lulu_m

On 12/12/2020 at 5:35 PM, datacommando said:

 

Hi, 

 

I have just tried to see if this would happen for me, but no.

 

I selected a blank preset slot and add the Agua 51 amp and cab and played through without and issues. Cranked the Mid up to 10 and just the same - plays fine no glitches, dropout or silences from here. Played with it for a while - seems O.K.

 

Helix floor 3.01

HX Edit 3.0

Mac OS 10.13.6 High Sierrra

 

You could try a reset or even a re-install

 

 

Thanks so much for testing! Weird though.., I'll test further to see what it can be.

Hi,

data:

• HX floor 3.01 
• HX Edit 3.0
• Windows 10.

 

I found something weird in the bass amp section since I'm using the 3.01 version, I don't know if it happened already in older versions.

I use a lot the Agua 51 bass amp for my fretless tone (who doesn't want to sound like Gary Willis.. lol) and I discovered that when I set the mid tone all up to 10, the patch stops outputting signal (sometimes I have to wait a few seconds, before the silence kicks in). I have tested and repeated it several times on a clean patch. Amp+cab or just amp, connected with HX editor...., not connected to computer and edit directly on the HX floor... All the same silence?

 

Can someone confirm this is a bug?

 

Thanks,

 

Lucien

Like The_Elf said. Choose your asio device in the right panel of your studio setup, by clicking on "VST Audio System"!

In Windows, you can only have 1 actve, unfortunately ;-) You should better save your busses configuration in the audio connection panel for all your asio devices (you have to configure your Helix Asio busses properly before). In that case it's easy to switch cards, by selecting the proper bus configurations :-) 

 

I personally use mostly my Motu Ultralite's asio, and record Helix via the spdif in, and only switch to the Helix asio, when i need to record my dry guitar signal together with my processed one (usb7), but that's me ;-)

Frankly, any dropouts at all in the digital audio outputs are unacceptable, and to have digital audio sold as a working feature, and then not have it work is probably quite an exposure to liability.  

 

How many of their customers actually use it is completely irrelevant. We all use different features of the equipment, nobody uses it exactly the same, and all the features need to function correctly. They sell the product and it needs to work. Waiting for years for a solution is totally unacceptable. 

 

I think they really need to address this, and sooner rather than later. 

 

100+ :-) thanks! So much agree with this!

I like it all :-)

 

But would have loved to see the Spdif bug that's annoying me for 2 years, be fixed too.

Oh well new toys sells better than bug fixes, I understand ;-)

 

HX reverbs is a great and longtime awaited contribution. Bravo!

Je n'ai pas de Mac ni Focusrite, mais chez moi je peux régler le gain de Spdif dans le mixeur de Motu?! Le Helix à dans ces réglages globaux, la possibilité de régler le niveau de volume spdif, mais c'est déconseillé, car tous les sorties digitales (inclus usb) sont déjà au 0.0 db!!

 

Si le volume est faible, il est sage de vérifier toute la chaine du signal, donc le volume de tous les blocks dans le patch. Ainsi le gain côté l'interface audio Focusrite.

 

Si on passe par le USB (donc l'ASIO du Helix) on ne peux que régler le volume dans le DAW. Encore..l'USB sortie est déjà au 0db ;-)

 

 

Pour le live, je ne peux pas te conseiller, je ne joue que direct dans un PA et utilise les amplis et eq du Helix. (Helix a des EQ et pre-amplis aussi non?)

 

 

Désolé, c'est tout ce que je peux faire pour toi.

 

Lucien

Moi j'ai branché mon helix directement à mon PC via le usb, ET en meme temps par le Spdif vers mon MOTU ultralite!

 

N'aucune problème de volume ici. Vérifiez quand même, si le 'gain' d'entree de ton focusrite est bien réglé ?!

 

En utilisant et l'usb et spdif, je peux choisir comment je enregistre ma guitare ;-)

 

N'oublie pas non plus les réglages du volume des sortis dans l'options globale du Helix!

