theElevators

The switch will only work for Helix Rack btw, otherwise looks good. There are lots of expression pedal options, including Line 6, which is your plastic Roland-type expression pedal.

If you won't have a PA at home, then you can't replicate how your Helix will sound and interact with other instruments in the mix through a PA. You will never know what will happen until you go and run your Helix through a loud sound system in a club. Professional bands rent out clubs in the off-hours on like Sunday Morning to tune their gear. Us commoners just go and rent out a rehearsal space and run our Helix through a PA of the rehearsal space. Here's the kicker, every space has its own unique frequency spectrum, and with an identical PA system, identical mixing console... in each venue the sound guy may need to make drastic changes to your sound so you sound like yourself. What is the best approach? You gotta just do sound checks and adjust things in increments. I've been using the Helix for 3+ years now. Every other sound check we find something that can be further fine-tuned. Heck, your entire life you are constantly fine-tuning what you are doing, and adjusting. That's just how it is. Confused by what I said? Start with building your sounds at home, then take them to the studio, then be prepared to further adjust your sounds at sound checks. The fewer presets you have, the easier it is to adjust them. Otherwise copy-paste those changes.

First, check if the issue is not on Ableton side. For example, in Logic Pro X, to record stereo, you need to first enable stereo on the track. It'll be receiving USB 1 and USB 2 (left/right) Then, check in in/outs of global settings: USB 1/2 what is the destination? Set it to Multi.

Put Poly Capo on the beginning of the chain. Set the tracking to "X Fast", Auto EQ: 7, Mix: 100%, Level to taste, Interval to -3 for example. here you go.

They should just offer to disable this "ballistic" behavior in global settings--problem solved.

Check if your expression pedal is set to "per snapshot" for your Expression Pedal 2. Set it to "per preset" instead, that's what I personally use. Or use "global". Basically, do you want your expression pedal's percentage to stay the same when you go between presets/snapshots? -- global: your expression pedal stays a the same percentage when you change your presets or snapshots -- per preset: your expression pedal gets reset to the percentage that you saved your preset as -- per snapshot: your expression pedal gets reset to the percentage that you saved each individual snapshot as Go to Global settings / EXP pedals / and twist the knob for your Expression Pedal 2 and set it to the desired value. Otherwise, if you have it "per snapshot", then when you switch to that snapshot, the position of the expression pedal is as you saved it. So if you saved that snapshot with the pedal at 6% instead of 0%, you will have this engaged wah sound....

It's also pretty easy to copy/paste snapshots on the Helix itself. HX Edit makes it a lot easier to copy/paste things though. I still recommend knowing how to do all these things on the Helix itself. For example, I had to redo my preset 10 minutes before showtimes without a computer one time. My general recommendation is that if you have let's say 2 sounds throughout your song: rhythm and solo, designate one button to your solo sound (right-most bottom), and the rest of the buttons will be rhythm. So you don't have any snapshots that are unusable or non-applicable in your preset. Also color-coding your solo/rhythm sounds can be of great help. I have an entire video if you'd like to see, various visual cues. https://youtu.be/o0S6WNKXQKc

Typically for vocal you need to have enough gain, so that the sound is uniform, you can add compressor to accomplish the same, then add reverb/delay. I would not add any amp, unless you want special effects, like Leslie'ed vocals.

The micro switches under the metal buttons are cheap and will stop being reliable after about a year of regular gigging use. If you are handy with electronics, open it up and clean out all of your switches whenever this starts happening. The procedure is very simple, in essence: locate the micro switches, and apply liquid DeoxIT to them, and press them a few times. I like liquid (not spray) DeoxIT, because it's only one drop, nothing gets sprayed in the process, you don't need to be careful where you spray, etc. The switches to me became as smooth as butter after the cleaning. watch a video on how it's done. https://youtu.be/WONiwe0vjH0 Helix is built like your typical Chinese gadget (Kemper floor is no different): looks solid from the outside, but inside is all microscopic PCB stuff with cheap components. In particular, the little button plungers are not held by anything, if you flip the unit upside-down they will all fall and you will not find them. you need a big table with a towel for this job -- can't do it on your lap. I use Tupperware / bowls / shot glasses to store all the parts, like screws/bolts/nuts. Sort all your screws by height, etc. Take a picture of what's inside before you start taking things apart -- that way will know how it used to be. A tablet is very useful for these. When I cleaned micro switches on the Helix LT, I did not have to take apart any ribbons, remove any glue, etc. If you are afraid of performing this procedure yourself, take it to a repair place with a good repuration. I have had a terrible experience with 2 repair shops, maybe yours will be different. If you are not in a hurry, mail it to Line 6. After one repair shop broke the LED of my Helix, I mailed it to Line 6, and they repaired it within exactly 2 weeks door-to-door, back to me. I'm pretty sure they simply replaced the entire PCB for me. So here you go. This will keep happening. I suspect the black foam that is there where the screens are deteriorates especially at first, and little crumbs of it gets stuck inside the micro switches, especially those you use the most, like your tap tempo. cheers. d.

