HonestOpinion

I agree! I love the way the Helix has so many preset slots that they were able to provide empty User lists for me to populate with my own presets or modified presets copied in whole or in part from factory presets. I find this liberating as I don't feel like I am blowing away or modifying factory presets that I may want to refer back to. Granted you could always refer back to original presets by restoring them from the Librarian but I love having an area that is not already populated to copy and modify to, at least initially. I really like the approach Line6 took to not pre-populating every preset slot!

Aaargh, the Helix has such an embarrassment of riches when it comes to knobs and controls for volume attenuation I am finding myself confused. I may well be misunderstanding DI's post but it sounds like the Helix should be run with the large physical volume knob turned all the way up and the "Level" parameter on the merge/mixer/output block set to 0% for unity gain (all other things being equal). Is this correct? This would be a serious change to the way I operate the Helix as I assumed unity for the large physical "Volume" knob would be with the white line straight up at 50%. I am wondering what or if there is a generally best method to level a preset using the following controls: The physical large volume control at the top of the Helix, The "Level" control on the output block The "Level" control on effects The "Ch Vol" on amps. The "Master Vol" on amps. What is the ideal method or rule of thumb for combining the settings (level of attenuation) on each of the five kinds of controls above for achieving unity gain or just the best sound? Including the "Master Vol" probably throws a monkey wrench into the question but it does have a profound impact on a preset's overall volume so I thought I would include it. Additionally this is probably a dumb question but I wanted to confirm that my understanding of the "Ch Vol" on amp blocks is correct. Does the "Ch Vol" in essence alter the ratio of amp block volume to the rest of the amps/effects in the preset? It is my understanding that the "Master" and "Drive" settings are what determine the grit and volume of the amp (like a physical amp). I would expect a significant increase in "Ch Vol" to have a psychoacoustic effect but outside of that it should not alter the amp's tone or grit, etc.. In other words, how do I ideally balance the "Ch Vol" to the output block volume and the physical Volume control? I guess at the core my question is how do I appropriately balance/use the "Ch Vol" setting on amp blocks, the "Level" setting on the output block, the large physical volume knob, and all the other available controls that impact a preset's volume?

I would echo that stereo mixes provide much more interesting mixes for recordings and are pretty much the standard there. However we generally run a mono mix live. The problem we have found with stereo mixes to FOH in live situations is that we can't depend on having a scenario where everyone in the room is roughly in the center of the stereo image. This means that audience members on the right or left predominantly would hear the half of the stereo signal from the FOH speaker(s) on their side. They lose part or all of the other half of the signal, in the case of many effects that means they may only hear the dry or wet part of the signal, or one singer too loud and the other barely at all, or worse yet with rotary or delay effects they can end up hearing almost nothing when the harmony, rotary, or delay switches or is mixed to the speaker on the other side. Phasing issues can also become more pronounced in a stereo mix. But..., if you find yourself in a scenario where you can use a stereo FOH mix they offer way more flexibility and some incredible potential for Brian May, Leslie type moving delays and harmonies and speaker rotation, more sophisticated and often pleasing blends of sound, and all sorts of cool musical mayhem and guitar sounds. We just rarely play gigs where we find ourselves able to run a stereo mix, so we have focused on our mono mix. Maybe it comes down to which is more important to getting your particular band's sound across as well as the size of the venue. You may prefer a stereo image that may capture the band's sound better but not always be perfect for listeners not in the center of the stereo image, or, a mono image that provides a more consistent but perhaps also a less interesting mix. If you use a lot of guitar harmony, rotary, etc. or just plain prefer stereo no matter what, I suppose that may end up dictating your choice.

It still seems to me that parallel loop operation could be achieved with proper routing and still maintain a more intuitive 0% dry, 100% wet operation on the "Mix" parameter, but I would be the first to say that I may not understand all of the ramifications of using a parallel versus a serial loop. Here is an explanation of the two: http://www.soldano.com/amp-help/whats-the-difference-between-a-series-and-a-parallel-effects-loop/

I agree, the loss of granularity/resolution, the counter-intuitive operation, and the lack of standardization in methodology used on different effects does not make sense to me. Wouldn't standardizing all mod effects to the usual 0% dry, 100% wettest make the most sense and be the simplest way to proceed?

Thanks! Should have done a better job searching on this topic, did not realize you had already started a thread on this.