What kinds of changes would you make to your presets to use them in a live band setting as opposed to how you might set up the preset just to record a part into your DAW?

 

My first thoughts are turn down reverb mix, and maybe delay mix.   What about cab changes or amount of gain or anything else you normally do?

Like you said, turn off reverberation and delays (except if the delay is really a part of your sound, but keep it low). For the rest tweak EQ, pass filters etc.. in your DAW after, like you would do normally to get a track in the mix ;-) Also record the dry guitar signal too, as it can be useful to 'dry up' your sound or just to have extra to play with!

I recently got the Helix and I'm trying to match the bass tone I used to get with my old 11rack. There is a clip linked below. Anyone have suggestions for where to start? In the 11 rack I was using an Ampeg model and a Rat but that same setup isn't getting me there with the Helix.

 

https://soundcloud.com/ejendres/burrito-bass-136bmp-audiotrimmercom

I suggest to use your DAW (if you have one, if not there are some good free ones out there) and try some tone maching:

 

1. Set up your old eleven rack bass sound on 1 track and load it with a good EQ to see it's freq. spectrum.

2. Set up a Helix track, and use or set up a Helix patch and try to get as close as possible to the original setup you used in eleven (so Ampeg and the rest). Activate EQ on it.

3. Record some groove and see where the freq spectrum's are different and try to get it as close matching as possible, using an EQ block in your Helix patch (not the global, please ;-)), or the knobs on your Ampeg block.

4. You must get it very close to the original with this method!

 

Good luck.

I received my brand new Helix floor unit on Tuesday, disconnected the SPDIF coaxial cable from my HD500X and connected it to the Helix. This is how I have always connected to my RME AIO for recording in my DAW PC.

 

I started off by going through some factory presets and everything seemed fine until I was jarred by the dropout. Listening on closed back headphones certainly makes it stick out. I carried on playing through the presets and after a while, it happened again. At this point, I decide to go through the settings to see if I had missed something. RME settings confirmed I was synced at 48kHz and the clock source was SPDIF In, Helix confirmed Digital Out was SPDIF and Sample Rate was 48kHz. I played my guitar for a little longer and yep, there it was again.

 

I looked in the forum to see if this was a common fault but all I could find was dropouts to do with EXP1 so I decided to enquire in the Helix group on Facebook, to see if anyone else was experiencing this problem. I was directed to this thread.

 

I am confused by the fact that Line 6 have issued a statement to the effect that this is a firmware issue, yet there are people stating they have no problems with their SPDIF conection and some who have experienced the problem stating a replacement unit does not drop out. The only way I can see that it can be addressed by a firmware update is if some units are fitted with hardware that are slightly outside the parameters and an adjustment to firmware to include that discrepancy, or even to ignore it, will bring these rogue units inline.

 

The question I ask myself is, do I ring up the store and ask them to replace the unit in the hope that it solves the problem or do I sit back and wait for the firmware update? My dilemna is exacerbated by the fact that after being disappointed with my HD500X tones, the Helix has fired me up once again and apart from sleep, I haven't put my guitar down. I feel I don't want to be without it, I am that inspired. I am already searching for the right FRFR unit that I can use as a monitor and who knows, maybe I'll join a band again too.

 

I think this is a known bug on all units!! I have the same dropouts on my spdf output and it seems to occur every 20-30 minutes or so (at least it's very regular and repetitive ;-)) It's a real P.I.T.A. but to my knowledge Line 6 is aware of this problem and will not deal with it before firmware version 3.0, but please correct me if I'm mistaken! 

I don't use reaper, but in Cubase i'll have this when I activate 'internal monitoring'. Check to see if reaper has this feature too, and turn it off!

I agree with you that the helix looper block, as it is right now, is nothing more than a gimmick! Unusable as a serious looper functionality ;-)

 

We don't have to use it of course, as it's just a function block, but even so.., I guess it is not up to the professional standards of this machine nor that of it's buyers.

 

Tmho, line 6 should better, OR improve it, OR toss it. I don't really need gimmicks on this nice machine, just quality fx's and features!

