craiganderton

Thanks for the props, and for the info. I think that 4.5 GHz clock speed is really helping you out! It seems clock speed is even more important than the number of cores in terms of running plug-ins. I have a 3.1 GHz i7, and it has a hard time running the Waves Abbey Road reverb (so gorgeous, so CPU-hungry!) along with a couple Helices. Then again my multiband Helix presets do take a lot of processing power.

That's excellent performance! What are the computer's specs? Were the Native presets relatively simple (e.g., a single amp/cab), or complex?

So...did this work for you?

Sorry, I somehow missed "manually" and just addressed automation in general. Let's say you want to control the Wah with a physical MIDI pedal that outputs controller #1. Note that #1 is reserved for Helix hardware, so you have to turn off hardware compatibility In Preferences to use this particular controller (or use CC #4 or higher). Basically, you add an Instrument track to Studio One, and assign its output to Helix Native. Assign the Instrument Track's input to the relevant MIDI controller, right-click on the Helix Wah position parameter, and choose Controller Assign > MIDI Learn. Move the footpedal to complete the assignment, and the Position slider will move based on the pedal position. Now you can put the Instrument track in record mode, start recording, and move the pedal to record the automation. For a longer, step-by-step description, please visit the blog on craiganderton.com.

Meanwhile, there's a workaround of sorts...most DAWs have plug-ins that work with hardware. You could put one Helix in front of it, and one after it. Of course this would work only with serial, not parallel, effects chains. The biggest potential problem is that with Helix Native, to integrate hardware you would need to go out the audio interface, go through the hardware, then loop back into the audio interface. This would likely add a considerable amount of latency with anything other than a Thunderbolt-based audio interface. On mixdown it wouldn't be a problem, but there might be an unacceptable amount of delay when tracking.

Did anyone try the solution that was offered previously: Most DAWs have something similar, on Windows as well as Mac. For example with both Cakewalk and Studio One, I refresh the plug-in inventory after installing a plug-in. It's not always necessary, but overall, saves me a lot of grief.

There is grounding among the various units, regardless of whether they connect to a power line ground or not. Here's an article you might find helpful. FWIW I once had a problem where audio devices hooked up to my computer's USB had noise. Apparently the motherboard's USB port was "dirty" - for example, USB hard drives connected to the computer caused clicking and other noises. The solution was getting a USB card, which I dedicated solely to audio devices.

Don't know if this relates to the setlist issues I described in another thread (where people couldn't load the setlist from my multiband presets pack), but the solution was to drag the setlist from its original unzipped folder to the desktop, then import from the desktop instead of from the folder. Don't know if this is Windows only, but it allowed importing my setlists. Maybe it's a permissions issue? Anyway, Line 6 is aware of this and barring issues, I was told 1.82 / 2.82 will contain a fix for it.

Some people have reported problems importing the .hls setlist file from Craig Anderton's Amazing Multiband Helix Presets into software versions 1.80 / 1.81. This is a known issue that will be fixed in the next rev, but meanwhile, there's a simple workaround. Locate the .hls file in the folder that was created when you extracted the ZIP file, and drag this .hls file to the desktop. Then, import the file from the desktop.

Some people have reported problems importing the .hls setlist file from Craig Anderton's Amazing Multiband Helix Presets into HX Edit software versions 2.80 and 2.81. This is a known issue that will be fixed in the next rev, but meanwhile, there's a simple workaround. Locate the .hls file in the folder that was created when you extracted the ZIP file, and drag this .hls file to the desktop. Then, import the file from the desktop.

The usual solution for ground loop problems is an isolation transformer in whichever audio path is causing the problem. This breaks the ground loop, but passes the audio.

Read up on the Control Link section in the documentation. Basically, you define the hardware controller for Studio One. After that, you just touch/move the parameter you want to control, and drag the little hand in the Control Link section down to the track. This creates an automation lane automatically that's affected by the control you assigned. I think this should do what you want...

Also the interface. The mixer applets that many interfaces install send direct signal through, and you have to go in and lower the appropriate fader.

My first thought is that the Apollo Twin's Console application has a fader up that's mixing straight guitar sound in with the Helix. Remember too that Helix Native has two paths that can connect to your host software. It's possible that one of them is "listening" to the wrong input from the app, which wouldn't happen with the other amp sims, or Guitar Rig, because they have a single audio path. Bring down all the faders in the app, and see what happens. FYI there's nothing wrong with the Apollo Twin's hi-Z input, that's the interface I use for my "Studio B" so I'm very familiar with it. Hope this helps!

