phil_m

No, none of the FBV controllers (not even the new FBV3) are compatible with the Helix Rack.

I understand your frustration, but like I said, I don't know if there's a clear line as to how long support for old software and discontinued products should last. I actually think it's more likely that there would be a patch to get the older version of Workbench working than Workbench HD would be modified to work with the older Variaxes. But, honestly, I don't see that as all that likely either...

I don't know how long a company should be expected to update a piece of legacy software like Workbench, to be honest. It's a tough call. The Variax 600 was discontinued in 2009 or 2010, so I'm not sure it's realistic to think that Line 6 will continue to support the original Workbench indefinitely. Nor do I think that it's realistic to expect Workbench HD to support the earlier Variax (the pre-HD firmware has some pretty major differences). So I don't know... I can see both sides. The long and short is that the Variax is a technology driven item, and the software that supports it is dependent on third-party operating systems. It seems it's inevitable that there will be a time when that software becomes obsolete. I guess the one workaround is keeping an older machine around for the sole purpose of running some of this older software.

Nope... The HD500X doesn't have the ability to convert notes to MIDI.

Well, there are 16 available channels that the receiver scans automatically to find the best one when you first pair up the transmitter with the receiver. So the key to using multiple units is to lock in one, then move onto the next. To lock in, you dock the transmitter in the receiver for 15 seconds to let them pair up and select the channel and then plug it in your guitar. So once you do that with the first one, that assure the second one can't use that channel. The third one will be blocked from the first and second. As far the maximum, I guess theoretically, it's 16, but you also have to assume that some of those 16 channels may be unavailable because of interference. I would think you'd be OK with three, though.

I haven't heard or played a Spider V in person yet, but the models set in the Spider and the AMPLIFi are basically the same, and the signal flow architecture is identical. So tonally, I'd expect them to be very close. It really comes to what of the other features you find important. The Spider V has built-in drum tracks, and a looper. The AMPLIFi streams over BT, so it's actually pretty easy to use whatever backing tracks you want, but it doesn't have looper. I guess I don't necessarily consider going from one to the other an upgrade or a downgrade. They each offer some unique features over the other one, and it just depends which of those is most important to you.

Yep, that's true. Only one effect per switch on the Firehawk.

You can always just unplug it and plug it back in again to wake it up faster, I suppose.

The transmitter goes into sleep mode after 4 minutes without receiving an audio signal. It wakes up again as soon it get a signal. This can't be adjusted or disabled (although I'm not sure why you'd want to disable it in the first place).

I saw the reply earlier. Like I said, he's not saying they'll never update it. As of now, though, those CCs don't work. The fact that the manual says they're reserving them sounds like they may be planning to add this functionality in the future. FWIW, there was a big update to the DT amps that added all sorts of MIDI functionality, so it's certainly not unrealistic to think that they may be planning to update the Firehawk MIDI in the future.

Did the rep actually say they have no intention of updating it, though? The fact that the manual uses the word "reserved" (the manual says, "Firehawk has reserved a number of MIDI CC#s for global functions.") makes it sound like there are plans to add this functionality in the future. As far as "having the knowledge or the know-how", I'm sure that's not the issue. This sort of CC implementation is available all across Line 6's product line. It's probably more an issue of freeing up the right developer's time to get it implemented for the Firehawk.

It just depends on the severity of the bug, I'm sure. There's been a couple times when they've released a patch update the next day because of certain bugs. But I don't know that it's realistic to treat every single bug with such urgency. Seems there are some bugs that simply annoyances more than showstoppers.

Well, I was a beta tester for the Helix, and when I got it, the manual was still being worked, so for the first few days, I just figured it out by using. I actually felt like I was able to figure 90%+ or more of the functionality without any documentation. Based on the actual complexity of everything you can do, I feel like that's pretty amazing. To put it in perspective, I've used digital delay pedals (the Boss DD500 is one that comes to mind, fwiw) where I couldn't figure out how to do relatively basic things without digging in the manual. The fact that Line 6 understands the importance of this aspect of these devices is really one of the main reasons I've stuck with them over the years. The Helix takes the whole ergonomic design to new level for this segment.

