PierM

15 hours ago, phil_m said:

 

I don't think there's any hardware limitation that would prevent meters being implemented. Obviously, it's not going to have actual hardware meters, but I'm sure they could develop some sort of graphical meters if they wanted.

I remember someone from L6 saying that in the facebook group, don't remember who (group which I abandoned, so I can't check now). Animation of meters in the display was not an option due limits in the hardware, which is not surprising if you ask me. Would have required more expensive hardware and a more complex UI.

Isnt about being pros or not anyway. Metering it’s basics in any device with more than an input and an output, and everyone is free to use it or not. Point is Helix cant have any, because has hardware limits, so let’s not try to make this lack as if it were a smart choice, planned by the engineers. Hardware isnt there, that’s it. Isnt there not because you guys don’t need it. You say you dont need it because isnt there. 

Amen. ;)

I dont know, maybe most of the helix users arent using to much external routing, or they are mostly playing at home, but in a live situation, metering would be a saver, especially to debug a problem without have to mess with trial and error.

For example, I recently had a feedback loop in my chain (which is pretty complex and using basically all the routing available on the back of the Helix), preventing me to raise the volume as there was a really insane squeal. If I had block metering, like Axe FX has, i would have solved the issue instantly, because you would have seen where the loop were happening, exactly at which stage. In my case was one of the S/R routing, going into an external fx unit, so I had to mess with cables and switches for a while, until I’ve found the offender. Again, if I had access to the FX Loop metering (metering send, metering return), I would have solved in 3 seconds. This is just one scenario, but even when creating a patch, would be great to monitor each stage, to either clamp levels to your needs or monitor floors levels along the entire path, and outside the unit (FX Loops). I mean, c’mon, that’s basics in any complex routing setup.

They didnt do that probably because there is not enough power available to handle multiple realtime metering rendering on that screen, at proper refresh speed, so I dont think we will ever see that happening. 

Save and buy an Axe III.

Done. :)

If you have a modeler in any device, even an iPhone, you can link it via USB, and plug the guitar straight on input 1, on the Powercab.

As soon as the Axe FX III will drop in value/price.

I wont offer any opinion, just what happened to me with my Helix floor, from 2016 to 2019;

2017: Joystick failure, sent for repair

2017; Joystick failure again, repaired myself (bad soldering job)

2018; scribble strip failure; swapped with a new one (ordered from the British Audio guys)

2019: another scribble failure: same as above

Now I moved to a Helix rack with controller: all good for now.

No. We were talking about Link. (read the entire op post, with the edited part)

I tried to explain it here: https://line6.com/support/topic/48465-helix-and-pc-pair-updated-ok-gos-into-edited-mode-solved/?tab=comments#comment-303026

17 hours ago, jonboyuk said:

Do you prefer the cabs in the PowerCab, or Helix?

There are not Cabs in the Powercab.

A cab algorithm in the Helix, it's simulating a guitar cab, with a microphone in front of it, in a room. This is like listening an amp+cab+mic+room in a recording, offline.

A powercab it's a a real cab, which can works as it is (using its own speaker), as a speaker simulator (still isn't a cab, but a simulation of a speaker. No mic. No room.). THis is like an amp in the room.

Then you can use it as FRFR speaker, and you need a cab in the helix, or would sounds rubbish.

Then you can load your own IRs, at this point it's just acting as a IR block in your Helix, going through a FRFR.

YAWN

Joystick Encoder seems having some random hang when in "model" modality. Sometimes doesn't respond to push, sometimes doesn't respond to model change, sometimes both. Isn't hardware related.

More info here; https://line6.com/support/topic/48671-bug-with-joystick-after-280-update/

Ok I've been able to repro, and seems some instability in the code.

Basically both click and rotate, to select models and/or to access the model page, are like hanging and/or not responding, but yeah, isn't hardware related; it's code which seems looping somewhere and losing realtime catching on the Joystick status.

This problem it's happening only when Joystick Encoder it's set to "model", so I'm pretty sure it's related to the update. (even because the same Joystick works flawless for any other browsing action, outside the patch).

the 212 also has the porting on the back. I'm expecting some boomy tone on smaller rooms with plenty of wall proximity, especially when tilted.

18 hours ago, carlito17 said:

Same question here plus I’m having an issue on my Control display with percentage showing up every few seconds even when I’m not using my Line 6 Mission spring loaded pedal. Be nice if you could turn the that function off altogether.

Same here and it’s terrible. I have 2 pedals, and that’s a constant flashing of percentage, event when it’s all completely static.

10 hours ago, giggles666 said:

I'm having some weird issues after the Helix 2.80 update. My joystick is now wonky. I can no longer "push" the joystick in to open the model list when making or editing blocks. I have to use HX Edit or manually turn the joystick to go through every effect or amp I'd like to use. While not mission-critical it's annoying to have to turn the knob for 3 minutes until I get to the amps.

