HonestOpinion

I used to think all presets sucked as well.  But here we find the beauty of the Helix....if there is one setting or effect in a preset that you like, you can simply copy that block and paste it into your own preset. I LOVE this about the Helix....so easy to grab any part of a preset and put it right into whatever you have created.  

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!

Helix would be the same. If the VOLUME knob is maxed and your Merge > Mixer and Output blocks are set to unity, the signal should be unity all the way through (assuming you've set your Global Settings > Ins/Outs > Levels appropriately).

So it seems that unity gain is all the way up on the Master Volume which let me keepp send/rtn on the Helix at 0 and and my att. on the amp's adjustable loop way down....it made a huge difference ....Thx Dig_I

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:

1. The physical large volume control at the top of the Helix,
2. The "Level" control on the output block
3. The "Level" control on effects
4. The "Ch Vol" on amps.
5. 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's only counter-intuitive if you think about serial effects loops.  Which most people are used to: Guitar -> FX -> Amp

 

Helix can do this (Mix < 50%) but is designed to also model parallel effects loops where the amp output passes directly to the outputs and the effected signal is added to it - for modulations you want a completely wet effect to mix back with that dry signal.

 

If you want a really big sound it is added back in a Dry + Wet Amp combination - that is one amp plays the dry signal and another amp plays the modulated signal and the mixing happens in the room where you are listening. An example of this in a single unit is the Chorus on a JC120 where one speaker is dry and the other chorus only.

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/

Thanks. I guess that makes sense, but it seems kind of counter-intuitive. Plus the downside of cutting the granularity in half, because I don't see a reason for going above 50%. It doesn't sound right. But I didn't really mess with the stereo models too much, mostly mono. Where's this other thread?

 

Edit:

I was still unsure when I wrote the above, but it all of sudden clicked in my brain. Makes perfect sense now. But I still don't like the loss of resolution.

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?

Here's maybe a little more info about this: http://line6.com/support/topic/16163-mix-control-for-many-modulation-effects/

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

The mix knob is blending the dry and wet signals. At 50%, both the dry and wet are 100%. If you turn the knob to 100, you'll have no dry and all wet.

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?

...

2. Reporting a bug on this forum is about 5% as effective as contacting Line 6 Customer Service, where those guys have direct access to QA and developers. Sometimes I'm able to see stuff, repro it myself, and forward it directly, but no one should ever rely on this. Please do not post bugs on 18 different forums and then complain if we don't respond. YOU MUST CONTACT LINE 6 CS so we can log your issue....

There probably are, but if so it's an 'extra' thing that they are doing when they think about it and have the time (and when is that?). Point is it's outside normal procedure for them and hence less likely to be comprehensive and/or effective. They have a formal bug reporting system for users, where it's somebody's specific job to be tracking the bugs and feeding them into the software update process.  Let's make sure we help them help us by using their official bug reporting system through the support ticket mechanism.

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.

Hi Folks...Still waiting for my Helix to arrive,in the mean time one quick question.i tend to use my pedal boards(like my G Sys) in preset mode as opposed to stompbox is it possible to assign those bank up and down switches on Helix to switch in another patch?This would give me 12 patches(12 buttons) at my feet for instant patch change.Thanks in advance Barry.

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.

 

What do You think about this compromise:

 

My idea ia an additional Edit mode.

 

(I posted it already at the "Helix Ideascale Community Submissions"-thread and You can vote for it under: http://line6.ideasca...508?submitted=1 )

 

Add "Alternate Edit Mode" to avoid changes by accident

(all at Home Screen!)

touch FS6 ("MODE") to toggle between current Edit behavior and:

1. touch any block FS do NOT change the display!

2. turning the Joystick skips the focus to the next block but NOT change block’s modelselection

3. a little icon on Home Screen should indicate which mode is active (or the cribble strip of "EDIT"?)

 

 

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:

1. 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

The KPA's cabs eat up DSP as well, regardless of whether or not they're disabled globally—you just don't see the hit, as Kemper employs fixed-DSP allocation.