FWIW 1.81 has so far ended my issues with Studio One and Cakewalk not loading properly and in some cases, crashing the programs.

If you're using Windows and Edge, note the comment in the installation instructions about turning off Smart Screen. Even though I did that, I experienced the same problem you did. However, I forgot to turn off Windows Defender before installing. When Helix Native didn't install properly, I turned off Defender, re-installed, and 1.80 installed properly. Hopefully you'll have the same experience :)

I've been playing around with presets for my next preset pack, and found an interesting way to use the Multitap6 processor to create room ambiences that are a little more "raw" than the usual room effects that are variations on reverb. This kind of effect requires a multitap delay, and the Multitap6 is up to the task. I posted the article on how to do this, including a shot of the module with some suggested parameter settings, in my blog at craiganderton.com for anyone who's interested.

I assume that new Helix units will be sold with 2.80 already installed. Apparently part of the complexity of the update is getting a whole family of products in sync, and now that they're in sync, Line 6 says the updating process should be easier. So it sounds like for new users, Line 6 has already addressed the issues you raised. For existing users, the complex update is the price of greatly increased functionality being added on to a unit that was designed several years ago. I've done updates that were a lot easier and updates that were a lot harder, it seems to relate to the complexity of the update itself. I'm no software engineer, so I can't comment on whether the update process could have been easier. I assume there were tradeoffs involved, like weighing whether it was worth spending more time on streamlining the update vs. the existing user base's impatience with when the update was going to drop. But that's just speculation.

Actually I didn't read any kind of hostility in your reply, I figured you just read it quickly and missed "if you were running Windows," and the smiley at the end. Trust me...if that post is representative of you in a bad mood, you have a LONG way to go to approach even the lowest levels of forum hostility. But back to the topic at hand...a 1.81 that fixes the blank screen/crashing issues will be most welcome. Helix 1.8 works most of the time for me, but I haven't figured out why it works sometimes and sometimes doesn't so I can have it work all the time. Love the new amps, though!

Yup! I think Line 6 throws a lot of CPU at those algorithms, that's why they sound good (and why the floor Helix isn't $999). However, I have noticed that newer versions do tend to be optimized a little better. The difference between 1.5 and 1.71 was pretty major in terms of cutting down on CPU consumption.

I knew you were on a Mac, I was trying to inject some humor in there for Windows people. Whenever there's a problem, the usual response is "it must be you or your system." I'm running Mojave on my Mac as well...installing it bricked my computer, but the Apple Support people walked me through installing the OS from scratch, and now all is well.

There were a few people who had that problem when trying to the setlist in my multiband preset pack. In every case, it turned out that the Helix firmware and HX Edit updates were out of sync. Once both were updated to the same version number equal to or greater than 1.71, the setlist loaded without problems. Hope this helps!

If you were running Windows, yes :)

I also get this with Studio One, and I also assume it's graphics related. However, it doesn't happen all the time. Lately I've been trying to figure out what conditions cause the problem not to happen. It seems that if I drag Helix Native on to a track that already contains audio, then it works. At least that's what has happened the last several times I tried it. I'll report back if either this isn't the answer, or if I go several more time and it continues to work. Fingers crossed...

Patience helps. I didn't update to Windows 10 1903 when it became available. Microsoft just issued another patch that cleaned up some bugs, so it's probably time. I didn't update my Mac to Mojave until several months after it was introduced, yet the update bricked my MacBook Pro to where Apple Support had me re-install the OS from scratch. I think Apple has a few more resources at their disposal than Line 6, and they have total control over the operating system and host computer. When I first updated to Native 1.8, I kept getting a "code -8210 can't connect to DSP" error. I uninstalled it, turned off Windows Defender, tried to install again, and all was well. This concept of "everyone is a beta tester" is, in fact, true for Windows. There are over 7,000,000 different permutations and combinations of typical Windows-based systems. If Line 6 fails to test even 1% of the use cases where problems can occur (obviously an impossible task to even do that), then 70,000 systems are candidates for experiencing problems. It's only after enough people with "corner cases" experience issues that it's possible to quantify and fix them. Meanwhile, although the people who experience problems are most visible, whether you're talking Windows, Mac, or Line 6, most system fall within the tested guidelines, and most people don't have problems.