Thanks for the response phil_m. You may well be right but this does not seem like either an intuitive or conventional implementation of a "Mix" parameter. When I turn the "Mix" parameter to 100% it sounds like it is still wet but less wet than the 50% setting. Is there no difference then between setting the "Mix" to 25% or 75%? Are 0-50% and 50-100% just redundant settings? Wouldn't this approach reduce the available granularity and turning radius of the "Mix" control? Is there an advantage to having 50% be the max setting? Why was the "Mix" implemented this way? This is different from every other rack and pedal effect I have used. Lots of questions, sorry, just trying to get my head wrapped around why the "Mix" control operates this way.

I have noticed that the effect sound for the 70's Chorus and ScriptModPhase are strongest at the 50% "Mix" parameter level. This does not make any sense to me. On most non-Helix effects when you turn up the mix level, you get less direct guitar and more affected signal. At 100% you get the most effect available in the output. On the Helix, turning up the "Mix" to 100% decreases the effect signal to almost zero, such that the chorus or phaser sound pretty much disappear. Turning the "Mix" to 0% also results in almost zero (which is what I would expect). I am using the XLR (left) mono ouput direct to my mixing board. I brought this issue up in the Bugs topic and got a couple of good speculations as to why the "Mix" parameter is operating this way but I am still unsure as to whether this is a bug or not. This does not seem to be normal behavior. Can Line6 please weigh in on why the chorus, phaser, and I presume several other (all?) effects are showing this behavior. If it is intentional, what is the difference between running the "Mix" parameter at for instance 25% versus 75%? How is the "Mix" parameter implemented on the Helix?

You could not be more correct silverhead, it is apparently much more effective to use the CS support ticketing system. See the first quote above from Digital_Igloo who works for Line6.

I don't think you can assign the bank switches to presets but there is a global setting to allow you to use the bank switches to move up or down one preset instead of up or down banks. Not exactly what you are asking but it would give you in effect access to two more preset settings.

I think this is yet another great alternative for addressing this issue. I still prefer one of the following two options because all of the current functionality remains largely unchanged: Global setting to increase the required radius of turn on the joystick required to scroll through pedals/amps. For example 1/16 thru 1/4 turn (2 clicks - 8 clicks). 2. Global setting allowing a variable delay, for example 100ms-2000ms, before joystick starts scrolling though pedals/amps. Vote for it here: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Make-joystick-require-larger-turn-before-effect-changes/788248-23508

Would love to see more amp/cabs, effects, and presets for the acoustic guitar. Electric through the "Guitar" input and acoustic through the "Aux" input. One stop shop, nice! You can vote for it here: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/More-amp-cabs-effects-and-presets-for-acoustic-guitar/791672-23508

This is not one of my top priorities as I will generally be using the amp/cab modeling capabilities of the Helix but the points DI makes about a global indicator on the home screen, and the the point jayekim makes about automatically resolving routing implications when the amps/cabs are disabled, are good ones. Implementing the capacity for globally disabling amps/cabs might be a win for Line6 as it helps to position the Helix in the marketplace as an effects only unit as well for those who want to use it that way. The more Helix units that are adopted by the musical community the more support we can hope to see for this incredible processor in the future.

We run a mono mix in the PA and I usually only connect the left XLR (mono) out to the mixer. I assume this automatically sums the left and right stereo outputs to mono. Is this correct?

I agree! "Just get used to it" does not need to be how we address this UI issue. This issue is easily remedied with a global setting in a way that could leave it as is for those who like it and make it easier for those of us who find it to be an issue. Everybody wins! The sensitivity is definitely even more of an issue when you are at a gig bending over the Helix with a guitar in one hand and don't have time to carefully make adjustments.

I agree that it is also very productive to use the official reporting method and would encourage everyone to also open a support ticket but I assume and hope that there are also representatives from Line6 keeping an eye on this topic, particularly in the early stages of the product's release as the firmware releases are more geared to resolving issues than adding new features.

Outstanding and helpful video and great playing!

This is an astounding contribution to the Helix forum! Big thanks to mdmayfield for being the first to post on this and thestratmanblues for writing a script to help leverage it. Thank you!

