user217

I have 3 Flextone IIIs. One is the Flextone III XL (2x12) and the other two are the Flextone III+ (1x12). Decent sounding inexpensive amps. However, they are prone to MIDI communication problems. About 5 years ago, one of the Flextone III+ models stopped communicating via MIDI. Everything else continued to work just fine on that amp. Interestingly, the other two Flextone IIIs continued to communicate via MIDI with the same computer and the same MIDI cables. In other words, it's not the MIDI cable. I have tried several different MIDI cables with the same result. I have concluded that it's the circuitry inside the Flextone III itself that is causing the problem - something internal has failed. About a year ago, the other Flextone III+ started doing the same thing, but the Flextone III XL continues to communicate just fine with the same computer and cables. I did find a workaround, in order to get sounds into these defective Flextone IIIs. It's a bit of a pain, but I've had it work several times now. And for the record, I'm talking about the famous MIDI Timeout Error. Mine hangs up at the 4 seconds left mark, and then that's it. I use my Flextone IIIs with a Shortboard attached. My solution has been this: 1. Connect the Flextone III via Midi Cables/USB to a PC and turn on the Flextone III. 2. Open Line 6 Edit on a PC. 3. Open a saved sound patch within Line 6 Edit. 4. Watch the display of your Shortboard. If the name of the activated patch appears in the Shortboard display, then the sound has indeed loaded into your Flextone III but is not saved yet. Do not expect this to load on the first attempt. 5. Try to Refresh the connection between Line 6 Edit and the Flextone III 6. Before the system hangs up and gives you the MIDI timeout error, vary the position of the volume pedal on the Shortboard continously. This gives Line 6 Edit some feedback and delays the timeout error. Do this for a minute or so, checking the Display of the Shortboard. 7. When the name of the loaded Line 6 Edit patch appears in the Shortboard, the patch has been loaded into the Flextone II, but it is not yet saved. 8. Manually save the tone in the Flextone III into the desired location (not via the computer). You can find instructions for how to do that in the Flextone III manual. I've also powered off and on the Flextone III, repeatedly, while it is connected to Line 6 Edit and a patch is already loaded in Line 6 Edit. I've sometimes seen the Loaded Patch name appear on the Shortboard Display, and when that happens, I save it to the Flextone III manually. This isn't a science - it's just something that has worked for me repeatedly since I started experiencing these problems, and it's always worked, in the long run. Sometimes, it has taken me about 30 minutes to save one patch, but as I said, at least I've gotten it to happen. Is this a great solution, no. But it is a solution nonetheless. I hope this helps someone.

Amazing, all the hate. I don't know what scares you people so much about the OPTION of enabling a password. If it scares you so much, don't enable it. And try to pay a little bit of attention to what's going around you these days. Theft of items isn't the big thing these days; theft of data is. Each an every city has guys that peddle stolen proprietary information for a living. Yeah, everything from an incredibly big movie library to a music library, every incarnation of the Adobe Suite, Microsoft Office, Windows, iOS, you name it. It's all for sale. You probably use some free email service, too, thinking that the company is just really nice and is trying to help you out. How do you think they stay in business? I hate to break it to you but YOU are the product. Your connections, your contact info, your pictures, everything about you. In other words, YOUR DATA. I've had guys offer to sell me entire copied plugin suites from local area studios, complete with the go-to presets for things such as compression and EQ. I'm also a bit amused bout how you are so certain that nobody is interested in any of my sounds. Perhaps it's just that nobody is interested in yours. And Maybe you can tell me why my smart thermostat maker REQUIRES a password. I mean, by your logic, who would want to get into my thermostat? You're imagining some crazy implementation where you can't use the device without it. Read my posts - that's not what I said. I'm talking about copying or changing. So here’s a practical application: I set up to rehearse the night before a gig. I have two options, tear down and take my stuff with me (the option I almost always choose) or leave my stuff in place. If I leave it in place, a number of people have will have access to it – such as all employees of that venue – anyone with a key. Of course, they could steal it outright. But that’s only if they’re complete scum, and most of the people who work in those venues aren’t complete scum. Same with the people who are asking for my tones, in fact, I think most of them are pretty good people. But what if they could copy my tones without actually physically stealing anything? That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Of course not, but it is still wrong and this is something I can see a few people doing because it just doesn’t seem like a crime. But it is. So why not accept the fact that the Helix is a computer and offer one of the nice protections that computers offer? And for those who are against passwords, the best advice I can give you would be to simply not enable that feature, if Line 6 were to offer it.

A password option would be just that: an option. Kind of like your phone. Or your router. You don't have to set one up if you don't think you can remember it or prefer not to use one. I certainly didn't mean to imply that a password would have to be input for simply playing through the effect unit at a gig. In fact, I wouldn't want to enter a password to play through the unit myself at a gig either. No, I meant that the data - the parameters - should be have the option of password protection. So that one could prevent the changing of the data, or the theft of the data, without consent. And again, for those who don't want to set one; then don't. This is simple, simple programming that Line 6 could easily accomplish and they could still leave implementation up to the user. But thanks for the guarantee: I'll rest much easier knowing that I don't need to keep an eye out for Tom Cruise. And one more thing; I don't think you can lump all tones into the worthless category. I'll agree with you to the extent that I think most people's tones aren't worth having. At least I know I certainly don't want them. People are always trying to find out what tone a particular guitar player used on a certain song. That's why tones are often named after a famous player. Heck, some guys even have gear named after them. And people buy it up, hoping to come closer to getting that same tone. No, I don't claim to be a big name. But I do know how to get good sounds out of my gear. And to be totally honest, most people are actually shocked that I'm getting my tones out of Line 6 gear. I guess many of them expected me to be using something much more boutique than Line 6. Nonetheless, some people are continually trying to get me to give them my tones, sometimes even trying to buy them from me. Maybe they're just not happy with what they've come up with on their own or with what's otherwise available for free.

Line 6 ABSOLUTELY SHOULD add a password option to the Helix. Sure, not all Helix users are professional musicians, but some of us are. Those who don't feel the need to password protect their sounds/patches wouldn't need to set a password. Those who feel the need to set a password should be allowed to do so. In the rest of the professional world, you can't just copy/steal someone else's work and use it as your own. USB sticks all have the option to set a password. So do routers, phones, email accounts, computers, etc. Why in the world wouldn't a piece of professional audio gear allow this simple safeguard? I think the original poster in this thread had a very valid concern: That someone could reset their patches. Sure, they could recover them, but only if they had them backed up and had the gear on site to do so. Oh, and the time to do so, as well. Equally important for me, however, is the ability to keep private the sounds I have worked so hard to create and tailor. I put no small amount of time into coming up with the sounds I use. People love my tones, but I don't give them away. I mean, the sounds I use are part of the reason I sound like me. If everyone sounded like me, I'd just sound ordinary. Sure, skill is an important factor, but quality gear is an important factor in the quest for tone and cannot be overlooked. I consider my sounds proprietary, and don't need someone hooking up a computer to my Line 6 gear and taking a copy of my hard work for distribution to who knows where. Line 6 should allow those of us who prefer to lock their front door to do so. The rest can just leave the door open or take it off the hinges altogether. I've had many people want to copy my sounds, and I find it cumbersome to never be able to leave a piece of gear unattended. A simple password could really simplify things. Please, Line 6, add a password option.