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Helix FAQ


Digital_Igloo
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I use a roland gr-55 for acoustic sounds, alternate tunings and some synth that i mix with regular guitar sound. If i use 2 inputs on the

 

Helix (one for regular guitar one for the GR) can I turn inputs on or off, and mix or separate inputs at patch level?

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I know I've heard you can copy and paste blocks, which is great and will be a big time saver. Does that function extend to entire presets? Will the pc/mac software go further and allow for setting up defaults for fx blocks and amps, naming them, and being able to select them from a favorites list instead of a static list?

 

Copying presets is as easy as saving one to a different location. At launch, there's no writing of user model defaults—copying and pasting blocks is the workaround (for now).

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First off, I'd like to say thanks for listening and producing a sweet new product! I put pitch delay in idea scale, of course, others may have as well but my question is on that. 1. Is it a stereo effect? 2. How many scale choices does it have? 3. What is the pattern of the pitch shifted trails, if that makes sense.

Of course, I assume that's what the delay harmony effect that is highlighted in the front panel of the helix in the picture is.

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You may have missed my questions from a couple days ago:

 

I'm pretty stoked. Really looking forward to hearing this baby! I've been extremely satisfied with my HD500, gigging several days a week for a few years with it, but better modeling is always welcome! Below are some features I'm interested in:

 

1) Have you included a mix or bypass control for fx such as distortion so we don't have to resort to PITA routing schemes to bypass them? I use the control pedal to dial from clean to distorted, and have to set up two paths in HD500 to accomplish this (one path holds the pedal, the other doesn't).

 

2) Will L6 offer a new external control pedal? The current one is pretty weak.

 

3) Can you say if it will have a better auto wah? The Mutron was never very guitar friendly, and was IMHO the wrong piece to model.

 

4) Any new compressors, especially rack models? Can we get some DBX 160X overeasy or other soft knee in the house?

 

5) Obviously, hearing is the final answer, but could you go into a bit more detail about the new modeling itself and the improved capabilities of the unit to recreate natural amp feel and sound?

 

Thanks!

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Pod HD500 suffers big lags (and silence) through patches with only effect loaded (no amps) and every digital multifx lags a bit at the patch change. I think is impossibile to have this 100% solved.

Line6, you did a great job but please really consider include the "scene" mode from the launch or at least assure it will come with in an early update: it will solve _all_ the problems regarding lags an spillovers and it is only a matter of software programming! With 32 effects per patch the "scene" mode will be top notch and it will make this a killer machine.

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I have been considering purchasing TC Electronics Viscous Vibe pedal to go with my 500X. The video of the Helix U-Vibe model blew that pedal out of the water to my ears. I was also looking at Strymon's Time Line and I am looking forward to hearing comparisons of the Helix with its competitors now that Line6 is in the higher $$$ arena.

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New here... I'm curious about the pitch shifter on the Helix, will it be in real time and not suck out the tone, something comparable if not better than the Digitech Whammy DT? Also, will there be enough space at launch with the plan of adding on new amps, effects, and cabs in future updates? I'd like to see a Diezel VH-4 model one day. Lastly, What's the highest number of EQ bands you can achieve with a graphic EQ pedal on the Helix? 10 band? 15 band? 30 band? Really excited to hear more demos and hopefully see some 7 or 8 string metal demos of the Helix as well. 

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Pod HD500 suffers big lags (and silence) through patches with only effect loaded (no amps) and every digital multifx lags a bit at the patch change. I think is impossibile to have this 100% solved.

 

Line6, you did a great job but please really consider include the "scene" mode from the launch or at least assure it will come with in an early update: it will solve _all_ the problems regarding lags an spillovers and it is only a matter of software programming! With 32 effects per patch the "scene" mode will be top notch and it will make this a killer machine.

The Boss GT-100 is basically instantaneous - as good as any amp I've ever tried.

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Hey guys, I'm mostly a bass player (though I do dabble with them skinny guitars too). Had a Variax bass once and I've got a JTV-89 as my only electric guitar. Some experience playing through a buddy's PODs but no tweaking.

I'm potentially very interested in a Helix as it could fulfill most of my needs. If it sounds great, that is.

 

 

1) How bass friendly is the Helix? Were any bass player involved in the process? Is a bass demo coming?

 

2) More specifically curious about synth-oriented effects and envelope filters... for which the Eventide H9 has been disappointing.

