HonestOpinion

Btw, here are a couple thoughts on how I might go about writing an app like this. You have probably already considered them but here goes. IR application reads the presets on the Helix and determines which IRs are in which position in the IR list and which presets point to which slot. IR application provides a method for user to resolve which IR goes into a specific IR slot if there is a conflict wherein the user is trying to load new preset that are intended to point to a different IR but they have selected a slot already in use. This would not matter the first time you read the users presets but might make a difference in later reads of the IR allocation when a user tries to load either an older preset backup or a downloaded preset that uses a different IR but has the same slot designated as an existing one. At no point would I try to manipulate the preset backups or write a backup procedure for the presets as I think the backup format is likely to be a moving target and I think you would be hard pressed to get users to have confidence in any alternative to the Helix Editor when it comes to restoring backups. I think users might however embrace an app that restores IRs to the correct location however. UPDATE: Just saw your new post and that sounds like a great way to go about a first cut at this.

I think this is a great project zooey. Thanks for undertaking it. I think that Line6 may provide its own solution to improving IR management at some point but until then an "Open Source" solution would be a welcome addition. I appreciate how comprehensive your effort seems to be but I don't know if it is worth spending too much time trying to get presets from older firmware versions to cooperate with the IR manager you are coding unless you are finding that those presets fail to work with your utility when backed up with the current firmware. I don't think it would be a tragedy if the people who want to use your utility have to upgrade to at least the 2.01 firmware version (the oldest version you have presets for). I'm sure you have also considered the fact that future firmware or Editor revisions could impact the format for preset backups so you may want to invest your time in keeping your utility working with newer versions rather than investing too much effort in backward compatibility. Just my two cents worth. People who are dead set on remaining on older firmware versions may feel differently.

That sounds like a good guess and the same thought occurred to me as well. This could be tested by checking visually to ensure the sub(s) are setting up correctly on the back panel LCD's when hooked up via L6 Link. Playing a bass or synth patches that dip low enough to generate signal to the subs would make it easier to detect activity in the subs. But even using just a guitar a good way to test would be to crank the L3s sub up a bit and set the "Xover Freq" parameter to 120hz or even "Off". That should probably generate enough low frequency signal to the sub to be audible as long as the preset on the Helix is not setup with a low cut filter or EQ setting that cuts everything in the low end.

Surprised to hear you had to resort to using the analog XLR connectors to get everything working. It looks like Silverhead was able to get his sub(s) working using the L6 Link connector on the Helix. I wonder what is different?

I am a fan of the right amount of reverb on many a tune as well, ell, ell, ll, lrehsosdkfkdleh ... ;)

Heh, same thing happened to me on several occasions and is ultimately what prompted me to shift over to the approach detailed above. :P When I first got my Helix I went through some intensive preset design sessions trying to stuff my acoustic and electric into the same preset so I would always have the option. I ultimately found I usually did not require both guitars in a song and the presets of course generally needed to be vastly different for acoustic and electric. I guess all approaches are valid though, especially if you are attentive enough to remember to turn the volume up when you switch guitars and back down on the guitars not in use. I am not! :)

