DBCrocky

I run into a Mesa Boogie 20/20 stereo power amp driving Mesa Boogie Thiele 1x12 cabs. Wonderful!

I don't know much about the Kemper, but it seems kinda basic that you would run the Kemper on one of the Helix's FX Loops. IOW, connect one of the FX sends to an input on the Kemper, and an output on the Kemper to the corresponding FX return. You'll want to make Kemper patches that are just an Amp model with no FX. Now on the Helix, you could use that FX Loop block instead of the Helix's amp model blocks. Don't forget to go into Helix settings to set the Loop to the appropriate levels (instrument/line), depending on the Kemper input outputs you are using. As for MIDI, there are a couple of options. If you are using a MIDI foot controller, you might be able to program it to control both the Helix and Kemper. In this case, you would put the Helix and Kemper on different Midi channels, and program your foot controller to send the appropriate commands to both devices on that devices channel. You're foot controller could plug into one of the devices, then connect the Midi Out/Midi Thru of that device to the Midi In of the other device. If using a Midi Out, make sure the settings have Midi Thru turned on. If you are using the Helix controller, or just not using a Midi Foot controller, you can connect the Midi Out of the Helix to the Midi In of the Kemper. I would still put the Kemper on a different MIDI channel to the Helix. Now you would go into the Helix's Command Center, and for each preset put in the MIDI commands to control the Kemper. Probably what you will want is a Program Change message on the Kemper's MIDI channel, in one of the Instant Access spots. But all kinds of things are possible. You can have the Kemper change with snapshots, you could have a stomp switch that changes a setting on the Kemper, or you could possibly even control amp settings on the Kemper with a Expression Pedal.

Just don't use any amp/cab blocks. You would be using helix as a multifx unit, emulating a string of pedals going into your amp.

Firstly, it is my understanding that originally, the Helix tuner did not have the sensitive strip on top. People complained, and they put this there. Ok. Solution 1, it could be made into an option. But what it sounds like is that some of these other tuners have a "lock" feature. So your getting a stream of readings that are all slightly varying due to the physical imperfections of string and pickup properties. To turn that into a tuning lock, you could have an algorithm that looks at an average of the last N readings, and if it is within a certain range (range A) of perfect tune, the lock is engaged and the tuner display shows (using some graphic) that you are in tune, until such time as the average of the last N readings goes outside of a certain range (range B ). The lock can be a little more solid if range B is set higher than range A. Playing with different values of A, B and N, you could add this lock ability to the tuner. I think this is what some of the users are asking for, even though they may not be very good at articulating it.

I have submitted an idea in ideascape to have a global option to swap the Bank Down button for the upper row button next to Bank Up. Feel free to upvote it: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/idea-v2/903701

The biggest issue I've had with my Helix LT is accidentally hitting the Bank Down button when going for the Lower A button. As I have the Helix set to change presets on the Bank Up and Bank Dn buttons, this unexpectedly changes my preset, including the preset gap. As I use a Variax, this can also unexpectedly change the tuning I am playing in as well. Now, after the gap and wrong sound/tuning, I have to figure out what happened and Bank back and find the right snapshot. I call this embarrassing mishap the "Tap Dance of Shame". For those that also have this issue, I have come up with a cheap and easy solution. A piece of scrap wood, some black spray paint, and a strip of velcro: I am certain something similar can be done with regular Helix floorboards as well. Hope this helps someone.

Enough of this. I would like to have gapless patch changes, and so would others, and they are possible. I'm not holding my breath. That's my position, sorry you feel like you have to correct me, but too bad.

moe.org

Ok, I might be wrong about the DSP chips having to be loaded. But then, we have one DSP chip for the upper routes, and one for the lower routes. I am sure you can see where I am going - a global option to only have one route per patch, and you get gapless patch changes. The tradeoff, put into the hands of the customer. Don't get me wrong, I am not bucking for this change. I am a programmer, I am pretty good with MIDI, and I can get what I need out of the Helix as is. I put in two ideas into the ideascape for features I'd much rather have. I just don't agree that gapless patch changes are not possible, or not desired. If I really wanted them, I could have them. I have a SoundSculpture Switchblade and a Gordius Little Giant MIDI foot controller. I could use two Helix's identically programmed, with outputs connected the SoundScupture, and then out to amps/board. I could program the Gordius keep a variable for which of the two Helix's was "On Deck". When I hit a foot switch, it would send a patch change to the On Deck Helix, wait 500ms, send a command to the SoundSculpture to route that Helix to the output, and then change it's variable to the indicate the other Helix is now On Deck.

