Looper ability to save recorded phrases?

[JimiRox]

Is the Helix looper able to save recorded phrases to recall/use in the future like you can with the Boss RC-3 Loop Station? Seems Helix looper can't do this but wondering if it can? Thanks.

[mdmayfield]

Nope, it can't, unfortunately.

[JimiRox]

Thought so, thanks.

[regalpierot]

My #1 feature request. That would be the icing on the cake for me.

[JimiRox]

Yeah that would be a nice feature to have built in. I suppose the solution for now would be putting a looper pedal (i.e. Boss Loop Station, TC Ditto, etc.) that contains saved phrases in the Helix FX loop - I assume that would work for playing those saved phrases, right?

[silverhead]

Yes, that would work.

[regalpierot]

I was thinking about that, you'd definitely need to have the send\ret block to the looper at the end of the chain or as the loop is cycling back into the unit it would be reprocessed with any effect after it.

 

But then if you change presets, or activate\deactivate any effect block that's going to effect your loops processed signal too (seems picky of me I know, but often times I record a loop...want it to stay as it was recorded tone wise, then layer some additional overdubs with some overdrive or delay etc while not changing the original one at all).

 

I guess the simple answer for now would be putting my looper between the Helix and the amp. But if this feature gets put in an update I'll be so happy as really want to just have helix and nothing else going on. .

[Stuartpa]

If the Helix can preserve a loop, under the conditions specified in the manual, the audio must be stored in some part of the Helix Memory.

Would it be possible to have a mod to the editing App that would permit extracting the audio, or is he Ditto, Boss RC the way to go. I can see that for now this is he case, but a later date Maybe??

[silverhead]

I presume that by 'extracting the audio' you mean getting it in a wav or mp3 file on your computer. You don't need to wait for a mod to the editing app (if it ever should come) - you can extract the audio to your computer now by recording it in your DAW and exporting the audio file.

[regalpierot]

This is one that's been around the boards a few times. I personally would love that, but it seems most people don't tend to put much use in the looper or saving off loops for editing so based on what DI has weighed in on here, its not a top dev priority. Which is understandable. Have to put the resources where the demand is. 

 

If you want to loop, store and have the most realtime flexibility the Ditto X4 is superb. If you want to just capture what you are playing or dump a loop to a .way without the need for setting up a DAW every time, the new TC Wiretrap looks an amazing solution

[mdmayfield]

If the Helix can preserve a loop, under the conditions specified in the manual, the audio must be stored in some part of the Helix Memory.

Would it be possible to have a mod to the editing App that would permit extracting the audio, or is he Ditto, Boss RC the way to go. I can see that for now this is he case, but a later date Maybe??

 

From the bits and pieces of info I've gathered, the inability to save loops is most likely a hardware limitation. Chances are, the Helix stores the looper audio in short-term memory (i.e. RAM) which goes away when the power is turned off. It probably doesn't have enough free long-term storage (i.e. Flash, the equivalent of a hard disk or SSD) to hold audio loops.

[Stuartpa]

Yes I have saved pieces of loops in PT and Logic, it's just those usually rare instances, when you are just I guess really learning the Helix as a Floor pedal, not connected to anything but a set of monitors. Sometimes you just hit on a really good loop and it would be nice at that point to plug the unit in, and record the Loop as a .wav/Aiff file.

Is it possible to leave the looper playing and connect the Helix into a DAW safely?

 

[silverhead]

You don't need to leave the looper playing to connect to a DAW (although it's probably perfectly safe). You just need to not do anything to erase it until you're connected. Then playback and record.

Of course there's also this neat little thing designed specifically to capture those 'on the fly' creative moments. It's discontinued so you would have to find a used one. Just leave it powered on in the output of your Helix (or pre input if you want the dry signal). It records whatever you play while passing the signal thru to the next component in your chain and you can 'mark' the segments you want to keep. Everything else will be discarded/overwritten when more recording space is required.

http://line6.com/legacy/backtrackmic

[tracylallen333]

Yea! Come on Line 6 engineering!!! Get off your lazy duffs! This is a simple easy software upgrade. You’re just reusing the save features with the code already written for the patches we modify using the O/S’ save function to the solid state hard drive. 
 

So, to force you to write this code, here’s a message to your Business Development sales weenies...guys/gals, this is another feature to sell a $1600 box by ghosting the sales of Boss RC3. Think of the commissions you can make by all those looper people getting on board with Helix!

 

To your marketing department...just think of the ads, the graphics, THE SALES PITCH “Helix integrates the capabilities of Boss RC3 for 99 instant phrase recalls; replace yet another $200 pedal!”, now marketing people, put on your ROI hat and GO CREATE THAT ROI ANALYSIS”...got the itch?
 

To the line 6 corporate suites...your stock investment will increase! Your investors will be impressed with how you’re strategizing to corner the market! You might succeed in putting a guitar pedal giant out of business or better yet, force them to merge with your conglomerate and become yet even stronger! Your profits will go wild and you’ll bust past all the others during this COVID crisis!!! Just think of the increase in your manufacturing lines, investment in tooling and software assets not to mention test equipment for your labs and the advertising capability of saying “WE’RE HIRING YOUNG TALENT NOW!!!! Jobs jobs jobs...your local congressmen will earmark funds for you as you venture into Government sales on GSA schedules!