Any advice or experience with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

And it's not a DSP issue, I've tried it on new/blank presets as well

Check in the Global Settings———>Preferences

Check that Joystick Encoder it’s set to Model. This is the original behavior.

If it’s set to Selection, it is moving Left/Right while rotating, but you can still select Models if you rotate while pushing.

Yes you can do it.

Just remember to set the USB to be Normal (unprocessed), so that it will flow straight to output without speaker/mic/dsp processing.

If you want to add speaker modeling or IRs to the output signal, set the USB Mode to Processed
If you are playing backing tracks through Powercab Plus, set the USB Mode to Normal to hear them unprocessed

The dedicated USB port and DC IN,  both flagged as “Reserved for potential future use.”, might suggest an alternative usage in the future.

Wild speculation...:) (my guess it's that they will unlock the unit to work with Native)

6 hours ago, spikey said:

Protection? That's the only reason I can think of to lower the outputs that far down in power levels.

This was my first thought too, but does it make sense? The FLAT section, with LF RAW and LF FLAT, they are all set to 0dB, and in fact the volume it's way higher. Also, I see no clipping when raising the speaker dB to around 0.

I understand that IRs needs to stay to -18 because they need much more headroom to not clip, but I can't understand why they did similar with speakers.

Anyway, there is a new manual for the Powercab, with 212 and all latest things. Unfortunately on the aspect above it's even more confusing than the old version. :)

8 hours ago, litesnsirens said:

I've noticed the same thing.  It's really apparent when using the 1 step looper.  In fact, now when you clear the loop by doing a long press after stopping the loop.  The ring stays lit. Last night after clesring then doing new loops a few times I heard a pop and then no sound from helix at all. After restarting the helix the sound came back.

Phew!

Confirmed this.

The looper button doesnt show its real state, especially between snapshots. Happens that if you flush the loop memory on a snapshot, then you will get the looper ring lit again,  on a different snapshot. Also the single button looper doesnt respond correctly on stomps. Pretty random.

1 hour ago, uelef said:

 

Well, I tried different amps in Helix (amps without the cab) - the PowerCab Plus was set to LF RAW … - but the sound was harsh and in my opinion far away from every real amp. It was unpleasantly fuzzy. Did you really check it out?

Yeah, I do use it A LOT, especially when I need to move some air, and Speaker modeling it's to thin for my needs. But I also have to be honest, and tell you I do mostly use clean tones, so I couldn't say how does it sounds under more saturated signals.

Could be you have no high cut in any preset? Dunno, I do set all my presets that are not using mic simulation, to cut around 6K, but no...I have no harsh/fizzy when using LF-RAW.

I do have harsh/fizzy when using Amp, no cab and FRFR on the Powercab. There it's clear that the mic/cab simulation is missing from the chain.

I guess we are in a gray area here, where there is not right and wrong, since LF-RAW it's one of the "voices" available in the FLAT mode (but with only raw LF), so probably just some unlocked feature they wanted to add without any real specific usage (although only FRFR voice mode it's offering the 20Hz/20Khz needed for the mic/cab/room simulation).

As per title; I don't get why the speakers models are that low on the PC+. This makes all speakers very weak, and even cranking the Powercab all the way up, that's still not enough for gig.

If you take as reference the LF-RAW mode (which is set to 0dB), you get way more punch, which is what I'd expect when using the speaker simulation.

Anyone has a clue why L6 decided to use that low level?

I know I can put them all back to 0dB, this is exactly why I'm curious. At 0dB they sounds SO MUCH better, and the overall volume available it's finally good enough for gigging or monitoring properly during live... so is there something I'm missing here?

Any clue?

6 minutes ago, uelef said:

 

Well, in my opinion using LF RAW Mode on Powercab 112+ needs a full amp from Helix (with integrated cab). Only using the amp (without cab) does not sound really good …

Nope. You shouldn't use mic simulation with that mode, as there is no driver working, it's just the 12" speaker. You have no full frequency available, only low.

2 hours ago, uelef said:

Really no cab? Only the amp without cab?

Yep. That's using only the 12" speaker in the cab, so you are basically listening the nature of the speaker, without any mic/sim involved.

Any amp block sounds good with that configuration, but there is also another motive for that; speaker models are all leveled down to average 15db, so they are A LOT quieter than LF Flat and LF RAW.

I've seen that I need my Helix and PC+, both with main volume to twelve o clock for LF-raw, and that's already plenty of juice. To obtain a similar feeling I need to crank up the Helix to max, when using the speaker simulations on the PC+, otherwise any tone would sound much thinner (Fletcher - Munson).

Probably a overall solution, to do before any action on the Helix, could be to install the new Edit package with Helix not connected at all, then reboot the PC, connect the Helix and install the update.