spawn2031

I'm suspecting that's coming from something other than the power source. Do you get the same noise when plugging 500X direct to Alto via XLR? (no eq, no mixer)

The first thing I would do is take the EQ out of the chain.

I have a feeling the white noise is coming from the EQ as well most likely due to line level signals being out of whack.  Generally something like an EQ would be setup as a pre or post insert effect either on the mixer's channel or overall output prior to output to the speakers.  Alternatively it could be placed as an external effect from within the HD500X signal chain.  Neither of those would affect the line level signals from the POD to the mixer or from the mixer to the speaker.

I just ran home at lunch to check this out, the white noise comes out of the speakers even when they are the only things on.  Currently they get plugged directly into a wall and since the amount of noise changes depending on the location is whats telling me it's dirty wiring.  I'm just still a novice at isolating that stuff and what the best equipment is to eliminate it on a budget.

So this post does not pertain 100% to the POD 500x but more the PA cabs that I use and since many of you are all about the FRFRs I figured I'd ask here.

This is my current set up 500x > EQ > Mixer (all on one circuit plugged into a nice octopus surge protector) > Pair of Alto TS110s (plugged into 2 separate outlets from each other and the rest of the gear).

The problem I am getting is a lot of white noise coming through the PA cabs.  I am pretty certain that it's due to the wiring in the practice room.  I get the same noise at home but nowhere near as bad.  I am looking at adding a Furman to my rack case for power conditioning which I assume will take care of my issue.  Since I am still kind of new to this kind of setup, if I get a power conditioner like that can I run everything into it for power and be good (6 pieces POD, EQ, Mixer, Laptop, 2 PA cabs)?  Or should I get one for my rack and separate ones for my PA cabs?  

Thanks for your suggestions!

I tell you what, after waiting for this thing and seeign the date moved so many times, I am NEVER.. I mean EVER.. going to dangle that piece of yarn infront of my cat anymore, just to yank it away at the last second!  I know how it feels now! lol.

yup, l know right?

Naaa, not discouraged at all. Just dying to get my hands on it and get to playing.  Is it odd that I look at my 500x now and think... u piece of crap, git outta heh! 

Hey guys, here it is November and I am sure many of us are anxiously awaiting the next drop of these babies.  I noticed that SW's arrival estimate message had changed so I contacted my sales engineer.  Looks like, according to him, the next shipment is due to arrive on 11/19 now, pushed back from 11/14.  Who knows how acurate that info really is since we all saw how wildly the first estimated ship date changed.  Anyway, just thought I would update all of you that pre-ordered from SW.

The best things come to those who wait right?  :lol:

I am still waiting on Sweetwater to tell me they have gotten their new shipment.  Supposedly around the 14th.  It's KEEEELin me.

If I were you I would be patient a little longer.

 

I just updated both the PC program and the firmware and did a complete factory reset, but I still can't backup (Export) any patch, setlist or bundle. Windows simply shuts down the program saying that a problem has caused the program to stop working properly. It displays the patches correctly and I can rename a patch on the PC and it shows up correctly on the Helix, so the communication between the Helix and the PC program seems to be ok. It simply won't save anything without crashing, and it crashes before anything gets saved to the disk.

 

I do hope the BSOD problem is a thing of the past with firmware 1.03.0, but I'm definitely not gigging this board until it's been stable at home for quite some time, and then I would still like to be able to back up my presets and bring a PC to the venue ... just in case.

Did you uninstall the program before installing the new version?  Also, something else you can try is after uninstalling, find the file folder in your program files for it and delete it.  This way you know you are getting all fresh new files and nothing can get mixed between versions.  I don't know if any of this will work but these are common things to try when updating programs

Looks like a good chunk of the freezing issues have been addressed in this one.  That makes me feel a lot better.  Now I really can't wait for Sweetwater to get their next shipment in.

Call CS and let them know asap.  I think I do remember seeing a few other post about people having issues like this but I can't be for certain.  Either way, the only real way to get a bug reported and fixed is to call them directly.  Thanks for posting it though!  Something to look out for.

I have been collecting these free IR's from here and on TGP.  Even though I do not know how good they sound personally since I don't have the Helix yet, would any of you guys be interested in me posting a topic with links to them all?  Maybe something we all can just keep growing? 

