soundog

OK. I strike my last sentence. But it still feels that way to me. And why still no standalone mode with MIDI control?

I like it. The only thing I might do different would be to use a send and return for the looper. That way you can control where the looper gets it input (where you put the loop and return block in your chain). Then, of course, you're faced with mono vs stereo sends for the delay and reverb.

I use Neural DSP, S-Gear, and Helix Native for guitar plug-ins. They are all sound excellent. BUT ... Neural DSP and S-Gear have excellent MIDI capabilities so you can use them for live performance with a MIDI controller, including support for program change. Helix Native has the absolute worst MIDI capabilities for live performance. In addition, Neural DSP and S-Gear will run as a standalone app with MIDI control. Helix Native will not. What does that tell you? It tells me that Line 6 never designed Native for live performance. It was never a priority. I'm guessing that is so they will sell more Helix hardware.

Having had two XPS units fail (a mini and an A/B) this is great info to have in the future if my current A/B box fades away. I've always avoided having to use batteries in my Acoustic 700 and Standard. And thanks, @psarkissian, for the wise words of caution (and for leaving these posts available to Variax fans).

Ya know, I bought the Michael Britt Helix pack over 5 years ago, and still love it. The presets include his bundle of 30 IRs. The presets have none of the newer amps, no snapshots; it's simply tasty meat-and-potatoes clean tones and mid-lead gain overdrives. I bought a bunch of third-party presets before I learned to roll my own, and I think his pack may be my favorite. Michael hasn't done any updated packs for Helix, 'cause he's a big Kemper fan. But I highly recommend both his Helix pack ($30) or just his IR pack ($20)

Yes, that is certainly a big omission. Most of the difference I heard from same-mic IRs moving from center to edge is eq; bright (center) to dark (edge). So, being a stock cab user, I always add a tilt eq block after the cab, and do a slight tweak i needed to simulate the eq change from mic positioning. I find that adjusting this, along with a sprinkle of early reflections does the trick for me.

Consider the Helix Cabs to be IRs, so use one or the other. Also, there are plenty of blind tests comparing Helix cabinets vs IRs. Find 'em on youtube. Most folks can't tell a difference when everything is adjusted to be as normalized as possible. I've experimented with commercial IRs quite a bit, but have recently settled on using the stock cabinets primarily because: 1) Amp+Cab only uses one block in the Stomp 2) When I spend time trying to adjust a stock Cab to sound like a given IR, there is minimal difference 3) You can adjust the mic, mic distance, early reflections, hi cut, lo cut "on the fly" with stock Cabs. With IRs you normally have to choose between a long list of variables, and then are locked in to that choice. 4) The stock Amp+Cab choice already matches the amp with cabinet. 5) Stock cabinets save a lot of time and money over IRs. You'll find plenty of folks that swear by IRs, and that's just dandy. If you want, spend some time deciding/researching which path you want to take. Or use both. But I personally don't think you're missing anything by sticking with the stock cabinets.

I'm going back to square one to create some meat & potatoes HX Stomp tones for recording. I'm focusing on a few vintage amps (Deluxe Reverb, Princeton, AC30, Matchstick stuff, with associated IRs/Cabs. My goal is simple, consistent, and predictable presets so I can use them all with the same MIDI controller knobs, and tweak tones quickly without much fuss. So: A couple of blocks in front (eg, Wah, OD) ---> Amp/IR or Cab ----> A few blocks after (eg delay, reverb, studio compression). I usually leave all of the "after blocks" out when recording, adding stuff back in during mixing. It can be easy to develop Block-Head Syndrome (paralysis from too many block choices). But tone mostly comes down to getting your guitar, the amp block, and IR/Cab block to work together. While working on this pandemic project, I came across this old Forum thread, and wanted to share it because its turned out to be really useful.

Good video on setting up Gig Performer for guitar (using S-Gear, though, not Native). I love King Crimson type stuff, so really enjoyed watching Trey's setup:

Check a demo of Gig Performer. It has very robust MIDI binding (via "widgets") and works great for live performance. I haven't tried it with HXNative, though. Also, it will tell you what the latency is for any plugin you use with it. If you decide to buy, though, its quite spendy!

