silverhead

Very helpful. Thanks a bunch!

I will be working with a new band next week - my largest setup to date. It's a 9 member band. Inputs are 8 mics (5 vocals, 1 kick drum, 2 overhead drum), 1 stereo line in (keyboards) and 2 direct in (bass, guitar). I have an hour with them for sound check before show time. I've already created the M20d Setup and want to be as efficient as possible during the sound check. I've used Auto Trim before but only with a couple of input channels simultaneously. I'm looking for advice on how to use Auto Trim most effectively with these inputs. Specific questions are: - should I use it with all 8 mic channels simultaneously? If not, how should I proceed? - should I use it at all with the non-mic inputs, or just handle that manually and individually? - after the Auto Trim analysis is complete I know you are presented with an option: apply the suggested adjustments or not? This will happen while the band is somewhere in the middle of playing a song. If I select 'Yes - apply the adjustments' will there be an immediate sudden and noticeable change in overall volume level as the trim adjustments take effect? Or does the M20d also adjust the Level parameter for each channel to maintain overall volume level? In other words, it a specific channel's trim setting is increased by, say, 5 db is the volume level setting for that channel decreased by 5db or is the channel suddenly 5db louder as the band continues to play? Any other tips in working for the first time with a larger band with this setup would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Yeah - I'm not surprised that it's not power supply related; the early warnings of PSU issues usually relate to LCD screen display anomalies. I think it is an internal hardware issue - something in the USB circuitry is overheating. Take a look at the USB port on the back of the HD500X. There should be a little square rectangular plastic piece that covers the 4 wires/pins of the port. If that's missing and you can see the individual pins then your device needs servicing. Both the port and the internal circuit board need to be replaced.

I have used a POD HD500 in the past for simultaneous guitar and vocals as you describe. It worked well using the studio preamp (I forget exactly what it's called - mysteriously it was bundled with the EQ FX as I recall) with a touch of EQ, delay and reverb to taste. Getting the exact settings to your taste is relatively straightforward. It worked very well for me for a while. The main limitation I found is related to both a strength and weakness of the preset architecture. It's easy to switch presets and have a different guitar tone, and you can also adjust the vocal settings to taste for that specific guitar tone/song/preset. That's a strength. But in most cases you want to keep the same basic vocal tone while switching guitar settings. So I found that after a while I had many presets using vocals, most with the same vocal settings. And that's where the weakness emerged: sometimes I wanted to tweak my basic vocal settings - and I had to repeat/recreate those tweaks in every preset. There's no 'Copy Path B' feature between presets. The old Pod X3 had a great feature called Lock Tone 2 and I used it to maintain the same vocal settings while switching presets, uinless I wanted the vocal tone to change with the preset in which case I simply turned off the feature for that song/preset. It worked really well. But the POD HD dropped that feature and I remember being disappointed with that decision. In the end that is what prompted me to abandon the combined vocal+guitar approach in general with the Pod HD. I now use Helix but it does not have a Lock Tone 2 feature either. So I now go straight to mixer for vocals.

When using the L3t via 6 LINK as a monitor and sending the Helix XLR to FOH, use the L3t volume controls on its back panel to control the monitor level. Don't use the Helix master volume - it also controls the FOH level.

Interesting find. Good luck with it, and please do report back. I'd like to hear the outcome of this for future reference.

You need to update the firmware and the editor package. Go to the Downloads page (under the Support tab above). Select Helix in the middle (software) field - not the left (products) field. You will see a page of detailed installation instructions with a Get Download button at the bottom of the frame. Download the installer file and run it to install the editor, driver, and the Line 6 Updater program. Follow the instructions carefully from there.

Probably neither. I believe the global settings are not saved with any export and have to be set manually.

If you're going analog I would use the back panel connections. But you have the L6 LINK digital option too. You could test it with a standard XLR cable and if you prefer the digital connection to the analog then upgrade to the recommended AES/EBU cable.

You may have to restart your computer with the webcam disconnected to test properly.

Your suggested routing using the FX Loop should work fine. Just experiment with the loop level setting (Global Settings - Ins/Outs - page 2 Instrument vs. Line) to see what works best with your preamp/DI box. And always have a spare set of batteries. ;)

Just a note: historically, Logitech usb webcams have been problematic with Line 6 devices. Any chance you are using one?

All I can think of then is perhaps a usb conflict with some other connected usb device. You could try temporarily disconnecting all other usb devices and compare performance. If the problem persists then it's likely not a device conflict. But if your Edit syncing problem improves then you can start reconnecting devices one at a time until you find the culprit. Then you need to decide whether you want to (or can) disconnect that device before firing up the editor.

I added the 'change usb port' after my initial response. If you haven't yet tried that it might improve things.

The simplest thing to do that can minimize these timeouts is to use only the editor to make changes. Syncing problems are more common when you use both the device and the editor to make editing changes. Try to avoid touching the device at all when using the edit program. You can also try using a different USB port on your computer. A rear panel port is preferable to a front panel port because the front ports are often aggregated into an internal hub, and hubs are not recommended.

No - Line 6 does not have a light colour upgrade option/product.

Not sure how a USB stick would connect to Helix. The Helix USB connector is the 'wrong' end. Technically I think the terminology is host/client, and both Helix and a USB stick are clients. Helix would need a hardware upgrade - not going to happen. Maybe in the next gen device.

Here are the basics: http://line6.com/support/manuals/amplifitt http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/amplifi-products/ampl/ If you have specific questions after reading these sources please come back and ask. But be specific.

You can do better than that yourself. The HD500X Edit program runs in offline mode - you don't need the device. Download the edit program and the customtone file and load it into the editor for full viewing privileges!

Is there any reason why you wouldn't put the acoustic amp/DI at the front of the chain? ... Guitar -> Relay G70 -> LR Baggs DI -> XLR out -> Helix Mic input -> ........ That setup would more realistically mimic the typical built-in acoustic guitar preamp to a DI box. It would also allow you to use Helix phantom power for the DI box, eliminating the risk of the 9v battery crapping out on you mid-gig.

You're out of luck. The only way to get patches into the device (Helix Floor or Helix Rack) is to connect the device to a computer via USB and run the editor program on the computer.

I got a response today from the support ticket I opened on this. Here's what Line 6 said: "....we are aware of the bug and it will be fixed in the next update....."

When we say 'rebuild your presets' in Helix we don't mean rebuild them manually from scratch. There is a Rebuild feature in Helix that takes existing presets, usually from an earlier firmware version, and automatically rebuilds them to make sure they are compatible with the new firmware. That is done automatically at power up each time Helix detects that new presets have been imported that have not yet been rebuilt.

Create a completely empty preset in the HD400. No amp, no FX - nothing. That will allow you to record a completely 'dry' signal into your DAW. You can then use Pod Farm with the dry tone to provide your bass tone.

http://store.line6.com/hd-fully-loaded-bundle.html