 

think bigger line 6! Now, let’s get in there and write $1000 worth of simple save/retrieve code and sell it for 10 times the profit!!!   GGGGOOOOOOOO TEAM!!!!!

[gf_rtmd30]

Helix already knows about .wav files because that's what an IR is, so that's the first choice for storage and retrieval of sounds.

If the Helix had a USB-A port so it could take a thumb drive, or act like an external drive to portable devices, then we could dump/load captured loops as .wav files. Being able to store them on a thumb drive or a tablet would work nicely for people using the looper during performances.

Or, a different option would be for Line6 to modify the firmware and the editor so we can export looper sounds as .wav files to re-purposed/re-labeled IR slots, then recall them using a foot switch, or switches. 

Or, combine the two; A Helix with a USB-A and thumb drive would use the drive as additional space for looper sounds, and a modification to the firmware could present a list of the files available on the drive, kind of like scrolling presets and snapshots, but only available inside the looper.

[tracylallen333]

Sounds like your second option there could be quick and easy for a software guru. Re-allocate say 25% of the IR, create the export routine (fancy software talk for “Save” function) and import routine (“load”)...again, since these functions technically already exist, it seems as simple as a pointer to the looper .wav files vs. the IR files. 
 

So great! We all agree! Then our expectation is to have this on our next firmware update, right? Which will be in 3 weeks?  (Sorry, bossy management me getting ahead of myself).

[pasnthru99]

does any of them save loops for later use? nothing new yet? darn,

[silverhead]

On 3/23/2023 at 2:22 PM, pasnthru99 said:

does any of them save loops for later use? nothing new yet? darn,

What are ‘them’? Lots of dedicated looper pedals do this, and yes, you can buy them new.
 

The Helix looper does not do this. The DL4 MkII does using an optional micro SD card.

[datacommando]

On 3/23/2023 at 6:22 PM, pasnthru99 said:

does any of them save loops for later use? nothing new yet? darn,

Hi,

 

If you require a looper for storing loops you should buy a dedicated looper designed for that task and patch it into your HX unit on the Send/Return/FX Loop. The idea of the built in looper on HX products is more about grabbing a sample of dry guitar to playback while building tones. It is not really designed as a live performance looper even though it has some interesting features - reverse, half speed etc. Therefore, the HX looper won’t turn you into Ed Sheehan (who he?), but it will let you build and refine presets, plus do a little bit of phrase training et al.

 

My approach to the looping things is - tools for the job. For example I own a Boss RC-30 which can load backing tracks, a Ditto x4, a cheapo Ammoon Stereo Looper (with 10 independent loops of 10 minutes each), and Mooer DTP Ocean Machine with 32MB of looper memory. The Ocean Machine is more useful to me for all the delay and reverb FX that Helix still doesn’t do - shimmer on all reverbs, and reverse reverb to name a couple of things. You see, Helix does lots of stuff, but sometimes you need to add the bits that are missing.

Do yourself a favour, if you want to save loops, load backing tracks etc., buy a dedicated device and patch it in.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

 

[Fenderflame28]

Hi Pasnthru99 and JimiRox

 

There was a time when Helix firmware allowed this functionality, but only as long as you didn't turn the Helix off. Once it powered down it lost the loop, but you could change patches and come back to the loop you recorded earlier.

 

I believe that this functionality has now gone.

 

There's an old post where I linked to a video showing it happening here:

 

[silverhead]

On 3/26/2023 at 9:40 AM, Fenderflame28 said:

Hi Pasnthru99 and JimiRox

 

There was a time when Helix firmware allowed this functionality, but only as long as you didn't turn the Helix off. Once it powered down it lost the loop, but you could change patches and come back to the loop you recorded earlier.

 

I believe that this functionality has now gone.

 

There's an old post where I linked to a video showing it happening here:

 

I don't think there's been any change. As noted in the linked old post you can retain the Looper phrase when switching among presets as long as all presets involved contain the same type of Looper (1-switch/6-switch. mono/stereo, same path). Are you saying that's no longer true? If so I haven't noticed it.

[datacommando]

On 3/26/2023 at 2:40 PM, Fenderflame28 said:

There was a time when Helix firmware allowed this functionality, but only as long as you didn't turn the Helix off.

Hi,

 

Sorry, incorrect. Nope - saving of loops has never been a function available on Helix devices.

 

As mentioned in the video that you linked, it’s possible to play a phrase, riff etc., into a looper block, then switch to another preset and the loop would continue to play. The caveat to this being that when switching from one preset to the next, the looper block must be exactly the same type, and in exactly the same position in the signal path. 
 

Correct - On powering down the unit the loop is deleted - it is not retained in memory.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

EDIT:

In case you hadn’t noticed, the OP (JimiRox) was posted way back in 2016, also @rd2rk went to great lengths and pointed out your misunderstanding about the looper in the linked thread you started back in 2019 - nothing changed, it still stands.

Edited March 26, 2023 by datacommando
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