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Helix Bug Reports


HonestOpinion
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Yes many people have experienced this and worse. Complete volume drop out. Line 6 removes many threads and replies to make it look like it's an isolated problem. When I spoke to Line 6 they told me they had never heard of this problem although I have spoken to many of you via private messages who experienced the same thing. They currently have my helix, will no doubt replace it with another that will inevitably do the same thing. My advice to you is to get your money back and wait for a legitimate company to make something comparable that will actually work.

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Yes many people have experienced this and worse. Complete volume drop out. Line 6 removes many threads and replies to make it look like it's an isolated problem. When I spoke to Line 6 they told me they had never heard of this problem although I have spoken to many of you via private messages who experienced the same thing. They currently have my helix, will no doubt replace it with another that will inevitably do the same thing. My advice to you is to get your money back and wait for a legitimate company to make something comparable that will actually work.

Line 6 doesn't delete threads or comments here. The only time they ever would is if it's a matter of someone personally attacking someone else of blatantly disregarding the terms of service. They won't delete comments or threads just because they are critical of things.

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Sure they don't....

 

I can assure you they don't...

 

Sorry you're having issues with your Helix. I hope they get it taken care of in one way or another. The latest firmware does address dropouts that happen when using the expression pedal toe switch.

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Wow... just wow...

This is their forum that they have out here for us to join in. You, jsiegel2015, are really being harsh.

Line 6 doesn't have a long-term vested interest in NOT taking care of problems users, especially early adopters, are experiencing.

I've been using their products for 15 years, they've been outstanding.

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Wow... just wow...

This is their forum that they have out here for us to join in. You, jsiegel2015, are really being harsh.

Line 6 doesn't have a long-term vested interest in NOT taking care of problems users, especially early adopters, are experiencing.

I've been using their products for 15 years, they've been outstanding.

I wish there was a like button for this Peter. However I will wait for the vitriol that will most certainly be aimed in your direction.

 

I guess the hundreds of people who are extolling the virtues of the device in forums everywhere just don't know what they're talking about. Yes there are quirks. If anyone bought a v1.0 device and expected perfectly smooth sailing I don't understand why. Even cars get recalled for updates and they are just a bit more than $1,500.

 

Meanwhile I'll just keep playing and having fun with it.

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Harsh? What's harsh is selling something for that price that does not work. I have been using their stuff for 15 years also (never live because they aren't good enough) and when they are less than $500 it's one thing, no harm no foul, I can just throw it in the junk pile, when you want to charge what legitimate companies charge for a product the one thing it needs to do out of the box is work. It does not. Save your line 6 homer comments for one of the other people who can't afford good equipment.

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...I have been using their stuff for 15 years also (never live because they aren't good enough) and when they are less than $500 it's one thing, no harm no foul, I can just throw it in the junk pile,...

 

I have a beta rack and control in my posession, stuck on v1.02 right now, with the quirks associated with it, and yet, I used it live today successfully, only a few days after first encountering it. No problems. Sounded great. Worked fine.

 

jsiegel, if you can't even use their products live, why are you throwing good money (and time) after bad? Just go with something else, man.

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I played live last night for the first time with the helix and something happened that never happened before. I have played for hours setting it up and practicing but when I turned the helix on it worked pretty well for an hour then at one point I kicked on my wah and the sound stopped. I turned it off, modulated the pedal, hit other switches, there was no sound. I turned on the tuner and it was getting signal from my guitar, turned it off and still no output. I then power cycled it and it came back on UNTIL I tried the wah again. I moved the patch, deleted several blocks thinking it was a memory or a DSP problem but as soon as the wah was touched, all output was gone. I looked thru the forum and see nothing. I am running 1.03 but in the 1.04 fixes nothing is mentioned. I can deal with a lot of things but total mute cannot happen especially reauiring the 30-45 second reboot. Anyone?

Hey js

 

Helix FW v1.04.3 solves the audio drop-out problem when using the wah

 

I hope this helps to restore your faith in Line 6 and the Helix!!

 

Seeya

 

Joe

 

PS... The boot time is now 24 seconds

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Maybe it solved your problem but it did not solve mine. It is not a software issue. And as I have said I have no faith in line 6, I use their crap to practice with never to play live, I don't play live with cheap crap.

 

js, When you get your Helix back, it will be new hardware and the newest firmware

 

If anyone signs into their Line 6 account and opens a support ticket Line 6 will ensure that you have good hardware.... I know that they have been working on this problem since you first noted it...

 

I had the same problem as you with the wah cutting the audio occasionally when engaged... When I reported the problem via a support ticket, they responded to my support request the same day and a few days later they had the Helix FW v1.04.3 released.

 

Not only do I believe in Line 6, but, I am getting really good sounds from my Helix....my band buddies noticed that my sound "really has balls"!!!!

 

Seeya

 

Joe

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And I'm so sorry for going on about having something I purchased from line 6 that doesn't work for hundreds of people right out of the box. I'm guessing that line 6 has a lot of "users" that defend them on these forums as do a lot of companies who need people to say good things about them.

