HonestOpinion

3 hours ago, cfhmonkey said:

I access the midi stuff by tapping the "A" icon on mine. I've had the app for a long time, think the midi functionality was in IAP back then. Well before they had any subscription model...

 

My account info found under the gear icon lists "OnSong Pro" with four "add-ons" of "drawing" "midi" "console" and "scenes".

 

Heh, thanks but my OnSong version does not even have that icon. Wonder how you got that to appear?

7 hours ago, datacommando said:

Ye gods!

Is this lunatic still on the loose? He has a really good way of upsetting lots of people.

 

Here’s a sample from Harmony Central when he did a “review” of the Line 6 HD500

https://www.harmonycentral.com/forums/topic/1534841-an-idiot-demos-the-line-6-hd500/

 

He didn’t make many friends over in Fractal land either- Cliff is not a huge fan of the guy. Oh, yeah, and Kemper - in fact, way back he gave the Eleven Rack a good kicking too. He is a legend in his own mind. Do a little research on him - he has lots of websites under various names.

 

Oh, dear - not really a great example of opening a Helix - although, at least he knew his warranty was void by doing it.

I really thought I had seen the last of the “cat in the hat”.

Got to stop now my sides are aching!

LOL, I hear you and that HD500 review was definitely not one of his better moments. I know a lot of people take exception to his reviews, I have seen many a scathing rebuke of him. However he is one of the only reviewers actually deconstructing these devices in such depth. I find his reviews a useful resource for taking a look into the guts of devices I have no intention of taking apart myself.

His conclusions on the other hand have frequently been controversial as he seems to heavily weight the overall worth of a device from a component/hardware oriented perspective, sometimes unaware or mistaken about some of some of the device's other features and software or firmware attributes or the fact that it doesn't necessarily need the latest and greatest chip to be worthwhile or even great. Literally that the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. I know he has skewered some devices I am rather fond of but I still thinks he makes some valuable contributions to the range of reviews available on any given device. Reviews that run the gamut from fawning salesmen to unabashed trolls.

Ultimately I am a fan of reviews that take a look at the component level in devices as I find them interesting and I believe they help, if only marginally, to keep manufacturers honest about recycling old technology into newer devices. Not necessarily a practice that condemns the device to inferiority but certainly not a practice conducive to future-proofing either.  Some mighty shiny devices that look great on the outside can house some fairly dated technology within. Like most reviews I take his with a grain of salt and weigh them against other opinions, including my own.

Note: His review on the Helix was overall positive and quite reassuring as to the quality of the components used.

Note: Yep, I would use the Left output for summing to mono and adjust presets to taste in a copied setlist as suggested already. Stereo effects use more DSP, so if you need some back swap your stereo effect(s) out for mono. 

https://benvesco.com/store/helix-dsp-allocations/

23 hours ago, Nerdlingers said:

Is there a data sheet on the actual processors used inside the Helix floor model? I was thinking about upgrading the actual CPUs inside. One thing I was wondering is if the firmware recognizes DSP on the fly or is it coded into the firmware? For instance if I doubled the processing power would it still grey out blocks at the same time it would for the normal CPUs or is it calculated otherwise? 

This is the most detailed look I've seen at the Helix's innards. Have to agree with the other posts here though that this would probably be far more involved than just swapping DSPs out. The review was also done fairly early in the Helix's lifecycle so there is no guarantee some of the parts may not have changed.

Here is his writeup with the parts listed: https://tonymckenzie.com/line6-helix-effects-unit-floor-pedal-inside-and-out-review.htm

A video review where he went inside the Helix's chassis.

I am not getting the MIDI dialog popup when I press and hold the song title in OnSong.  Instead I get a magnifier glass enlarging the text for the song title. I have reset my Onsong settings to default and that did not help. Any ideas as to why this may not be working?  MIDI configuration maybe? It (looks right to me) and Onsong sees my Helix.

Perhaps worth mentioning that I have had the "Onsong Pro" version on my iPad for years, not the new Onsong "Premium" subscription offering. It is updated to the latest version. Anybody have any suggestions for getting it working so the holding down the title shortcut brings up the MIDI dialog?