There is merit to gapless patch changes. My Boss GT-Pro is a pretty nifty device and it does the job very well, so it CAN be done, despite the BS I've seen floated about. If Boss FX sounded as nice as Line6 FX, I would not have bought a Helix. (If Line6 did not have snapshots and other ways to alleviate it's gap problem, I wouldn't have bought it either :) ) What about musicians in jam bands? They often do three or more songs without stopping, and do improvisational parts where they might want sounds in the middle of a jam that they couldn't know they wanted before the jam? I've seen some of them play for an hour without stopping. You gonna do all that on ONE patch? Also, a lot of folks would prefer to do this: I will put my favorite clean funk patch on switch 1, I will put my favorite dirty blues patch on switch 2, I will put this metal patch that works well for this song on switch 3, and my favorite wah-lead on switch 4. It would be a helluva lot easier than having to program a patch for the song and create these different sounds within the patch. Especially for folks that aren't great with programming. You could program up 10 or 15 patches, then use them for all of your songs, only occasionally creating a special patch for songs that need it. And we are not talking processor power, we are talking memory. All the patches are held on some sort of flash storage, and when you select a patch, it is loaded into the RAM. That time to load the patch into RAM is your gap. With extra RAM, you could load the new patch into a new piece of RAM, and then move your processor pointers to this new RAM address - BOOM - gapless patch changes! But RAM is expensive.

Oh, and if you are doing banks, it looks like the Bank Switches on the LT are Sw 1 and Sw 7, which correspond to Midi CC# 49 and 54. So you could use these: http://www.midisolutions.com/proddfs.htm and https://www.boss.info/us/products/fs-6/ Kinda sucks to drop $260 on this, though, but if you need bank up and down on external switches...

I am glad to hear others have issues with accidentally hitting the bank down button. It would be nice to have a feature to switch the bank down button with switch 2, this shouldn't be that difficult, and it might be nice to have a stomp on the bottom row with my snapshots. But really, I am just hoping maybe the folks at Line6 might think about this as they design future products. Besides there are solutions, at least for me since I use the bank buttons to switch presets. The first would be to get a Midi Foot controller with the bank buttons on top, like the Roland FC-300, and use it to control the Helix. Or, if you're really into Scribble Strips, the high end RJM controllers would foot the bill and allow you to put your bank up/bank down buttons wherever you like. Of course, this is expensive. I am going to try my other solution. The first part is to get some kind of cap to place over the Bank Down (or BankUp and Bank Down) switches so I cannot hit them. The second part is to get one of these: http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/effects/midimouse.html connect it to the Midi In, and use it to change presets.

Ok, found out how to disengage the volume/tone knobs, it is the Variax Lock Controls function. So all we need is a Global Parameter for the Volume (and/or Tone) knob just like for the Exp Pedals, and this would work great!

Thanks for the reply! I have yet to play with Workbench, obviously I need to make that happen.

On a multifx unit with two rows of foot switches, it's kind of obvious that the switches on the bottom row are much easier to use than the top row. On the bottom row, you can position your foot over the switch with your heel on the ground, and then press the switch exactly when ready. For the top row, you have to balance on one foot and make a stab. That being said, it seems to me it would make sense to put the footswitches you would use DURING a song on the bottom row, and the switches you use BETWEEN songs to set a new song on the top row. Given this, it would make sense to put the Bank Up and Bank Dn switches on the top row. Not only does this give you an extra switch for use during songs, it eliminates the chance for the disastrous accidental hit of the Bank Dn button, which sends you into the embarrassing "Tap Dance of Shame". to recover. Just Food For Thought.

What if you could route the Variax strings to different input blocks. So for instance, you could have the bottom three strings routed through a chunky distorted amp, while the top three strings are routed through a clean amp with lots of ambient delays, for instance. Hmmm.... :)

I just got Helix LT and have been playing with it with my JTVariax. In setting up my rig, I wanted a master volume, so I put a Volume Pedal block in each patch where it should be (before delay and reverb), and set the EXP Pedal 2 to Global, so once I set the volume pedal, it carries over from patch to patch. This is good. But what would be better is if I could do the same thing with the Variax volume knob. You can get so much more control with the guitar's volume knob than you can with a pedal. If I set a Volume Pedal block to be controlled by the Variax Volume, one I go to a patch the pedal position parameter returns to the saved position, and I have to tweak the knob. Is there a Global setting for the Variax Volume control, and if not, could there be? P.S. In order for this to work, there would have to be a way to disengage the volume knob from controlling the variax output volume of the guitar.

Hi, I am posting this in the hopes that someone else might find this answer who is experiencing this issue. I was trying to update my new Line6 Firehawk's firmware, I had the Firehawk attached to my computer via USB cable, I had downloaded the Line6 Updater software and installed it and ran it. However, in the software, it did not show the Firehawk. I tried two different computers, and two different USB cables, all with the same result. It turned out that Line6 devices will not appear in the updater until you have registered them with Line6. Once I registered it with Line6, it appeared.