SaschaFranck

2) Controller Ok, we're all old men in white suits. So we don't want to crawl around on dirty stages, destroying our backs and contaminating our pants. Don't get me wrong, the Helix is incredibly easy to adjust with the capacitve switches and the clever navigation options. But apart from the possible uncoolness coming along with stage crawling, nothing beats a properly laid out touchscreen for parameter adjustments. And most of us have one of those with us all the time. So why not make use of them? Please note: I am *not* talking about an editor for mobile OSes here. I don't think it's required, either. I mean, you will very likely craft your precious patches at home, using all the comfort of HX Edit on a real computer. But you may want more and easier control while playing (or while setting the Helix up). Without the stage crawling. So, what such a controller should do is to allow for a user defined amount of parameters to be controlled through a user defined amount of virtual faders, switches and maybe XY-controllers (think along the lines of, say, a Kaos Pad). Now, there's generic MIDI controller apps which could be used for similar things. But they're coming with serious issues: - On Android, the amount and functionality of those controllers are abysmally bad. - Once you use snapshots (an who wouldn't?), things get pretty messy with the Helix, see this thread for further information: - There's no feedback between whatever apps and the Helix. Which means, when you change a parameter on the Helix, it won't be reflected in the app. The same goes for switching patches, the changes of whatever parameters won't be reflected in the app. So, IMO it'd be just great if Line6 offered such a controller app. To give you an (extremely) rough taste of what such an app might be able to do (among plenty of other things), I created a very rough mockup (first attempt got hosed because the Helix acted up, see thread linked above). Please ignore my voice, my english, my playing and the video quality.

Hi, I think it'd be tremendous if Line6 would add something like that to their portfolio. I'll try to elaborate a bit. 1) Librarian Why would you need it? Well, as we all know, unlike, say, the Kemper and the Headrush, the Helix doesn't feature an option to connect a USB stick/drive to manage your patches and IRs. I also don't think this will ever happen as I doubt the USB port on the Helix would be able to serve as a host (the used USB type B socket might be a good indicator). But then, the Helix is capable to communicate through USB just fine. And I would say that most (if not all) users own a mobile device being able to work as a USB host (iOS users need a camera connection kit, for Android it's a USB OTG adapter). As a result of that, it would likely be a not too tough challenge to code an app serving as a librarian. We all know that there's a certain chance of the Helix acting up in a way forcing you to restore everything to the factory defaults. Should that happen on a gig - well, good luck. As is, you would have to have a laptop with you to restore your patches. Personally, I almost never carry my laptop to gigs. But I always have my smartphone with me (just as everybody, right?). With a librarian, you would simply connect it to the Helix, restore your patches and be done. Further things a librarian would/could offer: - Downloading Helix patches (and IRs) straight on your mobile device and transferring them to your Helix. - Managing IRs (we all know that 128 isn't enough in some scenarios). - Managing (and likely renaming) patches and setlists. I'll continue with the controller in the next post.

Ideascale submission: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Global-Blocks/966071-23508?submitted=1

Hi, One of the things why I plan to never use anything else but a single patch per gig would be that it's pretty tough to adjust things during the limited timeframe of a soundcheck, let alone inmidst a set. As a simple example: "Ouch, need all my clean sounds to be a tad louder and a little less bright today". With an analog setup (maybe one controlled via MIDI and a loopswitcher) it's a complete no-brainer and all it takes is adjusting 2 knobs, which can even be done while a chord rings out. Within a single Helix patch it's almost as easy but once you're using multiple patches, it quickly becomes a nightmare, especially in case you need to correct some of the initial adjustments later on (aka "oops, turned up the trebles too much"). The cure for this would be what Fractal calls "global blocks", but it also exists in a somewhat similar way on the Boss GT-1000. The entire idea is being able to tag certain devices as "global". Once you use them in a patch and adjust them, these adjustments are valid throughout each and every patch using them. As a personal example: I really never need more than 2 amps/preamps for my live duties (plus some modifications such as slapped in drives, but even these could likely stay the same all throughout my patches), but I would like to use more FX than one patch would be able to supply (let alone setting these "entire gig" patches up is quite a task). With these two amps plus maybe 2-3 stompboxes (and maybe even a delay and reverb - I tend to use the same settings here all night long, too) set to "global" I would be able to adjust all the relevant parameters in a heartbeat (within a single patch). In terms of overall live usability, for me such a feature would possibly be the most incredible improvement ever. And fwiw, it's been the reason why I almost bought a GT-1000 instead of a Helix (even if I find the Helix better in pretty much any other aspect). What do you folks think? I'll add this to Ideascale as well.

