. Currently, my connectivity chain is Stadium MIDI 5-Pin DIN Out -> MIDI Solutions Event Processor Plus 5-PIN DIN In -> MIDI 5-PIN DIN Out -> 4CAST MVP MIDI 5-Pin DIN In. Once the new MVP firmware is released, I can eliminate the MIDI Solutions Event Processor Plus box and go direct from Stadium MIDI 5-PIN DIN Out -> 4Cast MVP MIDI 5-PIN DIN In. Bluetooth latency permitting, I will then eliminate the physical MIDI 5-Pin cable entirely and go MIDI over Bluetooth with a CME WIDI Master plugged into the Stadium MIDI 5-Pin DIN Out and a CME WIDI Jack plugged into the 4Cast MVP MIDI 5-PIN DIN In.

As you know, I had the same issue trying to get from firmware 1.1 to 1.2 using USB-C on Windows but ... I worked around it. Unplug the USB-C cable. Disable automatic time synchronization on the Stadium and set the time manually. This clears the blank QR code issue and lets you log into a Line 6 account over Wi-Fi from the Stadium itself. If the Stadium does not then detect the existence of new firmware and let you download it over W-Fi and apply it, you will need to: Borrow a friend or colleague's MacBook, load Stadium App on it, connect via USB-C to the Stadium and update from firmware 1.1. to 1.2 the 'Apple' way since the Windows USB driver is broken. If you can get your Stadium to firmware 1.2 the 'Apple' way, the good news for you (as an Apple 'hater') is that you no longer need the MacBook and USB-C cable connection going forward (or even a Windows and USB-C connection, for that matter). From a Stadium on firmware 1.2, I was then able to: 1. Update to firmware 1.2.1 over Wi-FI from the Stadium itself (No USB-C connection) 2. With Windows machine and Stadium connected to the same Wi-Fi network, connect Windows Stadium App to the Stadium over Wi-Fi (No USB-C connection) for remote control. 3. Transfer audio files to the Stadium over Wi-Fi using the Windows Stadium App (No USB-C connection) The Windows USB driver issue for the Stadium app has yet to be acknowledged let alone fixed, so work around it as I explained until it does get fixed. As far as I can see, that's your only option. Regards, Mytsic368

The whole Mac versus Windows thing certainly does generate strong opinions. Apple users pay a steep premium for the hardware, that's for sure. On the other hand, they benefit from the tight integration of the hardware and software. Swings and roundabouts. I don't have a decent Windows laptop at the moment, so I figured why not get the MacBook Air since I know it works with the Stadium XL right now out of the box. That seems to be a primary driver for Apple users i.e. it just works. No muss, no fuss. I was impressed with my colleague's MacBook that I used yeterday to do the firmware udpate on my Stadium XL. ALso, I really don't like Microsoft forcing Windows 11 users to create a Microsoft online account upon installation to log into their machines with. I know how to get around it, of course, but it's the principle that bothers me.

Great contribution. Thank you!

Shizzle!

If you are on Windows, please look in Device Manager and let us know if you see 'Helix Stadium Bulk Transfer' listed under 'Other Devices.' You may see a blue question mark inside a white circle associated with it. That means the Line 6's Windows USB driver didn't load which will explain the Stadium app crashing every time you attempt to connect to the Stadium XL. I have a support ticket submitted for this. For me personally, it is a moot issue at this point since I decided to order a MacBook Air to work around the issue.

@ReverendLoveI found that firmware update over Wi-Fi or wired ethernet is not currently an option. I don't understand why Line 6 couldn't have made the firmware file available for direct download and allow installation from a locally-attached USB stick. The Windows USB driver is, in fact, packaged with Line 6 Central but it's the same driver included with the Stadium app download so that won't help. I already tried that. Since Showcase is a key feature for me, I will need a working USB driver for frequent audio file transfer to the Stadium XL via the Stadium App in addition to periodic transfer of firmware update files. For that reason, I decided to jump in with both feet and order a 13-inch MacBook Air with 16GB Memory and 512GB storage. There's a 17% discount on Amazon (US) right now so the timing was right. I have always been a Windows guy and this will be my first Mac so I'll have a learning curve. I've often heard it said that Macs are better for audio recording. I know that the Mac version of the Stadium App works. I already validated that by borrowing my colleague's MacBook Air to update my firmware to 1.2. Firmware 1.3 will supposedly be available after 24 January when the NAMM show ends.