phil_m

Right, it doesn't automatically go back into Stomp mode. You have to hit the mode switch again to go back in. It's never been an issue for me. Most likely you'd have your presets saved in state where you don't need to turn effects on or off as soon as you enter the preset.

You just hit the "Mode" switch (FS6), and you go back to Preset mode. Personally, I like this way because it allows you stay in preset mode if you're in a patch that you don't need to make any changes to, and if you do need to turn effects on and off, you just have one footswitch to hit. It's really not much different than having to hit one of the bank switches.

I haven't used the G10, but I use the G75 with my Helix all the time. No perceptibly latency with it, in my opinion. I think the actual latency of the G75 (and the G10) is like 1.5 ms and through the Helix is probably about 2-3ms at most (a little more if you're using its effects loops). Consider you gain about 1ms of latency for every foot your away from your monitor or amp.

That is killer! Just excellent.

Does it exhibit this same behavior if you move the merge block down to Path 1B? In other words, it you split the path and keep the two paths separate with separate output blocks?

My experience is completely different than this, I've got to say. It has taken less than five minutes to dial up many of the tones I use for recording and playing live. I don't find it difficult at all. As far as certain artifacts, unwanted noise, or whatever, I think Line 6's position is that these are just how these combinations of amps and mics at these settings are in real life. Perhaps they can by "idealized" in some way, but right now these models are the baselines.

Well, this is how a real pedalboard would work. If you have one of these notoriously tone sucking pedals, the bypassed tone will suck as well. I suppose if you want to keep the same impedance, you just set it. I'd be surprised isn't changed to something that is saved on a preset per preset basis. That's how it worked on the HD series.

On auto, the first block determines the impedance regardless of whether it's on or bypassed.

Well, sure... I'm just saying that having a separate audio in for this sort of thing isn't a feature seen in these types of products. The Axe FX or the Kemper Profiling Amp don't have it either. The Fractal AX8 doesn't even support USB audio. It is really easy to set up a patch with an audio in on the Helix, though. You don't even have to use a separate path. You can just add stereo return block to a path right before the output block, and that will give you an audio input. Yes, it's not a global thing, but it would take less than 10 seconds to setup on each patch you want to do it.

If you're wanting to play tracks from a PC, Mac, iPad or iPhone, you can use the USB connection. You'd need a camera kit for the iOS devices, but for the PC and Mac, just a regular USB cable. I think some versions of Android now support USB audio, but I don't know that the Helix works with those yet. Funny thing (or sad, depending on your perspective, I guess), is that Apple is going to start making iOS devices without an 1/8" jack. Not that this is why Line 6 decided to not put it on. I just think that as was mentioned earlier, it's not something you typically see on pro-level audio devices.

There are a number of ways you can increase the volume of patches. You can add a gain block in the tone path, for one. That gives you up to 18dB of additional gain (I think it's 18, it might be 12, don't have the Helix in front of me). You can also increase the volume at the output block by turning up the level control. The other thing to remember is that in the amp block itself, the channel volume is what you should be using as the volume control for the block. So with your JTM45 patch, you can lower the channel volume and still keep the master volume where you have it. The channel volume doesn't effect the modeled tone. As far as where to put the master volume on the Helix, generally, the higher you have it, the higher the signal to noise ratio is. But you obviously don't want to have it so loud that you're clipping whatever you're plugged into.

I suggest opening up a ticket with Line 6 Customer Service before you invest in another piece of gear. They should be able to help you out. http://line6.com/support/tickets/add.html

http://line6.com/support/manuals/helix

Do you have the MIDI Over USB setting turned on in the Global Settings menu? It's under Knob on the MIDI/Tempo page.

If it's the first thing in your chain, and you have the input impedance set to auto, the Helix will set the impedance of the input to something really low, as that's what a real Fuzz Face would do. I believe this remains active even if you have the effect bypassed.

