katerlouis

This argument applies to almost everything tech related – As a counter argument: The Helix wouldn't be what it is if the developers and designers were satisfied quickly. Everything in the Helix feels like "Why stop here?"– So, why stop here? Some argue with return of investment etc.– But how about a possible mission to take the mockery from "old fogeys" (sorry ;)) and grins to modeling away? Eliminate all the "But!"s? The Helix introduces gives so much freedom, but then you hit an obstacle. Yes, it is minor to many, more major to others; but it is there– It's like you finally got the the long awaited ice-cream, but have to eat it through a straw. I don't see this discussion as complaints. Talking about a way to get rid of this issue is only fertile in my opinion. Please don't see it as whining of spoiled millenial-tech-brats.

Holy cow... Thanks for the quick reply. Still very disappointed though; new gear one week before the gig, never a good idea .. I guess– The low E and A string rattled, .. so I slightly elevated the whole bridge with these 2 screws going right in the body. Since then the rattle is gone, but I fear the clang tone got worse. Does this make any sense? [EDIT] Firmware update is also not possible for me, because the JTV doesn't start modelling with a battery, although all 4 LEDs on the back of the guitar flash once when I press the test button.. And updating through the Helix seems to be impossible aswell. Not that the update would change anything; the variax is on 2.21 (newest 2.22 I guess?).. but I wonder if these 2 issues are known to be related somehow?

Line 6 Variax JTV-69S 3TS 3 Tone Sunburst via VDI into the Helix (V2.21) Please excuse the rush; but I have a gig tomorrow and just can't get rid of this high pitch / screechy sound. Most noticable on palm mutes; but sometimes on open chords aswell. A few months back I played the exact same variax guitar (in blue though) with the exact same preset, and there was no such sound. The issue doesn't occur when I use the magnetic pickups. So I rule out the preset as source of the issue. Here is a record of the problem: First bit, variax model "Spank 5", second bit magnetic neck pickup only. The issue does not only occur in this particular preset / variax model combo; I notice it in a bunch of situations. (I use this preset: https://de.line6.com/customtone/tone/2813502/) I hope so much that you guys can help me. Thanks! JTV 69s High pitch.mp3

Well, if I am forced to make 4 playstyles possible in 1 patch, you could argue that this is only a quarter of Helixes processing power per style (if the styles differ that much, which can be the case!); So I'd really prefer the one whole processor on 1 playstyle. Is it technically possible to make dual-processing OR single-processing+no-lag optional in the settings? And maybe even switchable per bank? (Not asking for it, curious if it would be possible) What bothers me is, that this issue is new to me; I don't remember having latency in patch switching on my SpiderV 120 + FBV3; please correct me if I'm wrong here.

Okay, let me rephrase this. Although it is possible, it is a limitation. There are amps / blocks that require a lot of processing power. If you want 3 different amps in 1 song, the one-patch approach becomes really tricky. Is that limitation a bad thing? Not necessarily; but once you got used to the sheer freedom of the Helix, I'm not surprised people are disappointed. Do you guys think the hardware is generally capable of lag-free patch switching? If yes: Can we expect a software update making this possible in the near future? (this year)

Snapshots are great. But putting a clean, crunchy, metal and acoustic part in one preset is just impossible. Are there any news on this one? Is there the slightest chance that the hardware of the Helix could handle lag-free patch-switching at some point in the future? (Please forgive if this question has been answered already; this thread is freaky-long) And does anybody know how Stevic MacKay from Twelve Foot Ninja handles this issue? If you listen to their music or see him perform live.. this is highly likely also impossible with one patch per song.

Thanks! I added a summary in the ideaScale and linked to my post here for more details (comments there seem to not allow images). Do you think this idea fits in this ideaScale-post or should I make a new one for this?

Global is not an option for me (the way I understand it atleast) because I want to force different guitars for some patches. But not for all of them. Another problem I ran into: Let's say I have a patch named Jimmy. Jimmy doesn't need much change. I'm happy with it. I like to use it with different guitars, so I change the knob a lot; try others out, etc. Jimmy is a "Don't force" patch. No problem here, until I want to change some settings. Let's say I want to switch some footstomp assignments. When I now save the patch, the newely dialed in guitar, which was only dialed in for testing purposes, gets now saved as a forced model. "Don't force" gets overwritten by the model-knob on the Variax. Although I see why this connection can be advantageous, I find it rather inconsequent: There is no such connection between Helix and the Tuning Knob. A dial on the tuning knob still leaves the parameter on the Helix on "Don't force". Why is this different? It would be more consequent if both settings were treated the same way. I do understand that changing this by default could result in angry users, that are used to the current way and like it. That's why I propose to add another setting under "Global Settings" -> "preferences", maybe called: Variax Model Select: (Helix reacts live to Guitar knob) OR (Helix ignores knob, and only changes models when dialed in on Helix) Resulting in 2 sort of intertwined ideas / suggestions: 1) [Force Knob Position] (which is rather useless when not paired with #2) 2) Variax-Model-Knob effects preset parameter ON / OFF Helix is such a beast when it comes to flexibility and customization. Integration with Variax feels a lil klonky compared to footstomp-capabilities etc.

