zooey

Clearly you want to have some sort of transformer isolation box between Helix and the PA (or at least have one available), both to block phantom power, and to deal w potential ground loop hum. PA aside, do folks think you should also have something similar available for connecting Helix stereo outs (i.e. 2 cables) to 2 powered FRFRs? Wouldn't care about buying another one if they were super cheap like the PYLE-PRO PHE400, but I've heard multiple unflattering reports of the reliability and sound quality of their products. I was thinking about the Ebtech HE-2-XLR Hum Eliminator instead, ~ $60, not too bad, but still. One for the PA is unavoidable, but another one for FRFRs, maybe not, and I'm a cheapskate (well, after Helix anyway). Both those units are 2 channels. Think something like that's necessary for that use?

Agree w Phil, don't see why the possibility of creating snapshots should break your existing patches. Back up before updating anyway, of course, and don't overwrite that backup with a 2.0 version.

Bump, anyone? FYI, if you're interested in stands this size, this is the only one I've found. Best price I found was Full Compass, 2 for $38.21 shipped to MA. Ask for Josh. Can't find a bag besides the one Joe mentioned above, which makes sense, since Yorkville doesn't make one and nothing else is that size. Just hope they fit the speakers.

Does anyone know definitively if the Lo- and Hi-Cut filters in cabs are the same slope (steepness) as the ones in the parametric and other EQs? Or what that slope is? Just want to be aware of what I'm actually doing when I use them.

Hmmm, seems like the only functional difference is that (AX8) scenes are limited to 2 variations, with (far as I know) any number of parameters different between them, where Helix can do as many "scenes" as you want to dedicate footswitches to, but each one can only change 8 parameters, plus toggle any number (far as I know) of blocks on or off. It's also a somewhat different way of thinking about it, scenes being arguably simpler on your brain, but less flexible. Am I missing something? I really do wish one footswitch could affect more than 8 parameters. Maybe it sounds like you'd be nuts to want that, but not over here... I have one preset with a More footswitch for instance, makes all the other switches be on steroids, whatever that means for what they do. Very cool, means I have (almost, see below) twice the number of footswitches effectively, minus one for More. Except it doesn't do quite all of them, because max 8 params.

Can anyone confirm that the Yorkville SKS02B mini-stands fit the pole mount hardware on Alesis Alpha 112s? The 112s have a 36mm pole mounting socket, and the SKS02Bs say they're 1 3/8" diameter, which is 34.925mm, not the same, one metric one not, even. But it seems unlikely the 112 hardware is different from the Alto TS210As that Joe was using with the Yorkvilles. So??? specracer986, did you get your stands yet? What speakers are you using them with?

Cool. Is it easy to describe? I'm curious what exactly that means.

Thanks!

Sure, thanks. I'm not very familiar with him as an artist, or his tone, but you're not the first I've seen say they like it.

Thanks roscoe5, for these and all your others. I've been playing with some of them, very cool and useful. Any chance of you collecting this new set into a Dropbox folder, for easy download and organization?

Another thought: Leaving aside for the moment the fact that Helix alters the files on import, at least in some cases, if you had a directory containing all your original IRs and all the IRs in your Helix, a program that can find content-only dupes regardless of file name should help. I checked out dupeGuru a little, seems pretty cool. Note that the current version is Mac only, but the last Windows version works on Win 7 64 at least. As far as that alteration is concerned, that requires another step of exporting everything from Helix while keeping track of what's what, as discussed above.

It's been there for a while: http://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Default-to-10-switches-IA-s-upon-selecting-preset/796488-23508

OK then, I stand corrected. First I've ever heard of bypassed gear affecting anything.

radatats, what OS are you on? In Win 7 Pro 64 bit, I don't get a menu right clicking "the header area" of the Details panel, if by that you mean the strip w the column titles "Property" and "Value". I see a grouping of properties at the top of the properties list, labelled "Description", first one is Title, and it's blank (then Subtitle and Rating). Weird if Win 10 and 7 see different metadata for the same file.

I'd assume that any block that's not being used has no effect on the signal, any other behavior would be very odd. But that is an assumption, not a fact; not w my Helix now either, and I don't use the looper hardly ever.

I'm closer to HO's experience than DD's, in that I often want to adjust the high end, but I'm using a pair of Alesis Alpha 112 FRFRs, not studio monitors, and they're probably too bright relative to a studio situation. My advice personally would be to adjust away, make it sound good to you. If you decide later that your monitors need some sort of global EQ to get them more in line with "common practice" (like for instance based on running some sort of frequency analyzer on them), you can go back and adjust your saved presets. For now, just prove to yourself that you can get your rocks off using Helix in the environment you're actually in. I got stuck for a while feeling like I shouldn't even try to make myself happy until I'd decided on some absolutely valid global EQ. There's some point to that, as has been discussed in other threads, but don't let it keep you from looking for joy NOW. FWIW, IMO, the factory presets aren't some holy grail of awesomeness, even if some people pull some of them up and they sound great out of the box. Levels are all over the place, as is overall frequency response. I'd take them more as ideas to explore, both in terms of how they sound *when EQ'd for your speakers, environment, and taste*, and how they're built.

