phil_m

If you follow this thread, you should get email notification when it's updated. DI always updates it as soon as the new firmware is released. Between here, Facebook, TGP and other forums, it seems the word always seems to get out pretty quickly. I guess if you aren't connected to social media at all, it can take longer. For large updates, Line 6 usually does send out a mass email sometime shortly after the update is released.

The 1/4" outs are 10 kOhm according to my meter, and they stay the same regardless of whether they're set to line or instrument. I mean, yeah, you'd still have to go a long while to actually hear signal degradation, but I wouldn't want to send a signal from the 1/4" outs through a 75 or 100' snake back to the mixer without using a DI.

It's still a current product... Not discontinued.

Sag and Bias will have an impact for sure. I think, though, that lowering the bass on many models helps tighten them up. The mic can impact it, too. One thing I've found is that increasing the Early Reflections parameter in the cab block seems to make things a little tighter sounding for some reason.

I know it doesn't help you at all, but I really don't think the issues you're describing are all that common. I've not had any issue with re-amping with Reaper and having the editor open. Like you said, that is an instance where the USB audio is sending and receiving audio and the editor being open. I've not had any issues with it. I do think it might be worth it to try another browser. I use Firefox, fwiw.

Probably never... Or possible sometime... :) I honestly haven't heard of any mention of plans for one to be added. That doesn't mean it won't happen, though.

No, you won't have any issues with phantom power if you use the 1/4" outs into a 1/4" input on the desk. The only thing is that the 1/4" outputs on the Helix are unbalanced, high impedance outputs, so wouldn't want to run them further than 20' or so because you can run into issues with noise and signal degradation past that. The best way to use the 1/4" outs, imo, is to take them into a DI and then use an XLR to run to the board.

I have to say I've never had any of these sorts of issue with the editor on Windows 10. I've often had Reaper open along with the editor, and I've not had any issues with the Helix disconnecting. There have been times when I've left the Helix connected and the editor open all day and it's still connected when I come back. So I don't know. I think it's just that every chipset and USB controller handle these things differently.

The first thing you'll want to do is go to Global Settings>MIDI/Tempo and go to Page 2 there and turn MIDI PC Send off. That will make it so the Helix doesn't automatically send the default PC messages when you switch presets. Then you'll want to go to the Command Center as described on pg 47 of the LT manual. There you can set up Instant Commands with the appropriate PC you want to send for each preset. You can actually send out different PC messages per snapshot as well if you want. The Instant Commands are represented by the lightning bolt icons in the Command Center.

Basically correct, although, there's nothing saying they have to go last in the chain. If you want stereo effects with one cab or IR, you would actually have to put those after the cab/IR block.

Functionally, they're doing the same thing (for the most part). The Line 6 cab models are actually based on IRs along with some other processing magic. The main difference is that a single IR file is kind of like a sonic snapshot. It gives you that can with whichever mic and whatever distance it was at when the IR was created. You can't edit any of those parameters apart from loading a different IR file. That why commercial IR collections have hundreds or thousands of files associated with them. The Line 6 cabs are dynamic in the sense that you can select different mics, distances and other parameters all in the cab block without digging through a ton of files.

There's no risk of damage... Just sound quality. And the issues with sound quality seem more likely to happen than not.

I honestly don't know the answer, really... Speaking from personal experience, when I left phantom power on my mixer, I didn't really notice the tone changing so much, it was just that signal was really quiet. I started cranking up the gain on the mixer channels, and then I remembered the phantom power thing. I guess, though, I wouldn't rule it out that the signal might not be attenuated at the same level across the whole spectrum. It's hard to say with people on Facebook. Many people have no clue about gain staging in the first place, so there's any number of things that can be affecting their tone.

I don't really understand why you would consider ignoring the warning when it's self-evident that phantom power can affect the Helix's signal. The only question, really, is how much it will be affected. But at the very least, it will attenuate the signal from the Helix quite a bit. At worst, it will do that and make it very noisy. Either pick up a blocker/isolator similar to this or use the 1/4" out(s) into a DI box.

Remember, there's always Pedal Edit mode which allows to adjust any parameter in any of the blocks with your feet. So you could actually go to the amp block and adjust the channel volume, and you can actually re-save the patch from Pedal Edit mode, too.

There are three HX reverbs that are done or very nearly done according to DI over the TGP, and hopefully more after that... They're not being released with 2.30, though... That timeframe is probably more like after NAMM.

No problem... If you're running a version of the editor that old, you must be running an old firmware version on the Helix itself as the new firmware won't work with the old editor... Sounds like you should update everything! :)

Huh? The editor, called Helix, isn't in beta. It has been available for a long time. The current version is 2.21 and can be downloaded here: http://line6.com/software/ I think perhaps you're referring to the Mac drivers... Back when El Capitan was released, it had all sorts of issues with core audio and there were a bunch of class compliant USB audio devices that it wasn't handling correctly. The Helix happened to be one of those. So rather than wait for Apple to get its act together, Line 6 released the beta Mac drivers. In between the time those were released and now, Apple fixed things on its end, so it kind of made the Line 6 Mac drivers superfluous. That's the reason they haven't been updated beyond beta.

I meant to reply to this a few days ago, but forgot about it... Anyway, just to clarify something, this only works if you put a three digit prefix in front of your IRs. What I've done is create a separate folder for my IR backups and numbered all of those with the prefix 001, 002, 003, etc. If you do that and then select them in the way I described, they'll be imported back into the Helix in order.

There should have been a micro-USB cable and USB power adapter in the box. The G70 receiver can be powered either by a 9V DC connection or the micro-USB jack. I would recommend getting a 9V power supply for long term use, but the USB power supply that comes with it will work out of the box.

Helix Native doesn't support snapshots right now. It will in the future, though...

Well, on the new version of the editor (it will be called "HX Edit"), the block do behave more like what's being described here. It's similar to Native - you can display the model as a text list or you can see all the icons for the different models at once. So if you click on a distortion block, for example, you can see all the available distortion blocks right there. The snapshots are still a pulldown menu, but, to me, that's still OK. Basically, if you want to know what the new editor will look like, look at Helix Native. Although, both are being refined, still.

On Facebook, Frank Ritchotte, Line 6's Senior Director of Business Operations (he oversees customer service for Line 6), said that they found there have been some LTs that left the factory with the pedal being built incorrectly. They are replacing any units that have this failure. So either exchange it through the retailer or contact Line 6 by opening up a support ticket. They will take care of it. Also, FWIW, Frank said they have found about 50 failures out of the 10,000+ LTs sold. IMHO, you'll be much better off sticking with the LT in the long run. I don't expect inMusic to support the Headrush for very long.

I would kind of think that the Global EQ is in the wrong spot in the signal to really compensate for pickups. I guess, though, I'm wondering what exactly are trying to compensate for? It seems to me that whole point of using guitars with different pickups is letting the character of the different pickups come through.

I've been using Helix as an interface with Windows 10 for two years and haven't had any issues with it. I've recorded quite a bit with it. The Windows drivers are fine. Pops and clicks are usually a symptom of some sort of other hardware conflict somewhere in the system. Things like wireless adapters and touchpads seem to be common culprits... Although, with my setup, I've not had to mess with any of that.