phil_m

The input Z used to be globally applied, and now it is saved on a preset per preset basic, so it is possible that if you were using a value other than "Auto" before the update, your presets could sound different. Also, after you do the Global Settings reset, the input pad defaults to off, so if you had that on it could make a difference. The global EQ defaults to off and goes back to the default flat setting, so if you were depending on that, you'd have to reset it to where it was. Other than that, there was no actual change to any of the amp and cab models (other than the new models they added, of course). I believe they may have changed some of the default settings, so if you were starting with a blank preset and loading in a new amp and/or cab block, those may sound different than they did before. But that wouldn't have any effect on existing presets.

Wait, you're saying the Big Muff is cheesy? I beg to differ... Exhibit A

The reverbs I'll grant you, because the Strymon Big Sky verbs are really kind of in a league of their own, and even some of the Fractal reverbs are very nice. I don't know about the delays, though. There are some "special" delays on the TimeLine, like the Ice and Trem machines that the Helix can't do, but for most of the "normal" machines, I kind of think I prefer the Helix. Line 6's tape model, imo, is absolutely beautiful. I actually find it easier to dial in than Strymons. I also the new Vintage Delay model on the Helix is nice. I still own the Strymon TimeLine and DIG, and I've owned the El Capistan, so I think I'm entitled to have an opinion on delays. :D I mean, yes, there are differences, but I don't think any of them make Helix's delays inferior in any way. In some ways, I think the Strymon and Eventide effects are less practical for many players because they kind of take over the whole signal in a way that other delays don't. There are times when that's good, and times when it's not so good.

Isn't there a right scroll bar for the parameters? I'm not in front of the computer I have the editor installed on at the moment, but I could swear that on my Windows 10 machine, there was a scroll bar to get to all of the parameters, at least in the home view. Or is this only an issue when you go to the Command Center?

Yeah. that's just the way it is right now... Read my post above for the current workarounds. Beyond that, there's nothing more I can say. It's kind of like that old joke... Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this..." Doctor: "Well, stop doing that..." :)

I guess I don't have strong feelings about what the default should be... The way it is now is actually pretty common with other MIDI gear, at least in my experience. I think every keyboard I have works this way by default. Perhaps making it so there's a separate setting for MIDI send and receive makes some sense, although it might be a moot point. Does the Helix still send out the default PC message when you call up a preset via MIDI? I've never looked into it.

Go to Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo and under knob 4, MIDI PC Send/Receive, change this to "off". This will prevent the Helix from sending the default PC messages when you change presets, which is what you're experiencing now.

This came up before... It's not a bug. It happens because when you insert a pan block, its position parameter is automatically set up to be controlled by EXP2. So if you have the position of EXP2 set to be controlled globally, the position parameter in the pan block will reflect the position of the pedal when you enter that preset. It sounds like you don't want the pan tied to the expression pedal, so just go to this parameter and clear the controller (or change it "none"). To answer your other question, yes, if you use one 1/4" and one XLR out, they will both sum to mono automatically. It doesn't matter which side you actually use.

It really depends on how your using the setlists available. Some people may not want to keep any of the factory presets, so the just overwrite those first two setlists with their own presets. In that case, it would makes sense to just back up the whole bundle. If you want the updated factory presets, then there's not really any reason to re-import the bundle. Typically, I just export and import my setlists. I also do backup the whole bundle just in case there's some sort of problem, but I've not had to use re-import for anything yet.

You'll have the new amp models and effects regardless of what you do with your bundle. If you reload your old bundle, you'll overwrite all the presets on the Helix. So in doing that, you'd overwrite the new factory presets. If you want to check out the new factory presets, just import your setlists and not the first two factory ones.

You can download the Updater on its own here: http://line6.com/software/ Just select "Line 6 Updater" from the middle pulldown menu (just leave the first one alone).

Oh, I was under the impression from what you wrote above that you were still able to boot with 1.12 firmware... But, yes, the FS 9+10 procedure is basically a factory reset. I don't know what the -28 in the corner of the screen means. Hopefully CS can get you sorted.

Hmm... I wonder if that particular preset is corrupt in some way. Maybe try overwriting it prior to running the update (I believe that would be preset 24B in the first setlist). Or perhaps if you have your setlists backed up, you could try doing a factory reset before running the update. As far as why Line 6 has the firmware files available as downloads, it is possible to download the flash file separately and the run the updater in offline mode and send the file that way. Might help in certain situations.