 

I kinda like the idea of globally disabling all cab blocks, but we'd need some sort of warning on the home screen so people wouldn't freak out (kinda like the Global EQ icon); it's worth submitting on IdeaScale.

Thank you Digital_Igloo for the prompt response.

 

Another subtle issue in achieving this through signal routing is that, you will have to split the signal right before before cab-sim and route it to 1/4'' output channel for monitor, for example. Then, don't you lose the effects you placed after the cab block from the monitor, unless you place all the effect before cab? Is my speculation correct? If yes, I think this could be an issue to some users, because time-based effects like delay or reverb sound much better when placed after cab block. Please correct me if wrong.

 

I am kinda new here (although being quite a long time Line6 user) and new to IdeaScale. Did anybody already submit this one? If not, I can submit one :)

 

Thanks! Jake-

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 wholeheartedly second the opinion that Line6 should address this.

It is very easy to accidentally change a block assignment while moving around with the joystick, and this is very aggravating for 2 reasons: 1. you may not notice that it actually happened until you realize something's wrong with your patch, and 2. the parameter settings for the original block are lost.

 

I am sure that with practice and repeated use one might develop a certain skill to keep the joystick from turning while moving it, but you shouldn't have to, and the usage conditions (controller on the floor, busy hands, often a correction made on the fly and in a hurry to adjust something wile playing) say that it is fairly critical for that not to happen. Imagine what happens if you want to dimish the gain of your distortion pedal, you travel to it, only for accidentally turning it and setting it to a tri fuzz or something mid-song.

 

I have become very wary of using the joystick, and avoiding it when I can, by:

1. using the 'amp' button to go to the amp box (no joystick)

2. using the sensitive footswitches to go to any of the blocks that are assigned to a footswitch

3. if I have to move to a block that's not assigned, I use the footswitch to select the closest assigned block, so as to minimize movement by joystick, and finally

4. using pedal edit mode

 

All of this mess would be solved by the very simple fix of making the user turn the joystick more to "unlock it" -- say, 3 clicks instead of one to "wake up" rotation. This way, the odd small movement while using the joystick for navigation would not cause an unadverted block change.

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 appreciate the intent of this thread, and it is very useful and informative for users to share our findings among ourselves. But we need to understand that that's all we're doing here. This thread is not an official bug-reporting mechanism for Line 6. Reporting your bug here is not the same as reporting it to Line 6.

 

Users should also open an official support ticket to report the bug to Line 6.

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. 

Are you sure? Works great for me.

Check out the use of it around 20:00 in this video: 

Outstanding and helpful video and great playing!

That makes me really happy. I just saved a TON of time, effort, and frustration, by manually editing .hlx files in a text editor.

 

Text files are ideal, since they enable advanced editing by people who want to dive that deep, but they don't get in the way of anybody who doesn't care about the technical details.

 

(Please please please don't change it to an opaque proprietary binary format in the future....)

 

Confirmed it's JSON.

 

Also, Setlist file (*.hls) and Bundle file (*.hlb) are 'base 64' encoded compressed (zlib) of JSON data as well.

 

I've made this little Python app to dump the content of a Bundle file called "Bundle_VERSION_1_03.hlb":

I'll come up with another Python to dump in a more formatted fashion way.

#!/usr/bin/env python

import json
from pprint import pprint
import base64
import zlib

data = None
compress_data = None
data_bundle = None

with open('Bundle_VERSION_1_03.hlb') as file_bundle:
        data = json.load(file_bundle)

if 'encoded_data' in data:
        compress_data = base64.b64decode(data['encoded_data'])
        bundle = zlib.decompress(compress_data)

        data_bundle = json.loads(bundle)
        pprint(data_bundle)

I'm not able to attached the full dump that the above app created, it's about 58000 lines.

