HonestOpinion

Fantastic, thanks!

Both great resources and the http://helixhelp.com site would be the perfect place and URL to develop a full wiki, just not sure if the author of that site has the time or resources.

LOL, looks like the perfect graphic for the WIKI's front page.

The Helix community could really use a WIKI! There are so many great tips, workarounds, techniques, procedures, links, and other contributions from this forum and "The Gear Page" site that are just aging out and getting lost as new topics and posts replace them. It would be fantastic to see the best of these two sites consolidated and preserved in a format that is easily accessed. I know it is a tall order but if anyone has the capacity to start a Helix WIKI, I am sure the entire Helix community would be grateful. A WIKI would also be instrumental in helping to cut down on the endless repetition of the same posts and questions coming up over and over again. I am sure it would bring DI's stress level down 10 notches within a week and vastly reduce the number of times Line6 has to respond to the same questions. Let's start archiving the good stuff in a way that is easily accessible and builds a manual over time that will be far superior to any manual any company has the resources for. Your name is waiting to be immortalized in Helix history, be THE ONE, create the Helix WIKI please!

A graphical view of the EQ across a Real Time Analyzer would be ideal. Handy for electric guitar and indispensable for finding which frequencies are feeding back from acoustic guitar and vocals. For anyone who has ever used an RTA with their mixer, there is simply no better way to find frequencies that are too attenuated, but most especially for finding the ones that are feeding back or spiking. You can vote for it here: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/RTA-Real-Time-Analyzer-screen-for-the-Helix/805922-23508

Nice tip regarding spring reverb!

I had two switches on my first Helix go bad, my retailer swapped it out for me.

I think Silverhead has it pretty much right. The bottom of this post has the layout I think will work if you want to skip ahead. Currently on the Helix you can only assign an output block to USB 1/2, USB 3/4, or USB 5/6. You are limited to 3 stereo USB outs, which can also be used as 6 mono outs. The USB 7/8 output is reserved for reamping and is not available as output block destinations (see page 21 in the manual). So if you want to use four separate output paths you will not be able to run 4 separate stereo USB outputs. However, you can run in essence 4 mono USB connections out by simply using the pan control on the output block. You could also run 2 mono and two stereo USB outputs by assigning the first two outputs blocks (1A & 1B) to the same USB connection, for example USB 1/2 and panning them left and right; this will leave you two stereo USB connections (3/4 and 5/6) if you wanted them for your second pair of outputs paths (2A & 2B). 4 Mono Path Instructions Assign USB 1/2 to path 1A and pan it all the way to the left. Then again, assign USB 1/2 to Path 1B and pan it all the way to the right. Then assign USB 3/4 to path 2A and pan it all the way to the left, and again assign USB 3/4 to path 2B and pan it all the way to the right. You will then have the USB 5/6 connection left over to stare at admiringly. 2 Mono & 2 Stereo Path Instructions Alternatively if you wanted two mono and two stereo paths you could use USB 1/2 for two mono paths (1A and 1B), and then use both USB 3/4 and USB 4/5 for the 2A and 2B output blocks. The difference is you won't be panning the USB 3/4 and USB 5/6 output blocks like you did with the USB 1/2 block. 3 Mono & 1 Stereo Path Instructions I am sure you have gotten the idea by now from the first two sets of instructions. Now just set up your DAW as you always do, for instance, with each track receiving consecutive USB inputs. I believe this should work, feel free to correct me ye more experienced Helix and DAW users. So your path setup on the Helix through to the DAW would look like this: Path 1A -----> Helix Output Block = USB 1/2 (panned 100% left) ---> DAW Track 1 = USB 1 Input Path 1B ----> Helix Output Block = USB 1/2 (panned 100% right) ---> DAW Track 2 = USB 2 Input Path 2A ----> Helix Output Block = USB 3/4 (panned 100% left) ---> DAW Track 3 = USB 3 Input Path 2B ----> Helix Output Block = USB 3/4 (panned 100% right) ---> DAW Track 4 = USB 4 Input

+1 Nice tip!

There are some articles out about security issues with Splashtop and other remote screen apps. People employing this solution may want to use this on a laptop that has no personal information on it although Splashtop does seem to have some methods for locking things down fairly tight. http://www.securityweek.com/hackers-turn-remote-desktop-tools-gateways-point-sale-malware-attacks http://appadvice.com/appnn/2012/06/splashtop-remote-desktop-for-ipad-app-gets-impressive-update Some user discussion on security http://www.thriveforums.org/forum/toshiba-thrive-apps/7315-splashtop-remote-desktop-security.html

This is absolutely awesome! Thank you very much! My only concern would be what permissions this iPad app has in regards to accessing my computer. I would hate to be logged into my bank and have that info being shipped off to a server somewhere. Do you know anything about the security on this app and how much access it has to your computer once installed? I looked at the permissions it requires for an Android download and through Microsoft and they look pretty extensive.