 

3) Does the parallel processing feature a crossover mode for multi-band processing? If not can it be done easily with EQ?

 

4) Any way to easily organize presets "per gig" so I don't accidentally recall my "industrial fuzz octave" during my solo acoustic guitar/vocal thingy?

 

Routing's very flexible. Each of the two paths can be serial (1 in into 1 out), parallel (1 in split and then merged to 1 out), parallel (2 ins into 1 out), parallel (1 in into 2 outs), true parallel (2 ins into 2 outs) or "super serial" with up to 16 block locations (DSP permitting). Then each of Path 1's outputs can be routed into either (or both) of Path 2's inputs. And, for good measure, Path 1 and 2 can both be "super serial" and routed into each other for up to 32 block locations (again, DSP permitting).

 

But the same input could be routed to both paths effectively resulting in 4-way parallel processing right?

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No one is addressing this........IS THERE LAG BETWEEN SWITCHING PATCHES WITH DIFFERENT AMP MODELS? thanks.

It's been addressed several times; I should probably add it to the FAQ. We don't know, as optimizing preset switching time is one of the last things to do. There's no such thing as perfectly seamless preset switching, unless we used four DSPs and charged waaaaay more. We're including templates for simple switching from within a single preset. The Split blocks can act as Ys, A/Bs, or Crossovers, and switching between the paths can be either instant (via footswitch) or dynamic (controlled via expression pedal, Variax knob, or MIDI CC).

 

1) How bass friendly is the Helix? Were any bass player involved in the process? Is a bass demo coming?

 

2) More specifically curious about synth-oriented effects and envelope filters... for which the Eventide H9 has been disappointing.

 

3) Does the parallel processing feature a crossover mode for multi-band processing?

 

4) Any way to easily organize presets "per gig" so I don't accidentally recall my "industrial fuzz octave" during my solo acoustic guitar/vocal thingy?

 

But the same input could be routed to both paths effectively resulting in 4-way parallel processing right?

1) One of our product managers is the bass player in a pretty well-known metal band. Line 6 has tons of bassists, including the Senior VP of engineering.

2) TBD, but we have a crazy 3-oscillator synth with 24 parameters.

3) Yes.

4) You can easily reorder presets with one knob from the Setlist screen. Plus, the librarian software makes it dead simple to drag and drop tones from one setlist to another.

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The M13/M9/M5 units and the HD500 use the cheap tactile foot switches (which pushes a tiny spring to turn on/off the effect). Sometimes the cheap tactile foot switches fail to turn off/on during practice and worst off all during a live show!

 

Will the Helix have more reliable Carling Momentary type foot switches or SSS (Solid State Switch) foot switches?

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The M13/M9/M5 units and the HD500 use the cheap tactile foot switches (which pushes a tiny spring to turn on/off the effect). Sometimes the cheap tactile foot switches fail to turn off/on during practice and worst off all during a live show!

 

Will the Helix have more reliable Carling Momentary type foot switches or SSS (Solid State Switch) foot switches?

The Helix switches are like the upgraded HD500X switches. I don't know if they are the exact same mechanism as the HD500X, but they are definitely not the same as the M-series and HD500.
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Can you get soft synths(audio) from a DAW into/thru it over the USB?

 

Yes, and trigger it via MIDI notes from the switches. You can even label the switches after the notes, if you like. We'll have a MIDI bass pedal template.

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I can't remember if i saw it or not while reading through the threads on the helix but is the helix good with unity gain while using it in a 4CM. Ive had issues getting the HD500X to be even level so that it would be just my stomp boxes for my amp. How does the Helix control amp channeling? is it by a preset or can i change it with a footswitch within a preset? If this can completely control my amp and the overdrive and distortion boxes sound good I am probably selling some stuff off for this thing.

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OK, just to clarify a previous question: if I have a TRS cable hooked up to my amp, I can control 2 functions (say Channel 1/2 and Boost on/off). If I need more control (Mesa Mk V etc), then hook up an RJM Amp Gizmo via MIDI and control it that way from Helix. Right?

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My wishlist: Master section / AxeFx-like Scenes

 

It would be awesome for the Helix (maybe in some firmware updates?) to be able to have a sort of "MASTER" section to which I can apply some effects and replicate it in other patches.

This would allow me to sculpt a single sound (f. ex a TS + Marshall SIM with that cab, that mike, and that eq) and use it for a variety of patches.

