zooey

Not a Mac guy for decades now, but on Windows, USB ports may get put to sleep, depending on power management settings. Something similar could account for what you're seeing.

You play music w some friends, cool. You get paid for it, now you're an opportunist, they're lazy incompetent patsies, because it's something you enjoy and would do anyway?

PM'd you Jim, if you're still up for people checking these out.

For "tone matching" to work, there has to be a hi-res EQ that can be controlled by the analysis part. Are you guys thinking that's a generated IR? Seems like you'd need more than one 4 band parametric to do a decent job, which I guess Helix could use, just not ideal for that purpose I'd think. Anyway, implementation aside, I'd find it interesting to see what the curves looked like, whether I ended up using the result or not. I have a decent ear I think, but still, all skills improve w feedback.

As with synth programming, I enjoy creating my own patches very much. Whether anyone would say I'm good at it or not is an interesting question, but tone is an important part of expressing myself musically, so I'm going to have at it regardless. I don't buy patches to use them as much as to see how other folks approach building them, hear some potentially new sounds, and to some extent, to support some of the people who IMO contribute a lot here. I think of them a lot like the factory patches - ideas for sounds, and/or ideas for Helix manoeuvres. Very few of either end up in regular rotation, but a few do, usually modified, and everything I've seen and heard goes in the hopper for future explorations. In no case have I felt cheated, or regretted buying them, whether I use or learn a lot from them specifically or not. The ones I've bought weren't insanely expensive, and even if all I learned was that the Big Boys don't make stuff that's radically better, for me, or are built radically differently, than what I make myself, that's good to know too. Short version, too late I know... It's all good. Buy patches of you want, not if you don't.

Don't buy or not buy a Helix or an AX8 because of the number of amps it has. First and foremost, buy something you think sounds and feels good, and is inspiring to play. Helix also has a really great user interface, easy to learn and quick to get around on. Best there is, hands down, no contest, nothing comes close unless you're using a computer editor. Helix also has a bunch of switches, configurable to do lots of different things, each with its own scribble strip to label it, a big color display, a bunch of inputs and outputs of various kinds, including 4 external effect loops and the ability to be an 8-channel audio interface for your computer, and it can load external IRs for an essentially unlimited selection of cabs (though many that people like aren't free). Personally, I get sounds I really like out of a lot of the amps and cabs in Helix, but that really comes down to personal taste.

Not sure I need 16 snaps, maybe, but I dang sure need more than the 4 left when 4 switches are turning individual stomps on and off. If this second-press thing happens, makes sure it works in that mode too.

Not full redundancy. Once you rocked that rig w both for a while, you'd want to hide under your bed if you had to use just one of 'em. What's that saying, GAS expands to fill the budget available? Plus 300% or so. Or something... Would give you a lot of cool choices though, if a bit unwieldy...

http://kazrog.com/2016/10/17/rosen-digital-cabinet-ir-sale/ Can't say anything about them personally, but I think they have a good rep.

Hmmm, works for me, right now anyway, Note 4. But both desktop and mobile versions have been wobbly for a few weeks now, sometimes up but not always, various errors, or just a blank page. I know they're aware of that and are working on it, that why they did whatever they did yesterday.

A switch that bypasses more than one block has one of them marked as the current one, and the light follows that block's bypass state. You control which one is current on the Helix by touching (not clicking) the switch, to cycle through the blocks the switch controls. The current block's settings are then shown in the display, and can be edited with the knobs below it. Hope that makes sense. It's easy, just a little hard to describe.

I like the simplicity of the fewer 3 Sigma choices, but it's hard to know if I'd specifically like the ones they pick, or how much I'd miss the flexibility the painfully large Ownhammer collections give you. But the big problem with 3 Sigma for me is that they don't have any free cabs to check out. The free Ownhammer Mesa lib has nearly sold me on their stuff, somewhat against my will. Good stuff, generally head and shoulders above the other free IRs I've tried.