I think the press & hold shortcut to MIDI settings on the "Onsong Pro" version does not exist, at least not by default. You can get to the MIDI event settings by selecting a song, pressing edit (pencil icon), pressing info("i" with a circle icon), and then scrolling all the way down to the MIDI settings. PITA so I would love to find a way to enable the title press & hold shortcut. At least for now maybe this method will help someone out who is trying to get HX program control switching working with the older(and less expensive) version of OnSong working.

On 10/15/2021 at 11:39 PM, BAmartin said:

...

Feedbacker (not as powerful as the Freqout but hope to be not as limited as the Boss FB-2)

...

 

IMHO proper feedback is one of the only things remaining that many modelers are missing that starkly differentiate them from an old-school analog setup. Granted if you have your monitoring set up the right way, with an amp or FRFR, you can generate feedback, but not everybody's rig is conducive to it.  A good Feedbacker is one effect that I think should make its way into any current modeler if the manufacturer wants to provide a truly comprehensive alternative to traditional amps/cabs. Modelers can already do pretty much everything and more than an analog rig. Feedback(the good kind) can be the one glaring omission.

I'm with you on the Fuzz thing, there are more than enough of them for me already in the Helix but that is just a personal preference.

As far as speculation as to what's coming, it remains the usual mystery to me. Doesn't hurt to pontificate though and who knows, if enough users are leaning in the same direction maybe that part of the wishlist gets a boost if it happens to coincide with whatever Line 6 has planned anyway :-)

On 10/13/2021 at 4:42 PM, cfhmonkey said:

... Super easy to access multiple banks as well. Little snippet of code typed into the OnSong app takes care of everything. Tremendously useful app... 

Do you have a link for the "snippet of code" and how it is employed?

6 minutes ago, theElevators said:

Yup, I know... I was just going by what OP said his settings were.  To me, this is still unneeded nitpicking and I will never be messing with my impedance setting. 

 

In all my presets the first block is either a volume pedal or a Throaty wah.  Both of them have the same impedance.  So, ain't broke?  don't fix. lol

 

exactly what I referenced in my response. 

Cool, just wanted to make sure that the OP was aware of the additional flexibility available on the impedance settings. Will delete my redundant post with the impedance list as I missed it at the top of yours. Cheers!

36 minutes ago, theElevators said:

https://line6.com/support/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=10395 299.53 kB · 81 downloads

 

You got it slightly wrong.  The very first block and only the very first block bypassed or un-bypassed dictates the virtual impedance.  So, if you have a Fuzz pedal in the beginning of the chain that is never ever used in any of your snapshots, that Fuzz will affect your tone. 

 

After that first block, if you have any other number of blocks that are bypassed, it does not affect the sound in any way.  Only the first block.  Bypassed or un-bypassed.  E.g. you can have 3 Fuzzes in the middle of the chain that are always off -- the sound is the same if they are there or deleted. 

Although that is the way it used to function it is no longer the case. You now have a new choice for impedance behavior. Under global settings --> Preferences --> 'Auto Impedance' you can now select "First Block" or "First Enabled".  If you select "First Enabled" for this setting and set the impedance to 'Guitar In-Z' = "Auto" on the Input block, the impedance will be set to the optimal impedance for the first active block in your signal chain. That means that there is no longer only one static auto impedance setting available for the first block, regardless of whether it is active or bypassed. As you mentioned, that used to be your only choice of behavior and is still the way it works if you select 'Auto Impedance' = "First Block".

14 hours ago, PierM said:

 

...

 

You are of course right about ACs. They do have the option to work very similar as dedicated dehumifiers, removing water from the room air to reduce the thermoreception.

 

...

Good point about the dehumidifier setting available on many air conditioners. Even without that setting though, part of the physics of an air conditioner is to pull water out of the air. That's why the window units drip(hopefully outdoors if installed correctly) :-)

2 hours ago, PierM said:

The Helix LCD display, as any other similar display, isnt sealed and if you spill a liquid over it, there is nothing preventing a leak between the matrix and the screen surface.

 

The bright you see is the water/humid trapped there, or it's already permanently damaged. Imho the best option is to leave the unit closed in a very small room (windows/doors closed), with a dehumidifier. This is the only device that can safely suck out all the humidity from the environment, and from your Helix.

 

You probably have something similar to that; 

 

 

Air conditioners do a good job of dehumidifying as well. Don't think a small dehumidified room is the only safe method available for drying it out and getting it working again, but it is a good suggestion in tandem with some of the others. Assuming, as you mentioned, that there is not damage that will require a repair.

