datacommando

Damn! Next thing you know they will be turning whole record collections into MP3s, and even digitising movies. Ya can't trust anyone these days!

Wow! That has hurt my brain and I'll bet right about now "willjrock" is thinking that he wished he never asked how it all works! Careful what you wish for kiddies. Ho Lee Sheet! Outstanding comments, jnysen!

As ever, great observation and comments, HO. Verne, surely not Geordie, but Scottie said it to Jim. The dude used orthogonal, arbitrary, and linear single dimensional scale all in a single post. Beam me up! Where did I leave those dilithium crystals?

I don't think you need to be corrected. Your observation about DSP allocation (as you proceed to add blocks to presets, the most DSP-intensive blocks such as dual cabs are greyed out first) were most accurate. Always grateful for your knowledge and input, silverhead.

Hi Bob, Well initially i was going to say that "No, I don't use the driver", because when that first "Beta" version came out Mac users seemed to have varying degrees of luck with it. It really wasn't working for me and dragged on with hit and miss results. Since then (mid 2016) we have had a few changes to OSX and Helix firmware. There is a school of thought that something in the Apple core had been modified and others think that Line 6 managed to fix the Audio problems. Either way it doesn't matter who fixed it - it seems to work just fine. Now the original V1 Mac Driver seems to have been left at Beta stage, but if you look on the Software Downloads page there is a newer Helix Mac Driver 1.0.4 released on 3/30/17. As I understand it now, every time there is an update to the Editor app, other bits and bats are also installed in the background, one of which is the driver. So if you have updated your Editor recently (which you probably have) then the driver will be in Macintosh HD/Library/Extensions. Inside the Extensions folder, you should see an item named "L6Helix.kext." I just checked mine and - Yes, it's in there. So Yes I'm using it! Now I have no issues at all with Logic and Helix, they play nice together, but as you probably realised some of your plug-ins require "core Audio" to function. I was slightly worried about that but I have had no problems whatsoever with plug-ins. Note I do have "Core Audio" √ Enabled under Logic Audio Prefs. I just let this stuff work it's magic in the background. Here's a pic of prefs.

Will, I don't know how you were lead to believe "that options were only limited to DSP and/or amount of block spaces available." I went back and looked at the very first issue of the "Helix 2.0 Owners Manual - Rev A - English" and then at the latest version, "Helix 2.0 Owners Manual - Rev D - English". You correctly could remember being able to load 2 Dual Cabs in earlier Firmware, but that has always been the limit.

As always, Peter Hamm is correct, your Helix is sending out Patch Change Commands over MIDI. Go to the Helix "Global Settings", then select "MIDI/Tempo" and navigate to page 2 of the options. The last option is "MIDI PC Send" which is probably set to "MIDI+USB" as default, turn the dial anti-clockwise until it reads "Off". That should fix it. Remember that you will probably have to do this every time you reset your Globals, usually after a FW update.

Well, I just checked what your screen shots show and indeed, Helix has no more steam to add any more cabs. That is the nature of the beast, and page 19 of the Owners Manual - Rev D give a run down of the rules governing the number and type of blocks you can add to a preset. It also gives tips for optimising DSP and an example of Super Serial paths. Super Serial is also included as a Template file in Helix in slot 01D. Long time forum user "Honest Opinion" would be the go to guy for questions about DSP usage. He also uploaded a template file to CustomTone to help out. http://line6.com/customtone/tone/1460280/ There was also a big discussion on here back in Feb 2016 which even has input from Digital Igloo on this subject. http://line6.com/support/topic/18520-why-2-separate-dedicated-processing-paths-or-pools/ Hope this helps.

I really don't think you need to worry about this anymore, but there has never been any word from Line 6 to say the the thing is fixed.About a year ago some folks with Apple Macs had lots of odd issues which it seems were related to the Core Audio Drivers. Line 6 devised their own solution, which was their own design of driver. For some people the Line 6 fixed worked and for others it simply made things worse. After a long while of mud slinging with Line 6 blaming Apple developers, and vice versa, Apple then went through a few software revisions and the problem just seemed to fade away. The original "pinned" thread about the driver is still on here, but the puppy has never been put to bed by a comment from a Line 6 product manger, or similar representative. Don't lose any sleep about it. I have no issues with my iMac, Logic and Helix anymore.

Well, yes - I guess it does, although the option for Variax and Variax Mags are not immediately obvious and hence your confusion. I re-read your posts several times and couldn't see how it wouldn't work. Impossible! Then Sherlock mode kicks in - "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." When I picked up my JTV59 to run an audio check through my re-amp default settings in Logic it hit me. You had to be using a Variax! Anyhow we solved it and you are now a Happy Helix User again. Happy to help.

Hi again Bob, Well you on the surface of it you seem to be doing everything by the book, and that should work, especially as you are managing to record the processed signal from your Helix. I was going to upload some screenshots of how I have Logic set to capture audio, but it looks as if you have done all that! Then a light went on in my head - BLAM! I'll bet that you are a Variax owner and it's the Variax that you are trying to record dry. Dammit - if that's correct then simply go to the Global Settings, Ins/Outs scroll to the 3rd page and change Re-amp Src (USB 7) from Guitar to Variax and BINGO! Please tell me if that's solved the problem. If not -well, I dunno? Good Luck.

