phil_m

It's TS, and the EXP jacks are auto-sensing and auto-calibrating, so they should work with just about any potentiometer based pedal out there.

Line 6 is going to be making a custom backpack style case for the Helix. As far as I know, it's not going to be available at launch, but sometime shortly after.

You can assign controller functions to switches as well as assigning on/off functionality of certain blocks to them. So in that sense, you can have min/max capability. Say, for example, you wanted to create a solo boost. One way to do it rather than turning on a specific effect is to assign the mid control of the amp to a switch along with maybe the gain control of an overdrive. You could assign both of those to one switch and have an instant boost.

As far as I know, Line 6 and Yamaha haven't really collaborated on anything from an R&D perspective yet. The Variax Standard was really taking Line 6 technology and putting into a Yamaha guitar, so not really a true collaboration. I don't even know if Yamaha has MI R&D based in the US. I know the guy who works for them who has been commenting over on TGP is based out of the UK.

Not quite the same as locking them, but if you turn all of the knobs to the min or max, that makes it a little less likely to accidentally bump them. At least they can only turn in one direction that way. If you're changing presets often, it really becomes less of an issue. I've never had it happen with my HD500 over the course of using it for five years.

That's what they make devices like the PODs and the Helix for - recording direct. I suppose Line 6 feels it would be redundant given that they have all sorts of other tools for recording direct.

Well, he is correct that the GT-10 harmonizer will do what he wants. It allows for customizable user-defined scales where you can select the interval for each note. The Helix harmonizer doesn't currently have this feature.

I believe what DI is saying above is that they got rid of the need to send different values for press and release because they were worried about people using controllers that couldn't send unique values with the press and release of a footswitch (which I think would be most controllers). So they just changed all the CCs that emulate footswitches back to toggles.

I found out I was sharing info that was from an earlier version of the manual. There aren't separate commands for press and release. The appropriate CC just toggles the footswitch (or in the case of the rack unit, the emulated footswitch).

Yes, as I mentioned above, you get "press" and "release", (press is 0-63, release is 64-127) which can be thought of as being on/off. The only thing is that whether a block turns on or off with either of those commands depends on the on/off state of the block when you saved the preset. Since it's possible to have multiple blocks assigned to one switch, the on/off state of different block might be toggled opposite of each other depending on how you set it up.

The MIDI implementation is the same on the rack as it is on the floor unit. You switch effect blocks on and off by assigning them to a footswitch, even if it's a virtual footswitch. That again is the same way the HD rack units operate.

You don't control specific effects blocks with MIDI on the Helix. You control the footswitches. So in that sense the functionality is similar to the HD series. Although, there are separate commands for "press" and "release". So you're not limited to simply toggling. The other thing is that with the "learn controller" function, you can assign other CCs to any of the parameters in any block you like (up to 64 per preset, I believe). You're not just limited to the EXP1, 2 and 3 controllers.

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It's possible to turn effects on and off with a MIDI controller, but switching Variax models and tunings would require bringing up a new patch on the Helix. There's no MIDI CC associated with those. If you're using the Helix floorboard, having a separate foot controller seems very redundant to me. It's very easy to go from preset mode to stomp mode. You just hit the "Mode" footswitch. So I don't think having another controller is going to give you anything all the useful in terms of added control.

I just noticed that the last line of my reply got turned to smily sunglass emoticon... Lol. I guess that what happens when you type a capital B and close a set of parentheses.

I think the question should really be directed towards consumers rather than Line 6. They tried - the market just wasn't there, unfortunately. I just think that the majority of bass players aren't into worrying about their tone in the same way that guitarists are. In all my years playing, I think I can count on one hand the number of bass players I've played who use effects, for instance. Heck, most of them don't even turn a knob or move a pickup selector during a set.

How do you even measure what a "step down" is when you're talking this sort of stuff? Having played through the Helix, the amp models feel and react very much like a real amp to me. I'm sure there will always be differences of opinions on products, though. Personally, I've never heard a clip from the Axe FX or Kemper that blew me away as something magical, but that's just me. One quantitative difference between the Kemper and the Helix is that the Kemper is not a modeler. It's a profiler that takes a snapshot of an amp under a certain condition, miced a certain way. I know that profiles can be edited to a certain degree after the fact, but it's not the same thing as having a modeled tone stack and other parameters. So in that respect, the Kemper is a different category altogether.

I'm pretty sure the floor and rack units aren't going to start shipping at the same time. Line 6 has been pretty up front about this from the get-go.

If you're not using the effects loops on your HD500, you could set up your acoustic patches with the FX loop block at the end of the signal chain, and just use the effects send(s) as an output. It would mean you'd have go into a direct box, but most sound guys have a few laying around. If you do this, it would automatically mute the output to the DT25 (assuming you have the L6 Link connection to the DT25 set to L/R and not Amp A or B).

You can create a very close approximation of an effects loop by placing any post effects after the amp block and before the cab block. It's true that this doesn't fall between the preamp and power amp stages as in a real amp, but it still works out to give your post effects after the amp gain.

The USB inputs 1- 6 depend on how you have the outputs for each path assigned. They aren't tied to physical outputs. Inputs 7 and 8 are the dry signal from the guitar in and mic input for re-amping. The USB outputs 1 and 2 are the main stereo bus, for lack of a better term. The stereo audio from your computer by default will be played back through these. Outputs 3 - 8 can be whatever you assign them to in your DAW, and they can be fed back into the input of the Helix's signal paths. I've not tried recording with an iPad, so I can't help there.

1. Yep, Duncann was correct above. The Helix is 8-in, 8-out, so you could set up three virtual effects loops. Latency might become an issue simply because you're depending on your DAW for processing at that point, but it's definitely a possibility. 2. It's very transparent, imo. I've used it for effect-only both just in front of an amp and in the 4CM, and my bypassed sound was still fine. 3. It has separate preamp blocks as well as standalone amp blocks which are essentially preamp + power amp, but at this point there's not standalone power amp blocks.

From the FAQ thread: http://line6.com/support/topic/14264-helix-faq/ Dimensions? Weight? Helix—22.05 x 11.85 x 3.6 inches; 14.6 lbs. Helix Rack—19 x 5.25 x 9.5 inches; 9.3 lbs. Helix Control—17.2 x 9.4 x 2.5 inches; 7.2 lbs. The floor unit is a very substantial piece of equipment. The housing almost all aluminum, and it's very rugged all around. They are going to be releasing a padded backpack for the floorboard.

First off, why do you continually use the term "floor wart"? Is that something you made up? It's not really about the cost of the materials as much as it is the economy of scale. I imagine that Line 6 will sell 10 times as many floor units as rack units. Rack units are not really a popular format outside of studios and large touring bands. Most users don't want to lug a rack around with them. Some of the most substantial costs in production involve setting up new lines. The unit price goes down as quantity goes up, generally speaking. Historically, the Line 6 rack units have actually sold for more than the floor units. The HD Pro X is $200 more than the 500X.

No, there is another utility called Line 6 Updater that will handle the updates. It's the same program they use for the Firehawk FX and the new Relay units.