I like to use, for e-guitars, a dual cab with one ribbon 121 and one m57. On both I dial in a touch (around 5- 10) of direct reflections, but different proportions on every cab, and this is often bingo for me :-) I do always use a stereo EQ after though to have more control of the sound!

I absolutely join in what is said above, the helix cabs are good! The possibility​ to easily change the mic, it's distance and especially to dial in the early reflexions, is stellar.

3d party IR's are great if you need off axis mic positions​, or a cabinet model that isn't yet included in the Helix.

 

Helix can use it all and let you choose what you like/prefer, isn't the world great :-)

Very nice thread, thanks for starting this @DunedinDragon. Just a few quick points to add.

 

A small FRFR, say one or two 10's with horns like many of us use will never sound or feel like a 4x12 cabinet. Its just physics. But that said, most of us can't use that 4x12 anyway because we're playing small clubs or churches were we're often space and stage volume limited. We can however use Helix to make the best of that situation and deliver quality to our listeners, not focus on ourselves.

 

Another issue is that if you're protecting your ears, and you should be, you're using ear plugs or IEMs so you're not going to hear that amp in the room anyway. Neither is your audience except for a few well placed audience members who are also risking damage to their ears. We should be kind to our audience! So too much focus on amp in the room isn't really going to help you that much in the gig or recording session.

 

But perhaps the most important thing is that "amp in the room" is often too focused on the tone of the specific instrument, sometimes at the expense of the band as a whole. When doing mixing, we're trying to carve out space for all the different tracks in a way that contributes to the overall song. We rarely solo a specific instrument to do compression, EQ, reverb, delay, etc. because its how the track fits into the context of the song and everything else that's going on that's important. For example, we often use high and low pass filters on guitars that make them sound thin and dark when soloed. But they sound great in the mix because they are no longer competing with other instruments that fill in those frequencies in a manner that better suites the song. This is one of the reasons that patches made at home by yourself don't translate well to a live band situation.

 

Now if you're Matt Schofield, Robben Ford, Waren Haynes, Oz Noy, Eric Clapton, etc. and you're the focus of the band, then by all means focus on your tone and don't use a Helix. For most of us, this is just not what we should be optimizing.

 

This ^^^ :-), merci Amsdenj

Good point indeed!

 

I do believe some studio skills, or at least a studio approach, will definitely help some people out for recording and live.

I'm doing both, studio production for my work and playing live gigs and have no big problems to get the sounds I want going FRFR!

 

I made a little instructive video that can help others dial in their sound on the Helix. It just cover some tricks and my English is not the best, but I do believe the first and last part can help in showing​ basic studio tricks (like dialing in an amp sweet spot and using detailed EQ) to help to sculp your sound in a FRFR situation.

 

There are so many other things that can help people out there, like playing a HIFI reference track (some good mixed one) trough your FRFR monitors!! If it sound good to you (as you know how this track needs to sound on your thousand's dollar worth HIFI setup ;-)) than Tweeknyour patches and NOT use a global EQ for that! If the reference track sucks, try to make it sound good by global EQ, or buy better ones!

 

Just my 2c, but I know others here did make some very good contributions and helped with tips and tricks! We need some sticky page to converge all this helpful knowledge I guess.

 

For the ones that are interested:

 

Hi,

 

I made this video in the hope, it might be of use for some who have difficulties to dial in their guitar tone on the Helix.

Subjects are; amp sweet spots, delay's on parallel path, and the use of external EQ to sculpt the tone.

 

(Sorry for my English and accent, but I'm afraid I'm living too long in France now, to properly speak the International language .. :D )

 

I think you really need to put up a support ticket and let Line 6 help you out here! It's definitely not normal to have all these errors.

It's such a pitty to have these experiences with such a fine machine. I'm sure Line 6 will do everything to help you out and to show you that the Helix can be stable and trusted ;-) Put the ticket!