Yes. Touch 2 buttons (don’t press). There’ll be a menu offering to swap them.

Awesome that you're back in business! That must have been scary. The main advice in all of this, take it from a computer programmer: Never ever update your firmware or completely re-do your setup right before an important gig. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. With any firmware update, give yourself ample time to make sure there are no issues whatsoever. The last thing you need is for your HX product or any other piece of equipment to give you unexpected results live. I've seen too many posts here where somebody decided to upgrade right before a gig and [temporarily] bricked their Helix... and then they are trying to desperately fix it. For example, I was quick to jump on the 3.15 bandwagon, but soon realized that there were serious bugs that affected bypass behavior of my wah pedal... Those bugs were not addressed until (supposedly) 3.50. So I quickly reverted back because I did not feel like dealing with various workarounds and other headaches involved. So, want stability and expected results? Stay away from the very last update, unless you have test-driven everything and you are confident every single preset still works. ... that if you change one preset, it does not mess up other presets (which was the issue for me on 3.15). There are always bugs that pop up where the existing behavior of various blocks, or other things changed between firmware versions. No matter what change I make, I always re-test every single preset to triple-check everything still works correctly.

Yep, it's just a bolt, some washers, a nut. If the nut keeps loosening, then there's some excessive friction that is happening. Lubrication should fix it. You can even add some plumbers tape so that the nut stays in place to prevent it from loosening by itself. Yep, all that stuff is sold in your hardware store. Very simple mechanism, but if things are not tightened enough or not lubricated, then you'll have issues. Make sure to really tighten the "claw" screws, mine were loose and that caused all sorts of issues. This video illustrates what's involved. Watch it multiple times and good luck.

I seriously doubt that a Helix/Stomp adds coloring to the signal if you have no blocks.... have you checked the output level? Set the level to "line" and disable the volume knob. (some will say leave the volume on max, but for the sake of this experiment, let's disable it to be sure we are actually getting line level) The experiment: 1. take an amp and play with just a 1/4" cable and no pedals 2. now add your Stomp and play the same. Are you saying that now you get more low end that you didn't have before? But yeah... Global EQ is meant to make adjustments to the sound you are happy with. Do not build your sound with the help of Global EQ. GE is only if you get on stage and your cabinet is too boomy or the sound guy is complaining. Every venue, cab, stage construction will change your sound... ...Or some weird frequency it there that is undesirable.... (that's what my sound guy always asks me to do, EQ one pesky frequency that does not even bother me on stage)

I play a Brian May guitar myself, although I don't go for the Queen sound at all. I use a wireless and I don't see any difference in how the guitar clean up, etc with it or without it going direct with a cable. I'm pretty sure that's why the man himself puts the treble booster on the Red Special strap right before the transmitter. I love the volume knob trick, and my sound is always configured in such a way -- rather than turning off the distortion for clean sounds, I simply cut the input volume either with my volume knob, or with a fixed volume pedal on the Helix. Maybe you can try downloading a free Brian May preset on custom tones, and seeing how it works out for you. I did for the heck of it, and yep, sounded like Brian May. I say it's mostly cork sniffing to run the treble booster right out of the guitar.... Similarly to how some people swear by their vintage Vox wah, even though all it is is a filter that most modellers have. I use a Shure GLXD16 (now discontinued) and without any cable simulations it acts exactly the same as if I had a cable there. There may be tiny differences, but I mostly just go wireless, unless I record stuff in a studio.

There are too many incompatibilities in terms of lack of loops/routing. I was able to quickly recreate my Helix presets for the Pod Go by connecting two devices and opening HX Edit / Pod GO Edit side by side. Maybe you can try the same approach? Or at least take screenshots of each block...? I also needed to redo my the delay mix when recreating my presets for Pod Go because there is no way to add effects in parallel (which is how I like to do it on the Helix), so in series, the balance is completely different -- henceforth I had to use my ears. Other than that, I recreated each preset in about 5 minutes.

Helix has all of these. Ditch the pedals. The only thing is that depending on your signal chain, you may run out of DSP... When it comes to where to place the pedals: 1. looper -- most likely add this at the very very end of your chain, followed by delay/reverb 2. Freeze pedal -- same as above: don't add it in the beginning of the chain, otherwise, if you have the distortion block it will distort things and make playing frozen and regular parts a giant mess 3. EQ -- there are many ways to place it. I personally add EQ right before the amp block to have a more piercing lead sound. But you may place it anywhere you want.

To me yes it sounds like it’s a lubrication issue.