HX Effects is a great stereo effects pedal for any audio input, including keyboards/synths. I've used it for saxes and vocals without issue. Since you are using it with an iPad, you can also connect it via USB for audio, an use it with AUM for even more digital effects and routing.

If you can figure out how to set up a drum kit (I've tried), you can figure out how to use a Helix. Get a Helix Stomp. If you have a computer, use HX Edit to edit the sounds (its easier than using the hardware unit). There are plenty of youtube videos on how to create your own tones. Or, you can buy a set of "programmed" patches from the CustomTone section on Line 6 (there are also free ones). If you want a wah wah and volume pedal, and like lots more buttons, and you have lots of money — get the Helix instead of the Helix Stomp. Have a Merry Christmas.

I wish it would. But it won't.

Nope, no way to disable. Its an iOS shortcoming. Whichever USB interface was plugged in last wins. So you have to plug in the device you want to use last (or unplug it and plug it in again). I wish Apple would enable aggregate devices, or at least selectable.

This is very useful, great job on the set-up and choice of tracks/tune.Thanks. I also prefer the Ampegs, always have. For bass, I like running a parallel path as a DI for recording. Or, sometimes in Helix I'll run a parallel path with the Sans Amp block or Obsidian block running fairly dirty and then added just a little bit for spice.

Did you try a direct USB connection (no hub)?

Yeah, sounds like a sample rate problem to me too.

Sux.

Since an adapter is cheap, why not try that first and see if it meets your needs? I haven't tried it myself...

I've owned both a Stomp (not XL) and an HX FX. In my opinion, the Stomp has enough blocks to do whatever you need for effects, and then you have the extra benefit of the amps/cabs (which would still be useful if you own real amps). I also like the smaller size. I sold the FX, kept the Stomp!

Awesome!! It works!! And its easy! This is great info, thanks so very much @lou-kash.

My 10 cents. A passive XLR mixer (I like the Radial Mix 2) would work fine for your mic's as long as you don't need phantom power (although you could get a small mixer that provides it if necessary). Also, the setup and preset building will be much simpler if you don't need stereo effects on your guitar, and could dedicate the upper Helix path to guitar, and the lower to vocals. Further, a small MIDI mixer (even a cheap used nanokontrol) would be helpful to provide more control of the Helix during gigs (especially for the Split mix of guitar and vocals, but also delay, reverb, chorus levels). If you won't use a computer/phone/tablet for MIDI mixing, you will need a small USB host to use with a USB MIDI controller like the nano. I use one of these. There are others out there. If you mix everything in the Helix, you could take one line out to FOH. Or take two lines out for vocal and guitar line out to external mixer.

@SaschaFranck is making valid points. If I record via HX Stomp USB, the Stomp is acting as an audio interface. I should be able to set ouput levels to my needs, not some preconceived idea of what is best. Case in point, when I use my Apollo interface (or any other audio interface), I can set my audio input so I'm peaking between -6db to -3dB in my Logic channel. I wish I could do the same with the Stomp. Partly because of the anemic USB levels (and almost invisible waveforms), I now route audio out of my Stomp into my Apollo for recording so I can set the levels where I like them, and where subsequent plug-ins in the chain like them.

OK, I just did a backup, full reset, and restore. Nothing changed! The 2nd button was still red on all my newest presets. I assumed something was buggered in the preset files. So, the quick fix was to edit the hlx files using a text editor. I just had to change @ledcolor from 2 to 0 in snapshot1 (which is dimmed white, and it auto changes to bright white when the button is selected). Steps: export preset, edit and save hlx file (as above), import preset (into the same location). It didn't take long at all, an I only had to do 23 presets.

Thanks. Its a mystery. I double checked .... its not all presets, its all of the recent ones which I'll bet I based on a single preset which carried the red gene. I have a lot of older presets, further down the list, that are all white. How the carrier preset turned red we may never know, although I do a lot of wacky customization/experimentation at times. Something got buggered. I'm gonna do a backup and reset. I'll come back and add to this note when I'm done...