silverhead

Line 6 has said that the Expand D10 will support L6 Link for PowerCab connectivity. I don’t know thwt they have made the same commitment for the DT amps.

Warning: This is a lengthy and future oriented post. Probably not for everyone. It’s aimed at users who use lots of presets, want to manage different band setups, want to share the Stadium device with other users, or… The handling of presets and setlists has fundamentally changed from Helix to Helix Stadium. You can no longer swap setlists in and out willy nilly because they contain only aliases to the actual presets that reside in the USER setlist, of which there is exactly one with a limit of 512 onboard presets at any time. Also, since setlists contain only aliases it is possible to accidentally end up with a setlist that is not synchronized with the onboard presets - e.g. importing a setlist containing an alias to a preset that has since been deleted from the USER setlist. Or (worse) exporting a preset from a custom setlist view, thereby exporting the alias and perhaps unintentionally overwriting the actual preset in your computer folder. Further, we know that the Showcase feature is coming and that it will support preset and snapshot changes at any point in a Song. When you put all this together it becomes clear that the USER setlist, custom setlists, and Songs (including audio stored on the microSD card) are an integrated dataset that must remain synchronized. How do you manage this from a workflow perspective? How do you keep your dataset synchronized and work around the 512 preset limitation? Easy to say ‘just remove the limit’ but there will always be a limit and no matter what it is it will eventually be reached because…. Well, because we can. Now, 512 presets seems like a lot to me but I am a studio player, not a multi-band gigging musician. If I find myself in a different situation someday and keeping things synchronized becomes complicated, the following is what I would do. There is a set of functions called Helix Stadium Maintenance that is accessible using a special startup sequence as described in the final section of the online manual. Hold down the Home and Song buttons when starting up. Among the maintenance functions is a Backup and Restore capability. The manual states that the Create Backup function saves the backup file to the inserted microSD card. That’s the key to maintaining different synchronized datasets, essentially different system images. You can use different microSD cards to store different system images, with each image being for a different purpose. For instance, you could have a different dedicated image/SD card for each band you belong to, or simply for overflow when you have exceed the 512 limit, or for different device users. Here’s a suggested workflow to utilize this strategy: At the end of each session you would need to: - power down the Helix Stadium device - restart it while holding down the Home and Song buttons. This will cause the device to start in the Helix Stadium Maintenance mode. - insert your desired microSD card and Create Backup - when complete, select the Shutdown option on the Maintenance screen At the beginning of each session you would need to: - restart the Helix Stadium device while holding down the Home and Song buttons. This will cause the device to start in the Helix Stadium Maintenance mode. - insert your desired microSD card and Restore Backup, selecting the desired backup file - select the Shutdown option on the Maintenance screen - restart the device normally This workflow would provide a means to work within the current limitation and ensure that you always have a system with a dataset that has synchronized onboard presets, custom setlists, IRs, Songs including audio files, and (bonus!) Global Settings.

Elaborating on the above….. The manual states that the Create Backup function saves the backup file to the inserted microSD card. That means each of you and your brothers could have your own dedicated SD card for personal use. At the end of each session you would need to: - power down the Helix Stadium device - restart it while holding down the Home and Song buttons. This will cause the device to start in the Helix Stadium Maintenance mode. - insert your personal microSD card and Create Backup - select the Shutdown option on the Maintenance screen At the beginning of each session you would need to: - restart the Helix Stadium device while holding down the Home and Song buttons. This will cause the device to start in the Helix Stadium Maintenance mode. - insert your personal microSD card and Restore Backup, selecting the backup file you created above - select the Shutdown option on the Maintenance screen - restart the device normally

Glad you got it working. I want to correct some inaccurate information I provided earlier. The Helix StadiumMaintenance screen is not available from the Menu icon. It is only available through a startup sequence. You can hold down either FS 6 and 12 (as I suggested) or the Home and Song buttons (as described in the manual) when powering up.

Try holding down footswitches 6 and 12 when powering up. Then select Restore Factory Defaults. When complete, choose the Shutdown option.

The only dry output I’m aware of is the assignable ReAmp Source Out that is available over the USB 7 and 8 channels. (See Global Settings) These are provided to allow you to record a dry output tapped directly from the assigned physical input (no processing applied other than the required A/D conversion) into your DAW for plugin or reamping purposes. The Direct Output in Global Settings for the USB 1/2 and S/PDIF allows you to select these outputs in the Output block of a preset, but they output the processed, not dry, signal. Otherwise you can get an almost dry signal from a physical output by creating an empty path in a preset and selecting the desired physical output in the Output block of that path. This involves both an initial A/D and a final D/A conversion.

There is a limit of 512 presets in the USER setlist, which is where all the actual presets live. Are you reaching that limit? If not there is no need to export and import setlists and presets. You and your brothers can live together on the device. Avoid Exporting a preset from a custom (not USER) setlist view. That exports the alias for the preset, and unless you’re careful it can overwrite the actual preset in the associated folder on your computer. If you are exceeding the limit then you will need to manage external files on your computer or SD card. I think the easiest and most reliable way to do that is to use the Backup and Restore options in the Helix Stadium Maintenance feature. I believe the backup filename is automatically assigned and time/date stamped so you will need to manually keep track of which backup belongs to whom among you and your brothers. That way you can avoid the multiple exports and imports of preset and setlists; each of you can Backup your own system image before shutting down and Restore it next time you use the device. That will also backup all your custom setlists, your IRs and your Global Settings. You can each manage your own system images.

Open the Ideascale Retirement banner at the top of this page. There you will find instructions for product feedback, such as feature requests.

