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Lots of bugs...


zooey
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Don't have a Helix yet, it's coming, but besides excited, I'm a little scared. There are so many apparently real bug reports here. It's seriously great that they're getting reported and talked about, but it kind of makes it seem like it's still early going in firmware-land, not quite soup yet.

 

In people's experience, are bugs getting fixed? When they are, do new ones often get introduced?

 

In other words, is it getting better?

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As a beta tester (who is often running firmware y'all don't have yet) I can tell you that even the BETA stuff is getting really rock solid. Yes, bugs are getting fixed all the time, even some you guys never hear about because only the beta testers experience them.

 

It's soup.

 

It's there.

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Also, understand that this is a user support forum. People mostly come here to seek help with problems they are having. The vast majority of users who aren't experiencing problems don't come here. That's why it seems like a lot of discussions here talk about problems. Don't take this as representative of the average user experience.

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There are bugs in everything released today, including gas powered fusion hammers. Its a way of life now. Line 6 does not repair hammers that I know of, but they are fixing the bugs in their products. Please see the updates in the downloads area for patch updates and fixes.

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Thanks folks, good points all. Good to know things are improving.

 

I'm a software dev myself (not audio though, so far), and yup, *everything* has bugs. Question is a) does it lose or destroy data, b) does it seriously interfere with most people's use of the tool? I'm not hearing about data corruption issues (unlike the Amplitube preset overwriting bug I reported, which they confirmed a month ago and promised an urgent fix for that hasn't appeared...), and most people seem to be enjoying Helix. So overall, I guess I should just chill, stop second-guessing myself, wait until I get mine (I postponed it a couple weeks due to insane life ATM), and see how it goes.

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I was a beta tester also, and I've got to say that it's been quite awhile since I've run into a bug that actually has any real effect on my everyday and gigging use of the Helix. Fortunately, it seems that the nastiest ones that causes audio drop outs or unexpected shutdowns have been dealt with. It seems like most of the things I see people bringing up are relatively minor now. Sometimes, bug reports remind me of that old joke about a guy saying to his doctor, "it hurts when I do this...", and the doctor replying, "well, don't do that!". Not that I'm saying that is what Line 6 is saying. I'm just saying that many of them seem pretty isolated and shouldn't be showstoppers.

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I had some weird things happen to some patches after the last firmware update. ( missing models that were introduced in an previous update). It required some patch rebuilding so that was a frustrating but not life alterering issue. I think it's good to listen and follow the recommended backup and update procedures of the different major components ( firmware/ driver/ line6 updater/ helix app) Exactly as Line 6 advises. I'm hoping they look to "suite" and bundle a lot of this stuff all in one install package going forward.

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I held off ordering thru the first several firmware revs, honestly the reported bugs were fairly heinous and in the  category of "really, how did they miss that...?",  But with each rev the fixes were confirmed, and the bug reports started getting fewer and farther in between.  At 1.0.6 it seemed like the unit was ready for the stage, so I jumped in.  Haven't had a single problem in use in the first few weeks....

 

I'm not USBing or reamping or using it as an interface, so can't speak to those areas - but it's been rock solid on stage.....

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Been using my Helix since last October and can honestly say I've not experienced one problem, however I've updated the firmware the day each has been released without fail.  Not using USB or some of the other features, but a good chunk of those reported have had to do with Apple's OS and some things they've done in their recent releases.  Line6 has been really good about jumping on the bigger items and getting them fixed ASAP from what I've read here.  The current librarian is pretty basic and I'm not using it as it doesn't render on a 4K monitor worth a darn.  Hoping the new editor due out shortly is much more robust and scalable to the newer high res screens....the current UI looks like it was developed for a 1024x768 screen resolution which is really behind the times....

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Here's all you need to know.

I played our church service tonight after having installed the latest beta build for my Rack less than 60 minutes before.

 

With beta software... I had no glitches, hiccups or interruptions of any kind.

How much more stable do you think the stuff that actually gets released is.

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...Hoping the new editor due out shortly is much more robust and scalable to the newer high res screens....the current UI looks like it was developed for a 1024x768 screen resolution which is really behind the times....

 

But... they better make it work with the guy who has a non-retina macbookpro or Air or some such or a small laptop. There's a LOT of those things out there, and the visual look of the screen will not matter to the sound.

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The current librarian is pretty basic and I'm not using it as it doesn't render on a 4K monitor worth a darn.  Hoping the new editor due out shortly is much more robust and scalable to the newer high res screens....the current UI looks like it was developed for a 1024x768 screen resolution which is really behind the times....

 

It doesn't even fill a 1440, even when made as tall as it can go. This was surprising to me, because one of the bigger complaints, or so it seemed, about the editor for the HD was that it was not scalable. Having said that, I can see there not being much use for scalability with the current Helix app, widthwise anyway. But certainly there shouldn't be a problem making it as tall as the monitor resolution, regardless of what that resolution might be. Even if you use the monitor in portrait mode, it shouldn't be a problem and it should fill the entire height. There's no need to cater to the lowest common denominator with user interfaces. That just seems lazy to me. A good UI shouldn't be dependent at all on resolution.