Ik heb mijn Helix bij de nederlandse Bax shop gekocht, met 5 jaar garantie ;-), en na ruim een jaar gebruik, geen enkel probleem! Zover ik weet, heeft Line 6 standaard een 1 jaar garantie, en dus moet dit ook voor jou gelden, ongeacht waar je het gekocht!

 

Klanteservice van line 6 is, voor wat de Helix betreft, uitstekend en dus geen nood, 'lollipop happens' met elektronische aparaten

 

Heb je een probleem ticket ingestuurd op de Line 6 Site? Do dit!!!  Zo zijn ze op de hoogte van je probleem, en volgen ze de vorderingen van de reparatie!! Sterkte!

 

Ik begrijp je ongenoegen, maar Helix is echt geweldig en de moeite waard :-) Success

 

L.

Good thing to do is to play a 'reference' HIFI track, you know very well, through the speakers. If it sound 'normal' and familiar to you, you better tweek your patches. If the reference track sound also boomy, it's more likely to be the room, like Peter said, and you better try and tweek your patches in another room or use the global EQ to get your patches sound right. ;-)

 

I use two TS212 and they don't sound 'boomy' when I play a HIFI reference track ;-) (of course, one cannot expect audiophile miracles for the price of these monitors)

 

Enjoy,

 

L.

I use returns 1&2 for a stereo out from my GR-55.

Return 3, for my accoustic piezo signal.

 

(but only in the studio, too much cables for me to play live ;-))

No, i actually did the test,but the result was perfect silence, therefore the attached file is an accurate result, but the humor is in that there is no point of posting it.

 

No offence taken, but i dont get on the internet and make claims about anything in this fashion, muchless those that are un provable.

 

Im telling you i DID  weigh the files against each other, and that.the result was silence, therefor the update did NOT change the sound of the Helix at ALL, in regards to the presets that are identical on 2.11 and 2.20..

 

Also - each person has to do the test themselvs for total accuracy. The only file i would be able to attach is the result of nulling the two files - which would be silence or very little sound, or the file used for reamping. Theres nothing else i or anyone could provide, so its either do the test for ones self or take my word for it.

 

Probably not be all end all for tests, but FAR more than anyone starting a thread to say the update made their helix sound "way better"

 

 

.

 

 

Thank you for the facts, they speak for themselves​.

 

Problem is, nowadays there are more and more who prefer to 'believe' and don't want to know facts that prove they're just imaginating things. It disturbes their worldview! It's so much easier to imagine things than to search for the truth, isn't it? :-) 

 

If all these 'believes' were just innocent ignorances, I would be the last one to complain about people 'believing', especially if it only concerns the sonic capacity of my beloved Helix, but​ unfortunately human history shows us, it's a bit more than innocent.

 

Heil the great spaghetti monster, Amen ;-)

Spent some time tonight trying everything to get happy with the auto swell pedal.  In the end it does ok, but not sure it will be replacing the volume pedal for swells. 

 

 

Thanks for trying and sharing Chuskey. Yes I agree, the new fx is a bit complicated to dial in and is not getting me where I want to be, like the sound in my 'slowgear' guitar solo in this animation film (if you don't like ambient music skip to 5:22)

 

 

 

Maybe I have to spend more time with it, if not..., I still have my GR-55 to do the job, so not a big deal ;-)

I agree with you all.., the auto swell is far from what I hoped to see, like the boss slow gear, and not very useful as it is now! Luckily I still have something workable on my GR-55 (Good Old Boss ;-)) Hopefully line 6 will get it right in the next update  :unsure: 

Don't you hate that when you are troubleshooting what seems to be electrical/electronic, and it lands up being a mechanical issue... I can't count how many times I have been down that similar road. 

 

Yes exactly ;-) Didn't even crossed my mind that the 50% throw I found every time, no matter what soldering combination, probably could have been related to a 'non optimal' mechanical calibration of the cog-wheel. Didn't wanted to test and resolder again as it's working fine for me now, out of the box with a TS-TS cable :-) A happy man with and some extra soldering experience..lol