Instead of copying and pasting this sound through different patches, as I often do with my HD500, I could control it in one single place, so if that sounds needs tweaking, I need not to change its parameters all over the affected patches.

 

That's a great idea !!!

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Yes, the Helix application's interface can be resized in real time. Someone on IdeaScale asked for it, and others voted it up.

 

 

Personally, I've been using Helix with a single L2t.

 

Oooh that was me.  Well, I was at least one of the people who complained about the fixed windows size of HD500X Edit.  So it sounds like I won't need to use the windows magnifier utility to actually be able to read the editor window on my 3K resolution laptop screen!

 

I have a DT25 and it's pretty lame that the patches won't automatically switch the amp setup like on the HD500X.  Reading between the lines on what you say above, it almost seems like line6 is just saying "get full range speakers, forget about the dream rig thing".  I bought the DT25 because I already had the HD500X, and thought the idea of a tube amp automatically changing its hardware configuration to match what the POD was emulating was really cool.  But a normal power amp/full range speaker setup seems the way to go for the Helix.  (?)

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Not quite a Helix question, but is there possibly a POD HX Farm VST coming?

 

The Helix Control looks great and would be preferable, but is there a decent setup where the HD500 could be used as the control for Helix Rack? It could be nice to have the HD500 as a backup in case of disaster. 

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I have a DT25 and it's pretty lame that the patches won't automatically switch the amp setup like on the HD500X.  Reading between the lines on what you say above, it almost seems like line6 is just saying "get full range speakers, forget about the dream rig thing".  I bought the DT25 because I already had the HD500X, and thought the idea of a tube amp automatically changing its hardware configuration to match what the POD was emulating was really cool.  But a normal power amp/full range speaker setup seems the way to go for the Helix.  (?)

I don't expect Line 6 to just out and out agree with you publicly, but as an DT25 owner, the writing is on the wall with Helix, especially with signal routing through LINK. The optimum one cable sound source is an FRFR like StageSource with Helix.

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Reading between the lines on what you say above, it almost seems like line6 is just saying "get full range speakers, forget about the dream rig thing".  I bought the DT25 because I already had the HD500X, and thought the idea of a tube amp automatically changing its hardware configuration to match what the POD was emulating was really cool.  But a normal power amp/full range speaker setup seems the way to go for the Helix.  (?)

 

Not at all. We love our DTs. The issue is simple—Helix's signal and output routing would have to be designed like HD500's if it were to behave the same way with DTs. There are simple workarounds today to get 80% of HD500X's L6 LINK functionality with Helix, which is actually more like 95% of L6 LINK functionality that people actually use. I don't believe there's a single person on the planet using wet-dry-dry-wet stereo with four DTs, which the Dream Rig can currently accomplish.

 

And 4 lb heavier.  Wow.   Is most of that the unibody aluminum case? or is that much more electronics?

 

It's mainly all the internal hardware. A side bonus of the extruded aluminum (besides strength) is that it's lighter than steel. But yeah, you're not stuffing Helix in your pocket.

 

What is the specified impedance for headphones?

 

Will have to check. 12 Ohms? I forget. It's a loud headphone amp designed to drive even super-high impedance studio phones, so like HD500X, if you crank the PHONES knob up with very low impedance headphones (and don't do this—save your hearing!), you may notice some distortion.

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Can I have more details about the switching options within the single preset?
Is there a mode/option when I press fs1 (that of course engages some effects loaded in the preset) and then when I press fs2 other effects are activated and fs1 deactivates automatically with its effects?

Thanks.

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Can I have more details about the switching options whitin the single preset?

Is there a mode/option when I press fs1 (that of course engages some effects loaded in the preset) and then when I press fs2 other effects are activated and fs1 deactivates automatically with its effects?

 

You can do that with a single switch. Each Stomp mode footswitch can be assigned to up to eight items (processing blocks, parameter toggles, Command Center messages). If some blocks are enabled and others are bypassed, pressing the switch will toggle the bypass state of all of them. Stomp mode footswitches can be momentary or latching.

 

You could also assign the Split > A/B Mix parameter to a footswitch and toggle between two completely different signal paths, with or without the same outputs. If the expression pedal (or Variax knob or MIDI CC) is assigned to that same A/B Mix parameter, you can seamlessly blend between the paths.

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