HonestOpinion

As you are no doubt aware the easiest way to do this right now is to create a preset with all of your most frequently used blocks and assignments and use it as a template to create new presets. I have long thought that adding a function to at least add all the parameters for a given block simultaneously would be helpful. There are some blocks such as amps where I consistently find that there are only a couple of parameters I don't want assigned to snapshots but want the majority assigned. Easier at that point to assign the block's parameters en masse and then unassign a couple of parameters. I like the idea of enabling Favorites to include assignments but you would need to find a way to reconcile that with the possibility that selecting that Favorite exceeded the 64 controller limit in the selected preset.

Like PeterHamm indicated, the current architecture simply does not allow for placing blocks in a path that exceed the total amount of DSP available, bypassed or not. The HX line of devices pre-allocate the DSP for every block in your signal path as soon as you select a preset. Regarding the two amp blocks per route, I do it all the time with plenty of effects. Many of my presets have three amp channels and multiple effects. As you may already be familiar with you just have to shuffle things around across the routes such that each of the two DSP chips gets used as evenly as possible. The drawback is that it does not always result in the most optimal placement of your effect blocks in the path. Even though at first blush having bypassed blocks that exceed the limit seems to be technically feasible it just does not seem likely that such a fundamental part of the way the HX architecture works will ever get changed(but you never know). How would you handle someone switching a block on in error that exceeds the DSP limit? Issue an error message? You would definitely inherently create lag in snapshot or preset switching by not pre-allocating and potentially even more if you had to recalculate DSP usage on the fly instead of during the preset creation/editing process. We already know that there is lag time between presets unless you use the new single route/DSP option. There is a heavy price paid in latency for not pre-allocating DSP; that is why Line6 pre-allocates. This topic got batted around quite a bit for a while so you are not alone in wanting to have the option to not pre-allocate the DSP and let more experienced users manage the DSP limits on their blocks and suffer the consequences. Those consequences might include an error message regarding exceeding total DSP, a failure to switch to the overallocated snap/preset, and/or lag while the DSP is calculated and then released for bypassed blocks and assigned to newly activated blocks, all of that DSP allocation now being required to occur on the fly. The consequences to new or less experienced users would be for them to constantly be mystified when they were unable to kick in a certain snapshot, enable an effect, or a gap of silence between their switching. Btw, this is why from a practical standpoint I always start designing my presets with the amp/cab blocks which generally require a large amount of DSP and then move on to adding the other blocks.

I've heard that if you switch on the Helix while pressing all the footswitches simultaneously with the expression pedal in the toe-down position a magnetic field will be generated that deoxidizes the strings. Be sure to keep the guitar within six inches of the Helix for a minimum of 2-3 days. Works best with new strings.

Good point! Forgot about that. I don't have an HX Stomp and Native defaults to Helix/LT compatibility mode. For the OP if you decide to test this with Native, this can be set using the 'Preferences' cog icon in the lower left corner of the Native plugin under the 'Hardware Compatibility' tab. Btw, probably worth mentioning for Native users in general if you are not planning to load the Native preset into an HX device or perhaps don't own one, that Native defaults, I believe, to Helix/LT compatibility mode(at least it did for me). You can switch off some of the limitations imposed by the various compatibility modes such as max DSP or for example use more poly, amp, or cab blocks than Helix allows simultaneously by setting 'Current Hardware Compatibility Mode' = "Off". All that compatibility stuff is covered on pgs. 15-17 in the Native manual.

If you do decide to try things out with Native keep in mind that you will be able to include a lot more simultaneous blocks with Native than you will with the HX Stomp. Ideally you would want to try out an actual HX Stomp with some kind of return policy and see how you like it.

