phil_m

No way to do this at the current time. You can only change the Variax model by changing presets right now (or once the firmware is fixed, I should say).

You could always just record one dry track via USB for reamping. I'm not sure how much difference it makes for the finished product. It would be an interesting comparison.

Actually, the Helix has two relays that can be used to switch amps that have relay inputs. If you need more than two, yes, something like the Amp Gizmo might be necessary.

Should be OK, as far I know.

Makes perfect sense... The answer cacibi gave you above is correct. You have to go into the Command Center and use the custom label function there. I can attest to the fact that it works. I've done it in a couple of my presets.

I noticed that with the Script Mod Phase as well. Not sure if it's a bug or if it's what Rewolf48 described. It seems if you leave the mix at 50, that's when the effect is most pronounced, so I suspect he might be right.

Not done with my Variax - just done with my Breedlove Oregon Concert acoustic electric direct into the Helix with an acoustic IR. The Breedlove has the LR Baggs Active Element System pickup/preamp, which is a decent preamp, but the IR is what gives it that woody quality. I should try to record this clip with my Variax for a comparison. With the Variax acoustics, I think using an acoustic IR would be redundant given the fact that I think Line 6 is already using something like that combined with convolution for their modeling. The IR I used was actually one that some posted over on The Gear Page. It was a Taylor 314 with a Neumann U87, I believe. Here's the link where I found them. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/free-ir-files.1552290/

The Line 6 cabs are IR based as well... They're not just "modeled cabs", whatever that means.

Well, they're never going to be able give concrete answers about future plans like that... They simply aren't permitted to by law. Unlike Fractal, Line 6 is part of a publicly traded company. There's very strict rules about what can be stated publicly in regards to future plans.

I was just reading the Avid forums, aka, the maker of Pro Tools, the supposed industry standard, has told their customers to put off updating to El Capitan as well. Avid's position is basically that they never qualify their software on beta version of an OS, but only after the public version has been released. At least Line 6 isn't charging a subscription fee.

There used to be a calibration procedure in the beta firmware, but they away with it, and made all the expression pedals auto-calibrating.

Yes, it will work.

Yep, you could do that. You could use the Line 6 cabs or load a third party IR file into the Helix.

Once you try using an acoustic IR with an acoustic guitar, I suspect that you might never want to use an acoustic amp model again. It sounds much more realistic than any other treatment I've ever heard.

In regards to this comment, I'm not entirely sure what you were expecting. There are two relays that could conceivably be used to control external effects if they respond to a relay signal, but there really aren't many effects that have that functionality. There's also the CV output, which offers more external control. The most common way to control external effects by far, though, is MIDI, and the Helix offers a ton of function there. With the 4 loops, you could actually create some pretty complex schemes by bringing loops in and out of chains.

I'm not sure about the tuner thing. Perhaps a bug - I have never tried using it with anything but having it muted. For the scribble strip label and color, are you following the procedure on page 39 of the manual? There are two place where you could put a custom label on footswitch. If you're not using the footswitch to turn anything on and off, you'll want to do it in the Command Center.

The main difference between the L2m and the L2t is the L2t adds DSP reverb and EQ and acoustic modeling, along with additional inputs. It's kind of more suited to be used a small standalone PA system. If you're never going to use those feature, the L2m is probably fine. As far as the L6 Link, it provides a digital audio connection, so it theoretically going to be less noisy than an analog connection. What sort of proprietary switching are you referring to exactly? The L6 Link connection even the HD500X doesn't do a whole lot with the StageSource speakers as far as switching. It does automatically set them to electric guitar mode, iirc. The switching functionality has to do more with the DT amps.

Well, it's deep within the chassis, so you're not going to actually see it. But it's under the toe of the expression pedal - it's definitely there. You actually don't feel much of a click when it goes, but it does take some pressure to activate it. I've also found that it helps if you put your weight back a little bit from the very toe end of the pedal.

PC = Program Change... It's a MIDI command that you could assign to the Helix's footswitches. If you're using presets within the same two banks, and you don't need to turn effects on and off, you could change presets with only hitting one switch, but otherwise, yes, it involves more than one button press.

Well, the presets are always going to be in banks - that's just something inherent to the architecture of the unit. In preset mode, you can see two banks of presets at the same time, so you can immediately jump into any of those 8 presets. If you want to be able to jump into a new preset when you're in one, one thing you could do, I suppose, is run a MIDI cable from the Helix's MIDI out into its MIDI in, assign the PC of the destination preset to a switch in your current preset and immediately go to new preset. The problem with this is that you'd have to program individual PCs in all your presets if you want to be able to do it all the time. It could get pretty tedious.

I think you're misunderstanding that setting. The "Headphones Monitor" parameter in the global settings menu doesn't assign what that knob controls. It determines what the headphones will receive signal from. If you set it to XLR, it will only monitor the XLR outputs. In most cases you'd want to keep it set to Multi.

At one point during the firmware development, there was a calibration procedure for external pedals, but then they decided to just make it automatic. The Helix just calibrates them when you plug them in. So when you say you're using insert cables, do you mean you're hooking them up like shown here? http://www.strymon.net/tag/expression-pedal/ The Helix doesn't work the same way. It just is looking for a TS connection, not a TRS. With the Ernie Ball pedals, I think you would just take a TS cable from the output to the Helix's expression pedal input.

It's just a regular Cat 5 (or Cat 5e) cable, so anything that meets that spec will work.

What else is there to say about it? They've said they're working on an updated driver. They're not going to give a release date, because, well, they never do, and they likely really can't be because it's one of those "its done when it's done" sort of things. What else could they possibly say that would help people?