These would be great additions. I love doubling for thickening up vocals, this can probably be achieved now by using the "Simple Pitch" effect by setting it to an Interval of "0" with a mild delay and adding or subtracting a few cents; or maybe even the "Dual Pitch raised a few cents on one pitch and lowered a few cents on the other for vocal tripling. ;)

It is not a convenient or great solution but if you have access to a version of Windows software you can spin up a dual boot or even a virtual Windows instance on your Mac.

I think I agree with both sides of the fence here. I solely use my Helix for the guitar (I use the PA for mixing vocals), therefor I want the focus to stay on more effects, a few more amps, latency, spillover, editor improvement, bug fixes, and other guitar related features. However, I can see where a singer/songwriter would want a little more attention paid to the microphone, not that you can't get a good vocal sound by throwing some reverb, delay, or a host of special effects into your microphone path now. I usually play out with my band but I do occasionally play a singer/songwriter type scenario and I can see the Helix as the perfect all-in-one solution for walking in, plugging into one or two powered speakers or even someone else's PA and being completely self contained with a killer guitar and vocal sound. Vocals on the Helix are extremely low priority for me but I don't think they should be totally ignored and if you are doing the solo or maybe even acoustic duo thing the Helix could be used quite nicely without a mixer. I can also see some players wanting to take control over their own vocal sound and simply feeding it to the soundman. Might be particularly useful if you regularly find yourself at the mercy of an unfamiliar soundman or sound system or like to throw strange Devo like effects on your voice.

This site just keeps getting better and better, thanks for all your hard work! I would love to see a "Microphones" section added for a quick lookup and maybe even description of the different mic types. I find myself surfing for these quite a bit as I try to determine the best mic to use with my cabs.

So, I ran the upgrade again as a sanity check and sure enough, the page that comes up after you run the 1.10 firmware update shows 7&8 as being the reset procedure. That makes for three different and potentially conflicting sets of instructions on how to do the reset after upgrading. The instructions for the Beta Helix app, the firmware notes in the download page, and the firmware notes in the actual firmware when you run the Updater are all at odds with each other. Should we run all three of these footswitch reset combinations, should we run the "optional" factory preset combination or just the other two combinations in the firmware instructions and the editor instructions? What is the proper way to proceed kind sirs? Line6 can you please add some clarity here. I posted the text from the 1.10 firmware instructions below, this is what you see when you run the Updater. Firmware Update Completed Successfully Your Helix will now restart automatically. During this restart, your Helix will automatically rebuild your presets for optimized use with the new firmware. This may take some time. The preset rebuilding step will only occur after a firmware update; subsequent power ups shoud take around 22 seconds. Loading the Newest Factory Presets (Optional): IMPORTANT! Loading the factory presets will completely overwrite all existing presets and setlists! Back up your presets before proceeding! 1. Turn off Helix. 2. While holding footswitches 7 and 8 (two left-most switches on the bottom row), turn on Helix. Wait for the message "Will restore stock Presets and Setlists..." to appear and let go.

Line6 seems to be aware of this issue in the disparity between the instructions between the firmware and the editor for this update. Why haven't they corrected the instructions in the firmware/editor notes or even posted the corrected instructions? I wonder sometimes if Helix code is outsourced because issues like certificate warnings in the updates, conflicting instructions, and even insignificant small bug fixes seem to take either a long time or sometimes never get addressed. This seems like the kind of stuff that could quickly be corrected in house. I would think somebody would have jumped on this by now, a quick change to the text, recompile, and upload to the repository. Not a huge deal but I don't understand why it has not been corrected?

So do we need to do the 4&5 reset per the beta editor's instructions and the 5&6 per the firmware's instructions or is the 5&6 reset the only one required? Additionally, I downloaded the beta on the first day and I could swear I remember it saying to use 7&8 as I remember text to the effect of "the two buttons on the far left bottom row" (possible I am confusing this with an earlier firmware version).

And walking will get you short distances from point A to point B without requiring gasoline or the danger of a flat tire. I still like having a car for those interstate trips though. My apologies in advance for yet another example of car analogy abuse. :D

I thought I had seen somewhere a few months ago in the forum that the Amp+Cab combinations had been optimized to use less DSP than a separate amp and cab. Is this not the case?

Nice tip, thanks! And RIP George Martin, he was an incredibly talented producer, I would happily take advice from him any time.

LOL, glad it's working for you! I only mentioned it 'cos I jumped in right away on the editor after loading up my presets and then noticed they got updated after the next time I used the Helix. You definitely get the credit here, I was relaying the observation from my own lesson learned. :wacko:

Until the issues with the Helix and Mac are sorted out the easiest solution may be to set up a VMWare virtual machine or some kind of dual boot to either Windows or an earlier Mac version if you have the tech savvy and software available. Is anyone currently doing that?

This is probably not the issue but did you restart the Helix after loading your old presets? The first time you restart it, the Helix will run through an upgrade process on the presets you loaded from your prior firmware. I know people have been jumping in on the editor after loading their presets, for those who haven't, make sure you restart your Helix first before you start using the editor.

Brilliant! Thank you for your response and this is great to know for players who have more than two controller jacks on the amp they would like to address with the Helix.