I love the ability to let the preset change the Variax Model. But once you've stepped on this path, there is no turning back. Meaning: To get to know all the guitars I play all for some time with all my presets; turning the knob on the guitar itself. When I now force a preset to use Lester-1, I cannot go back to the guitar where the knob is currently on, unless I explicitly tell other presets to force the one I'm currently on, or turn the knob back and forth again. I get that "Don't force" shouldn't change a thing on the guitar. The wording is clear here. "Don't touch it at all, no matter what" Though, (at least my) general expectation is "Don't force = go back to the position where the knob is". Once a guitar model is forced, there is no going back; Search brought me only one other thread with a similar issue, but I still don't understand how this all works. How do you guys deal with this? And if there is no way to achieve "only force the model in this one preset, all other presets force back to the model where the knob is": What do you guys think about a new parameter value named "Force to Knob" / "Back to Knob". Thanks

I'm afraid I don't follow :D

Really curious what's the status on this one. I'm new to Ideascale and how Line6 works with this, so I can't judge "in Review"- I disagree with those thinking this is for lazy people. Helix has sooo many blocks to offer, that even experienced editors, knowing all the blocks by hard, will find themselves in situations where you just have to tryout a bunch of them. Doing this, it is not just annoying / incovenient to bow down to the Helix. It interupts the playing and therefore makes comparing harder; takes focus away from finding the right block. With the current build (2.21) you hold "Mode" for 2 seconds to come into "Parameter Edit Mode". I wanna suggest to go a step further and add the whole navigation on the main display to a second level Edit Mode: If you hold the button for 2 additional seconds, you come into "Block Edit Mode", which gives all the joysticks features + Bypass and Action to a whole new layer. From the block edit mode, you can navigate and highlight everything like you would with the joystick. Example for my suggested solution: I want to insert a new block on position 4 of Path 1A. 1. Hold MODE for 2 seconds to come to Parameter Edit mode 2. DONT STOP HOLDING for 2 more seconds to get into Block Edit Mode 3a. either press Enter for the list of all blocks and traverse with up, left, right, bottom 3b. traverse blocks with "prev" and "next" (maybe bad wording) > equvialent for spinning the joystick 4. Move to Slot 5 with "right" 5a / b. add another block 6. Realizing I want to switch positions, press Action 7. Push it left via "left" 8. "next", "next", "next", "That's the one!" 9. Press Parameter to get into the parameter edit mode directly for this block 10. Tweak some parameters 11. This is the only caveat in my solution so far. Getting back from this screen to the Block Edit Mode requires a new button; but currently everything is full. Maybe "Exit and Save" can go to "Back to Block Edit Mode" (only when you came to this screen from the Block Edit Mode) 12. Smile I hope this rundown wasn't too confusing. For potential clearness I visualized how the mode could look Thrilled to hear what you guys think. PS: To make crystal clear which block is currently highlighted the Foot LEDs of UP, LEFT, DOWN, RIGHT (and maybe PREV and NEXT) could get the color of the highlighted block.

Thanks, good to know! Voted this up. But until this feature is implemented (if ever): Is there a way to program an external midi controller to mimic the joystick functions? Maybe even enhance the Helix Floor with the Helix Control to do this?

I absolutely love the foot editing capabilities of the Helix. Switching through mics for instance with my feet is incredibly productive, convenient and time efficient. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to change whole blocks with my feet. So I'm thinking: Is there a way to connect a midi controller or something and programm those switches to the joysticks left, right, up, down, and turn clock- and counter clockwise? And if this works, why stop there? Bypass, "Enter" aswell!

Apparently it is really just a delivery issue? Oh boi- https://youtu.be/g9OzTBKA6AU?list=PLPsNp694jat_Byr-wJzuD4Q0Bp5757sgj&t=632

My retailer just informed me that Line6 says June changed to August? What is going on here Line6? Or does anybody else know something bout this?

I guess I have found it myself. For those whoe are interested aswell: https://www.thomann.de/de/marleaux_bass_comfort_strap_s.htm

Since nobody suggested it so far, I guess it's not an option. So I'm curious why you can't just replace the neck with one of your liking? The neck looks normally screwed and I mean, the pickups don't care, do they? http://www.bettermusic.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/h/shuriken2.jpg

Okay, USB is out– but how about some other way– somebody here mentioned XLR via phantom power?

I am really wondering what brand this guitar strap is of. :o Or does anybody know a simliar brand? I just can't find guitar straps like this. Thanks!

Reading this I didn't quite get if the Helix is able to power the Receiver or not. Any experiences? Thanks!

Thank you very much for the quick reply. I'm glad I'm not alone with this opinion. Sadly I already got a spare Helix from the retailer, which has the same issue, but this time on both sides. How would you suggest making Line6 aware of the issue? Is this forum topic enough? When I had a problem with the Line6 Spider V 240Head Display, the line6 Support ticket was answered with "give it back to the retailer"–

I'm curious if this gap in the body/case of the Helix is something to worry about. My gut tells me expect more from a 1500€ piece of gear. What do you say? Return or no return?

I have already given back the Spider V Head and didn't use the baby-speakers with the helix, sorry! As for the speakers amplified by the Spider V itself, I was both disappointed and suprised at the same time. I didn't expect them to be able to get so loud and with the preset adjusted they sounded better than expected. But my main goal using them was to prepare sounds for rehearsal; But both sounded so different that all the work at home was worthless on the PA; maybe with more skill and experience a thing easy to adjust on the fly on location? Maybe not– I couldn't do it.

Reason I didn't go to IdeaScale yet is: I actually don't feel like a 'hot concept person' and truly am a 'puppy with a new toy' ;) – That's why I wanted to discuss it before putting something in IdeaScale that gets not a single vote. Waste! In my mind I am anything BUT negative about the Helix; it almost being perfect is why I (arguably agressively) point out negatives about it; there's so much text already, why sandwich every critic whit an homage to the good things (countless!)– that being said: glad that's cleared up aswell. Back to the music!

Very good point. Same goes for me. So all we now need is an UNDO or CONFIRM feature 8)