superficialt

I’m sure you’re right but it’s weird that I’m finding those limits. I’m using low output guitars, default levels (channel vol) on the amps/ cabs. It’s not like I’m boosting the signal loads. 
 

I will just have to turn the levels down across all my patches. 

I seem to be running into a problem of digital clipping on the Reverbs & delays in the Helix. It seems to happen with several of them, but in particular the (stereo) Dynamic Plate is the one I use, typically with quite a lot of Reverb dialled in. The dry amp / cab tone is as it should be, with no digital clipping, but if I add in a Reverb (after the amp/cab), I'll get some clipping and horrible high pitched hiss / crackles when I dig in.  

If I run the amp / cab on path 1, into path 2 with the Reverb on it, I can see that the signal indicator in the output block (end of path 1) is not hitting the top (hitting perhaps 80% when I dig in). I.e. there shouldn't be any clipping within the Helix. Moreover, the Reverb level isn't boosting the signal dramatically, and signal indicator at the end of path 2 (after the 'verb) is also fine .

If I reduce the level of the cab block (I.e. reducing the signal going into the reverb), the clipping disappears and life is good. I can either increase the level on the Reverb to gain the signal back up or run a gain block, or just increase the output volume. But this is annoying because I've got various presets dialled in otherwise.

It seems to me like the Reverbs / delays are prone to clipping, more so than other blocks and can distort (in a bad way) at much lower signal levels than other blocks. Has anyone else experience this? What am I missing? Is there supposed to be clipping as part of the effect*? I can't imagine a scenario where it sounds good! 

*I know some of the effects have headroom modelling built in (E.g. the transistor tape) but this is a different issue. I always set headroom to max, but IIRC the Dynamic Plate doesn't have this setting anyway.

Yeah, doesn't sound like an issue with the headphones. I'm using K240's and they seem decent. Certainly no issues with hiss.

I'm struggling to understand your setup - are you using the headphone out? It's possible that the headphone jack is screwy. You can use one of the other outputs on the back of the Helix to test - though you'll only get sound in one ear.

One quick thing to try - press the ground lift button on the back of the unit.

OK, thanks. I'll give it another go with some dedicated contact cleaner. I might need to start brushing up my soldering skills and prepare for a new tactile switch install at some point soon!

I see what you mean, I guess that option could be useful.

Maybe I'm missing a specific requirement but I think I have a complete workaround: Use the 6-button looper & set one footswitch to Rec/OD and another to Play/Pause (or Play/Stop - if you prefer to restart at the start of the loop as I do). When stopped, pressing Rec/OD will just start a new loop. I don't think you need any other functionality do you? 

One of my Helix (Floor)'s footswitches is misfiring. I performed the process of taking the unit apart and trying to clean the contacts in the switch which definitely helped a lot but has not eliminated the problem. I'm going to try it again but wondered if any gurus had suggestions for the best thing for cleaning in these switches. Last time I just used isopropyl alcohol but if there's something better I'll order some in.

Cabs sound great. In particular through headphones, panning one left and one right and introducing a small delay sounds huge (I’d been doing this with parallel paths and a delay block but it’s now super simple!). 

Couple of issues:

1) My backup won’t restore to the device. It said something about system offline so hopefully it was an internet thing that will fix itself if the server gets less overloaded. I’ll try again later. 
 

2) I can’t assign EXP to the cab mic placement. I was hoping to use that to sweep across and test the effect. Is this a bug or intentional? 
 

If I can get my presets back I’ll be v happy with this update. 

One of the footswitches (FS 8) on my Helix Floor seems to be malfunctioning. Most of the time it functions normally, but perhaps 25% of the time it seems to 'double tap' I.e. pressing the footswitch turns an effect ON and then immediately OFF again. On many of my patches, I have it set as the looper and it creates these really short loops (100ms or something at a guess) which obviously sound terrible. It's only that one switch. It's not set to momentary latching or anything. 

The unit is a couple of years old, out of warranty I think (I should check). Rarely gigged and not at all in the last year. It's certainly not been abused or got wet or dirty (but I guess dust gets everywhere). 