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Here's all you need to know.

 

I played our church service tonight after having installed the latest beta build for my Rack less than 60 minutes before.

 

With beta software... I had no glitches, hiccups or interruptions of any kind.

 

How much more stable do you think the stuff that actually gets released is.

 

Good thing you were in a Church when you did that!  ;)

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Then you need a backup, as inconvenient and potentially expensive as that is. Might not be the same device for monetary reasons, at least initially, but *something*.

 

Absolutely. 1st backup... HD 500 which I'm not selling (but may let other musicians use now). 2nd backup, Mac running Mainstage. 3rd backup. Acoustic guitar directly into the house. 4th backup... seriously... well... there's a little amp here I could use...

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Just for the recoprd, I'm not really going to take my own advice much when my Helix comes. No way I can get two, and I haven't been enjoying my real amp lately anywhere near as much as Amplitube and Scuffham ITB, which I dn't really want to play out with. That's what got me looking at Helix in the first place.So what's my backup? Dunno.

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But... they better make it work with the guy who has a non-retina macbookpro or Air or some such or a small laptop. There's a LOT of those things out there, and the visual look of the screen will not matter to the sound.

 

A properly designed UI should work well in multiple resolutions across multiple hardware platforms....the librarian as it is today is at least a decade behind that minimal mark....if the new editor is written the same manner it will be useless to many, though my guess is it won't be and the librarian we have today was just a quick patch to get them through until a proper editor/librarian was done....

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It doesn't even fill a 1440, even when made as tall as it can go. This was surprising to me, because one of the bigger complaints, or so it seemed, about the editor for the HD was that it was not scalable. Having said that, I can see there not being much use for scalability with the current Helix app, widthwise anyway. But certainly there shouldn't be a problem making it as tall as the monitor resolution, regardless of what that resolution might be. Even if you use the monitor in portrait mode, it shouldn't be a problem and it should fill the entire height. There's no need to cater to the lowest common denominator with user interfaces. That just seems lazy to me. A good UI shouldn't be dependent at all on resolution.

 

Agree 100%....however if they want the new editor/librarian to be globally successful they need to put some sort of resolution scaling into the application or it won't be usable to anyone with a mid-tier to high-tier monitor/resolution, just like the current librarian....all the newer hardware, last few years, is moving to higher and higher resolutions so what's the point of developing to decades old settings?  The current updater is just as bad, I can't even read the text if I don't back down my resolution to one of the lowest settings....that's simply poor design.  My guess is the current utilities are just patchwork solutions until Line6 gets the full editor/librarian/updater done and deployed, at least that's what I'm hoping......  

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And I've had preamp tubes go bad at gigs, fuses blow..fixed on the fly with tin foil from a Marlboro pack, Johnson amp freeze and die due to spilled beer, Marshall TSL start switching channels on it's own thanks to cheap pcb and bad solder joints...your lucky

 

 

Well, since I've been doing modeling (and even when I had amps) I've needed to switch to a backup rig exactly zero times in about 30 years.

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I just posted about how much I love this Helix since receiving last Thursday, however it has froze up on me a few times needing a reboot.  It seems it was happening messing around with the pedal layout especially when I would click on the Merge Mixer.  I set the layout up like on pg 18 in the manual doing the Super Serial layout.

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Nothing like a bad power tube popping fuses. Then you cross your fingers throwing in a full spare matched set without biasing and praying it didn't take out the output transformer/caps/resistors when the tube blew.

 

That brings up why I started toting around either a solid state amp or spare small tube amp back in the day. Now I just keep a trusty old Tonelab LE in the Yukon XL for dire emergencies.

 

I have never had any modeler die on me. Tonelab SE, Tonelab LE, POD X3 Live, POD HD500, POD HD500X, Kemper PA Rack, Axe FX Ultra, Axe FX II XL+. That's not even including a Digitech RP1000.

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Agree 100%....however if they want the new editor/librarian to be globally successful they need to put some sort of resolution scaling into the application or it won't be usable to anyone with a mid-tier to high-tier monitor/resolution, just like the current librarian....all the newer hardware, last few years, is moving to higher and higher resolutions so what's the point of developing to decades old settings?  The current updater is just as bad, I can't even read the text if I don't back down my resolution to one of the lowest settings....that's simply poor design.  My guess is the current utilities are just patchwork solutions until Line6 gets the full editor/librarian/updater done and deployed, at least that's what I'm hoping......  

 

As it is right now, it looks to be designed for a maximum of 1080p. I'm hopeful, but skeptical they'll get the UI for the editor right. I'm ready to be disappointed though. But that doesn't mean it won't be better than sustaining yourself in a contorted position. Shouldn't take much to be better than that scenario. It might even be enough to shove the disappoint in the corner and forget about it.

 

The updater I don't have any problems with, mostly because it's hardly ever used.

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