3 hours ago, ericrardin said:

When I try to download something, this is why I can't download: 

 

Well you could always purchase some software to gain access but that unit definitely appears at first blush to be stolen barring the incredibly low likelihood that it encountered abrasive surfaces solely and coincidentally where the serial number was located. Perhaps they scraped off when it fell off the back of a truck. Bad mojo!

8 hours ago, brue58ski said:

 

...

 

I just read the previous post to mine and that totally goes in line with what I'm trying to say. Meter's are a great place to start, but ultimately end with your ears. A big thing is the meters won't tell you how your patch's sound will fit with a bass and drums pounding away. The meters may say you're good, but your sound could disappear once the band starts playing. Speaking from experience here.

Good reminder that it is not all about your signal level. Once you are in the band mix, overlapping frequencies from other instruments come into play. That is where responding with a change to your EQ rather than your volume can help to cut through and make your instrument more distinct in the mix without battering your audiences ears.  Playing in a band that knows how to keep some sonic "space" as well as EQ'ing each instrument into its own acoustic space with strategic cuts or boosts in the frequency range generally results in a better sound and makes it easier to pick out each instrument in the mix. Playing with dynamics also helps tremendously. Gotta love a rhythm section that can 'handoff' and pull back appropriately for a solo. If every player is at eleven all the time producing a wash of sound and banging away at their instrument without properly listening to the rest of the band, it gets harder and harder to get a good mix and the volume duels start spiraling. It is great though to see the tools for measuring signal levels get more sophisticated and more closely reflect what the human ear is hearing.

8 hours ago, stevihelix said:

Thanks for all the replies - I have been researching this for a long time...

 

What's strange is that through my headphones, everything sounds phenomenal. As soon as I plug into our PA, the sound is thin and brittle. I need to remove so much high end information on my guitar channel in the console, even though I run a high cut block after the cabs in my presets. The brittle sound translates from the console to my in ears, but they don't sound as bad when plugged directly into the phones out on the Helix.

I think your less than satisfactory sound when hitting the stage may be due primarily to the fact that you are using headphones to create your presets. The first thing I would do is use a monitor(FRFR, guitar amp/cab), preferably whatever you will be using on stage, rather than headphones to design my presets. Keep in mind that if you use a guitar amp/cab you may need additional cuts to get the FOH sound reined in as PA speakers do not have as limited a frequency range and response as guitar speakers. An FRFR monitor definitely can make for a more seamless translation to the PA. Try to get the volume as close to performance levels at least briefly(without damaging your ears, earplugs are grand), rehearsal is a good opportunity for final editing of your presets. Although some players have had relatively good results designing their presets with headphones(maybe they had just the right set of phones to translate to their PA) generally speaking that is a recipe for disappointing and wildly different results when you hit the stage.

Regarding the PA. A sanity check where you run some pre-recorded music that you are very familiar with, and then EQ'ing the PA at FOH properly, is a great start. Hopefully that will at least ensure that the PA is not too bright or crispy. As others here indicated make sure the PA's EQ is set properly at the board for your guitar input and the level is not too hot. As @SaschaFranck indicated you always have the global EQ as a last resort to respond globally to a PA that is impacting all your presets adversely in a particular room, but until you take the initial step of designing them on a monitor(or headphones if you must) that translates well to stage and at something close to stage volumes, you may continue to be unhappy with your results. At least on a substantial percentage of your presets.

On 10/6/2021 at 9:25 AM, theElevators said:

First time I set up my sound on the Helix and went to a gig, the same thing happened.  A lot of FRFRs are really bass-heavy, so if you use that as the basis of your sound, you'll get really harsh sound.  I then got myself Yamaha studio monitors and have been using those as my single source of truth in terms of EQ. 

 

PAs are all weird.  Rooms are all different.  I was doing a sound check just last week at a venue with a lot of open space and bare walls.  The sound guy wound up adding a limiter on one of my frequencies, that's how bad it was. 

Just curious, do you happen to know how he went about putting a limiter on just one of your frequencies? Never had to do that but it sounds intriguing. Multi-band compressor? I would probably have just used a GEQ/PEQ to ratchet down a narrow frequency range.

