Lachdanan0121

OK. Lots of trouble shooting behind me... Not to necro a thread here, but I felt I needed to have it end with some positive closure, now that I have had more time with it, in my environment. After receiving a couple updates for FL Studio: (they have been working hard on improvements, one of which was implementation of hardware such as midi, and audio loop recording) I get the issues much less now. Now I just get the audio massive glitch out which I can resolve by the following steps: 1. Open the ASIO settings in FL STudio. 2. Change the ASIO driver to FL ASIO, or ASIO4All. 3. Wait 10 seconds, then I change it back to the Helix ASIO drivers. And Boom all cracking/popping is gone. Now the problems I get with the midi (which was controlling the Helix parameters with automation from FL STudio) is improved noticeably as well. Only sometimes do I get a full DAW crash (doesn't crash my pc though) and I have to restart the program. This is really only a nuisance, as I am quite OCD about some things, and I usually save every handful of edits. So, that doesn't really set me back more than about 5-10 minutes at the most. The issue with the crackling when automating over usb to parameters inside Helix is still there, but reduced a good bit. Now if I ReAmp and put this all in smaller segments I can usually get it within a couple of takes (sometimes I can record a few different segments in a row on the first take) without any popping or crackling. As of now I think I can get done anything I would like with my setup, and I grow more impressed with the Helix almost every time I use it. I know with more updates to FW, drivers, the work Image Line is doing to FL Studio... these issues I feel will just fade into an every-now-and-then annoyance, maybe even be eliminated completely. Felt I should update this for anyone that might be reading this who is on the fence about Helix. Once you can work past any technical issues, you will discover that it really is a fantastic piece of kit.

I won't be able to test now, but I am wondering where you will be selling these packs, among some of your others (if you have them). I want to give them a go, and everyone here seems to love them, and they rival or beat the main IR distributors. So once you get them readily available to purchase show the site, so I can purchase them.

Its all in the higher accuracy that allows you to see this compared to older modelling tech. I have 5 main guitars. All with different woods/pickups. From a bolt on with single coils, to a neck thru with active Blackouts, and several in between. My guitars do all sound noticeably more different than they did when I used the Eleven Rack, or the Pod X3. But to me this is great. When I design a patch on my Helix, I usually include the name of the guitar (shorthand) in the preset itself, followed by the name of the track that I created it for. Especially useful in the studio. I gave all my guitars personal names: "Cyan" - Jackson DK2QMHT Pro - "Huxley" - 2009 Schecter Loomis 7 string OFR. "Ember" - Dean Zelinsky Tagliare "Terra Eve" - Diamond Halcyon 6 string FR. "Obsidian" - Agile 27 scale 7-string Sceptor Elite Pro. I have tried 4 of them out with the Helix, they each sound different. I haven't tried "Huxley" on her yet, but I changed out her pickups to a set of passive Nazgul/Sentient pickups, which I am sure will sound a bit different than the others in my armory.

I use Event BAS 20/20 studio monitors. They sound pretty damn good with the Helix. XLR, but I have them at Mic level, as these Monitors are loud! Even with the Gain down almost all the way on the monitors I have keep my Helix master vol at 11 o'clock, or lower, and that is at Mic level. At Line level I have to keep it at about 10 o'clock, or lower. Also, if you use FRFR speakers like studio monitors, then you will need to be more particular where you place your EQing such as Hi, and Low cut. These studio monitors put out much more frequencies than a typical guitar cab, or even a PA system. Mine can go almost up to 20khz. That is higher than most PA systems, and is higher by a factor of multiples with regards to a guitar cab. A high cut around 14- to - 16khz should show you an example of what I talk about above. Once you start rolling off a lot of the high end on those studio monitors, you will start to see them sound more like you are use to. If you want a tighter sound set your low cut at or above 100hz.

Cool on the Kemper, although I don't have one. If I even feel the need to have more amp tones, I will get a Kemper and run it in tandem with my Helix. On the Helix Future. I agree with your second statement. This update will prolly be minor update for some stability improvements. But in 2017 first half I do expect new ASIO Drivers for the Helix. As for the Helix life in general it can use a couple more Highgain amps (such as the XTC, or Archon). I also expect some significant improvements to the reverbs. I wouldn't be against improving the delays, but for the most part they sound great as is, the reverbs definitely need it more. More effects that are not covered such as some filters/synth, and stuff like a vocal harmonizer/ or vocoder. But I don't expect them in the next update, or the one after it, but I expect a decent amount of this to be taken care of by the end of 2017, and that is not unreasonable.

Agreed, with that logic, its like saying you can get just as great tones out of a Digiteh RP250, or a Pod 2.0 with some IRs that you can with the Helix, Axe FX, or Kemper. IRs make a difference, but some people just can't help the hyperbole.

I love that movie, John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors. I cringed when I heard they were making Dead Space (videogame) into a live action movie, until I read that John Carpenter might be the one doing it. Now, if that is true, I can't wait to see it.