Nah, it's defenitely got nothing to do with the app. All the thing is doing is to throw out MIDI CCs (I monitored it in Logic).

No, I have zero ideas about writing software. It's just a MIDI controller app. And there's way more of those for iOS. Anyway, doesn't matter much until Line6 takes care about some issues.

As I won't start a new thread just yet, here's kinda what I'm talking about:

No, a MIDI control app running on Android. I will post a video later on (in a new thread about another feature request...). Could be kickass but unfortunately, the snapshot conflicts seem to render it a no-go.

Well, I only connected the BCR through MIDI, no computer connection, seither. But the freeze happened while using the tablet app.

Yes, MIDI through USB. The App doesn't "understand" MIDI In, though, so it shouldn't exactly be an issue. Someone recommended to turn of MIDI Clock on the Helix (which is fine with me, don't need it for the time being) as it might be another problematic thing. However, I will give this a last try and then possibly call it a day as the conflicts between snapshots and CCs don't allow me to utilize it the way I'd like anyway.

Fooled around a bit more, Helix first started to act strange, next it completely froze in, had to rebuild everything by a global 9/10 switch reset. Could've possibly tried the 11/12 reset, but as I had everything backed up, it's been no drama. However, my personal bottomline so far would be: Stay away from anything CC-controlled for the time being.

Ok, back up and running (phew...). So, preset drag and drop works fine - but you need to save things first to also have your edits transfered. Very useful, though. Still, what I was suggesting would likely be way more powerful as you could tweak parameters on either Native or the hardware. And you would never have to leave your DAW.

Thanks, I might try that. ATM I'm waiting for the thing to wake back up. Froze in after fooling a bit more with some CC assignements, all sorts of weird behaviour preceeding. Not exactly happy right now.

Hi, Not sure whether this is the best place to post as it relates to both Helix Native and the hardware units. Anyway, during the last days I was having a true blast recording guitars using the Helix (Floor) as an interface. And I was even more enjoying that the patches are largely compatible. As a result I was just recording the DI guitar output and slapping Native onto that track (note: I can't play directly through Native as the latency is not too much fun to deal with, I'm using Native under Logic at 64 samples buffersize). Now, the thing getting in the way was, whenever I changed something on the patch (through HX Edit or the Floor), I would have to resave the patch, export it to the computer and import it into Native to really get the same results. So I thought about whether it wouldn't be possible to come up with a "direct link" mode. Assuming the IRs loaded into Floor/Native are identical, this should theoretically be possible. As a result, whenever you tweak something on your hardware, the changes would be reflected in the plugin. Obviously, this would as well work vice versa (and possibly make HX Edit redundant in at least some cases - less window switching and what not). For me, that'd be just fantastic. There's a few things that would have to be sorted (obviously, only one plugin instance at a time could be "live linked", the IR issue would have to be adressed and you might want to be able to easily record controller/automation movements as well, etc.), but as the two are now sharing the same code base, shouldn't that be possible?

Well, as rd2rk said, that limits the amount of available parameters for that workaround to 0 (EXP3 will be used from tomorrow on). Fwiw, I know CCs aren't sending a continous data stream - but all it'd take to adress the problem would be to have an option to simply exclude parameters from snapshots. Just as it is with switches and just as it is when controlling any parameter onboard.

And fwiw, capturing IRs from real speakers isn't exactly a trivial process. Ok, well, it even kind of is, in case you got the right hardware - which includes a good mic or a few (including the knowledge to place them), a room to set things up and a neutral power amp to play back the sine sweep. Capturing and deconvolving isn't too tough, there's free tools and explanations around, in case you own Logic, Apples Impulse Response utility comes with it - so, the procedure is easy, but what most people lack of is decent mics, rooms and possibly even a decent neutral poweramp. Anyhow, IMO there's more than enough IRs around already and with a little knowledge about the procedure, you'll be able to modify and mix them to suit your needs.