Another approach is to leverage the 'Snapshot Edit' parameter in global settings. Since your preferred behavior is to always have the delay enabled do the following. Do NOT set FS3 to always have Bypass=Off. Instead assign the Delay block's 'Time' parameter to FS3 as you have been with the Min/Max set to your preferred values(200ms & 600ms). Now go set Global Settings --> 'Preferences' --> 'Snapshot Edits' = "Recall". Make sure you save the preset with the delay block active in all snapshots. Now when you switch snapshots whatever 'Time' value you last selected for your delay with FS3 for that snapshot will be remembered; even if you switch snapshots, change the 'Time' value in the new snapshot, and then switch back to your last one. I have attached a simple sample preset below that should be behaving the way you would like it to if I understood your post correctly. You can check out the assignments once you have loaded the attached sample preset. Select the delay block and 'Bypass/Controller Assign' tab in HX Edit and look at the left hand column to see the assignments for the delay. There should only be the one assignment for the delay 'Time' parameter on FS3 with your Min value set to 200 and your Max value set to 600. If for some reason your 'Bypass' parameter gets assigned to FS3 as well just use the 'Bypass/Controller Assign' tab to clear it. You can also do this by right clicking on the Delay block and selecting "None" for the 'Bypass Assign' entry in the pulldown menu. Make sure you have all your snapshots saved with the delay block active. Delay Example.hlx

Nice tip on using the Tilt EQ! Modeling is facing some fundamental challenges to accurately reproduce the impact that changing mic axis in relation to a speaker. That is because one of the additional changes when you modify the axis is not only that the highs picked up directly from the speaker are reduced/increased but also that axis orientation changes how the mic picks up room reflections. Providing a user the ability to accurately and completely modify the axis(versus an IR with a fixed axis) would appear to require modeling room reflections in addition to frequency changes. This might be accomplished perhaps with a library of virtual room options and the algos to support their interaction with axis changes; similar in some ways to the way reverbs give us choices such as room, hall, cave, stadium, etc.. Eventually I think modeled virtual room reflections will be required to get closer to more comprehensively modeling the changes moving a mic's axis make in the real world. This aspect of mic placement might seem trivial but there seems to be a fairly sincere and sustained effort in modeling to accurately track the more subtle details of how equipment and sound operate in the analog world and bring them within the digital domain. Until some of the other details required to faithfully provide dynamic changes to mic axis are modeled, I guess capturing the frequency changes gets us halfway(or more) there. IRs/captures I believe also provide us a currently available method to capture room reflections more accurately, but only for a single fixed axis orientation(or a single fixed axis per mic if using multiple mics to create the IR). Although it is basically an advertisement for Townsend Labs "Sphere" mics, the following article has some interesting details and graphs regarding changes of mic axis. https://townsendlabs.com/why-mic-axis-matters/

Heh, looks like you posted as I was responding. A fine job of self diagnosis, that was exactly the problem. Became more obvious from your second post.

It sounds like you may actually have the correctly matched version of the editor and firmware. What version numbers did you see when you checked the "About HX Edit" selection in HX Edit? This may be as simple as you have used up too much DSP in the path you have selected to use one of the "poly" effects. They are very DSP intensive. Helix greys out any effect you don't have enough DSP left for, poly or otherwise. Are you able to add a poly effect when you start from a blank preset? You only need to use the Updater if you cannot upgrade your firmware from HX Edit and it sounds like you may have already successfully done that.

The World Wrestling Federation or the Monster Truck Rally folks definitely need to reach out to that voiceover guy's agent immediately. That is, well, something...

It should be no problem. Just go ahead and download and install HX Edit 3.01 for your operating system(PC or Mac) . You should not have to uninstall the firmware. Make backups although you were probably prompted to do that already when you upgraded to the 3.01 firmware. In the way of further explanation there are essentially three components to an upgrade, the editor, drivers, and firmware. The HX Edit(3.01 right now) package has the editor and drivers. Leave all the checkboxes checked when you install. The firmware upgrades the "OS"(loosely speaking) on your HX device. You need to have both matched versions, HX Edit and the firmware, when you do an upgrade. Sometimes the version numbers have gotten out of synch with each other so "matched" does not necessarily mean the same version number. Right now though, they are synched and you should end up with HX Edit 3.01 and the 3.01 firmware as well. You can check this by starting HX Edit, going to 'Help' --> 'About HX Edit' on the menu at the top of the screen(with your HX device connected by USB) and checking the popup screen at the top and bottom to make sure the version numbers are matched. From what I understand from hints and comments on the forum this may be the last time you have to worry about the firmware and the editor being mismatched as the 3.01 editor will at least prompt you to download and install the correct new HX Edit version before upgrading the firmware in the future. In other words future installs should get easier. Hopefully the install will be one step at some point with both HX Edit and the firmware being upgraded together.