You should indeed adjust your reverb to the room you are playing, particularly with an acoustic guitar, too much reverb can absolutely ruin your sound, but there are no hard and fast rules. Some rooms are really soft with acoustic ceiling tile, carpeting, and things hanging on the wall. Providing a touch of reverb adds some dimension and depth to your sound. These rooms may add little in the way of natural reverb left to their own devices. The opposite may also be true, in a room with lots of hard surfaces there may be an abundance of reverb and depending on the size of even the shape of the room you may be getting very audible reflections off the ceiling, floor, back wall, or even nooks, crannies, and corners. You may want to dial back or completely turn off the reverb for these rooms. Indoor and outdoor spaces also require completely different types and amounts of reverb. I agree that dialing up a reverb designed to emulate the sound in an auditorium or a stadium when you are playing the local bar often sounds ridiculous and unnatural and ruins any sense of intimacy or immediacy, again, particularly with an acoustic guitar. Select tunes may call for a big reverb however, especially if you play covers. Our band plays some tunes that were made famous by bands that played huge stadiums and although it is a little incongruous sometimes to hear a lead tone that would be more at home in Shea stadium or an outdoor show at Mountain View, people still love hearing that "big sound" that reminds them of the recorded version, but only when used judiciously and selectively. Reverb can sometimes also help a guitar sit better in a live mix and blend better with the vocals, which usually have at least a touch of reverb. Too much though and your guitar sound gets lost or sounds unnatural as it does not reflect the space you are in. Anyway, it looked like the OP was looking for specific settings for the reverb and we have not really provided any. I would not know where to start as they vary dramatically across my presets depending on what I am going after. I can say that as others have mentioned, if I am using reverb I generally keep the mix fairly low between 15-35% and I am cautious about using decay times that are too long although sometimes I want that extra drippy liquid tone of an old Fender spring reverb, particularly for certain blues tunes. With ambient or spacey music there are no rules at all. I use my ears to dial in reverb and then usually pull back the reverb a bit more as it can tend to be more than you counted on when you take that preset to the stage.

Btw, you are not "missing a setting". Plugging in an L6 Link device automatically overrides the global setting for S/PDIF or AES/EBU so you don't have to be concerned with what the digital output is set to once an L6 Link device is connected.

True that, and although it is not an effect, all amp+cab, amp, and preamp, blocks are mono as well, so any stereo effect placed before them will be summed to mono.

Good info to have, thanks!

Looks like the L3s subs do work with the Helix. Now we know. Thanks for posting Silverhead.

I keep three guitars plugged in simultaneously On the Helix back panel electric guitar --> "Guitar" input --> output to the 1/4 & XLR outputs acoustic guitar --> "Aux" input --> output to Send 1 Variax --> Variax input. --> output to 1/4 & XLR outputs Helix Input Block Settings electric guitar --> "Guitar" acoustic guitar --> "Aux" Variax --> "Variax" Helix Output Block Settings electric guitar --> 1/4 & XLR acoustic guitar --> "Send 1" Variax --> 1/4 & XLR Since I found that I rarely to never needed the same preset for all three of these guitars I just use different presets for each guitar (electric, acoustic, Variax). This means only one guitar is active on any given preset. If I really need to use both an acoustic and electric on the same song I can use the Variax or if absolutely necessary dial up a special preset that allows both (but generally I don't). I use different Helix 'Input' and 'Output' block settings, and the 1/4 & XLR outputs are allotted to the electric and Variax, whereas the 'Send 1' output on the Helix is used for the acoustic guitar. The Variax gets its own selection of presets. I send the XLR out for my electric guitar as well as the Variax to one channel on the PA and I send the acoustic guitar which is being output from "Send 1" to another channel on the PA. The 1/4 jack goes to my stage monitor. The virtue of this setup is I never have to worry if the volume is down for any of my instruments. Only one guitar can hit the PA and stage monitor on any given preset. They are either being input/output via a different Helix 'Input' or 'Output' block setting or they are being input/output via different jacks on the Helix back panel. Also, due to the fact that my acoustic and electrics get different channels on the PA I can EQ the PA seperately to fit the acoustic and electric which in my opinion require very different EQ cuts and boosts. Whatever works for you though. Just thought I would share a different approach.