Updated: Edited to include PEQ(as @DunnedinDragon mentioned below) which is even more flexible than the GEQ and more likely to be used for cutting/boosting specific frequencies and ranges; especially if the problem is being created by only one instrument or input.  A soundperson might be more likely to use the GEQ for a quick fix if the problem is the room causing issues at a certain frequency.

On 9/29/2021 at 4:28 AM, SaschaFranck said:

 

I see. Quite strange that it's working offline, though. I mean, usually you'd want this functionality to actually get a patch back onto your device.

I would see retrieving a patch as the most likely scenario as well. I appreciate that they set it up for offline use though.  It doesn't require any data from your HX device; only a backup file from your local filesystem; so I guess they figured, why not? 

Could also see it coming in handy perhaps in a scenario where your device is locking up and your last backup file is corrupt or not loading properly.  At least you might be able to get at your setlists and presets via an old backup and load them up piecemeal in an effort to recover as much as possible. Personally I was happy to see this come along because part of my firmware update process always used to be an export/backup of all my setlists and presets individually in addition to a full backup. This is considerably less hassle.

2 hours ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

Cool. This escaped me. Not that I ever needed any such a function, but it's pretty good to know it's there. Has this been exisiting for longer already?

It's been around for a couple/few of the more recent firmware & HX Edit versions but sort of flying under the radar.  It had a few bugs when first released. They got fixed though and it really is handy.  One of the only things in HX Edit that works offline too.

On 9/27/2021 at 8:54 AM, TheDarkKnight1 said:

Hi everyone,

 

I occasionally make the error of overwriting presets. Is there a way to restore a single preset from a backup?

You no longer have to mess around with restoring a prior backup or setlist and then exporting and importing, there is a better way available. If you have a prior backup (you probably have at least one from last time you upgraded the firmware) just do this:

1. Using HX Edit click on 'File' --> 'Extract Files From Backup'
2. Navigate to and select the backup you want to extract from and follow the prompts
3. You should now have every preset in individual files from your backups, separated in directories named after your setlists. The backup utility will even prompt you when it completes and dump you in the master directory for the extracted presets.
4. Back in HX Edit, highlight the slot you want to place your preset in, use the 'Import' function, and navigate to the file for the preset you want to restore.

The ease of use of the 'Extract Files From Backup' utility provides yet another great reason to make periodic backups.

On 9/8/2021 at 10:33 AM, kzmaier said:

I am seeing my Windows 10 PC reboot when using the HX Stomp (fw 3.10) and jamming along with youtube songs.  I would suspect a driver issue but when the PC reboots I hear what sounds like the PC power supply cutting out.  The PC keeps trying to restart but cuts off almost instantly and repeats.  If I power off the HX Stomp the PC boots fine??  I know the HX Stomp driver is not involved at this low running level (BIOS).  I have other USB interfaces and have never seen this problem.  Is anyone else seeing a similar issue?

 

PS - Love this pedal.

 

Thanks,

Ken

You are probably dealing with a different issue but I thought I would throw this out there as I just encountered it on my own PC. Sometimes the motherboard vendor's drivers and/or apps are too old or get out of synch with Windows. I recently got a Gigabyte MB that was bluescreen/rebooting every time the PC came out of sleep or the screensaver . It turned out to be the Gigabyte's "Fastboot" and/or "Easytune" applications. Both of these applications have Intel or Microsoft equivalents(which is what I ended up using). In this case, as soon as I removed these two Gigabyte apps, the "Kernel" error I was getting that was causing the reboots went away. Btw, neither of those two apps(Fastboot or Easytune) were running when the crashes occurred and I had no overclocking in place. The apps just being installed was enough to cause the kernel panics.  Also, it may help to ensure your Windows version is fully updated.

This recent experience comes to mind because the critical kernel error being reported in the Microsoft Event Viewer definitely made me suspect the PSU(power supply), even though that turned out to have nothing to do with it. Moral of the story is definitely take a good hard look at MB drivers and apps before replacing your power supply. Not having the most up to date drivers/apps can also cause similar problems. In my case however, it was the latest Gigabyte apps(which probably also installed Gigabyte drivers) causing the issue.

As I mentioned, perhaps not the issue you were encountering but I hope this post helps someone at some point if not.

