waymda

I don't understand what you want to do. You might need to explain further, or others may understand.

No issues here (Australia) so likely something your end, or a resolved issue.

Yes to all of the above.

The linked does the following: https://line6.com/customtone/tone/6575943/

• Snap 1 Variax only for accoustic with some IRs and PC+ set to flat
• Snap 2 variax + mags - seperate amps for each - a speaker model for each of 2 x C+
• Snap 3 Variax only  - single amp out to 2 different speaker models
• Snap 4 different variax - single amp to 2 different speaker models again

There is a lot changing with each snapshot so you need to check all the paramters for changes to find whats going on. Note I have not tested this so it might sound ship, just had a base patch I coupld adjust to demo the concept.

Re pops on snaps - it has somethign to do with how the chnages in snaps are processes. From what I remember the changers occur in serial (1 at a time) not parellel (all at once) and very quickly so you can sometimes hear an amp ramping up gain or other weird noises as popping and other atifcacts. I've fixed it in the past by recreating the changes in a snapshot in a different order - they are stored as they are changed and processed the same. Alternatively using gain as the control to let sound through or not, or turning amps etc on and off rather than changing volumes.

I'm a variax user and would never be brave enough to dissect one but I think you'll find the whole box and dice too integrated to just have a knob. As far as I can see you'd need:

• a PCB board with all the processing
• a network type connection wired for the variax and to carry power
• the knob(s) you want

And even then I have no idea if the board etc would work without a whole range of other inputs it expects.

So short answer is I think its unfeasible.

If you want a definitive answer join the "Line 6® HELIX® Family User Group OFFICIAL and ORIGINAL" group on facebook and shout out to "Partev Sarkissian" he knows more about this stuff than anyone (tech for L6).

On the use of the expression pedal - have you tried playing with the pedal's paramters to refine its outputs so you get the outcome you want?

Late to the party, but any reason you wouldn't run FoH direct from the out on the Headrush? I can't tell from the manual, but would expect it is a straight passthrough (ie no EQ or gain), and would appear to let you use 1/4 inch to the Headrush and balanced out.

On 2/28/2025 at 3:24 AM, silverhead said:

There’s a subtle thing with alt tunings that sometimes catches people out. I don’t think this is what you’ve encountered but I think it’s worth mentioning in case.

 

When storing alternate tunings in Helix presets it’s important to have the Alt Tuning knob on the Variax set to Standard. In particular if that knob is set to Model then any Workbench-created alternate tuning stored in the Variax Model is applied and the Helix alt tunings are ignored.

Ooh haven't heard of or experienced this and I use the Helix to model and tuning swap my variax all the time and often mid song. Is it only caused/triggered where alt-tunings have been created by workbench, or potentially anything other than the settign being standard? I may have been lucky so far, but will now check its on standard before gigging.

Also guessing it won't ever be fixed now the variax is discontinued.

On 2/3/2025 at 3:59 AM, tanksmusicrocks said:

Thank you  I'll take a look. But.... why late??

Relative to a lot of the people on this forum - the Helix has been around a long time. And the questions you've asked have been answered (multiple times) in this and other forums (try the search funtion). There's a LOT of content on YouTube, Facebook etc that can help you will have to look for older material as the newer stuff is generally "whats this new feature". Suggest Jason Sadites as a great starting point. And, whilst none of us like to do it, read the manual - its a great resource. 

https://www.youtube.com/@JasonSadites

https://line6.com/support/manuals/

On 2/2/2025 at 8:25 PM, tanksmusicrocks said:

Secondly what's the best way to play a backing track into the LT that I can then play through my Blackstar amp and have it sounding good? 

There is no way to make the backing track sound good through an amp (through the LT or any other source) - it will always sound like its running through a guitar amp - some EQ will help a bit. You're better off having some form of seperate monitoring for the backing track - PA speaker(s), monitors, anything really.

If HX Edit is refusing to see the Helix try Helix Line 6 Central and/or Line 6 Updater.

The latest update failed for me (first in a very very long time) and HX Edit could not see the Helix. Line 6 Updater worked fine - noting no ability to create a back-up and restore presets.

There's some good discussion here about what the big knob does and doesn't do. As I run straight to FoH I bypass it, but my read of the thread suggests no discernable sonic impact with what you're doing. 

On 1/3/2025 at 2:21 AM, quigster said:

Helix AND the HX Stomp AS AN INTERFACE in addition to what those units were originally made

Checks date - nope April 1 still some time away.

