kerryhall1

I have been using the 7 cable method for awhile now, but now I want to try reducing the amount of gear I have to carry. Instead of using two amp heads, I would like to try using Helix preamps and a solid state rack power amp. Since I run two stereo fx chains, one before the preamp and one after the preamp (ie fx loop), my plan is to use a preamp block and a poweramp block instead of an amp block and run the fx loop chain between them. However, is there a poweramp block? If not, I suppose I could use something like a generic clean amp. What would you recommend for that?

Coming back to this...I would still like the ability to set different settings for left and right when running stereo effects, not just eq, but any effect. I'm running stereo signals both before the preamps of my two amps, and in the fx loops of both amps. Is this doable now? (maybe it's been implemented?)

This is getting worse and worse. My Helix is basically unusable at this point. I need a fix for this. * Rebooting (unplugging and replugging the cat 5 cable) used to work for ~15 minutes at a time, now only works for 10 seconds or so before the wandering starts again. * I have already tried multiple expression pedals, the problem is with the Helix. * The wandering has gotten much worse, going from 0% up to 25% on toe up, 100% to 80% on toe down. This is clearly unusable for a volume pedal. Is it possible a different cat 5 cable would solve this?

I've tried two different expression pedals and both have the issue. The problem definitely lies with the Helix, not with the expression pedals. In addition, I have tested both expression pedals with my interface + DAW and see no such issues with either one.

I have a Helix rack and foot controller, firmware version: 3.11.0 I'm having an issue with my foot controller. It seems to "wander" a bit. When originally setting it up and for weeks after, it would cleanly go from 0% to 100% and back. But now I will watch it idle with the toe down, and the percentage will change on its own, slowly moving from 100% down to 90% or so. This seems to be fixed in the short term by just unplugging and replugging the rj45 connector for the foot controller. It then works fine for 15 minutes or so, then the bug comes back. Sometimes I have seen the reverse, where 100% is fine, but the 0% will "wander" up to 10% or so, but this is rarer. I have tried two different expression pedals and have the exact same issue, so I think it's a problem with the Helix. I'm using my expression pedal for volume, so it's crucial that it works correctly. Some sort of floating point rounding error? Other math error? Problems with the expression pedal ADC? Is this bug fixed in the latest firmware? If not, how do I fix this / work around this?

Thank you, this is exactly what I needed to know!

Thank you! So now I must ask...how do you recall a snapshot when you are in stomp mode?

Aha! This sounds like exactly what I need. To clarify: I can just stay in stomp mode the whole song, but FS2-5 and FS8-11 can be configured to recall snapshots? Then I can choose one or two of my least used snapshots (likely FS4 and 5) and configure stomps for those FS that *only* send a specific MIDI PC or CC? Thank you!!

I have two presets. One is for electric guitar, using the seven cable method. Guitar goes to the aux in, sends 1/2 go to two amps, returns 1/2 go to fx sends of the amps, 1/4" outs L/R go to the FX returns. All blocks are stereo. Please feel free to correct me if I'm doing anything wrong here. The second preset is for acoustic guitar. I use the guitar input for this, run one long fx chain, and then send to the XLR outputs which go to the PA. I recently discovered that the Helix is a (class compliant!) recording interface, and would like to record with it, ideally in this fashion: * USB input 7: DI guitar from either the electric or acoustic, depending on what preset I'm using. * USB input 8: Mic in, my electric guitar cabinet is mic'd up with an e609. * USB inputs 1/2: Sends 1/2, ie, the sound of my electric guitar after my "pedalboard" but before the preamp. Not super necessary, but might be interesting to have. * USB inputs 3/4: 1/4" outputs, ie, the sound of the "pedalboard" + preamp + fx loop. This is also not crucial, but might be interesting to have as well. I could use an impulse response in my DAW to simulate power amp + mic + cab later on for experimenting. I need no monitoring or USB outputs. I tried setting this up (just for electric guitar for now) and it looks like I can only really accomplish the first item. It looks like there is no way to set an output as "Sends 1/2 + USB 1/2", or "1/4" + USB 3/4" unfortunately. Again, this isn't super necessary, but it seems like it would just require a few additional permutations on the output block. Perhaps there is a feature request for this? (The gain reduction meter feature was implemented!) I can't use "multi" of course as XLR is included in that, and the XLR outputs are being used already by the acoustic guitar preset, going into the PA. It looks like I can use the mic input for USB input 8, but it says "Use as DI source", so it seems like my guitar cab mic would then be going through a DI? Normally a guitar is connected to the high z side of a DI, and the low z side is connected to an audio interface. In this configuration it seems like the mic would then be connected to a DI (incorrectly apparently converting from high z to low z?) and then into the interface? I would expect something like mic -> preamp -> interface, no DI should be in the chain at all. Can anyone clarify recording with the mic input? And is it possible to record Sends 1/2 and 1/4" L/R?

I am using the Space for my vocals. It's separate from the Helix entirely. I'm already using the seven cable method, so I don't think it's possible to include a vocal signal chain along with that, although if it is possible I would love to use it. It's not possible for the control center to say "if this expression pedal is all the way down, send a PC? No worries if this is not possible. I realize the fallback is to: (if I'm understanding correctly) * Configure command center to send a PC if a certain FS on the Helix is pressed. * Switch from snapshot mode to stomp mode (I use snapshot mode 99% of the time). * Press the FS in stomp mode to send PC. * Return to snapshot mode. Is this correct / possible? In addition, is it possible to set up the command center in such a way so that when I press the FS in stomp mode, it sends the PC and returns to snapshot mode at the same time? (Saves me a FS press) Or as another option: 1 or 2 of the snapshots I've been using aren't super necessary. Is it possible that I can carve out a single footswitch, say FS5, to use exclusively for toggling the Space on and off, while staying in snapshot mode the whole time? Ie, if I look at the foot controller, I would see the usual "preset up/down", "mode" and "tap/tune", and the remaining buttons would be "snapshots 1-7", and the last would be something like "space toggle", pressing it wouldn't change to snapshot 8, but it would send that midi PC and that alone?