I will grant that there are several spots where people can get tripped up if they're not careful, but I guess the issue is that the Helix is only one of the dozens of products Line 6 is currently supporting, so I think it's challenging to create download sections that are streamlined yet still present all the possible downloads for every OS someone might be using. The Line 6 Updater utility, for instance, isn't just used for Helix. It's used for Firehawk, Amplifi, and I believe the Relay wireless line at the moment. It is basically Monkey 2.0. So I think they're probably trying to avoid having to write a separate utility for each piece of gear they have. I guess it's interesting to speculate about how tech savvy the average Helix user is. I'm sure there are some relatively inexperienced users out there. I think Line 6's assumption going in was that Helix was going to appeal to a more experienced, although, they have done a good job of designing the interface for people who have avoided multi-fx. It's a hard line to walk, I think, and design in this sort of thing is just hard. It's difficult to balance complexity and simplicity. I run into in my line of work all the time when I design control systems for buildings. Everyone wants things like lighting controls to be bonehead simple, but because of all sorts of mitigating factors, it's really hard to design a system that does everything you want and still makes sense to someone walking into a new room for the first time. I think one danger with making instructions too long and detailed, with screenshots and all that, is that it can actually lead to people ignoring them because users who are familiar with this sort of stuff will tend to ignore those sorts of things and simply assume they know what they process is. I think that's the reason for the red letter warnings in the first place. I think there were a lot of people who assumed they knew the process, but ended up skipping the final step. I know that DI, the product manager, has said they're considering just making that automatic, and that's probably not a bad idea.

You can't... You have 8.

Just curious about this statement... Do you think the instructions listed here are unclear in any way? http://line6.com/support/topic/18284-latest-helix-firmware-201/ Reading through them, I'm not sure how they could be more clear... Not picking on you or anything. It's just that I've heard several people make this claim, and I just can't understand why they think the instructions aren't clear.

Well it works with the standard Tele jack cup. I'm not sure if it will work with the electrosocket one. The collar around the 1/4" plug is wider than a standard 1/4" cable.

First of all, you should update to the latest firmware. There's really no reason to start off with an old firmware version. As far as expression pedals, they all can be configured to behave differently depending on the way you want them to work. You can have them so their position is global - that is whatever position the pedal is in when you enter a preset is the position the parameter(s) being controlled by the pedal reflect when you call up a preset. Or you can have them set to be preset or snapshot. In that case, the preset or snapshot disregards the actual position of the pedal when you enter a preset or snapshot, and the parameter(s) being controlled reflect the value that they were saved with until you move the pedal. This setting can be set differently for each of the three expression pedals. As far as dual tones, the way the X3L handle dual tones isn't really all that analogous to the way it's done on the Helix. You could kind of set it up like that, but my recommendation to approach the Helix as a completely different processor. Really, you have the ability to run 4 independent stereo paths if you want to, but you can also create more intricate single paths. I guess my suggestion is to spend some time playing around with the Helix and seeing what you can do rather than start going down the path of trying to copy the X3L's functionality.

It actually sounds like perhaps you don't need to use snapshots... It really depends on how you want your live playing experience to be. If you just want the Helix to emulate a traditional pedalboard, more or less, 10 stomps will do that. The main feature of snapshots is being able to change a bunch of things with just one stomp. Not every playing situation requires that, though. It does take more in the way pre-planning, in a sense. Snapshots are great for switching between things that would require multiple stomps or controller changes. But I think the best answer was given above. You could easily set up a boost switch that tied to a footswitch and just have that boost bypassed in all your snapshots. Than you just use when you need it. Other people have mentioned different ways of altering snapshots, and while I don't want to discourage anyone from submitting ideas, it just seems to me that is would be hard to alter the basic concept of snapshots without having it turn into something overly complex. I like them now because it's pretty easy to conceptually grasp what a snapshot is. If you start making it so there's different rules that can be applied to certain blocks and whatnot, it just seems like opening a can of worms.

Wow, 9 clicks? Are you going through the folder tree each time? You can drag and drop the IR files directly into the IR panel in the editor. If you want to do it really fast, you can rename your IRs with a prefix - 001..., 002..., 003, etc. and you can select them all at the same time and drag and drop them into that panel, and they'll all be in order. The trick is just numbering them per the slot you want them in.

With PC messages, you don't have to have them assigned to a footswitch to have them sent out as an instant command with a snapshot. You just go to the Command Center while in the snapshot you want to have them sent out in, and set them up there. You could still assign those PC messages to footswitches if you want, but it's not required. It really depends if you want the ability to send out "override" messages within snapshots.

If you're scribble strips are completely blank, it sounds like you're in Stomp Mode in a patch in which you haven't assigned anything to any footswitches. To get to snapshot mode, press the bank up and down switches at the same time. There are also options to display snapshots in preset mode. Honestly, I don't mean this as a slam, but these are all things that are covered in the manual. You would probably find the answers you're looking for much faster by taking a quick look at it...

Well, if you backed your setlists up, you should be able to reload them using the "import" function on the editor. As far as enabling snapshots, there's nothing really to enable... There are different settings for configuring how they show up. I'm not exactly sure what you're asking.

Snapshot are the answers to your prayers. In addition to sending out instant commands with preset changes, you can also send out instant commands whenever you load a snapshot. From page 34 of the manual: Snapshots also store and recall the following MIDI, CV, and Ext Amp messages sent to external devices from the Command Center: The value of any Instant MIDI CC, Bank/Prog, MMC, and CV Out messages The state (dim value or lit value) of any CC Toggle or CV Toggle messages assigned to footswitches The state (dim or lit ) of any Ext Amp messages assigned to footswitches

You answered your own question. Using snapshots is the way to do this sort of thing. There's no way to assign the loops to the same footswitch and scroll through them like you're talking about.