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Maybe it solved your problem but it did not solve mine. It is not a software issue. And as I have said I have no faith in line 6, I use their crap to practice with never to play live, I don't play live with cheap crap.

 

Seem like you expext to get crap from Line6, so why complain when you get what you expect?

You've been using Line6 for 15 years without satisfaction. Are you masochistic?

Why not find some crap that is more satisfying? 

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For info of all and especially Line6 I can happily report that the bug wasn't actually a bug at all. I had tried different cables and guitars but a member, HonestOpinion, suggested it could be the speakers. It wasn't actually the speakers but it led to me finding a faulty channel on my mixing desk so the problem wasn't with the Helix at all.

For what it's worth from what I have heard of the unit so far it is very impressive. It has made me sound like a better player overnight which can only be good :)

Thanks for the replies but I thought I should absolve Line6 of any blame (and I must say that I haven't been influenced by Line6 in case anyone was wondering). It was just me failing to check all other possibilities first.

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For info of all and especially Line6 I can happily report that the bug wasn't actually a bug at all. I had tried different cables and guitars but a member, HonestOpinion, suggested it could be the speakers. It wasn't actually the speakers but it led to me finding a faulty channel on my mixing desk so the problem wasn't with the Helix at all.

For what it's worth from what I have heard of the unit so far it is very impressive. It has made me sound like a better player overnight which can only be good :)

Thanks for the replies but I thought I should absolve Line6 of any blame (and I must say that I haven't been influenced by Line6 in case anyone was wondering). It was just me failing to check all other possibilities first.

 

Feels good to find what's really wrong and fix it, though, doesn't it...

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For info of all and especially Line6 I can happily report that the bug wasn't actually a bug at all. I had tried different cables and guitars but a member, HonestOpinion, suggested it could be the speakers. It wasn't actually the speakers but it led to me finding a faulty channel on my mixing desk so the problem wasn't with the Helix at all.

For what it's worth from what I have heard of the unit so far it is very impressive. It has made me sound like a better player overnight which can only be good :)

Thanks for the replies but I thought I should absolve Line6 of any blame (and I must say that I haven't been influenced by Line6 in case anyone was wondering). It was just me failing to check all other possibilities first.

 

Sorry to hear about the faulty channel but glad to hear you got it sorted out and that is was not the Helix. Now on to the fun!  :D

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LOOPER BUG

USB RECORDING ISSUES

v.1.04.3

Mac OSX El Cap (attempted on both MBP 2011 8Gb and MacMini 2012 8Gb)

 

Two items I noticed with the looper which otherwise has been a very usable tool... 

 

1st: when a loop is running, and ONCE button is pressed, then EXIT is pressed before the loop stops (to change other parameters), then enter LOOPER again, the ONCE  and PLAY/STOP rings remain lit (even though the loop has stopped), and the first tap of PLAY/STOP only turns off the rings (doesn't begin the loop). The PLAY/STOP button needs to be pressed again to begin the loop.

If the loop stops BEFORE exiting looper, lights go out, and everything works fine to play with a single press.

 

2nd: More of a hopeful request than a bug, but it would be great to have the option to assign foot switches within the LOOPER block that are unused by the looper and even better if we could reassign the 1/2/FULL and FWD/REV buttons to other usable parameters.

 

USB Recording and monitoring using Helix Audio for IN and OUT seems to have trouble working simultaneously in all DAWs I've tried, Audacity, Live, Gband, etc. Typically starts fine and gradually dithers into digital artifacts (beeps and clicks) until no music is heard. Audio is preserved and is audible if OUTPUT is changed to system rather than Helix OR if the DAW is closed, meaning it seems to be a memory leak or processing overload as it relates to the software interacting with Helix. Universal audio is affected (like playing an audio track in other software in the background, even with DAW playback stopped) until whichever DAW is closed. Then it clears up immediately. Hope that

is stated clearly. The workaround is to utilize another audio interface for monitoring, but this is cumbersome if it is meant to function. I have verified all software and OS are up to date. Rate is set at 48, but have tried 44.1 also with same result.

NOTE: INPUT selection does not seem to matter. Even if INPUT is changed to something other than Helix Audio, OUTPUT signal is still corrupted until DAW is quit or OUTPUT device is changed.

 

Thanks.

G

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I am able to update helix through the line 6 updater app on OSX El Capitan, but when I open the helix librarian application, it states 'no device' or 'service not online.' I know the app knows it's connected because when I unplug my usb cable to helix the app immediately switches to 'helix device not connected.' If there is some process for connecting to the helix that I don't know about, please let me know, because all I am doing is connecting via usb and opening the app when helix is on.

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Potential MIDI issue

Using firmware 1.04.3.