First off I have to say there is rarely a decent replacement for a good bass player IMHO. However you could do this by routing for example one path to your bass amp and another path to your guitar amp. There are multiple routing options for doing this in mono or stereo that can include using the loop(s) I/O jacks. For simplicity's sake you could also just use one of the harmony or pitch shift blocks but that will limit what you can do as far as processing the bass tone through separate amp/cab and effects. Doing it this way without routing to a bass amp or PA could also could put more strain on an old guitar cab speaker being forced to process bass frequencies. Are you are doing one of those 'alt' stripped down band things where you have no bass player(saw a fairly innovative band like this about a year and a half ago with only guitar and drums, similar to a White Stripes approach but with much more intricate material)? The only other purpose that jumps out at me for doing this would be when you play a riff on the guitar that you want transposed to a lower octave or lower harmony. I personally would just send the bass directly to the PA/monitor rather than a bass amp for those infrequent occasions unless this is a regular occurrence for you. You might also want to consider incorporating the looper to enable more complex bass lines that aren't limited to shadowing the guitar.

To address Spikey's topic's question, I can definitely see combining an HX Effects and a Quad Cortex. An abundance of riches. For me though it goes against my core effort to reduce floor real estate and minimize connections and devices. Combining the two would be even more compelling for owners of Variax guitars and PowerCab cabs if the HX Effects had Variax and/or PowerCab connectivity so you could take your Line6 "peripherals" with you. The Quad Cortex definitely got a lot of things right and some not so much. The Neural capture is a big selling point. This is still an immature product but looks like it holds a lot of promise. They have quite a ways to go to catch up to the Helix in some areas but I could see myself getting one depending on what they deliver in upcoming updates. Hasn't quite moved me off the Helix yet though. In summary I am intrigued but still on the fence, gonna wait a while to see how things develop. Some thoughts/observations regarding the Quad Cortex as they pertain to switching or adding one to my current setup. Wi-Fi connectivity for backups, firmware updates, and capture/preset sharing. Ability to use at least proprietary Neural plugins No integration with a DAW plugin like Native yet. Native still represents a big Line6 advantage but the Quad Cortex's ability to use Neural plugins may point to some interesting linkage from live gigging to recording, device to desktop, in the future. A good amount of processing power providing a lot of future potential Where is a PC/Mac based editor? Being able to use a tablet or phone to edit(editing on these is still quite limited from what I understand) is great but I would also want a PC/Mac editor. As per the video posted above, unless the reviewer missed it, there appears to be no global option to either assign Ins/Outs. The Quad Cortex appears to automatically recognize what is plugged in to its inputs and outputs. Maybe they could have the ability to auto-recognize what is plugged in and adjust accordingly, with an option to manually override at the global and preset level. Neural already appears to have some "wizards" to help with connectivity and usage, particularly for setting up the Neural captures and this might be extended to for example 4CM or 7CM or other more complex setups. Helpful to new users. Love the touchscreen Quad has ability to change mic placement across the speaker from cap to cone(not just distance) although axis adjustment would be good to have as well Time will tell if the new footswitch/knobs hold up but if they do, awesome dual purposing of a footswitch that I hope makes it into other devices! I would miss my scribble strips in a big way although for owners of any HX device other than the Helix or HX Effects I guess users are used to not having them available. Agree with the reviewer that Neural should provide optional links from amps to cabs so that they can be selected in tandem. Having also the option to assign your own link would be perhaps a bit onerous the first time around but ultimately would give you instant access to your preferred amp and cab pairing. They could provide some factory pre-linked examples as well if so inclined. This would be nice functionality to add to Line6's "Favorites" as well although Line6 already has many factory amp/cab pairings available. No Variax input! No L6 connection to Powercab! Not that I would have expected those Line6 proprietary connections but those are serious considerations for users happy with their PowerCab and/or Variax. I would particularly miss the PowerCab integration. Wonder when or if polyphonic processing will come to the Quad Cortex Varying reports on the quality of the Reverbs and effects in general. Have to come to my own conclusions on this and I am sure they will be adding and improving. Seems to be light on the number and range of effects right now, a big negative for me that I hope they will remedy Will have to see how good the customer service is as this company is not USA based. How fast will their repair turnaround be? How well will they honor warranty service and how expensive will out of warranty service be? What will the parts availability be? These are all questions that will take time to answer. For those who like a built-in expression pedal the Helix/LT will still be the better choice. Only 256 presets available on the Quad Cortex and no real set list management yet from what I can see. This could be relatively easy to address in the future by leveraging the Wi-Fi capability and enhancing the app. In the meantime that is far fewer available presets than the Helix although more than the HX Effects. Not really a fair comparison with the HX Effects though given the Quad Cortex's much higher price point. Overall neither Line6 nor Neural appear to have convenient set list management yet. Not sure what the capabilities on the Quad Cortex are relating to the input pad and impedance matching; an area where Line6 has made great strides as of the last firmware update. A somewhat minor concern in the scheme of things but why are modeling companies so parsimonious with visual icons for differentiating blocks? Why not provide a larger library of icons, or allow users to upload their own? They don't take up much memory if you keep them low-res and being able to tell one effect or capture from another would be really helpful to seeing your whole signal chain at a glance. I've had an IdeaScale idea up for years asking for Helix to add more icon choices and it looks like the Quad Cortex is going to have the same issue. It will be even more confusing on the Quad Cortex where all captures are represented by the same icon but a capture can include not only a cab but also effects as well. You look at the screen and it is icon salad where everything looks like a piece of lettuce, or maybe if you're lucky it resembles a mushroom or onion. Nope! That might be a cherry tomato or a bacon bit. Can't really tell. As with the Helix, widely disparate effects, amp channels, etc. are grouped together under overly broad and therefor sometimes meaningless or vague icons; particularly in signal chains with large numbers of blocks.

