I got Helix to work as an audio interface in Linux!

[doughywilson]

After a lot of of messing around, I finally got my Line6 Helix LT multi-effects working on Linux (Ubuntu 20.04)! Here's what I did.

 

Install a distribution with the latest Linux kernel. I am currently running Ubuntu 20.04 with Linux kernel version 5.3. I think these instructions should work for any distribution with kernel 5.x+, but I'm not sure.

 

Install the JACK audio connection kit. This took me a bit to understand, but here's what I learned. ALSA is the low-level driver used for Linux audio, but most user applications do not interface with ALSA directly, they use a "sound server." JACK is exactly that, it's a server that runs on top of ALSA. It turns out that the Helix would not work for me directly in my ALSA sound settings, but it would work for me if I used JACK. Read on...

 

After you have installed jack, you'll want to fire up the graphical user interface for it called QJackCtl. It's ugly but it works. Once you get into the GUI, click the setup button and look for the "interfaces" dropdown. Choose the "Helix" interface in the dropdown. If it's not there, make sure you've connected the USB port to your computer, etc.

 

Once you get this far, you'll sometimes need to select JACK as the audio server in the application that you want to use the Helix in. For me, it was Bitwig studio. I went into the settings, set the audio engine to use JACK, and BOOM! My sounds were coming straight into the software from USB. I could also use the helix as an output!

[rd2rk]

Congratulations!

 

Now all you need to do is get HX Edit to run under WINE (or whatever the current Windows environment is).

And get it all running at once with Bitwig.

Dependably.

 

Is the Penguin coming of age? Do keep us up to date!

[Kevin-M]

I absolutely love Linux, but gave up years ago trying to get all my music gear working happily under it.  So much easier under Mac or Win. More power to you, though!

[zu4lu]

Hi, it has nothing to do with jack audio. The newer kernels have the driver for helix. Pulse audio is working too. So if you don't need jack audio, you don't have to install it for using helix as a audio device. Thanks anyway for the hint.

Mchael

[ChaserHUN]

So did you got the HX Edit working under Linux? To be honest I would love to use Linux, but this keeps me back. I don't get it why doesn't Line 6 make Linux drivers and HX Edit for this OS

[rd2rk]

On 12/31/2023 at 11:20 AM, ChaserHUN said:

So did you got the HX Edit working under Linux? To be honest I would love to use Linux, but this keeps me back. I don't get it why doesn't Line 6 make Linux drivers and HX Edit for this OS

 

Linux being Open Source means that there is very little money in it outside of the corporate server area.

Therefore there's less demand for Linux programmers and, since corporations can pay the big bucks, the ones available are used to big bucks.

The digital musical instrument industry is tiny. The number of desktop Linux users is tiny.

Also, there's no such thing as "LINUX", just a dozen or so versions which (not positive about this) likely have differences which would need to be accounted for.

Considering all of the above, the ROI of developing Linux apps is likely in the negative zone.

That's why very few digital music products are developed for Linux vs Windows and MAC.

 

I wish that were not the case. With WIN10 nearing EOL and my present HW being incompatible with WIN11, I'm about to have to buy two new computers when both of my current machines are very much capable of running Linux.

[Rachmaninoff]

On 12/31/2023 at 5:25 PM, rd2rk said:

With WIN10 nearing EOL

 

Win10 is rock solid, too stable to be dismissed... I bet it will still be heavily used way beyond planned, just like Win7 did.

 

I use Win10 myself, and I don't plan to migrate to Win11 at all.

[ChaserHUN]

I googled the net and found that with Win VM people were able to use HX Edit under Linux

https://www.reddit.com/r/Line6Helix/comments/cpvn1c/anyone_run_helix_edit_on_linux_using_a_vm_or_wine/

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Line6Helix/comments/l3xmm0/thanks_for_linux_help_new_hx_stomp_owner_with/

 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Line6Helix/comments/gf6b93/any_linuxvirtualbox_hx_edit_users/

 

 

[raulgrangeiro]

It's sad to see that someone needs a VM to run the HX Edit. I was a Linux user for years, but gave up of it about 10 years ago. The reason was my profession which had almost no software for Linux. I never got back to Linux, but I would if my softwares worked on it.

[rd2rk]

On 1/3/2024 at 4:15 AM, Rachmaninoff said:

 

Win10 is rock solid, too stable to be dismissed... I bet it will still be heavily used way beyond planned, just like Win7 did.

 

I use Win10 myself, and I don't plan to migrate to Win11 at all.

 

I've been using (and professionally supporting users of) Windows since version 1.

Yes, Win10 is definitely the most stable version ever, and it pi$$es me off no end that Win11 requires new HW!

But my 7th gen i7 is falling behind the needs of modern DAWs and plugins, and there comes a time with every version of Windows that, like with Win7 (which was also great), users who choose not to keep up get left behind. The convergence of my aging HW and the new Windows version makes a full system upgrade the most sensible thing to do.

 

There's an i9/32GB/2TB laptop in my future, but I want the latest greatest, so not until Win10 actually hits EOL.

[DunedinDragon]

I don't have any real reason to avoid upgrading to Windows 11 other than there are no real compelling reasons to do it.  The main feature they tout is the ability to run android apps with Windows.  I use precious little android apps on my phone and the reason I do is because I have my phone with me all the time.  My computer is in it's own area of my house so the only android apps I run at home are the ones I use in my bedroom like the alarm clock or Audible and occasionally my Alexa app.  So it's not compelling to me.  Their new security model is a reason to not upgrade, but there might be a marginal benefit from their service and background processing improvement.

 

The only thing driving me to eventually upgrade is the idea of moving from my traditional desktop unit to a miniPC platform which could improve my overall performance and simplify my connectivity mess in my studio, so I'll probably make the move at some point late this year or next.  It finally appears to be pretty stable at this point, but I always worry that the kind of applications I depend on are so far out of the mainstream of applications used by most users that I may encounter problems which will make the upgrade process daunting to say the least.

 

To me Windows 11 was never designed with super compelling reasons to adopt it.  I just wish they'd stop hassling me sending notifications about upgrading every time I get an update to my Windows 10.