phil_m

There's not really a need to have a separate audio connection from your computer to the speakers. As long as you're using the Helix as the computer's audio device, all system audio will be sent out the Helix's XLR outs.

Dan Boul from 65 Amps, the guy who made these IRs is known is doing work with Line 6 as a consultant. He's someone who has a reputation for having golden ears when it comes to guitar tone and dialing in tones and micing up amps in the studio. The way I see it, using an IR is a little like buying a cake from a bakery versus learning to bake your own cake. You can tweak a cake you bake however you want to get it the way you want it. When you buy a cake from the bakery, that's what you get. Maybe it's awesome, and you wouldn't change a thing, but maybe it's not for you... So these IRs are really just a sampler... There's only six of them, and there's not multiple mics or positions to choose from or anything that. If you read the PDF that comes with the pack it says the goal of this pack is to "emulate the unique dynamic mic'ing style of world famous producer known for his impressive guitar tones". So I imagine these are probably shot with multiple mics with perhaps somewhat unique positioning. I'd also say that it probably is a lot less labor intensive to shoot an IR than it is to create a whole hybrid cab. But it's not as if Line 6 is abandoning that - there will be 7 new hybrid cabs in the 2.20 firmware.

Honestly, that's an unnecessarily pessimistic view. If you never take your Helix out of your house/studio, I suppose you may feel that you'll only be able to get by with the software version. Helix owners who feel that way can certainly sell their units and get the $400 version of the plug-in if they feel that serves them better. I suspect, though, that most people who are interested in the plug-in will gladly pay the $100 to have access to the plug-in. Personally, I have my Helix floor unit mounted on a pedalboard, and there have been many times I've wished I had the plug-in already because it wouldn't have to pull the Helix out of the case and reconnect everything. If you think $99 is too much, well, that's just being unrealistic. S-Gear, which only has 4 amp models, and a pretty limited selection of effects sells for $129. I mean, no one is making existing Helix users pay for the plug-in. If people don't think they need, they don't have to buy it.

I'm sure there will be plenty when it's actually available, which would probably be sometime in April. The fact is that many of the interfaces on the market now are using very good converters. Converters have become cheap and ubiquitous, so that's no longer the weak point of digital audio the way it once was.

The other thing is that you don't actually have to use the hardware version of the Helix to record. You can actually use any interface you want. The way Line 6 is handling the Helix Native licensing is different than the way they handled it with the POD X3 series and POD Farm where you had to have the device tethered to your system to use the plug-in. Now, you can have your hardware Helix somewhere else entirely and still get the tones right at your DAW. It's almost like getting another Helix to use altogether.

Those aren't all different delay models, though - more like presets. I think Kemper approaches this stuff more from a synthesis perspective, which makes sense given their Christoph's background in the synth world.

Yep... $399 on its own, $99 for Helix owners.

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." – Western Union internal memo, 1876 :)

Nah... DI's not that pedantic. Anyway, just one more day!

Well, I think having the EXP1/EXP2 toggle with the toe switch makes the most logical sense for most users... Anyway, the other option now is to switch EXP1 and EXP2 via snapshot changes. With the 2.10 update, the state of the expression pedal is remember and recalled with the snapshot.

There are three different tremolo effects - Optical Trem, Bias Trem and the one just called Tremolo, which is actually the deepest as far as parameters available for editing.

Avid didn't have anything to do with this... InMusic acquired the source-code for the Eleven Rack when they bought M-Music and the AIR software stuff from Avid back in 2012. None of the original team who worked on the 11 Rack were involved in this.

No, it's not possible. USB B ports are not powered, by definition.

Making a prototype and going to full-blown production are different things... I would be surprised if this is unit is available for purchase before Fall 2017, personally.

But that's what's really happening, though. Try the Peterson Strobe app and set it to see cents on the display, and it does the same thing. Unless you're using heavier gauge strings, it's difficult to get much better than +/-2 cents. Other tuners that show you dead on are just lying. :-)

Hmmm... Well, that yellow caution thing sounds like a Mac issue, but I don't know. Is that on Monkey or just in the installer on the Mac? Did you try downloading and installing POD Farm directly, not through Monkey?

Yes, you can hook them up in any order you want, really. It just depends on how you want your signal chain. Unless you want some of the M13's effects in front of your pedals, there's no reason to really use the M13's loop. If it were me, I'd probably just go Wah --> TS808 --> BD-2 --> M13 --> AC15.

POD Farm 2.5 isn't free with any Line 6 device. You can download and use POD Farm 1.12 standalone (not the plug-in) with the Toneport, but if you want to use 2.5, you have to pay for a 2.5 license, either by buying a device that the license is included with or buying it on its own.

Phantom power is always 48V, and as Peter said, can be turned on or off... Not sure where you're seeing anything about 12V. The XLR input is a standard low impedance mic jack. The variable input impedance only affects the Guitar In 1/4" jack - nothing else. As far as the XLR input and the blocks in a patch, if the mic input is selected, the signal will be sent through all the blocks in that preset, just like any other input. I'm sorry, you lost me with the symmetrical / "disymetry" comment...

It really depends on what is more important to you - having immediate access to four presets, or having more stomp switches to use in the preset. If you don't change preset very often, having 8 stomp switches available may be something you like.

If you hit the bank up or down switches, you can scroll through the banks, and the function of FS5-FS8 will temporarily change back to preset select switches, so you can select a new preset. If you want to select a preset from the bank you're currently in, you'd only have to hit the bank up or down switch once. The functionality makes more sense once you've tried it. It's not as confusing as it sounds.

Well, first off, it's FS5 - FS8 that you're changing the function of, there is no "FS1 - FS8" mode. The options for those four footswitches are either "A,B,C,D", which means they will always give you immediate access to the four presets in the bank you're currently in, or "FS5 - FS8". In this mode, you can use all eight footswitches to turn blocks on and off in the preset (also called Pedalboard Mode in the manual).

Not possible on the HD500X... The Helix can do this, fwiw.

It was added with the 2.0 update.