I was using a Strymon BigSky connected to the MIDI out of the Helix. I had been using the Strymon on channel 1. (I have also been using the BOSS SY-300 on channel 3 if that makes any difference.) After one of the last couple firmware updates, the six "instant" MIDI message slots that trigger on patch changes no longer controlled the Strymon on channel 1. I could still set the exact same MIDI control using the footswitches on channel 1. I checked all of the Strymon settings, and everything was in order as far as I could tell. And since it worked with the footswitches, it couldln't be the Strymon. So I switched it to channel 2 and changed all the Helix messages to channel 2 and now it works fine. So, as far as I can tell, the problem is just MIDI channel 1 and only on the instant MIDI messages that trigger on patch changes. Currently, the fix is to change to channel 2. I hope this helps.

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Huge problems using the Librarian - I've tried to move the Setlists around and the Factory lists move fine, but any of my custom set lists are getting completely garbled - the patch names don't appear, blank spaces appear and where the patch names are correct, the patch itself is random (e.g., a bunch of patches are all the same and completely different than what it';s supposed to be.

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@greggerboy

A couple of us have seen this behaviour using Helix as a USB interface. I'm convinced it's wordclock drift. I think the Helix isn't connected ring properly with the clock master after initial sync and starts to drift almost immediately

Unfortunately core audio hides that stuff and the helix stub doesn't give you any lock information

I'm curious as to why everyone isn't having this issue though

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@greggerboy

A couple of us have seen this behaviour using Helix as a USB interface. I'm convinced it's wordclock drift. I think the Helix isn't connected ring properly with the clock master after initial sync and starts to drift almost immediately

Unfortunately core audio hides that stuff and the helix stub doesn't give you any lock information

I'm curious as to why everyone isn't having this issue though

 

Interesting. I haven't had any issue with recording with Helix's USB audio ever since well before the release candidate. I've been using Windows 10 most of the time. I use the Helix both for input and for monitoring, and I've not had any issues. I've even done re-amping and used multiple audio streams.

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Interesting. I haven't had any issue with recording with Helix's USB audio ever since well before the release candidate. I've been using Windows 10 most of the time. I use the Helix both for input and for monitoring, and I've not had any issues. I've even done re-amping and used multiple audio streams.

 

 

Hi Phil

I've only tried on on Mac so far. It is consistent and there doesn't seem to be any options around clock other than default

 

I am using it on Windows 7 with Reaper and I haven't had any issues either.  I reamped without any problems.  

 

One thing to note for my Windows brethren: Helix does NOT play well with ASIO4ALL.  I have the Helix and a Focusrite and wanted to use them both at the same time and can't do it.  I wanted to drive my studio monitors from the Focusrite but I have to toggle devices back and forth.  Talked with support and this is their response.  They will not support ASIO4ALL implementations.  You have to use the Helix driver.  I had stability issues like the ones mentioned above when I was using ASIO4ALL.  Completely cleared up when I went back to the native Helix driver.  Less convenient, but very stable.

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I don't have a problem using it as an audio interface or updating it, just with the librarian. I think for some reason the signal just drifts away to the point where it is very weak because (and this is really weird), I have noticed if I constantly move the volume pedal while the application starts up, everything works, for a few seconds, or until I stop moving it, then it goes back to not being able to use.

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Here is an example this is after a minute or so

Notice how re-setting the driver re-syncs

I know my buffer is at 128 it's the same st any setting

 

 

I get a very similar problem on Windows 7 - lots of crackles and pops while playing and recording - it makes the Helix pretty much unusable as an audio card, I only use it when I want to record my variax so I can get the mags and the emulated dry sound.

 

Now I've noticed that it works fine right after a reboot, but if you leave the computer and switch off (did not unplug first) the Helix then turn it back on (while the computer is running) that's when it happens. The only workaround (if you can call it that) is to reboot - and *then* it works fine. I rarely reboot my computer, next time I do I'll run more tests (like try to switch to another audio device before turning off the Helix) and report what I find.

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Helix running latest firmware 1.04.03

Macbook Pro running El Capitan

Scarlett 2i4 Interface.

 

Ive only been using my Helix for a few weeks after buying it in late December and I have a bug whereby after either a few hours or a few minutes the Helix will lock up on the current preset.

Everything else becomes unresponsive. Switches, knobs and pedal. The only way i can clear the issue is to switch off and back on again.

I have tried various firmware to see if it helped and reinstalled all the patches but this never helps. You can be playing away for an hour then try to switch a patch or move up and down and nothing happens. You are stuck on your last preset while the rest of the machine goes into lockdown.

I've raised a ticket with support and let Thomann know as it may be getting shipped back if this cant be resolved.

Anyone else came across this?

Cheers,

Fraze.

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Hey guys, recently bought a ton of your gear (Helix, JTV-59, l3t) and loving it.

Sounds amazing.

 

Having a bug with the helix and variax though. Can get the helix to force my guitar model no problem, volume and tone are also force-able with the pedal, however I cant get it to force my tunings. I have the knob set to custom so unless theres a sneaky setting somewhere I think this is a bug. 

 

Can't wait til this is fixed, keep up the good work.

 

1.04.03

windows 7

jtv-59

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