Disclaimer, I have never tried hooking L3S subs to a Helix via L6 Link so I don't know whether that works or not although it would be nice if it did. I can particularly see this being useful if you are playing a bass guitar or want monstrous synth patches through the Helix although I personally would just be using the PA at that point. My sense is that the L3S sub may not work with the Helix, at least right now due to their notable omission from the verbiage regarding the L6 Link in the Helix manual. My first step in troubleshooting this would be to try the L3t's without the sub(s): From the Helix manual: "Two StageSource speakers or DT amps can also be connected in series via L6 LINK and your stereo Helix signal is intelligently split,with the left channel going to the first StageSource/DT and the right channel to the second. If you have one StageSource/DT connected, the Helix output is collapsed to mono and fed to the StageSource/DT." So maybe the subs don't work with the Helix due to their lack of mention, but hey, maybe they do. You could always contact customer support and ask directly unless someone else here chimes in who has tried this. Two L3 speakers will set up in stereo with Helix via the L6 Link. When I have encountered problems with L2 or L3 speakers setting up properly it has always turned out to be due to either a bad cable or one that was not plugged in to the correct L6 Link input/output or not pushed all the way in. Try hooking up just your L3t's to the Helix without the sub and see if the L3t's set up with the correct "L" and "r" symbols in the LCD displays on the back of the speakers. If not, I would start swapping out cables. Once this is working properly add the sub back into the mix, try swapping out the cable for the sub if it is still causing a problem although the subs may just not work via L6 Link with the Helix. Assuming you are on the latest firmware. You probably already checked this but I would make sure I am linked via the L6 Link input/outputs and not the analog XLR connectors. As previously mentioned I have had proper recognition problems on an L6 Linked PA before because although everything looked ok, one of the cables was not plugged quite all the way in. This made the problem less than obvious. Always worth double checking to make sure they are all powered up. Sorry to mention the obvious stuff but it never hurts to check. Let us know if you get this working. Good luck!

I have never heard before that the Editor takes up DSP. I suppose it could but I have never measured how much I can put in a preset with the Editor versus without it. My sense is that even if this was true, and I would definitely need to test this or get a confirmation from Line6, the difference would be negligible. Although some users never touch the Editor I would highly encourage you to try it out as it is helpful and powerful tool for designing presets, managing library functions like moving presets around, easily naming snapshots presets and banks with a full keyboard, assigning parameters to snapshots, etc.. Not to speak of the fact that it makes envisioning certain layouts and operations easier and is absolutely critical for backing up your presets. Something you will want to do on a regular basis.

I have many presets setup with three separate amp models (clean, crunch, lead) and multiple effects. They have gapless switching (snapshots) and spillover. For me the secret sauce was snapshots combined with a "Super Serial x2" routing scheme. You can find this in the Templates bank at '01D'. The snapshots part is obvious as this is how you get gapless switching and spillover on the Helix. Using the "Super Serial x2" routing scheme allows me to allocate both DSP chips to one long continuous path. I route all of my amp blocks through usually a single cab or IR. Make sure you select the amp only rather than amp+cab blocks when you choose your amp models to preserve DSP by routing all of them through a single cab/IR. The virtue of doing things this way is I can use the same effect and EQ blocks for all of my amp models using snapshots to turn the amp model I want on, as well as to change my amp, cab, and effect parameters and bypass state for each amp "channel". This is a much more efficient use of DSP than for example having one amp on the top route and one on the bottom route - each requiring their own cab, as well as likely duplicate effects and EQ blocks required for each route. You will have to figure out where to place some of your blocks such that you don't max out the DSP on the top or the bottom route. Even though the route is continuous(serial) the two DSP chips are not "summed" and you still have to allocate your blocks to the top and bottom routes accordingly. This works great for me for the most part and easily allows not only two but three amps as well as multiple effects. I will admit there are some more exotic presets I would like to have designed that have pushed up against the DSP limits but I think you will be surprised at how much you can get into a preset using this method. Note: Some amp models use substantially more DSP than others and can impact the total number or type of effects you can add to the signal chain.

If you have not seen this video yet it is pretty helpful.

Are you talking about the level on the IRs? They are typically set to -18db. The artifacts I am referring to do not disappear with an adjustment of the IR's 'Level' parameter and occur whether you use one of Helix's cabs or an IR.

Thank you for testing this.