Have you restarted the Helix Stadium? if it restarts correctly proceed to the following paragraph. If not, open a support ticket. Once you can see the main screen, In the top left corner you will see a menu button, an icon with several horizontal bars. One of the selections from the menu is Helix Stadium Maintenance. One of the maintenance options (top right area of the display) is Restore Factory Defaults.

To make an official feature request follow the instructions in the Ideascale Retirement banner at the top of this page.

Sounds like maybe a bug. Open a support ticket to report it.

While the Showcase feature is not yet available there is some publicly available knowledge about it. One thing we know is that the Song feature supports Preset/Snapshot changes at any point in the Song. So here’s a dilemma if Line 6 were to support Matrix Mixer settings on both a Song and Preset basis: the settings may be different. Which setting should take priority? Inevitably about half the users will be annoyed at the choice. Sure, there will probably be different ways around this but it highlights my point. Gain staging and levelling are fundamental aspects of audio production, and the worst way to address any level issue is to apply a band-aid at the final moment. If preset levels and backing track input levels are balanced beforehand there is no problem with global Matrix Mixer settings.

What type of Looper are you using? Can’t say what you’re missing; I suggest you read the Looper section in the online manual to make sure you’re not missing some operational detail for your chosen Looper type. Other than that my only observation if I understand correctly is that your preset is empty other than the Looper block. While unusual I think the Looper should still work but I guess it’s possible that it’s confused about whether to position itself in pre or post position. Try testing it again after adding another block to the preset.

Have you checked the Discard Edits setting in the Snapshots Panel? Make sure it’s set to Off. If it’s On the changes you make in any Snapshot will be discarded when you go to a different Snapshot unless you save the preset first.

I don’t know if you consider the new Agoura modelling to be an advanced feature or a basic function of a Helix or Stadium device, but I can tell you there is a world of difference in the playing dynamics. The touch, feel, and responsiveness of Agoura amps is astounding.

Yes, still true.

It’s global, at least per output (1/4”, XLR, Phones). Submit your request. There was an earlier topic about this. I’m not a retired pro sound designer but I think that having the Matrix Mixer settings global is OK as long as your presets and your Aux levels are balanced. In fact, the introduction of the Matrix Mixer in Helix Stadium might suggest that this is a new issue. It isn’t, and the Matrix just makes it more obvious. Preset levelling has been a topic of much conversation here for years, with some users finding that their preset levels bounce all over the place. While cumbersome balancing the levels is a one time effort that’s worth doing. That applies to both your guitar and mic inputs. Everyone needs to pay attention to this when creating any new preset; the output level of the new preset should be consistent with existing presets. After leveling your presets a global setting for your presets in the Matrix Mixer is fine. Lots of threads here about how to do this without using the Matrix Mixer. The same thing applies to the backing tracks through the Aux input. Again, for years before the Matrix Mixer came along users have been playing backing tracks through the Aux input (perhaps you have done so on your POD or Helix) and have faced the same issue: if each backing track comes in at a different level you have to deal with it. Another cumbersome but worthwhile one-time effort. And once that’s done a global setting for the Aux input in the Matrix Mixer is fine. In my opinion a Matrix Mixer that operates at a preset level is just putting a band-aid on the underlying issue: gain staging and levelling. The final stage of signal processing is the worst place to try to fix those issues.

Perhaps we should see what sort of discussion this topic generates before creating more.

Not directly but near the top of the Blocks section there's a link: https://line6.com/helix-stadium-models/

I just did a little test. I created a new custom setlist. As expected the view showed all Empty slots. I selected preset 1A and added an amp. I then saved the preset, still within the custom setlist view. I gave it a name when saving as a New Preset. It appeared as expected in the custom setlist view as preset 1A. I then immediately deleted the custom setlist, which disappeared from view as expected. Also as expected the new preset appeared and remained in the USER setlist where all presets actually live. It appeared not as 1A but as 10A which happened to be the first empty slot after the last named preset in the USER setlist view.

No way to say for sure but Line 6 may be influenced by customer feedback. I suggest that anyone having difficulty maintaining a WiFi connection with the Helix Stadium app/editor should open a support ticket.

Yeah, I wouldn’t expect the backup files (*.hxb) to be compatible. They are different hardware devices, meaning there’s different stuff to back up.

It makes sense to me that each custom setlist has the same number of slots since it’s possible that you might want every actual preset (the ones in the USER setlist) also to be included in the custom setlist. When you say “ I made some simple and quick presets in each..” I presume you mean in each setlist. But I’m confused by the phrasing. You ‘made’ the presets in the USER setlist even though the display focus was the custom setlist. My understanding is that when you selected an Empty slot in the custom setlist and began to build the preset it was built in the USER setlist, which contains the actual presets. When you Saved it the preset was Saved to the USER setlist while an alias to it was created and saved in the custom setlist. Question: when you deleted each of the two setlists did the presets you had created appear in the USER setlist? If my understanding is correct they should be. If they’re not I need to get a better understanding of what’s going on.

Each preset is a separate *.hlx file, generally a few KB in size. You speak of a file that’s 1.6 MB; that’s not a preset file and hence won’t be recognized by HX Edit. It might be more efficient to Export the Setlist files (*.hls) from the LT and Import them individually into the Floor. When you say MacAir I presume you mean a MacBook Air computer? Is that able to run the HX Edit program? You need to use thwt program to import/export the hlx or hls files.

Helix and Helix Native presets are compatible and can be exported/imported between the hardware and the plug-in. There are sometimes little hurdles like authorizations for licensed presets like the ones you mention. Also not all Helix devices are the same; the more powerful dual-DSP devices (e.g. Helix Floor) can create presets that less powerful single-DSP devices (e.g. HX Stomp) can’t load. Helix Native has a hardware compatibility feature that handles these discrepancies.