SaschaFranck

The M2 has *way* better latency than the Helix, too. We're talking 3.5 vs. 15+ milliseconds, the former being pretty much the best in its class, the latter being the worst. So once you're as well using amp plugins straight ahead (without monitoring through HX sounds), the M2 is most excellent (in fact, it's the reason why I bought one) while the HX series devices are completely inacceptable (at least for me).

Have you tried older updates?

The M2 preamps will still be in the signal path.

No, just no, that's just nonsense. By that token, I guess you never use your guitar's tone control, either. Let alone the tone stack of your amp. Because, well, they're EQs, too.

Well, he's saying he's regularly tuned down as low as to drop F# or even F. That's as low as 46.2493 or even 43.6535 Hz. A lot of standard monitors will start showing issues to faithfully transport these frequencies. Let alone do that with a certain tightness, the latter often related to a certain lack of mass/stability.

No real idea, to be honest. You might want to consider one of the more guitar oriented ones (such as those from Mission Engineering, but they're quite expensive). Or well, in case you're pretty much always tuned that low, perhaps even a bass cab (they're more or less fullrange, too) would be suitable. You might also want to checl out an RCF, I always found those to be pretty much on the punchy side. But you would have to carefully check everything anyway. Just adding a subwoofer to some 15" which already go quite low likely won't do it.

I'd rather think about getting different monitors. The Mackie Thumps aren't suited too well for tight low end ooomph and chugging.

Well, yes and no. In case I decide to use the Stomp's input gate, at least the noise in playing pauses is filtered out already. Also, in case you're using quality PSUs, the differences between pedal-in-loop and pedal-in-front aren't huge. And for me, the additional comfort of running it in a loop outweighs that little extra noise by far.

Why not? It's working absolutely fine for me.

As far as noise goes, I can't recreate that. My pedals create as much or little noise as they create outside the Stomp's loop. If you really wanted, I could possibly prove it. As far as the loop taking up a block goes, I absolutely agree.

Just use USB Ins 7/8 (doesn't matter which) as the input for your Amplitube and AmpHub tracks and things should work. In case you haven't changed anything in the LT's global settings, they should instantly be audible through the main outputs. I doubt you'll be too happy, though, as the latency (delay between input and output) on all HX devices is pretty bad (unfortunately), most people notice it instantly. But give it a try anyway. But that's why many people are still either using the HX hardware for monitoring (while recording their DI guitars "silently in the background" through USB 7/8) or using another interface. Fwiw, I would consider purchasing HX Native. As a hardware owner you'll get a nice discount and you'll be able to perfectly duplicate your hardware-monitored LT sounds and go from there, should you want to alter them after the fact.

Fwiw, it's quite amazing how companies still can't get the USB thing right in 2024. I mean, I should be able to run the HX series devices through a USB hub (fortunately, at least for me it seems to be possible with the two hubs I'm regularly using with an M3 Macbook Air) - and still, it isn't. I also should be able to use pretty much any USB cable - and still, I can't. I don't know how many USB cables I've thrown away through the years, either because they were simply not delivering the full specs from the start or because they got all dodgy after a short while (micro USB cables have been notoriously bad in that aspect). Must be like hundreds by now. At the same time, I'm using 1-2 guitar cables regularly since 25 years already. Really, it's shocking.

Fwiw, if I was you, I'd try to get the most basic 4CM setup running first. That'd be: - Guitar to HX In - HX Send to Amp Input - Amp Send to HX Return - HX Out to Amp Return Make sure it really works that way and make sure to adjust your levels properly - there's plenty of things you might have to deal with. - Loop levels on the HX. There's global settings (instrument and line level), I recommend using instrument level for a start). Then there's the levels on the loop block. - Loop levels on your amp (in case they can be adjusted). And if there's a serial/parallel option, make sure to go for serial. - Output level of the HX. Try to find a setting so your amp sounds like your amp without anything connected. This might take quite a while already as pretty much everything interacts with pretty much everything else, especially in case you're dealing with a tube amp. There's also some compromises you might have to deal with (as you, say, can't, switch any loop sends and returns to line/inst individually). Once that's working fine, insert your Spark. IMO there's two positions for it: In front of everything (hence before the HX input) and in front of the amp (hence inserted after the HX send). From my experience, it's worth checking which sounds better. Then insert your volume pedal. If you want to control your amp's input (so you could as well change its gain), place it after the HX send before the signal hits the amp input (in case the Spark is sitting there, too, check out what sounds better). The more typical position however would be to place it in the amp's loop before the signal goes into the HX return (this is what I described in my previous post). That way, you'd control the overall volume without cutting off reverb/delay trails, perfect for swells and such. You won't be able to use, say, an HX gate to denoise your amp that way anymore, though. As said, there's plenty of ways to skin this cat, but all of them have the simplified 4CM cabling from above in common, so I'd start there.

Yes, completely. I don't even know where to start because pretty much everything is super messed up (it's not even wired up for 4CM to work properly). Try this signal chain: - Guitar to HX In - HX Send to Spark - Spark to Amp Input - Amp Send to Volume Pedal Input - Volume Pedal Output to HX Return - HX Out to Amp Return This should work.

Don't worry, I don't think that feature is as old - and it's pretty common for "utility" functions added in updates being sort of overlooked (also happened to me when they changed the dreaded old "IR must be in an identical slot" behaviour to "it's enough once it exists inside the unit").

Fwiw, you can call me Cassandra. And fortunately they did it exactly like that, a) because as a global tool it's not offering fine enough adjustement options and b) because some amps profit a lot from input padding (making their gain controls way more efficient) whereas others are working better without the pad.

Glad you got it working. Cheers!

Fwiw, I haven't been running into any issues when setting up my (pretty much brandnew) Macbook Air around 2 months ago. Yeah, I had to allow installation, but that was it.

Have a look here and tell us whether it worked: https://line6.com/support/topic/65019-helixhx-update-doesnt-work-look-here/#comment-444243

Are you running your amp clean?

Just as a note: In case you're slapping an always-on pedal in front of the Helix, you'll be losing the input impedance functionalities.

As long as we don't know whether something has noticeably changed (and if so, how much), it's all pure speculation. I was just saying that in case different components were used, the sound could be different as well. But hey, maybe the newer units are made better. Especially the Floors/LTs could do with more solid hardware. But then, the notion about the less sturdy feeling knobs doesn't make me believe in that.

They could as well have used different op amps and converters. In that case the hardware would matter.

Well, for the thing that has been asked for, the Helix is probably even a better choice than a small mixer.

Just that it actually is. At least partially.