I've never been to a Sam's Ash before. But Everytime I step inside a Guitar Center, I feel odd. Almost as if I am stepping inside a Hot Topic or something. Its almost like if you have ever seen the John Carpenter's They Live... I feel like the majority of the people in the store (customers too) would look like those aliens, if I had some of those sunglasses on.

I appreciate this little tidbit HonestOpinion!

Yea, I have to agree. Just about every interaction I had with Sweetwater was pleasant, and well done. I will also add that Paypal has an option (I am sure there variables) that you can do Paypal Credit and receive no interest for 6 months. I went with this over the Sweetwater deal for my Helix purchase, but that is because I was already approved, and just didn't want another card. Trying to keep all that in check, and manageable while trying to make sure I get everyone something nice for the Winter Solstice celebrations. And yes, the candy lol. I have to make sure my GF doesn't open the package first, other wise my candy will be "taxed." I worked with sweewater to get a beautiful Jackson DK2QM. It was a specific serial number that I picked out from their guitar gallery on their site. I got the exact one I wanted, with the exact quilt on it. I had to return my first Helix. Sweewater sent me a second HELIX free of charge, while I still had my first one, so I could A/B them. I sent back the first, kept the second (the first had a slightly loose USB connection) I found that to be exceptional service from them. Their sales engineers, and even tech support engineers really do try to help.

Except the intelligent people just order the same stuff, at basically the same discounted price (sometimes without even paying the same taxes) online. Let UPS, and Fed Ex travel for me during the black/cyber week. Never even leave the house. That said I don't expect Helix line of products to get much of a discount. The mission EXP pedals might, but thats all I would expect for the Helix line.

Sorry I missed where the OP was on MAC. lol Yes the class compliant MAC Core Audio thing was more widespread, but there are Windows users who have similar problems as well. About the popping and crackling in windows. I have seen multiple users having the same problem on windows machines, with various DAWs. FL STudio was one of them, but I want to say the problem also was in some other DAWS as well. There may be an issue with the Helix and FL Studio, but I don't think it is exclusive to that combination. I honestly think more investigation into that would reveal that. Either way, Imageline is really updating FL Studio so whatever issue that is on their side, may very well be cleared up in the near future. Also while attacking it from the other end... More stable USB ASIO drivers for the Helix couldn't hurt, and I expect at least one more update in that department for the unit! Oh and my GF likes to think I am wrong, along with a few other women in my life, despite that I am right the majority of the time. :P

I have occasional Popping and cracking in FL Studio with my helix. These are the steps I take to resolve it. 1. Open the ASIO settings in FL STudio. 2. Change the ASIO driver to FL ASIO, or ASIO4All. 3. Wait 10 seconds, then I change it back to the Helix ASIO drivers. And Boom all cracking/popping is gone. This happens probably once or twice a session depending on how long the session is. However it is a quick fix that I don't even have to reload my project. I was pulling my hair out with this issue, and I have went through more troubleshooting steps than most on here would even think of doing. The above seems to be the most effective way of fixing the issue. I figure once FL Studio gets a few more stability updates ( they are going through massive changes with the software right now) and Line 6 gets some better/more stable drivers themselves, the issue will probably fade away at some point. ASIO4All is free, and you should be able to use it. For the same steps, I know you use Logic, but this should work the same in every DAW, or very similar steps. Hope this helps.

Im imagining the logo on the sign out front. lol

See this is a problem with being a guitarist. There is an abundance of the old fart rhetoric. Much like this statement I quoted here.

Oh yeah, the ReAmping capabilities is one of the main reason I chose Helix over the alternatives.

Line 6, I wanted to leave a comment here, and a place for anyone else that wants to comment on the UI of the Helix product. I will preface this by saying I have the Helix Rack + Controller + Mission Helix exp pedal. I haven't used the Controller, and exp much, as I am a studio musician, and just haven't got around to using it much. (Ironically I got that more for tweaking patches when I am at the Mic stand when I am recording vocals, and not sitting beside my Helix) Now that out of the way... The Interface is one of the first things that interested me in this product when I first heard about it about 14-15 months, or so, ago. Obviously after I heard that the level of tone they were going for was to actually rival Fractal, and Kemper. I wanted a nice rack unit that I could adjust with my hands while I was recording/playing/tracking guitar. I wanted it this way to save screen real estate. I have two screens, (top/bottom) but I want all the space for plugins, and DAW/playlist/piano roll. The Helix seemed like almost a perfect fit, and fit my audio interface routing needs as well. On to actually using the UI for a bit now that I got a good hang of it. I have found that I am rarely opening my editor on the pc. Even though my Helix is connected to it 24/7. I open the editor to check things like what the bpm is set too, and things like library/IR management. The rest I do all on the UI of the unit itself. I even save/rename patches on the unit. Its so easy, and intuitive. The screen is bright, a good size, and it is quite clear. The color representation of each category is smartly chosen imo. I can dial in great patches with complex routing in a much quicker time than I ever could on any other unit. I get a better sound quicker than with any unit. I have dialed in patches in 15-30 minutes with my Helix that sounded miles above anything I could with the Pod Farm 2.0 with my Pod X3, and Eleven Rack in the entire time I had them. (much less earlier modelers) On top of all that, I will get faster at dialing in better tones over time with this unit. Line 6 you have really raised the bar when it comes to UI on guitar modelers. I can tell a lot of thought went into that aspect. Everything feels sturdy too, not like its about to fall off. Though I have read of some users when they had technical problems with the UI, but Line 6 seems to give great care to its customer service of the Helix line. Which in turn makes me feel somewhat "safer" with my decision to go Helix. I would like to hear from others how the UI has helped them in there scenarios. I don't even use snapshots, but I hear setting them up is a breeze as well. I dare say its even fun to program patches on the Helix compared to a lot of previous modelers.

