phil_m

The original Spider Valve only had one wah model... Actually, the MKii version only had one wah model, too.

You have to assign the parameters you want to change per snapshot to a controller. It can actually be any controller, but if you just want them to change with snapshots, you can just select the snapshot controller. In the editor, you have to go to the Controllers tab when you have the amp block selected, select the parameter you want to control, and then select the controller. When you go back to the Home tab, you see brackets around the value for this parameter. On the unit itself, all you have to do to assign a parameter to a snapshot controller is press and turn the knob for that parameter.

Each loop adds something like 1.5 of latency, perhaps a little less. So even if with 1.5 ms, and counting the Helix's in and out, you would still be around 6 ms of total latency with those three loops on. You should be fine, imo. It seems that most people don't notice anything until it's in the 7 or 8 ms range or even a little higher. I would think where people would potentially run into issues is if they put digital effects in the loop that don't have analogue dry paths. In that case, if you'd be stacking converters, so it's possible that using multiple loops could actually introduce a noticeable latency. As far as sending the BPM to the H9, the Helix doesn't currently send or receive MIDI clock data, so that's not possible at the moment. The H9 does let you choose a CC to use for its tap tempo, so you could have the Helix's tap tempo switch set the tap tempo on the H9 as well.

It can send PC messages along with a bunch of other commands. It's all explained on pages 43 and 44 of the manual.

It certainly does sound like it could actually be a hardware issue with the Helix's USB port. The timing of it is kind of weird given the fact that it sounds like you just updated the firmware before this happened, but I suppose stranger things have happened.

Is your Helix showing up in the Device Manager under the Control Panel?

Over on the TGP forum, DI mentioned that CS has said that 95% of the calls they've received from people having problems with the update were because they didn't follow the update instructions. Not saying that's what's happened here, but I'm just saying that regardless of these sorts of posts, it's still very rare. I also think if it's a matter of a firmware update revealing some sort of underlying flaw with a particular Helix, it's probably best to find out about it now rather than later. I understand the trepidation, but to me, it's kind of reminds me of how my mother-in-law always refused to drive on one particularly busy highway near her house simply because she knew there were a lot of accidents on that road... Sometimes you just have to take the leap.

What are you connecting to via the 1/4" or sends? A guitar amp? It sounds like perhaps you have the output level for the send set to line when it should be set to instrument.

Have you tried starting it while holding FS6 and FS12 at the same time? That should start it up in safe mode... If that works, you should be able to install the firmware from that mode.

It would probably be worth uninstalling the old editor first before trying to install the new one.

Hmm... I hadn't thought about this... But I think the problem is that even if you select the Tuner Output setting to be, say, Send 1, and you have that Send block in your patch, it's trying to actually put the tuner output in front of the input - so the signal never actually gets to the tuner input. I was mistaken above in regards to the parameters of the send block, just because I hadn't looked at them in awhile. But you have Send and Dry Thru. If you leave the send at the default, that should be fine, but you could set the Dry Thru to be at its minimum (I forget as to whether is says mute or not, but it will essentially mute the signal at that point). So you could just assign this send block to be turned on or off with a footswitch (or you could set up tuner snapshot where the block comes on), and the should mute everything while you're tuning.

Have you tried using different USB ports?

Have you installed the Helix drivers yet? If not, you should do that. If you install the Helix application, the download includes the latest drivers as well.

I'd say there's not necessarily an urgent reason to do it. The one thing I could see that could potentially be an issue, and I'm not actually sure if it is or not, is if you tried to load a patch that someone had created with 2.01 onto your 2.00 Helix. I could see that sort of thing might cause some instability, but like I said, I'm not sure. The official answer is that Line 6 "strongly recommends" everyone do the update. I think a big reason for that is that if there is ever an issue that someone needs help with, it's certainly can make troubleshooting much easier if you're using the most current firmware version.