The mechanism is very simple, it’s a big thick bolt with a nut. You can tighten or loosen the bolt. Make small adjustments. You may need to lubricate it if the movement is not smooth. If you are out of warranty, you can just take the back panel off and take the things apart: lubricator it with lithium grease and make sure it’s right enough. I fixed mine and it’s been good for a year now.

Hey guys, gals and pals. I know it's not a new thing to turn mono to stereo, but just wanted to share something with you and how it can apply to guitar. So I took an old cartoon which had a very lifeless soundtrack and added more depth to it. Here's what I did: copied the soundtrack into 3 separate tracks For track #1, EQ'ed the bass and removed everything else, and placed it in the middle hard-panned track #2 left; I EQ'ed all the bass out of it, and emphasized certain frequencies, e.g. cymbals/hi-hat hard-panned track #3 right; I EQ'ed all the bass out of it, and emphasized different frequencies, e.g. strumming guitar/voice Took track #2 and moved it a few milliseconds later, so there'd be a slight delay, but without a flam effect End-result: a more balanced and stereophonic mix. The same exact effect can be achieved using stereo IR's from 3.5--you have an ability to EQ left/right differently and adjust the microphone distance which may introduce the slight delay, which is what we want. If you mix your signal correctly, it will take your guitar and make it sound huge. The original source video is in the description.

Sometimes your sound may be great in isolation, but may conflict with your band's instruments. For example, my sound has 300 Hz, which steps on our trombone player's frequency.... so I've EQ'ed that frequency out for live playing. Sometimes global EQ can accomplish the same... as the sound guy can easily tune your stuff properly... but on stage you may need to do it yourself. In my band, I notch out the problematic frequency for the monitor mix, which goes to a power amp/cab.

Every guitar pickup is different. No two single-coils will behave the same way with 2 different amps. Some pickups "clean up" nicely, while others have more distortion.... this is why there will be volume jumps ALWAYS if you don't dial your tones exactly for your specific guitar. Who knows what guitar was used to dial in factory presets / default settings... most likely not the same exact one as you use. One more thing is that pickup heights also play a very important role in how your guitar sounds. They contribute to the amount of clarity and loudness as well. I find that these differences are a lot more pronounced on the Helix compared to real-world guitar amplifiers -- every little difference is exagerated. For example, I used to use 2 different guitars with my pedals interchangeably plugged into any amp that was available. Now, I really need to make sure that the signal strength, amount of gain/distortion is the same. There you go.

Most likely the cheap midro-switch has gone bad. It tends to be the one you most frequently use... like the tap button, or where your "lead" snapshot sound is. If the issue is a mechanical one, then you can clean the micro-switch. Watch a few videos online that document the process. It's a simple procedure if you're not scared to open up your helix/void the warranty. Otherwise, find a good shop that can do it for you. I had the misfortune of dealing with 2 horrible shops....

IMO, the whole point of an LT or Floor is to eliminate the need to have a bunch of pedals, switches, amps--use the Helix to replace your entire signal chain. There are some purists that swear by their specific wah/distortion/delay. I'm not one of them. Helix has all the sounds, or a very very close approximation of all the sounds you may ever need. So if you want to simplify your setup, go with the Helix. If you must use your specific pedals, then don't. So right now my stage setup is done in around 2 minutes: Place the Helix Floor on the floor Connect Left/Right XLR Connect 1/4" cable to the Mooer Baby Bomb that connects to a 12" speaker Connect my wireless system, power everything on Done! All the settings are as I saved them, everything works. Do a quick sound check to make sure left/right are coming through as I expect them to. It's fantastic. I had to do it for 2 weeks every single day abroad in Europe and I was always the first one that was ready to play, before everybody else in my band. Plus, there are all these things that you need to maintain if you have individual pedals--they need to have fresh batteries, or a power source that works.... cables go bad, etc. So IMO a self-contained unit that has everything is a lot more reliable. However, if the entire Helix decides to die one day, then you have absolutely nothing working, and will have to resort to playing the spoons.... That's why with the Helix I always take a backup processor. I have a Pod Go that has all my sounds in 4 presets, that I can use to limp through the show in case my Helix dies. Or if I'm doing a series of shows and have room, I simply take a backup Helix with me. I did that in Europe: took the Floor and the LT with me.

You can simply add a vibrato "bubble vibrato" works pretty nicely in the beginning of your chain: guitar->vibrato->amp..... Max out the depth and the mix. Then set the speed to 4.1... or to taste. It's not a replacement for your whammy bar, but a good substitution. If you want to go crazy, you can set the depth to be controlled by the expression pedal... also the speed. But this will get you close enough...

try the same with a sample factory preset -- do you hear right and left? What about a "blank" preset that has just your guitar signal going through. Do you hear both sides? If yes, then it's your preset that has an issue. Maybe you can share it here. But first we need to eliminate the obvious (user error), so try with something that we know is supposed to work out of the box.