I suspect a hardware fault, but what are the things to try?

Software update just in case? 

Compressed air?

Spray some cleaning alcohol in there?

Dismantle the unit and have a look?

What I was suggesting is that if you want to start on beat 3, press to overdub on E.g. beat 1, then start playing on beat 3, stop playing on the next beat 3, then turn off overdubbing at your convenience. I don't see how that could introduce a 0.5s gap? There's no harm in a 'double' recording of no sound. 

@harryguenter

When you create a loop, timing the beginning and end is obviously crucial. But there's no requirement to time an overdub accurately*. Just tap to overdub at any point in the loop, as long as you start/stop playing at the correct point you're fine. 

Some standalone loopers have 'hold down to overdub' which I would find annoying. On the floor units you would probably be able to set this up using command centre if you wanted (separate actions for press and release), but I suspect these options are not available for the Stomp which doesn't have the 6-button looper.

The looper in the Helix isn't perfect. I've not come across your issue, but it seems that there is limited memory for it to function. If you 'undo' a layer and then immediately overdub, you can get weird artefacts where some of the previous layer (the first half a second or so of the loop) are evident in the new overdub. Which can really ruin it! You have to be careful not to be too quick with the overdubs. 

I use the looper loads, but it's the one feature that is a tiny bit disappointing in the Helix. I have never thought I needed any other pedals / amps etc but a better looper (with drum tracks please) would be killer. Suspect it's pie in the sky though. 

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It's a pitty that you can arrange a second switch for stopping the loop (command section for looper) but not deleting it (quietly) when using press+hold.

If you have a separate footswitch for 'record' then pressing that immediately deletes any previous loops and starts recording. So this can solve the issue of 1s unwanted playback. 

*I'm sure there are some people that might want to initiate an overdub at a specific point (E.g. at the peak of a swell or something difficult to achieve another way), but for most cases it really shouldn't matter.

Even though we might think of electronics being bombproof, things do expand/contract/bend due to thermal conditions causing soldered connections to work loose, and things corrode due to changing humidity etc. Obviously actually using the product increases the rate of those things, but there will be a certain amount of ageing. So, all other things being equal, I'd rather have a unit that was manufactured more recently.

That said, it's probably a non-issue for 99% of units, and the Helix that's most useful is the one in front of you now. I'm definitely in the camp of "it doesn't matter", but I can see why it might bother some people. 

18 hours ago, hideout said:

Well, for me, unless Line6 figures out a way to use external controllers to control the built-in looper, no thanks.  

Perhaps I have missed something, but can't you assign that via command centre? Certainly, the footswitches can output midi signals, and you can assign commands (E.g. footswitches) to the various looper functions. I assume you also assign external midi commands to the looper.

But the 30s limit is indeed annoying. The ability to switch multiple loops on/off would be good too, although I get both these functionalities through my iPad via USB and Loopy HD. 

I have an RC-3 and a Helix floor. The RC-3 doesn't do a lot that the Helix looper won't do, so I rarely use them together. It's just easier to chuck a looper block at the end of the Helix signal chain. As I understand it, the looper doesn't 'cost' much DSP, and you're already using a block for send/return, although footswitches are in short supply on the Stomp. 

I just use a USB cable from my phone or iPad if I want backing tracks. 

This is how I know if my socks are becoming threadbare (thin enough to get a capacitance reading, I guess). 

It's kind of annoying. If using 'normal' foot switch assignments, then touching the button only takes you to that block's options, which doesn't take you off the home screen. 

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In preset 1 & 2 have the expression switch set to “next preset”. In preset 3 I’d like to set it to go to preset 1 (in other words I want to be able to just loop between these 3 presets). 

I don't know about the exp footswitch compatibility, but for a normal footswitch, instead of setting the switch to 'next preset', trying setting it to a specific preset.

E.g.

In preset 1, FS selects preset 2

In preset 2, FS selects preset 3

In preset 3, FS selects preset 1

(I have a single footswitch that does this to flip between two presets when I'm looping.)