Having never seen one in person it's hard to say, but if I were to make an educated guess, I would say that you shouldn't use anything thin that will run all over the place, potentially messing up something else. Something like white silicon grease might do the trick...consistency is more of an ointment than a liquid, and you shouldn't need much. A little goes a long way. Found in any auto supply store.

The white silicon grease is what I have found on the underside of a few of my wah pedals.

Yeah, the question that the OP has asked is what I have been trying to gauge as well.  There have been enough awesome reviews about this device's ease of use and sound quality that it made me feel like it was a no brainer to upgrade from my 500x.  I suppose it is impossible to get any kind of real feel for that number because, unless you're a long time member here, you're probably not going to come here unless you have an issue or just like forums.  Kind of the whole, no one leaves reviews unless they are to complain, issue (if any of you have worked retail you know what I mean).

Oh, that's a good question. Mine is going to be in the next round.

According to DI, the effects have been modeled to behave as close to the real thing as possible.  So if you want to know how to use an effect, look up how to use the item it was modeled after and you should be good to go.

 

1. We've been including a "Known Issues" section in the release notes of every Helix firmware release. If you read between the lines, these are things we're aware of and are either actively working on, or waiting on a Windows/OSX/iOS/Android patch in order to get things working properly.
2. Reporting a bug on this forum is about 5% as effective as contacting Line 6 Customer Service, where those guys have direct access to QA and developers. Sometimes I'm able to see stuff, repro it myself, and forward it directly, but no one should ever rely on this. Please do not post bugs on 18 different forums and then complain if we don't respond. YOU MUST CONTACT LINE 6 CS so we can log your issue.
3. Reporting a bug is much more helpful with a proper repro (especially freezes). It helps to know exactly what you were doing right before it all went down. If we can repro a bug, it may be something that can be fixed in a matter of days.

 

I did forget about the "Known Issues" section on the firmware release documentation.  Still I think it would very helpful to have those known bugs in a locked sticky as well as all the points you listed above too so people know what the proper and fastest way to report issues is.  This might also cut down drastically on the "bugs being reported over 18 threads" issue too.  If I was you I would probably have made hotkeys with programmed responses on them by now, lol.... talk about repeating yourself!

I started that forum post about the black screens and freezing because I saw so many people talking about it and stating that they had issues but very little acknowledgement about what was being done or how to avoid it (if there is a way).  Even if those people were being contacted directly and asked to contact CS and are getting taken care of, no one knows that unless they were kind enough to come back and share.  The newbie that just came to get his one issue fixed rarely does that.  One crappy thing about forums is that everyone uses it to complain but only a small percentage actually come back and post their solutions (car forums really blow for that!  :rolleyes: )  But, being a forum mod, I am sure you are very well aware of that issue.

As some one who is used to this forum and used to how you guys run things, I don't have an issue with any of this stuff.  I know where to go to find what I need but I am seeing a lot of fresh faces popping on here and I am positive that this would help you guys direct the flow of traffic to where it actually needed to go as well as ease the concern of those folks with issues that haven't been resolved yet.

**Steps down from soapbox**  :P

Look guys...the employees of Line 6 have been told to NOT talk about it. That's the bottom line.

 

As for the "legality" of it...of course that's not the true legality. If it were...then they wouldn't have "legally" been allowed to talk about Helix at all until the day it hit stores.

Instead, they talked about it constantly and what it could do and even made videos to show us for months in advance.

 

So yes....they can legally tell us what they are working on. Just like anyone can.

 

But NO...they can NOT tell us what the next update may or may not have because their employment and livelihood depend on it.

 

In my humble opinion they should have a sticky on the forum that is locked and can't be posted in that simply has Digital Igloo saying that under no circumstances will anyone be told what is in the next update.

No need for trying to talk about "legality". Just a simple message that says "NO".  That way new people to the forum won't be pissed off and confused anymore. :)

That is all very easy for those of us that know and love this company to say, but as it has been mentioned on here already, the completely new guy that doesn't know anything about Line6 and just bought a $1499 piece of equipment that isn't working right and he hasn't done his research needs to know what's going on.  I would say that a simple list of confirmed bugs from the staff would be enough to let that newbie know that his issue is being worked on. Also keeping him from returning it and forming a poor, misguided opinion of an awesome company.     