Moving a multiple assignment to an alternate footswitch should retain all of your pedal/assignment choices, the customized name, and the customized color. Right now you have to rebuild everything you had assigned to the footswitch from scratch. This is a feature that would greatly simplify things and save lots o' time. Moving a "Multiple" assignment (for example turn on Mutant Filter, turn off compressor) from one footswitch to another requires reassigning up to all eight of your pedals/assignments to the new footswitch instead of moving all of the current assignments at one time. Additionally, if you have a customized name it will be lost (the name reverts back to "Multiple") and you will have to retoggle in the name again. You also lose the color for the footswitch ring if you had that customized as well. You can vote for it here: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Move-to-new-footswitch-should-maintain-settings-on-Multiple/790995-23508

Done, thanks and I agree, I can see this one only popping up in the editor but they could really use this functionality on the floorboard as well! You can vote for it here: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Move-to-new-footswitch-should-maintain-settings-on-Multiple/790995-23508?submitted=1

Yep, another confirmation on this one. Looks like this is the same bug others of us have reported. Screen not displaying properly after a cross setlist save.

In my opinion the Helix could well be the best choice out there for pedals-only use but a few things must be addressed before it becomes a clear winner. These are a few of the things I might consider if I were going to buy the Helix just for the pedals and did not intend to use the amp modeling. I suspect some of the cons will be addressed in future updates. Many of the existing pedals sound exceptional There is no global option to turn off the amps. This means that you will have to go in and bypass or delete the amp/cab block(s) on any preset you use. Luckily this is easy to do but still a pain. Let's hope they add a global setting to turn amps/cabs off. The routing options on the back of the Helix are outstanding and offer a multitude of ways to input/output your signal and four, count 'em four external loops for adding your own pedals into the mix or whatever. The scribble strips and color customizeable footswitch rings make it incredibly easy to envision the Helix as an analog pedalboard. You have all your effects with your own customized names extremely visible on scribble strips. In this respect the Helix is head and shoulders above all competition. There are 10 footswitches available for assigning to different pedals, not to speak of a built in expression pedal. Footswitches are capable of changing parameters or state of multiple pedals a time. Pedals and presets can be split on top or bottow row as well as a sort of pedals only view of up to 10 pedals. If you like wahs, there are a ton Right now the pedal library overall is very lean. Let's hope they add more There is only one very simple phaser pedal option right now. Midi switching is implemented in a very easy to use interface. There is one external amp output for controlling your amp. Touch sensitive capacitance is a very innovative and convenient method for editing as well as an editing mode that allows all of a pedal's parameters to be edited using nothing but your feet. Lots more I probably have not considered, definitely take a look at the manual.

RealZap's answer above is probably the one that should be posted in green at the top but it would be nice if there were an alternative at least until most of the OS software issues with the Line6 Updater and Helix app have been resolved. Not that it helps all the users facing Updater and app challenges but I have gotten lucky and my laptop with Windows 10 has had zero issues with either the Updater or the Helix app. I know Line6 would save itself some returns, at least in the short run, if they could provide a method of updating that did not require the Updater. With that said, I think that TheRealZap's suggestion of spinning up a VM (virtual machine) on VMWare or Hyper-V or even setting up a double boot with an OS that might work for you in the short run is a temporary stopgap workaround. Of course, if the issue turns out to be hardware related then an alternate OS on the same laptop or PC may not make a difference.

Moving a "Multiple" assignment (for example turn on Mutant Filter, turn off compressor) from one footswitch to another requires reassigning up to all eight of your pedals/assignments to the new footswitch instead of moving all of the current assignments at one time. Additionally, if you have a customized name it will be lost and you will have to retoggle in the name again. You also lose the color for the footswitch ring if you had that customized as well. Seems like just moving a multiple assignment to an alternate footswitch should retain all of your pedal/assignment choices, the customized name, and the customized color. The only method I am aware of, makes moving a multiple assigned switch, particularly a customized one more painful than it needs to be as you need to essentially rebuild everything you had assigned to the footswitch from scratch. Is there some other method that moves the whole multiple assignment,name, and color at once? If not, this is a feature that would greatly simplify things and save lots 'o time.

Allow swap of footswitch assignments from top row to bottom row and vice versa.Create a setting in global settings to swap all of the footswitch assignments from the top row to the bottom row and vice versa. Right now all of the Line6 factory presets are set for the pedals to show up on the bottom row. That creates a big problem if you are a player who likes to use the bottom row for presets and have your pedals on the top row. It means you have to go and reassign all the pedals on all of the factory presets one by one and swap them from the bottom row to the top. The Helix has the great feature of allowing the user to decide whether they want to split pedal/presets on either the top or bottom row. It is a shame to see this functionality crippled by not allowing the factory presets to conform to the users choice without hours (days) spend on manually reassigning every footswitch assignment in the factory presets. You can vote for it here: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Swap-footswitch-assignments-from-top-row-to-bottom-vice-versa/790520-23508