On 9/4/2021 at 4:44 AM, The_Elf said:

I can hardly beleve this can't be done. I just came to do this today, since my hardware Helix is back at base and... I can't import my hardware backup to Native. Good grief! Any way I can extract the other import-able file types from the full backup I have with me?

On 9/4/2021 at 5:03 AM, PierM said:

You can import your presets from helix to Native. I do that all the time.

 

What it cant be imported (they are imported, but deprecated in the VST signal flow), are hardware related blocks, like FX Loops / Send&Return. That's obvious since it does require the Helix hardware.

 

Not sure what you mean with "hardware backup" tho.

On 9/4/2021 at 5:15 AM, datacommando said:

This is in reference to the situation where you use HX Edit to create a backup of everything from your hardware unit. The one that keeps the Favourites, IRs, etc. That type of file cannot be imported into HX Native.

 

As you state, you can import “regular presets” and even “bundle” files, but you cannot do that with a “backup”.

 

Strange, but true.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

As @PierM and @datacommando referred to, you can use "Bundles" instead of "Backups" to sync your device with Native using the 'File' --> 'Export Bundle' command in HX Edit and 'Import Bundle' command under the 'Settings' icon in Native if you want to sync all your presets and IRs(excepting objects Native doesn't support).

You can also import/export individual setlists using the librarian section of HX Edit, or all presets using the 'File' --> 'Extract Files From Backup' command in HX Edit. It will extract all your presets from a backup which can then be imported individually to Native. You do, as has been mentioned, have to import any corresponding IRs as well when you import individual setlists or presets . I would just import all of my IRs from Helix into Native.  Overall I find the import/export options fairly extensive and flexible.

Sounds like you have done some shuffling around with drivers and whatnot as you attempted to troubleshoot this. I would download and reinstall the version of HX Edit that matches your firmware just to make sure things are back in synch.

If you have not already, I would also try swapping in other USB cables and try connecting on all of my USB ports (front and back if you are on a desktop PC). If you are on a laptop, same advice and obvious though it may seem, make sure it is plugged in and charging, not running on battery. Good luck with this. 

On 8/16/2021 at 11:00 PM, themetallikid said:

So I'm working on a preset for a song.  I have the 3Sigma guitar IR's (used only for special occasions) at the beginning.   The song is I'll Be There For You/Bon Jovi.  I have a Strat 5 position and Strat 3 Position queued up in my IR slots  (15/16 respectively).  I use the 5 position for the Intro Snapshot, and then have it switch to the 3 position on the 2nd snapshot (Verse).  

 

For some reason it is wanting to jump to IR slot 44 regardless of me saving the preset, reassigning, deleting/reassigning the IR slot via Snapshots back to slot 16.  

 

Don't critique the preset yet, as its still a work in progress as I learn the song....but here is a copy of the preset.  

 

I'm just afraid I'm back on the 'corrupted preset' train again that I was on for awhile.  

 

 

I'll Be There.hlx 29.71 kB · 2 downloads

Have you tried removing and then restoring the IR to its slot rather than just reassigning it in the preset? I would restore it from your original source for that IR rather than the IR backup if possible. Might be worth moving it to a different IR slot as well. Anything to shake things up. Short of that, PITA though it may be,  I would consider just rebuilding that preset from scratch.

The Behringer FCB1010 has two expression pedals and is quite inexpensive but, for example if you own a Helix, also adds a crazy amount of additional real estate required to operate it. I suppose for certain setups it could be very useful if you are doing extensive MIDI switching, including the footswitches in your process as well as the expression pedals. For me that is just too much on the floor but "different strokes...".  Also, which HX device do you have?

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FCB1010--behringer-midi-foot-controller-fcb1010

Ingenious and helpful as some of the suggestions on this topic are, at some point I hope that Line6 will add better setlist management to the HX line. If you haven't already, please vote it up here: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Add-Setlists-to-Helix/911976-23508

17 hours ago, datacommando said:

Hi Ho!

 

Guess he may have tried that, because you are replying to a post that is two years old!.

 

Since then - no replies from Sweden.

 

;-)

LOL, hadn't noticed as someone came in and revived the topic.  And...Sweden replies. Apparently XEQT is a very courteous fellow despite the fact that he now has a different device.

11 hours ago, XEQT said:

I have switched all that that but i have sold my unit and goten another machin ..,.

 

Many Thanks Roberth (Sweden)

Thanks for replying.