Well, no currently made modelers offer seamless patch switching, so I'm not sure what modelers you've used. There are some that do have faster switching times, for sure, but they generally have other limitations. I guess it's all what's important to you. But Line 6 isn't just doing nothing about this. They are creative guys.

Real guitar cabs certainly can produce these higher frequencies. They are not as as prevalent as the mid-range, but you can still pick them up with close-micing. You just don't usually listen to a guitar cab with your ear and inch or two from the center of the cone. And an SM57 can sound kind of raw when listened to in isolation. In the context of a recording or playing with a band, these frequencies will be masked by other things. It interesting to me that if I look at the presets for various EQ plug-ins that I have, if I pull up the ones for rhythm guitar, they almost always have a steep high-cut. Rolling off the highs isn't all that uncommon in recording. I do find that sometimes it's not necessary, though. It depends on the overall mix.

That's weird... Is this while only connected to the editor, or all the time?

Well. DI is the project manager, and he's mentioned it here and over the TGP, multiple times. I'm sure Line 6 has done testing as well. If your test don't match what they're saying, then that's something you should talk to them about. Regarding doing testing on your own, I guess my question would be how accurate are the sine wave generators themselves? Is there a way of knowing that a wav file claiming to play a 440 Hz signal is dead-on? I imagine that's a lot more to doing such testing than that. I know DI has mentioned that they tested the Helix tuner using gear costing in the tens of thousands of dollars. Not really trying to defend or deny anything. I don't notice a problem with the tuner. That's not to say that it's not possible that some people will like others better. It's not saying that there may be a bug. I have no ability to confirm those sorts of things though. I'd say bringing it up with CS in a support ticket is probably the best way to contact Line 6 in an official way.

You'll have to take that up with Line 6 then. I'm just quoting what the published specs are.

It just triggers a new note and the arpeggiator just follows. Hitting a footswitch on the Helix is essentially the same as hitting a key on Minilogue's keyboard.

All that means is those other tuners offer higher resolution or precision than the Helix tuner. The Helix is tuner is accurate to within +/- 1 cent. I believe the Peterson is accurate down to .01 cent or something ridiculous like that. But there's nothing wrong with the calibration of the Helix tuner as far as I can tell. I've been using Helix live for over 6 months now, with multiple bands, and I've recorded with it, and I've never had any issue with being in tune with other members of the band. I actually think that unless you're using a tuner for intonating, much beyond 1 cent accuracy is probably more of a marketing thing than a helpful feature. How long can a guitar string stay tuned to within a tenth of a cent? There was a long thread over on TGP in the Effects section about the new Boss TU-3W, which I believe has a stated accuracy that's the same as the Helix. On that thread, it was kind of split between people saying how +/- 1 cent accuracy is horrible and others saying that it was perfectly acceptable... Anyway, if you have a tuner you love, just use it. The guitar is an instrument built around compromised tuning anyway (all modern Western music, kind of).

It was a relatively simple setup. I just had a patch with an arpeggiator pulled up on the Minilogue, so the movement you hear in the synth line isn't really a sequence (although an arpeggiator is kind of a triggered sequence). I also have the Minilogue going through a path in the Helix where I have delay and reverb. The Helix's delay and the Minilogue's tempo were set to the the same BPM. So, yeah, I'm just triggering notes with the Helix. I could have actually controlled the filter sweeps through the Helix as well, and if I were going to use this live, I'd assign those to an expression pedal. On this recording I was just reaching over and turning the knob on the synth.

Sorry, I deleted my comment from before because I missed that this was the HD forum. I assumed this was talking about the Helix. On the HD, the looper block is mono, so everything coming out is summed. There's no way to maintain stereo separation through the looper.

I don't have my Helix right in front of me right now, so I can't look at your tone, but if you have the mix on either or both the delay higher than 50%, the signal with those blocks turned on could very well be lower than with them off. The reason being that the mix past 50% starts lowering the volume of the dry signal down. This is different than the way the mix knobs works for the effects on the HD500.