There was someone else who brought this up on another thread. If you want to have this ability - entering a snapshot with the wah on, and exiting it with that wah turning off, I think there is a way to do it, and still have the wah available in the other snapshots... This is what I suggested: One thing you could do for this particular snapshot where you want to have wah active when you go into the snapshot is to simply drop in another instance of your wah block and have it so that the first wah block (let's call it "Wah A") is still bypassed in this snapshot but the second instance ("Wah B") is on. Wah A will be controlled by EXP2 and activated by the toe switch. Wah B will be controlled by EXP1 and won't be assigned to any footswitch. Its bypass state will only be controlled by the snapshot. So when you enter this snapshot, Wah B will turn on (you'd also want to set the bypass state of the volume pedal to off in this snapshot), and then you can just control it. The main trick with this is that you'll want to make sure you don't use the toe switch while in this preset or you'll turn the volume block and the other wah block on and toggle to EXP2, and things will be misaligned...

Sorry, there was a type in my first response that I corrected... I mistakenly typed "you should have to" when I meant to say, "you shouldn't have to"... The firmware file itself is just the flash image that the updater sends to the Helix. It doesn't contain anything that you need to open with your computer.

Well, you shouldn't have to open the firmware file itself. You actually shouldn't even need to manually download it at all. You just need to run the latest version of Line 6 Updater with the Helix connected, and the Helix should show up, and once you click on it, you'll be guided through the update process. The Line 6 Updater is a totally different application than the Helix editor.

Are you controlling those parameters with an expression pedal or just the snapshot controller? If you have them tied to an expression pedal, it could be that you need to change the EXP pedal position setting in the Global Settings menu back to per snapshot. I believe the default that it reverts to after doing the global reset is "per preset".

I think I would be calling local law enforcement for an issue like this, as I think that's the only way I suspect you'll be able to track these down. As others have pretty much said, being an authorized service center doesn't really tie this business to Line 6 in any way other than the fact that it means they have a technician or two on staff that has undergone whatever training or certification Line 6 requires to do authorized repairs. It's the same sort of thing as a store being an authorized Line 6 dealer. Line 6 can't really control what that store does.

I don't think the process is dangerous or even all that time-consuming. It took me less than 10 minutes to do everything from backing up my existing setlists, installing the new editor and actually performing the update. Afterwards it took me like 30 seconds to load everything back on the Helix. One trick regarding the IR files is giving your files a 3 digit prefix that corresponds to the slot they're in on the IR panel. So name the first one 001...., the second 002...., etc. if you do that you can drag and drop them all together and they'll be loaded in the correct order.

You should export your bundle and/or setlists prior to installing the new editor. Doing the required reset after the update will clear all your presets, global settings and IRs. So after you do the update and install the new editor, you can import your bundle with all your setlists/presets (snapshots are saved within presets). You'll also have to re-import any IR files your using.

I'm not following... The effects sends in this case are blocks that can be inserted anywhere on any path. To use them with tuner, you just insert them as the first block in your tone on your instrument path. How you have the outputs set up doesn't matter. The way to think of the send block is kind of like an audio split that can be inserted wherever you want. The mix parameter controls how signal passes to the jack and how much goes to the path (think of it as wet and dry). At 50%, you're getting 100% wet and 100% dry. If you move mix to 100%, you be getting 100% wet and no dry (so just signal to the jack).

Well, in this case it's not necessary to think of them as loops. They're just separate ins and outs. I'm assuming he's using different presets with different inputs for each instrument, so in that case, the input for that respective preset will only be listening to the active instrument at the time.

It doesn't sound like he's using any of the sends, though. He wouldn't need to use an actual fx loop (I did actually mistakenly say fx loop in original reply, but I edited it), just a send. He can either keep the block on all the time with the mix parameter at 50% so the tuner is always receiving signal, or he could set the mix to 100% and assign the send block to a footswitch. In this scenario, this would act similarly to the way the on-board tuner works - it would mute the signal while tuning.

I think you've diagnosed the problem for now. All the tuner settings are global right now, so there's no way to have it change per preset to reflect your different inputs. Having preset control of the tuner would solve it, so perhaps that's something Line 6 can implement in the future. Right now your best bet may be to use an external tuner connected to the one of the effects sends, and insert that block in each of your presets.