Please don't worry about the details of the pedals, I've already built and tested them. I just need a relay to trigger to do the actual switching. Let's start with something simpler for now. I have an Eventide Space. I have an expression pedal connected to EXP2. If the expression pedal is up, the Space is bypassed. If the expression pedal is down, the Space is not bypassed. Is this possible? And if not, instead of the expression pedal, use a stomp. (Which sounds like it's possible) How do I create a "MIDI stomp"?

Ok, so basically I have some custom pedals that control certain aspects of my in ear monitoring setup. I'm trying to move those custom pedals off my pedalboard and into my rack, to allow for a wireless inear setup. (that is also rack based) In order to then toggle those custom pedals on and off, I would like to control those with MIDI, via that MIDI relay board I linked. I'm already using all 8 snapshots, so I was hoping I could connect footswitches into expression pedal inputs 2 and 3, and along with the toe switch input, control 3 different relays in my rack. It doesn't sound like this is doable however, which is fair, because it sounds like it's a misuse of expression pedal inputs. I might be able to trim my snapshot usage down to 4, then run snapshot / stomp mode, and have the rear four stomps send MIDI messages to control the relay board? Is that possible?

Ah gotcha! Thank you! Well if anyone knows of a good solution here, please let me know!

Ah this is an awesome idea, but I am currently using XLR output 1 for an acoustic guitar. (Different preset for certain parts of songs) Could I use XLR output 2 in this manner?

I have a Helix rack, but with the foot controller which includes exp inputs 2 and 3. I don't want to send midi inputs to itself, but rather, to a aux control board: https://six4pix.net/product/relayswitcher/ (or similar product) The result is random midi cc being sent?

I'm currently using the Helix before the preamp and in the fx loops of two amps. It's nice to be able to use the headphone output as in-ear monitors, but of course the output sounds like a preamp. Is it possible to run a cab sim *just* on the headphone output? An impulse response would work too of course, if that is possible.

Is it possible to connect a latching footswitch to expression pedal inputs 2 and 3, and use them to send MIDI CC when toggled? I want to control a few aux pieces of gear, but I'm currently using all 8 snapshots.

Right? I feel like beer and live music are inseparable, haha.

Thank you! I will try Servisol and cotton swaps and see if I can clean out the inside of the jacks. So far so good, the floor controller still seems to be functioning normally! If anything malfunctions I would imagine it would look like foot controller not working or jumping around randomly. So far, no issues there. Fingers crossed!

Very stupid question I know, but I have to ask it. One of my band mates unfortunately dropped a beer very close to my Helix rack foot controller. No beer spilled on it, except for a splash on the RJ45 jack and the row of jacks for the expression pedals. When I pulled the expression pedal cable out, the actual metal part of the plug was wet with beer. Same with the cat5 cable, the actual copper connectors were a bit wet. However, there doesn't seem to be any malfunction. Has anyone had anything like this happen? And how close are the expression pedal jacks to other circuitry?

That was it!! Thank you, it works perfectly now!

That must be it! I didn't know how to do that, thank you, let me try that!

This is amazing, exactly the features I've been waiting for!!! :D I'm gonna assume maybe in a month or two, this stuff takes time. I've never had a pedal before that kept improving, so that was a major selling point for me with this thing. Cheers! Thank you devs!

I have a Helix rack with the foot controller. I love it, it's insanely cool. I have presets 0 and 1 all ready to go for several songs. I switch back and forth between presets 0 and 1, both during songs and between songs, but mostly I switch around between snapshots in preset 1. I wouldn't have bought a Helix without the snapshot feature, it's 100% essential. I keep my helix set to "8 snapshots" mode in global settings, and the up/down buttons on the far left of the foot controller let me change presets. Today I realized for a certain song I need a looper in preset 0. I added a looper in preset 0, and then unbypass the looper by pressing the bypass button on the front of the rack. Suddenly, my foot controller is in looper mode. This is great, I try out the looper and I love it. Now I switch to preset 1, looper mode is gone, we are back to snapshot mode, this is perfect, exactly what I needed to happen. But when it comes time to switch back to preset 0 and use the looper, this is where the trouble starts. Switching back to preset 0 keeps me in snapshot mode, my looper mode is sadly gone. The looper is there on the screen, but it's just bypassed now. I think I need to somehow enter looper mode to use the looper. How do I get from snapshot mode into looper mode? I tried pressing the mode button, and it basically just toggles between snapshot mode and then just showing 8 blank foot switches. (Why are those blank?) I'm guessing I have to do something like this: * Switch to preset 0 as usual. * Enter stomp mode (somehow, no clue on this yet, the mode button apparently does nothing) * While in stomp mode, press the button assigned to the looper to enter looper mode. (How do I assign a button to the looper to enter looper mode?) * Use the looper as usual. * Switch back to preset 1 when needed and everything goes back to snapshot mode, which is exactly what I want. How the heck do I enter stomp mode from snapshot mode? That mode button just isn't working sadly.

I don't really have the ability to run too many plugins, I'm using Reaper on Linux, thus, the need for the Helix. Helix should be able to do it no problem though right? And yes, that album is 100% perfect start to finish...not even a full album, it's an EP as far as I know? Absolutely crushing release.