Ha! You beat me to it. I was just about to suggest re-flashing the Firmware. That's got to be worth a shot before having to get techie open it up.

As you note, something is very wrong, but it seems that you think it is a fault on the Helix.So, I'm just thinkiing out loud here, but you don't say if you have tried using the condenser mic with other stuff to check it works? Also, do you have another mic that you know functions perfectly to test the Helix with. I would think it is simply a process of elimination to figure out where the fault lies. If it's your Helix, raise a ticket and have it repaired. Hope this helps.

As an afterthought, it may be worth taking a little time to watch this Line 6 demo of how to re-amp with Helix.https://youtu.be/Vf3i18zOgG0 You should note that the DI guitar on USB 7 is MONO until it is re-processed via Helix which makes it STEREO. Hope this clarifies the mono/stereo thing.

Hi Bob,I could go in to along and detailed description of how to set up your DAW for re-amplification, but this is possibly easier to follow. https://youtu.be/Vf3i18zOgG0 O.K. In this example Sean is using ProTools, but the technique is exactly the same in Logic Pro X. It works for me, I use it on an almost daily basis. Let us know how you get along with this. If it doesn't help we can try something else.

Yep! Don't eat the yellow snow!

As noted - No offence taken - it actually made me laugh.Plus as everyone knows, opinions are like belly buttons - everybody has one. Note: I have to say belly buttons because if I type A$$h%les it come up as lollipop on here.

You are totally correct about collapsing back to mono. It's due to the science of Physics, that's just what happens. When the signals cross at the same frequency, they cancel each other out. It's a trick they use with varying degrees of success to remove vocals from karaoke tracks. IIRC back in the 1980s some slick producer used to record a track of the studio recording space with the vocalist performing a take. Then they would record the same set up with no vocals, BUT with the phase inverted on the signal. Theory was that when two tracks were mixed together the phase cancellation would create the "perfect take".I don't know how it works on the TC Electronics Mimiq box, as I have only seen the video demos, but let me just say that TC are a top flight team when it comes to delay FX, they may have some magic! Here's some info from Universal Audio that explains it a lot better than I can. http://www.uaudio.com/blog/understanding-audio-phase/

What about us regular folk who might wear tennis shoes, or the occasional python boot?

Ha ha ha, that's amazing! Well, I must say that I don't feel offended by your response, although I do find it a little narrow minded. I simply wanted to clarify the idea of a technique that is common studio practice. You don't like the explanation of how it works, or the results that it achieves, that's fine - not a problem for me. What I cannot understand is how you could hope to justify a statement like, "But there is a reason every serious production don't use this kind of technique for double tracking." I really am truly amazed that you can say that when its been used by just about every performer who ever used Abbey Road Studio. Does this mean that George Martin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd etc., are wrong and their use of ADT is as you say, "is in my eyes totally useless crap" and "the result is pure garbage." That's an outstanding observation from a musician. Good luck!

Damn! There I was, expecting that to be top of the list in the next Firmware update! Dismayed! :huh:

Sorry, but there still seems to be some confusion about this ADT effect. Plus I don't understand why you think there is a "weak point" anywhere in the routing on Helix. This can all be done without any parallel paths. Not necessary at all. It's really quite simple - a mono guitar (or whatever) signal is fed into a stereo delay line where, for example the Left channel is unaffected dry signal and the Right channel is delayed and modulated slightly. Maybe this video can clarify what you seem to be unsure/confused about. It's a basic studio technique that has been used since the 1950's when it was done with analogue tape - now we have digital tools to do the same job, more easily.

ADT has been around for many, many years. How it works is by taking the original signal and copying it to another track, but rather than being a straight duplicate, the signal is delayed by a few milliseconds and slightly modulated. This is basically the technique described by Steevo1977 in post #12, above. This link may clear up any misunderstanding about how ADT was developed by Ken Townsend at Abbey Road Studios. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_double_tracking So, pitch shifting, delay and reverb rather than mess up the sound are integral to the overall effect!

Don't worry - you are a mere child compared to some users on here, (me included). O.K. to get the presets uploaded into Helix you will need to hook it up via the USB cable into a port on the Mac like you did for the Firmware upgrade. Then launch the Editor software on the Mac and in the column on the lefthand side under "PRESETS" there should be a list of the factory tones available. But, also at the top of the column there is slot named "FACTORY 1" in orange type, click on the small orange triangle and it should reveal other options "USER 1", "USER 2" etc. You need to navigate to an empty user slot, for example "USER 2" 10A. Highlight the empty slot by clicking on it, then from the top of the column select "Import" (white text). This will open a window where you navigate on your Mac to where the files are. Select the one you need and it should import into the slot 10A and also appear on you Helix in the same slot. Rinse, repeat! Now play your guitar and enjoy! EDIT: Here's a vid of a guy loading presets - He is doing it on Windows but essentially the same for a Mac.

These are not the Droids you are looking for! Nope!, but they may be the missing presets that you require. Don't forget you have to rename the files .hlx instead of .txt to have them load into Helix Editor. Happy Trails! Use 'em or lose 'em!