Not sure which of us is misunderstanding the other, but the behavior I was talking about is this: I renamed all the IRs I wanted to load (in the file system on my computer), giving them a 2-digit sequential number prefix corresponding to the Helix slot where they were going to go (00 {filename}, 01 {filename}...), and when I dragged them into the editor, it stripped those numeric prefixes off the names it gave the files, in some cases. "Some cases" was either slots 0-40, or all roscoe5's IRs. I didn't try one of his in an higher numbered slot, or someone else's in 0-40, just wanted to play with these new toys, but it's an odd coincidence, if it is that. The reason people are talking about titles is that roscoe5 suggested Helix might be naming the imported IRs from the title property in the files, not the filename. I don't see a title property at all on the Details tab of the Windows file system Properties dlg, for any of the half dozen or so of his files I checked, so I'm not sure what he's seeing that makes him think that. He's on Windows 10, so maybe it's a property Win7 can't see? And just a shout-out to everyone who's made and shared custom IRs. You read right, I imported I think 41 from roscoe5, and that doesn't include his new ones from yesterday, wow! I Chris and others have made a bunch too, awesome gifts to us all.

Don't know that I can offer very specific suggestions, and if you're going for the types of tones in the video, I'm not your guy on that level either. I can tell you that it took a fair while for me to get comfortable with Helix. I was very happy with Amplitube and S-Gear, and was seriously thinking about putting a live rig together around them, when I found out about Helix. When it came right down to it though, I wasn't psyched for dealing with a computer and all that hoo hah at a gig or jam. So I bought a Helix, from a dealer with a 30 day return policy, and started messing with it. For maybe 2/3 of that return period, I seriously didn't know if I was going to keep it. It's a lot of money for me, especially since I'm not doing music professionally any more, and I never spend anywhere near that much on myself, like ever. Somewhere in there though, I started having big fun. I'm not sure what changed, but for some reason many people seem to go through a similar process of discovery, of finding their own voice in there. I do sometimes hear overtones I don't care for, but that's true of tube amps too, the sweet spots aren't infinite, and perfection doesn't exist. Bottom line is that we have a number of great-sounding modeling choices these days, and the Helix is IMO extraordinarily usable. Put the time in, see if it works for you. It's working for me.

Roscoe5, I certainly didn't mean to point fingers at you, we all appreciate all the work you've put into these, at least I know I do. I was just trying to understand what was happening. I looked at the Properties of a half dozen of your IRs through the Windows file system, and none of them show a Title on the Details tab. I'm on Windows 7 Pro SP1 64 bit, if that matters (also re bulk import), not sure where you're seeing that property (or the method to remove it, but I'm so far just dealing w normal user UI). More confused now.

mgw5678, what Lincoln Brewster tone are you talking about? A Helix patch? I was curious googled about a bit, didn't see it.

Thanks for the export tip. I could swear the right-click menu Export item was disabled when I selected more than one, but apparently I was lost in space. Interesting about the title field. Some of the IRs I imported were from you roscoe5, and if they passed through Helix, not unlikely, then maybe they got tiltles that way, and maybe that is where my prefixes went. And come to think of it, #s 1-40 were all you. The freebies from Chris Beaver and Ownhammer come through prefix intact. Maybe Chris's were posted directly from his source directory, before going through Helix? So now we need a bulk title prefixer, or remover, or something? Sometimes software's too smart for its own good, ends up doing something unhelpful from the user's POV.

This afternoon I finally got around to loading up Helix with a bunch of free IRs. (Big thanks to roscoe5 and Chris Beaver for their freebies!) Some things happened that bug me, want to check if I'm Doing It Right. - I collected all the IRs I wanted to load in a few directories on my PC, then used Bulk Rename Utility to rename them with a 2-digit sequential prefix, to make it easy to keep track of what's what when they get to Helix. First thing I did was drag them all into the editor, 80-something files. It made it only a little ways through before I got an error that Helix had disconnected, had to reboot Helix to reconnect. Tried again, same thing. Tried doing batches of 10 at a time, worked much better, but still not consistently successful. Is that "normal"? Is there some other approach to make that work better? Any signs L6 is working on that? - I eventually got all the files I wanted onto the Helix, however, Helix stripped my numeric prefixes off all the first 40 IRs, and none of the rest. I went back and tried dragging those files into the editor again, same thing. I ended up copying and pasting individual names from the file system into the editor, for all of those first 40 IRs. Is that a known bug? A "feature" of some sort? It seems like a bizarre bug for Helix to have, but well, all software has bugs... - Once I got everything loaded, I wanted to back them all up in Helix's native format, with the names how it left them. However, I didn't see a way to back them all up at once. Is it really true you have to export each one individually? Ouch. In any case, it's good to get those resources on board to play with. Had to stop before I could do a whole lot with them, but I did pull up a preset built around an IR roscoe5 made a while ago from an Amplitube dual cab rig I had, tweaked it some, and it really was was pretty cool. As folks have said in that other thread, it's a pretty great time to be an electric musician. So anyway, feedback on those IR questions would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your experience Joe, appreciate it. By ear level, do you mean you weren't using the short Yorkville stands then?

Was looking around their site, am I right that they don't have any free demo IRs? Or an "everything" bundle? (And wow, their idea of country guitar is pretty amazing...)

Cool, thanks for confirming. Handy.