I feel I should share this. Since I got the Helix the main tones I have been dialing in are clean and slighty driven lead tones. The Helix has excelled in that more than any other modeler has for me. I have started to dial in higher gain lead tones, and I will also get to higher gain rhythm tones as well... Last weekend I was dialing in a medium to high gain lead patch for a humbucker equipped guitar. I got "meh" tones. Today I went back and edited that patch. I removed all the studio mic pre that I was trying on it. I used a dist pedal, split the cabinet pathway, merged them afterwards. Sent the processing to chain B split the path like I did with the cabinets, and put reverb (chamber) on one, and Vintage delay on the other, and mixed to taste. I adjusted the internal stuff for the amp like Bias-X, and resonance, and one or two others. After that I played a little and quickly realized I just dialed in the best medium-to-high gain lead tone I ever had. Plenty of sustain without drowning it in distortion, and it cuts through a full mix. With the internal HX Cabs too. Today my worries of if Helix can do high gain are severely diminished. I think it will be able to do basically whatever I want it, and I can want some pretty heavy sounds at times. For my personal experience it seems every time I get disappointed in the Helix... I spend a little more time with it and I am even more impressed than I thought I would be. Its quite a unit. I even toy-ed with the idea of getting a Kemper to use with the Helix, but I don't even think that will be needed. The Helix seems to impress me the more I work with it.

bah dum tish!

One of the mods might be able to take care of that for you when they see this. I went ahead and voted it up. This is sort of like ReValver. This would be great for the Helix as a nice mid life cycle update for it. As you know something like this will take quite a bit of time to get it working reliably for distribution and sharing within the Helix platform.

Now at this point I would uninstall the drivers for Helix from your computer. Go to device manager. Under "view" choose show hidden devices. This will show you lingering usb protocols. Now under USB...All of the grey ones you can right click "uninstall", if the option is available. The lighter grey ones are for things not connected, and they will automatically install once you re-connect the various devices. Now re-install the drivers (following Line 6's instructions), making sure they are up to date. Try again. Report back

I recently saw Fallujah, Between the Burried and Me, and Devin Townsend Project live. There were literally 7 Axe FX on stage between the 3 bands. I saw 2, or 3 Kemper Profilers. Some of these were used for FX only, but some of these were using them for Amp/cab modelling as well! I saw minimal actual amps/cabs between the 3 bands... I was actually kinda shocked about that. Now granted Fallujah isn't that well known. However Between the Burried & Me is, and Devin Townsend sure as hell is. My GF asked me why there were no Helix there. I told her its still a relatively new unit compared to these, and people still view Line 6 as the "pod" company. Plus the AXE FX, and Kemper are already established as being top tier modelling and such. Helix still has heads to turn. I say this as a happy Helix Rack + Controller owner.

Nice. I have had some decent support from various places. Amazon, SweetWater, even Kurt at Rondo Guitars... to name a few. Though the place that I have received the best level of service and support is with Image Line. All that said a total turn around of 6 days of getting your repaired unit back in your hands is pretty impressive. Especially compared to the efforts of having my xbox 360 sent off. (several times) Once it took over 2 months to get one back. Although the demand for that product/repair is much much higher than Helix, so I can see how that may affect that. It is refreshing, and relieving to read these posts about the great level of service people are getting from Line 6 with their Helix investment.

Agreed! This bit of information would be quite illuminating for improving all of our sound design with the built in tools inside Helix.

This is where my largest sentiment lies with custom tone, or presets in general. Some of them can be good enough to use as templates for yourself to further sculpt the sounds to your needs. Though with the Helix, once you have it longer than 2 weeks, you can dial up an entire complex patch from scratch in relatively short time. I have a cool/simple patch that works great with my single coil guitar. I leave the high cut pretty high, because I want to further roll off the highs with a more flexible curve in my DAW with Fab Filter Pro-Q 2 in post processing. So if I share it, it prolly won't meet the needs of others as easily, and even including that in a notes section there is a 50% chance that it will not even be read. Many have presets that are designed with IRs that are not present. Some presets are also used in a 4-cable method, and many presets use a physical external cab as a replacement of the cab section. Lots of variables.