Usually the rated lifetime of these sorts of electromechanical switches and knobs is in the hundreds of thousands of cycles. That's not to say there won't be duds here and there, but if it's working right, normal usage, even heavy usage shouldn't really be a concern.

Shame on Line 6 for what exactly? For not providing something they never advertised or claimed to do? The whole premise of the AMPLIFi product is the interactivity with mobile devices. Personally, having both the Helix and the AMPLIFi, I much prefer editing with the iOS app via Bluetooth than using my laptop. It's just much more convenient... The fact of the matter is that for the AMPLIFi's main target demographic, building the iOS and Android functionality just makes sense. Tablet sales surpassed laptop sales in 2015. Overall, they're just much more accessible than PC/laptops right now. If you want the ability to edit on the amp itself, I suggest you check out the new Spider V amps. They don't have a PC/Mac editor either, but they do allow you access all parameters from the amp itself. You lose the BT streaming capability compared to the AMPLIFi, but the Spiders have other features the AMPLIFi doesn't. The amps and effects are identical in the two series.

Not sure what it proves, though... Either one can be made to sound good or bad, or nearly identical even.

In addition to the template Peter mentioned, page 19 in the manual tells you how to set this up - lovingly referred to as "Super Serial" routing.

If you're only using one of the 1/4" or XLR outputs, everything will sum automatically through that output. If you want to hear things in dual mono rather than true stereo through the headphone output, just put a mono Gain block after the dual cab block. That will sum it's output to mono.

Yep, you can do that. You just set up EXP1, 2 or 3 in the Command Center to send out the appropriate CC with whatever range of values you want. I'm doing this EXP2 and 3 to control some parameters on the Strymon Mobius and BigSky - works great!

Check out page 18 of the manual where it mentions a "2 into 1" setup. Because there are a total of 4 paths, you could actually set this up for each side of your stick. That's what I meant in my earlier comment when I said the Helix could give you the same functionality the Stepabout is giving you. You can have it so each path is being fed by two inputs, and you can set up controller to control the merge block in each path. That way you can send the treble side to Path 1 or 2, and do the same thing with the bass side.

Well, for DMX you should theoretically be able to run 1500 ft without needing a repeater/option-splitter, but there are other caveats, such as the number of devices on the line. But AES/EBU aren't exactly the same type of signal. I imagine that digital audio is more sensitive than DMX as DMX is purely a control signal.

I'm a little confused as to what you're trying to do here. If you're monitoring through the Helix, there should be no latency at all. If you're re-amping, yes, I suppose there will be some latency because you're playing the recorded dry guitar track from your DAW. But under normal conditions, where you're playing from your DAW and recording with the Helix, there should be none as long as you're monitoring directly from the Helix.

I guess my first comment would be that I don't know how much functionality the Stepabout preamp is giving you, if any, that you couldn't do entirely in the Helix itself. It's very easy to change the routing of different inputs to different paths in the Helix itself without having to have another pedal to step on. Also, the Helix itself acts as a preamp, so having another gain stage in front of it might be causing your noise issues. I suspect you may be clipping the internal signal path somewhere. You might also be running into ground loop issues because you have multiple connections between the two pieces of equipment. If you do want to use that preamp, you may be better setting up your patch using two of Helix's effects returns as inputs rather than the guitar in and aux in. You can set those to line level, and that may work better with the preamp's output level. As far as the reverb affecting the bass, if everything is set correctly, that shouldn't happen, so I'm not sure. I guess I would troubleshoot by may maybe going directly into Helix first.

As mentioned above, you have to have parameters assigned to a control for their value to be recalled by snapshot changes. That controller can be an expression pedal, footswitch, or, if you don't need real-time manual control, a snapshot controller. Pushing and turning the knob for the value you want changing with the snapshots, sets up a snapshot controller.

Personally, Line 6 has always been very fair with me, and when I've had a few issue over the years, they've taken care of them. But given the sheer number of Line 6 products, I've owned, the number of problems I've had has been small... That's just my personal experience. Backing up a bit, though, how did you come to the conclusion that your 69 needs a new main board? Is that your self-diagnosis, or is it something that Line 6 told you over the phone? Have you tried kind the of standard operating procedure thing of re-flashing the guitar and all that? Beyond that, have you looked into a local service center looking at the guitar?