If only! That day will only come when people start refusing to pay $1100 for a phone or similarly ridiculous amounts for an iPad or Mac that is obsoleted by the next version released <~ a year later with marginal improvements. What a racket!

Happy to oblige. It's a good idea. I hope it gets some traction anyway.

Please post the URL from Line6's Ideascale (https://line6.ideascale.com/) when you have a chance to submit the idea so it can be voted on.

It seems you still have the alpha-numeric references so this probably is not the issue but just wanted to make sure you did not have the global settings Preferences --> 'Preset Numbering' = "000-127".

If you fast-click both Bank buttons simultaneously briefly you can then press either bank switch and the presets show up on both banks of switches. I agree with your suggestion 100% though and I am fairly sure that the Helix used to work the way you describe. Not positive on that though. Either way, I agree an option to do this would be most welcome. That would certainly be my preferred behavior. I might not expect to see that option available any time soon though as you will notice that the global settings 'Footswitches' --> 'Up/Down Switches' setting which allows you to assign FS 1&7 to change either banks, presets, or snapshots also operates the same way with "Snapshots" selected. Might be worthy of mention that simultaneous long-pressing of FS 1&7 will actually cause the 'Up/Down Switches' setting to alternate between the banks, presets, or snapshots value. Btw, this is the "Bugs" topic. This is more of a feature request, even if it is one that used to exist. You might want to submit this to IdeaScale and post the link for your idea in the "Helix IdeaScale Community Submissions" topic. Hopefully people will vote it up in droves.

It could be a dirty or failing footswitch. The "spontaneously start recording" you describe in particular would have me looking at the footswitch as a possible source of the issue. You can always do the backup, global reset and/or firmware update thing if you suspect it is not hardware related.