You could probably try to mix and match your own IRs out of existing ones. It's pretty easy to do. In case you're interested, I'll explain the procedure.

I was just about to post that as it happened to me before I knew about that function. Switched the up/down buttons to Snapshot up/down after that (I will never switch presets live), so I will at least not accidentally leave the patch.

See, that's exactly my observation (my snapshot preferences are set to "discard", though, but that shouldn't matter), even if I haven't elaborated on it as carefully as you so far. And as you say (which is my observation, too): Control a parameter straight on the Helix and everything's fine and dandy, parameters can be controlled patchwide (unless you explicetely set the parameter to be controlled by snapshots). Use a CC instead and things just don't work anymore. It's like "once there's white brackets around a parameter, snapshots will rule the world!" - regardless whether the brackets are a result of some CC mapping. This might in fact not exactly be a bug, but maybe just something nobody thought of. Out of the Helix folks I know, exactly nobody's using a MIDI controller and CCs for these kinda things, so the strange things going along with it might as well have slipped the attention of the testing team because it's a setup only nerds like me would use.

As I need completely clean sounds with plenty of headroom, even when you slap a boost in front, it'd be the Cali IV Rhythm 1. Used that in real life for years and I like it's tone controls (not talking about the 5 band EQ, which of course is a very nice addition, though). Plus, given the right cab, it's a pretty much perfect pedal platform, allowing me to cover anything from completely jazzy clean to pretty decent rock riffage. I actually never used the other channels of it for the last 5 years. In fact, I'm right now building a patch based on that very amp, using a self-baked IR, works out just great so far and will leave me with plenty of DSP juice (and an IR block as the last thing in the signal chain, allowing me to listen to my live patches in mono, just the way I'm using them). I'm even thinking about running everything (delay/verbs included) in front of the amp, it seems to nicely glue things together. Now I just need to find the right drive along the lines of my Egnater Goldsmith (which sounds just fabulous in front of the real MkIV), might have to go for an EQ/drive combination.

Thanks, I see - I sort of expected this kind of answer already but was still hoping for something I might be able to do. Still, why would you say it is intended to work like that? I mean, all I'm doing is to kind of replace a Helix controller with a CC message - and that's rather different from using snapshots in terms of how I try to deal with things. I could imagine how this is related on a technical level (ending up with something kinda like "parameters in white brackets are controlled, regardless whether its a snapshot message or a CC") but on a functional level I don't see how this could be intentional design because it's two things not exactly connected to each other by the way you utilize them. Whatever, I will post it on Ideascale and see what happens. Fwiw, still quite a dissapointment. I was creating this really elaborated patch (supposed to serve my needs for pretty much any gig) and had a true blast because controlling things both through that Android app and the BCR2000 worked incredibly well. Kinda like an analog setup controlled by MIDI and loop switchers with all the relevant parameters straight under your fingertips. Every bit what I wanted. Then, as the last step, I started to set up snapshots and *poof* - there went my marvelleous setup. I can now pretty much take the BCR back to the basement until this is sorted (in case it will be sorted).

Hi, (Fwiw, new to this forum, finally got my own Helix some days ago - but I've had two units borrowed for a longer period of time before already, so the Helix isn't exactly new to me.) Ok, I'll try to decribe my issue. I'm switching an EQ on for my lead sounds. Works fine through snapshots. I'm now using the output level to balance all my lead sounds - and I want this to be valid patchwide, in other words, the output level shouldn't be saved with the snapshot. And by default it isn't, either. So far so good. Alright, but I also have a BCR2000 knob controller (or alternatively an Android MIDI fader app that does the same thing) and one of the encoders is controlling my lead EQs output level. And once that assignment is set, the output level of the EQ is automatically saved with a snapshot. In a nutshell: No CC assignment = EQ level can be adjusted patchwide, CC assignment = EQ level is valid per snapshot. Is there any way to change this behaviour or is this a bug? Cheers Sascha