Off to check if my printer is an audio interface - it too has a USB port, as its networked I'm expecting it will also support AoE.

No mention of a download but heres a walk through 

On 12/4/2024 at 7:30 AM, Schmalle said:

Helix is 48kHz. With 96kHz you basically record every sample twice via USB.

Pardon?

pg 68 rev 3.0 of the manual

USB Audio
Helix functions as a USB 2.0, multiple-input/output, 24-bit - 96kHz, low-latency audio 
interface for Windows and Mac computers, as well as for iPad or iPhone mobile 
devices (with optional Apple Camera Connection Kit adapter), and is compatible with 
all major DAW software

Maybe try one of the VoiceMeeter apps https://vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/

I've managed to use them to virtual mix multiple devices on Windows and provide a low latency monitor for hardware that summed stereo inputs to mono when in direct monitor mode.

It may not be what you want/need but they're donation-ware so little risk.

On 10/24/2024 at 8:17 AM, feelyat said:

The question I'm trying to ask is whether or not this is an arbitrary limitation of the software.

Highly likely, deliberate. It's product differentiation and allows marketing to a specific audience, with the intent of cross product sales should said market suddenly realise they would like/require something different. Pretty much business 101, and done by all the vendors. Your crazy is their strategy.

On 10/4/2024 at 4:11 AM, trhx said:

I tested running the Helix headphone out directly into the 2nd channel of my wireless IEM transmitter, and I put an EQ in that path with the high cut at 5kh

Something I hadn't thought of and just remembered. I run both low and hi-pass EQ on my guitar channels on the UI24, helping it sit in the mix and improve clarity, so that will be going to my IEM feed. Not sure the frequencies and not near it, but likely having a similar impact.

On 10/2/2024 at 9:25 AM, trhx said:

Yes, this is why I ditched IEMs the first time I tried them - I like being able to move a bit to find a sweet spot.

 

I've managed to tame the shrillness, so that's an improvement but I'm still not sure if I'm going to be happier with it than the wedge. I have a little time to keep playing around with it before the next gig.

 This likely doesn't help in the short term, but i reckon it took me close to 2 years to fully move to IEMs.

In my first move to modellers I tried valve power amps to cabs, specialised FRFR wedges, a JC120, 2 x Powercab+ you name it and I was never happy.

For IEMS I tried, wedges + IEMS, various generic IEMs, generic with custom molds, custom molds, custom molds + ambient mics, finally sensaphonics with custom molds and built in ambient mics.

The sensaphonics are expensive and were worth it for enjoying playing. But the real key was running a silent stage, with an e-drumkit and largely DI'd bass and the UI24 to manage my own mix. As I mentioned earlier the 64 ears are still great, with this set-up/band - and 2 years working with them to refine what I need.

Moral of my story- it takes  lot of time and effort to find what works for you - my incentive was/is I sing and play guitar in a 3 piece so hearing whats really going on and not screaming to be heard made i worthwhile in the long run.

Happy to share any of that journey if it helps you get what you need/want easier/quicker.

On 10/1/2024 at 1:15 PM, trhx said:

I get that the KZs are entry level, but studio recordings sound pretty good on them. IE, the guitars on them don't sound at all harsh. Wouldn't that indicate that the problem with my own guitar is something other than the KZs?

 Yes and no.

Yes:

• You will be much more critical bout how you hear yourself in any system/iems than the rest of the mix - its you, and you know how you want to sound
• The sound of your guitar coming straight to your ear through IEMs is substantially different to via a wedge ot other air moving system - you will also hear other ambient sound
• Using IEMs means you need a much better mix than you can get away with in stage with live sound - for example, when you move your head on stage the sound changes and you can move to find a balanced spot on stage - not so with IEMs, you get what you get

No:

• The quality of the IEMs will massively influence how you hear your sound - see the first point
• Generic IEMs don't provide a good seal so you will hear a weird mic of live stage sound with IEM direct. The live will include FoH, and stage sound and will generally be slightly muffled. It can also result in strange phasing issue due to tiny differences in the timing of the internal and external sounds hitting your ears
• IEMs that sound OK for produced recorded music do not always reproduce the sort of sounds you want/need to hear live on stage

TLDR - using IEMs is a massive change from live on stage sound and you need to learn what the compromises are, and the quality of your monitoring WILL impact on your experience. What works for hearing recorded music does not necessarily translate to working live.