You have assisted a staggering number of people on this forum though the upgrade process. I don't blame you for being weary of it. Time for Line6 to streamline and improve it. Have the upgrade process update the firmware and editor in one step. Barring that, issue a message and prevent the user from moving on until their editor version matches the firmware. That would go a long way towards reducing the number of users misunderstanding the upgrade requirements. Wouldn't hurt to recover the download gracefully and continue the upgrade or in lieu of that issue a helpful message when the problem is a user's poor internet connection is disrupting the download. That message should include the steps for doing a flash/firmware download first and then a local update with the Updater instead of the Editor. Errors and problems with upgrades have been dragging on for years. I can only imagine that whoever codes the upgrade process is really great at something else :-) Or perhaps upgrades present some technical challenge that has not been divulged to the user base. This should have been fixed years ago IMHO. There comes a time when it becomes counter-productive to continue to blame upgrade problems on users' failure to follow directions. Regardless of whether part of the problem is user/pilot error, the best way to fix it is to make the process more robust and user friendly. And yeah, adequate feedback is helpful to everyone and just good manners if someone goes to the trouble to respond to your questions and it resolves your problem. Wasn't it grand in the good old days when Line6 actually attended their own forum? This forum serves an essential function. It is what allows TGP and Facebook to concentrate on issues other than how to get through an update and numerous other sticky, lengthy, time-consuming technical challenges and questions. That helps keep the focus different and often lighter or more entertaining on TGP. Just think of all the discussions TGP did not have to endure on how to get the perfect Andy Summers tone thanks to the folks here:-) That alone should be worth something. The forum cuts down on the number of support calls and emails to Line6 and likely assists in more rapid responses from them. Instrumental to their mental health too by cutting down on the sheer amount of repetition that would otherwise be required of them. Yes indeed! I say "Instrumental to their mental health too by cutting down on the sheer amount of repetition that would otherwise be required of them." :-) Shame that there is almost a total blackout here from Line6 staff. The forum could use a higher level of interaction from them. Phil_m provides some measure of that as a sort of liaison and one of the most talented and experienced local technical whizzes. There are others here too, you know who you are. Additional posts from employees who actually work for Line6 would be most helpful though and get some questions answered in a timely fashion that otherwise just generate a lot of useless churn. There's a disruption in the force, the balance has been disturbed man. It could be so much groovier in here :-)

Let's also hope we see a bugfix soon for the bank down switch skipping Bank 1! Thought this would have been fixed by now. Would also be nice to see the firmware/editor update process fixed and perfected once and for all so that quickfixes like this one or a fix for the bank switching issue can be put out swiftly without generating a hailstorm of "is my HX* bricked?" posts. In the interest of not losing the point of this topic though see datacommando's post above.

Thanks for posting @Phil_m, interesting video. Thought this one was very useful as well; particularly for anyone suffering from noise generated by a guitar with shielding problems(like for example many a single coil pickup guitar). The Horizon Gate can apparently provide a simple digital solution to this issue. Ultimately you probably want to shield your guitar properly but what an awesome workaround until then.

Sorry you are having so many issues getting this resolved. Line6 is pretty singular in the industry regarding how good their support is so I am surprised to hear they have not responded. I would suggest checking your spam folder to make sure their responses are not being shunted off where you don't see them. They are also very good about answering their phones so if you can give them a call. You can also reach out to Frank Ritchotte on "The Gear Page" https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php. He has been very responsive to customers. You might want to keep in mind that they are probably swamped with the holidays coming up. I would not give up just yet. Btw a heads up, this is the forum area for the Helix so there are probably better areas to post this.

Glad you pinpointed the problem and always great to see a user go back and edit the topic title as necessary.

Not an expert when it comes to MIDI so some other users here may have better suggestions. Sounds like this could be related to losing your global settings when you upgraded the firmware. If you have a backup from when things were working properly you can always use the "Restore From Backup" option in HX Edit's 'File' menu, just uncheck everything else except for your Global settings. That might be the fastest method for restoring your previous operation. Take note of the MIDI settings once they are restored for future reference . Other than that if you have not already tried this change the Global Settings --> MIDI/Tempo --> 'MIDI Base Channel = "Omni". That will at least tell you if it is a problem with the channel you have selected. Also make sure you have a look at the settings on the second page of the MIDI/Tempo parameters. Some users are unaware they exist. Lastly as always, recheck all pertinent cable connections.