But here is the first few lines of the Python structure:

 

 

{u'setlists': [{u'meta': {u'name': u'FACTORY 1'},
                u'presets': [{u'device': 2162689,
                              u'device_version': 16973856,
                              u'meta': {u'build_sha': u'3600857',
                                        u'name': u'US Double Nrm'},
                              u'tone': {u'controllers': {u'@expPedal2': [{u'@dsp': 0,
                                                                          u'@group': u'block1',
                                                                          u'@max': 1.0,
                                                                          u'@min': 0.0,
                                                                          u'@param': u'Pedal'}]},
                                        u'dsp0': {u'block0': {u'@enabled': False,
                                                              u'@model': u'HD2_Looper',
                                                              u'@path': 0,
                                                              u'@position': 7,
                                                              u'@stereo': False,
                                                              u'@type': 6,
                                                              u'Overdub': 0.0,
                                                              u'Playback': 0.0,
                                                              u'highCut': 20000.0,
                                                              u'lowCut': 20.0},
                                                  u'block1': {u'@enabled': True,
                                                              u'@model': u'HD2_VolPanVol',
                                                              u'@path': 0,
                                                              u'@position': 0,
                                                              u'@stereo': False,
                                                              u'@type': 0,
                                                              u'Pedal': 1.0,
                                                              u'VolumeTaper': False},
                                                  u'block2': {u'@enabled': False,
                                                              u'@model': u'HD2_CompressorRedSqueeze',

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!

You can vote for it here:

http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Move-to-new-footswitch-should-maintain-settings-on-Multiple/790995-23508

Sounds a great idea - a page where you can rearrange the pedal assignments; even if it is only available from the external Editor (when that appears).

 

Why don't you raise and Ideascale Idea for it?

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

Firmware: 1.02.2

Global Settings: Bottom row presets, top row pedals (assigns)

Bug: When saving preset to another list, pedalboard reverts to Factory 1 list song 1 ("WhoWatt 100") after save.

 

 

1. Use Preset knob to select preset from Factory 1 list (I selected 21C "Almost Not Fair")
2. Save "Almost Not Fair" to User 5 list in the first position, 1A.
3. After Save Helix home screen reverts back to the first song in Factory List 1 ("WhoWatt 100").

Shouldn't the Save action return you to the new target preset destination ("User 5" 1A). Or alternatively shouldn't the Save return you to the preset currently selected and being saved? Reverting back to the first preset in the "Factory 1" list seems incorrect.

I can confirm this bug... Well, somewhat. It looks like what's happening is after you save a preset, the name of the preset displays the "WhoWatt100". The actual preset made is still loaded, but the title is wrong. If you switch to the next preset and back, the name will be correct with whatever name you just gave it.

Noticed a v1.03 bug when copying a preset from one setlist to another setlist. The copied preset initially displays an incorrect name of another seemingly random preset at the new saved location.  The preset name corrects after toggling back and forth from a different preset.

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.

I am getting ready to purchase a collection of distortion-verb-delay-chorus pedals for my Fender Deluxe 68.  Cost wise by the time I get all of these, if will be in the ballpark of the Helix.   Comparisons and recommendations?

 

PS  I would occasionally run this into the PA Direct with amp modeling but not my focus.

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.

1. Many of the existing pedals sound exceptional
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. There are 10 footswitches available for assigning to different pedals, not to speak of a built in expression pedal.
6. 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.
7. If you like wahs, there are a ton
8. Right now the pedal library overall is very lean. Let's hope they add more
9. There is only one very simple phaser pedal option right now.
10. Midi switching is implemented in a very easy to use interface.
11. There is one external amp output for controlling your amp.
12. 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.
13. Lots more I probably have not considered, definitely take a look at the manual.

there is of course other ways... that they are not supporting or releasing....

that's how they rescue "bricked" units in service departments for many products....

typically a set of libraries and a command line app with lots of various switches...

i don't expect them to offer any way outside of the current updater utility....

the utility does more than just change the software on your device....

it can also do other maintenance required with a new firmware.... for example

modifying existing presets to include new parameters, changing internal settings, etc....

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.

http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Swap-footswitch-assignments-from-top-row-to-bottom-vice-versa/790520-23508