The UI24 allows you to patch physical inputs to multiple logical (or internal channels). So assuming you have spare channels you can patch your guitar inputs to an addition set of channels, set their aux send as pre-fader, pull the chanel fader out of the mains and use the aux send for just your IEM send (and/or other band members).  The UI24 is likely more flexible than you realise. Not sure if this guy covers this in his patching video, but he's a great resource 

However, if everyone wants their own eq'd version of your guitar or their inputs you're up for a lot of messing about and will run out of channels quickly.

I know nothing about the KZ ZS10 Pros, but at less than $70 AUD I wouldn't be expecting them to be great. When I first started using IEMs I really struggled with the sound, and balance on stage. My first decent set of fully molded 64 ears cost me more than I wanted to spend but the difference was/is phenomenal. I still have and use them occasionally some 8 years later even though they're my back-ups.

As someone who's always spent on gear, back line etc my post hoc rationalisation is what I spent on proper in-ears + my Helix is way less than I would have spent on a range of gear across the years, sounds better, and gives me a much more consistent on stage sound for performance (remember tweaking you amp at every evenue every time???).

So my advice FWIW is if you're want to go IEMs think of them as your back line and spend accordingly. 

I also run my Helix direct into a UI24 via XLR.

The Helix is set to mic level output and the UI needs no gain added to get a healthy signal.

Whilst this doesn't help with diagnosis, I have not experienced what you describe in 2+ years of use. I would support looking at whether phantom power has been accidently turned on for one channel.

If that makes no difference try a) a seperate source on the channel, b) a seperate channel or set of channels on the UI24 to isolate the issue.

On 8/20/2024 at 7:42 AM, bendagostino8 said:

Whenever I play live at any decent sized venue I just connect the helix output to the house pa system. But my band plays alot of diy shows and house parties where I just bring my helix and my speakers. And also I tune very low wich is part of the reason why I thought the subwoofer might improve my tone. I usually either use my 7 string in dropped a tuning or my 8 string in drop f or f sharp

My 2c worth - have the band hire/invest in a FoH that includes subs. The overall sound will be improved substantially and you won't blow away your band members. I'm assuming that your current DYI approach is loud stage sound and minimal mix to PA. IMHO (and experience) thats a recipe for disaster - though a huge sound where vox never quite cut it.

Hi - it will help if you can describe how you want to use the piezo pickups so peeps here can give you some tips. Whilst I use Variaxes, I only use their piezos for the modelling tech. I'm guessing (very much guessing) you want same sort of accoustic sim with the PRS piezos?? I'm basing this on thinking they'd sound pretty bad as an electric type sound, but may be very wrong. I think ricstudioc has answered the how to get them into the LT, but if you give more info on your use others may have thoughts on how to use the LT to its best.

The more guitarist can sound homogeneous the better.

As ai is only good at replicating existing forms and not capable of extending them the sooner it takes over tone the better and the quicker we will regress to the norm.

I welcome my tone overlords with welcome arms.

Name your presets with a prefix that manages the sort and actively manage that naming - eg 001 Preset 1, 002 Preset 2, etc

Sorry, but thats the only way I know of if ordering is important to you. I used to do that, but moved to approaches that used lookups to manage the relationship between songs and presets (ie name independent).

I would physically inspect the 'problem' JTVs VDI output jack for any obvious physical issues, and clean it with isopropyl alcohol to ensure it doesn't have some sort of gunktm build up.

I would also try another cable to be sure its not that cable's connection with that guitar causing the issue as the other guitar may have damaged the cable in a way they work fine together, just not with new freinds. I would also make sure I have a high quality VDI cable not the thing they come with thats like a network cable as they're pretty average. I've had one line 6 branded VDI cable go bad over many years, and it was giving flakey connections before it fully died.

Also, whilst you're not getting sound, does the Helix power the problem JTV via the VDI cable (ensuring there is no battery in the JTV)? If not on plugin, does it power it after changing the Helix Patch or pressing the JTV model button?

All things to try to isolate the issue.

When I first started using in ears I was using a system called Posse. Not sure if you can get them still, but it allowed me to mix the Helix, a vocal monitor send from desk, and built in stereo romm condensors. It was cheap portable, easy to set up, and sounded great. Not as great as a proper monitor mix, but pretty damned good. If you're in Australia I can sell you a second hand unit as I had enough for my whole band at one point.

https://www.zzounds.com/item--POEPOSSE

This isn't exactly the same, but will work.

This