I have also run into these distortion artifacts the OP mentions on other models here and there. I am not referring to drive channel distortion or the good kind you might get from a pedal effect but the kind that sounds like a bad speaker or failing amp. The Soldano amp channel model "Solo Lead Crunch" seems to have really weird distortion artifacts that I can't get rid of and persist quite loudly after the rest of the sound has decayed. Pretty much exactly as the OP described on the "Cali Rhythm 1" model. The artifacts become even more glaring when you replace the Helix cab with a "bright" IR like the free Cenzo IR from Celestion. I cannot get rid of it with any of the amp's tube settings such as sag, bias or biasX, even with the hum and ripple all the way down. I did a sanity check with just the amp and its corresponding Helix cab in a preset and it is still there. Can anyone else confirm this?

Free IR from Celestion. I like the fact that these are essentially direct from the speaker manufacturer (or at least licensed by them) - https://www.celestionplus.com/free-download/ This pack is free and designed and licensed for Line6 specifically for the Helix - http://line6.com/allure/ Other links for free IRs - http://line6.com/support/topic/17076-links-for-free-impulse-responses-ir-here/?hl=free+impulse+response

Hadn't considered a resolution or graphics card issue although that could well be it. Seems weird that it is only affecting the Helix Editor though.

Could be related to your computer or even a virus but the first thing I would do is check to make sure the firmware version on your Helix and the Editor's version are properly matched. Did you do a global reset after your last upgrade? It seems as if the "library" function in the Editor is not synching properly to the banks on the Helix.

I totally agree. I think many musicians envision a future for Helix or other devices that would include not only the type of current hardware and architecture that is so well suited to live performance but would actually allow native as well as perhaps third party VST's to run on the Helix directly, even if in the early stages of development they had to be edited with the help of a computer but run locally without a computer attached. This would offer the robust operation, I/O options, and foot control offered by a dedicated floorboard but also the incredible flexibility and power of all the VST software out there that currently only runs on a computer or some of the new "hybrid" hardware coming out. This would essentially also add an Open Source element to the Helix which would be fantastic as there are so many great free VSTs to be had (including tons of cool amp models and effects). Several manufacturers are already clearly headed in that direction. I know there are huge technical challenges, particularly in maintaining crash free units fit for live performance with minimal latency but there is just no way I don't see VSTs coming to floorboards in the future, it is already happening. Essentially "all" we are talking about is a self-contained specialized computer, OS, and software, wrapped up in the right hardware package for stage. Someone will get it right and I hope Line6 is included as they are IMHO way ahead of every manufacturer when it comes to designing hardware that is ideal for stage (studio too). No one else even comes close to the Helix's physical attributes and features although there are other devices that have specific features I would love to see incorporated into the Helix. Two worlds colliding (computer based VSTs and floorboards). Vote it up! https://line6.ideascale.com/a/idea-v2/869179

Btw, some really fantastic playing there in addition to an informative and detailed video. A lot of people hack away at some of these parts but you execute them fluidly. Respect!

Thanks for voting this one up! https://line6.ideascale.com/a/idea-v2/911976 I edited this idea after rvroberts comments mentioning the value of offline functionality. Offline functionality for setlists, and generally for that matter, for as yet to be created other new features, could be a compelling incentive for users to purchase Native. "Please add "Setlists" to the Helix. A "Setlist" is differentiated from a "Bank" as it does not actually contain presets but is instead composed of pointers to the presets. This allows you to quickly setup and title a list for just the presets for an upcoming performance without having to go and physically move and rearrange all of your presets in the Helix banks. A setlist utility would streamline the process of preparing for a performance - a point and click interface that allowed you to select from your available presets and quickly build setlists. Ideally this will include setlist editing capabilities on the Editor, offline functionality (Native maybe?), as well as directly on the Helix. True setlists would make a really nice addition to the Helix and might even provide more incentive to purchase Native as it is the most likely to include offline functionality."