This hasn't really been the what's-your-realistic-backup-strategy thread so far (there are other threads that are), more like a the-sky-might-fall-some-day-and-I-wouldn't-like-that one :) It's about worries, not practical solutions should your Helix die on a gig. I don't think folks are going to suddenly come up with radically new backup rig ideas, they're the kinds of choices you know -- another modeler, an actual amp you like, with a companion pedal board or mfx if it doesn't have (enough) effects, that sort of thing. Depending on your priorities, resources, and use cases, size, weight, cost, and whether you already have one are big factors. If you're well-healed enough to have one of the major Helix alternatives like a Fractal, or Kemper, not just for backup but to play, then it's obvious, especially if you play it a lot currently, and have it set up comfortably. If you already have an earlier-gen L6 pedal and liked it back then, that's another obvious choice. Some (at least somewhat) less expensive options that look maybe good to me but I haven't tried are the Amplifier, or even better Amplifire 12, one of the Tech 21 Fly Rig pedals, and the BluGuitar Amp1. I hear good things about the new Boss Katana amps, and Blackstar, Vox, Marshall, and others all have smallish modeling amps that could maybe cover the wide range of tones Helix does. I'm not really gigging, so I don't need a real solution, but I have a Blackstar ID60 and a CyberTwin that theoretically could work. Thing is though, while I liked those amps at the time, I haven't played either one for a fair while now, and I'd really be on Mars without a Helix and my current patches. So the least disruptive option, the one a pro would pick, is another Helix or two of course! Which for me just isn't going to happen. If I was going to spend anywhere near that much, which I'm not, I'd do a Fractal or or Amplifire, just to check it out for real.

Heads up Ernie, of your not using the editor at all, you're not backing up your patches! Bad idea! Do that, at least some, unless you're using only stock presets. If something happens that requires a full reset, you'll wish you had!

First few weeks w Helix, it took me a while to get my bearings coming from Amplitube, which I loved. Started finding some times I really liked, using AKG D240s I've had for years, but when I got a pair of Alesis FRFRs, I pretty much had to start over. Bummed at first, but talking to folks here, seemed like that's just how it is, and it makes sense to me, so now I just play through those, and I'm happy :)

Same here very much mostly, edit on Helix device, use the editor as a librarian and IR loader. Wonderfully great UI, really a showcase of UI design, righteous props to its maker(s).

Use the editor

Not surprised that some of those snaps tweak output volume, I know that's the case with many of mine, and you're right, it does make turning the whole preset up less straightforward. Adding a gain block right before the final output may be the easiest solution, like you suggest, if there's room and DSP available.

Of course, just curious what's happening here.

So does this mean he agrees that this set of presets are too quiet? If so, are there plans to release the fixed versions? And why haven't other people complained about that? Odd.

If I paid $1400 for our microwave I might worry more about its possible demise. Buying a Helix wasn't easy for me, borderline irresponsible maybe even, I'd like not to have to do that again even slightly soon. OTOH, my first-version CyberTwin is still doing fine, more than I can say for some of my all-analog gear. Doesn't get used much since Helix, but anyway... And bottom line, unless you can predict that magical moment when there's a cooler replacement you can afford but before a Helix becomes worthless to sell (neat trick that), and before yours actually dies, the time to make a decision based on reasons like this is before you buy, and I'm in.

I happened on this story about him on Wikipedia. Definitely recommend watching the linked video highlighted below, sort of funny kinda, but a bunch of pros in action for sure. No fluster, no panic, just kept on doing the thing.

The worst of those sort of concerns for me is worry that in some single digit number of years you probably won't be able to get parts or service. Of course Helix could be the exception, but that's how such things typically go.

My understanding is that the upper path also runs the overall operating system, so there's more juice available for sounds in the lower one. I wouldn't worry about it unless you're actually not able to do something you want to do, in which case you might as well try shifting some stuff to the bottom path.

What's a 705?