Although a sticky highlighting the "Don't ask about future developments" would help as well for those of us that keep wanting to peek behind the curtain.

super secret anti materials reactors tech.

... Ok, I would like to know when this will be implemented in my Helix and how close will it's use get me to beating the pants off the AXE FX, I mean they just use plutonium right?

I completely disagree on this.  As Oz said, bug-fixes are a different story but revealing your business strategy / development plan would be poor business sense.  Why would you ever want your competition to know what you're planning on doing?  Keep it secret.... keep it safe.... 

I would love to know when my helix will work properly but I haven't asked that ever in one of my post. I'm just keeping the date in my mind of when I got it and the day that return expires. Hope line 6 fixes bugs I have before then because I will not be butt hurt with a product that is faulty.

He has a very good point there and it is something that I will be keeping in the back of my mind as well.  If I had a Helix right now and I got to the last day I could return it and these issues were still not fixed, I would return it.  Thankfully I still have a few weeks to wait before mine even shows up so I am hoping these things are ironed out before then.  Still, when you pay $1499 for something, there is an expectation of it being useable, albeit yes with some bugs that need to be ironed out.  But some people are using these for live performances and are citing issues that would make me very leery of using them at all.  I don't think asking for a formal statement on when these issues will be fixed is going over the top.  I do personally think that they should be a little more transparent with what bug fixes they are working on, especially when people are getting near the halfway mark on their return windows.  It might instill a little more confidence in people.  I think the problem comes in when you guys start asking for future development plans as well.    

I did ask this question last week, politely, and got an answer for DI.  Still even with this, it would be nice if they posted some acknowledgements of the issue, what they are doing to solve it and any known steps to avoid it until it is solved.

http://line6.com/support/topic/16328-black-screen-of-death-and-freezing-issues/

This is true, but it really doesn't have anything to do with the 500X. Any amp is gonna do this. It's how our ears work...the relative volumes of different frequency ranges are perceived differently, depending on the amplitude. FRFR makes it a little better, but none of them are completely flat. Problem is worse with traditional guitar amps/speakers.

Yeah, I should have worded that better but seeing as the 500x was my first modeller that I have used in this manner, it just kind of came out that way.  What my sound guy had me do to get the flattest response out of my Altos was to hook a dual channel dual band EQ to them.  I put in a CD that I know very well and know how it should sound and adjust the EQ till the music sounds right.  Seems to work out really well for me.  Yeah the global EQ could do some of that but I have better control over the frequencies this way.

The level is part of it, but each room also has its own acoustics so you have to adjust the global EQ to suit the room in any case. The acoustics also change once the audience turns up, so you will also need to make final adjustments at the start of playing.

Yeah I'm aware of the room acoustics, that's what I got a sound guy for though so thank god I don't have to fiddle with that too!

This is one of the main reasons for the global EQ. When you get to a gig, play at gig level and adjust the global EQ to suit the room. This will then compensate all your patches equally. Usually, this is done either with a post-EQ like an MXR, or at the mixing desk, but the global EQ gives the HELIX operators the opportunity to compensate themselves.

Granted, I am still speaking out of pure conjecture since I dont have the Helix yet ... come on SW come on!  But I know with the 500x, adjusting the global EQ was never as effective as just making your patch at the intended level, or at least I haven't had much luck with doing that. 

this is not a matter of "suffering" or anything to do with line6 or any other processor....

it's physics... sound perception changes as the volume changes... fact.

Yup, I never said it was a L6 problem.  I know it's science.  But technology is freakin cool too and it's not outside of the realm of possibilities to somehow account for that Fletcher - Munsen curve, I couldn't tell you how... but we break boundaries all the time these days.  Since no one had really been talking about it, that's why I brought it up to see if it's just as prominent as it has been on past devices.

If so, no big deal, I've already learned to account for it on my 500x.  It's just good to know.

Just got done answering a question concerning the Fletcher-Munsen curve with a 500x and it dawned on me to ask the same about the Helix....

Will the Helix suffer from the same issue that the 500x did when cranking it up?  Patches made at low levels sound great at low levels but sounds horrible the louder you get, thus forcing you to make gig level patches at high volume to get something good.  I'd love to hear from some Helix users that have cranked the thing up.  I'm expecting the answer to be yes on this but man it would be cool if somehow that curve had somehow been accounted for.