Helix in daylight, what is everybody doing?

[Dogaral]

1 minute ago, Lone_Poor_Boy said:

 

I see you too have studied at the Institute of Internet Gizmology.

 

Gizmology Class of 2020 and continuing!

[sd_kirk]

On 8/28/2020 at 9:38 AM, PierM said:

What about barefoot translucent toppers (and setting no led at all for the off-status)? If you can't see those, then it's time for a eye-check. :D

 

 

 

I've got those exact buttons Pier, and for indoor use they are brilliant.  However, having done my first Helix outdoor gig last weekend (undercover, quite overcast, no direct sun on the stage), I also really struggled.  Luckily I use snapshots so could use the inverted camera logo to just about keep track, but agree with the first post that if the whole scribble strip could be inverted that would be a lot easier.

 

[brue58ski]

28 minutes ago, sd_kirk said:

 

I've got those exact buttons Pier, and for indoor use they are brilliant.  However, having done my first Helix outdoor gig last weekend (undercover, quite overcast, no direct sun on the stage), I also really struggled.  Luckily I use snapshots so could use the inverted camera logo to just about keep track, but agree with the first post that if the whole scribble strip could be inverted that would be a lot easier.

 

Me too. Same experience, same solution.

[SaschaFranck]

Fwiw, I'm using a mixture of 4 snapshots and 6 switches (4 switches before 2.9), the switches being assigned to the same (or pretty similar) things all the time, but that only helps a little. The snapshots are sort of readable (due to the inverted camera lense), but using the switches can easily become guesswork. Seriously, inverting the entire shebang would help a whole lot (as there can't be anything done to the LEDs themselves). I will now try to find out which LED color works best under critical lightning conditions and change all LEDs to that color (sure, I will lose color as a job indicator, but I couldn't care less).

[sd_kirk]

Finally got around to adding something to ideascale if anyone wants to vote it up...

 

https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Invert-whole-scribble-strip-display-when-selected/997056-23508

[SaschaFranck]

Upvoted!

[SaschaFranck]

Ok, reviving this old thread.
Had another outdoor gig yesterday. Daylight, no direct sun, light clouds, diffuse light.

 

In terms of having visual control this has been *by far* the worst gig in all my life. I have no idea what made this so bad, maybe the angle of the sun behind the clouds, the white pavillon kinda thing covering the stage, whatever. But I couldn't see anything, I had to rely on the somewhat bolder font of active switches - which is nothing short of a nightmare. The LEDs weren't even barely visible but not visible at all. The bass player, who's also an excellent guitar player and interested in getting a modeler, was almost shocked about how bad it was. At first he even asked "Is it switched on yet?"
Also, adjusting some parameters is pretty much impossible. you can sort of read out the parameter type, but as the values adapt the block color, there's almost no contrast - hence, you won't see anything. I couldn't see the blocks in my patch, either (just the selected one).

All this is shockingly bad - and it's just as clear as it gets that the Helix hasn't even been checked once under daylight conditions when it was developed. Or Line 6 ignored whatever someone might have said regarding that miserable situation. Add to this the super cheap LED rings and the bad display (even the cheapest tablets offer more contrast) and you're all set for a truly horrible experience.

Also add to this that Line 6 could at least partially adress the issue (which, fwiw, is a very wellknown issue ever since the Helix was released) - but they just don't. It'd simply be peanuts for any programmer to code inverted channel strip labels. Or heck, give us an LT-alike screen with 2 rows of 5 squares, representing the switches. But no, they just won't do that.

Oh well, none of the competing products is as bad, either.

I have a bunch more outdoor gigs coming up the next weeks (still the only gigs allowed over here) and I'm p***** off big time in advance already. Maybe I will try to go for 8 snapshots instead of 4 snapshots and 6 switches - but I'd hate doing so because that'd make some things much less comfortable.

Whatever. As things are that bad, as I'm majorly annoyed and as Line 6 continues to ignore the issue (since around 6 years already), I will not recommend the Helix to anyone anymore. And once gigs are coming in more regularly again (unfortunately that'd likely be in 2022), I'll possibly be switching to a GT-1000 which doesn't have these issues.

[SaschaFranck]

8 minutes ago, MGW-Alberta said:

That looks interesting.  Thanks for the linkage.  I only wish it addressed one of my concerns which is some protection for the connections on the back of the Helix Floor.  I have had some close calls playing at open mic nights when multiple people get up to sing and space gets cramped and people sometimes come dangerously close to stepping on my 1/4" plugs on the back.

 

As far as protection of the connections goes, build a case that protects them (a mixer-style case will do, or a sort of flattened L-rack kinda case).
As far as the sunshield goes, it won't do much in diffuse lightning conditions. I have tried some things with cardboard for a test, better but still very bad. Line 6 should adress the issue - and they could, at least partially.

[SaschaFranck]

Fwiw, this is my current case. I know, the foam looks lousy, but it's working well. I'm using cable extension "adapters" (don't know the english word) for anything that goes in/out, so no cable ever has to be connected on the Helix itself, the cables connecting to the Helix are locked at the side of the case (just using some binders), so there's no pull happening either. Originally I wanted to build some kinda patch bay into the case but there wasn't enough space - and for the time being I didn't want to build a new case (this one is absolutely high quality and I may not use the Helix for live playing anymore next year due to the issues described in this very thread).

[SaschaFranck]

9 minutes ago, MGW-Alberta said:

I would need more room in the back than that.  For starters I made a loom/snake for the 4CM and it uses straight plugs.  If I also added two more pedals in the loops as I would like to I suspect it would be near impossible to plug all those things in using 90 degree ends.

 

You could use angled plugs (which is what I'm doing, even on the XLR out which I use to feed the FOH system). But yeah, in case you're using the sends/returns as well, angled plugs may not work anymore. But I could almost fit straight plugs in there (by lifting the Helix while plugging in, it's only held by velcro), so they really only need a little more space (and there's pretty small ones around, too). If I were to build a case around the Helix (which I planned but abandoned, see above...), I would give it a little more space in the back, use straight plugs and cables running into a patch bay (there's pre-made ones just for these purposes, but on an older pedal board, I built one myself, really no rocket science). For that patch bay and an additional expression pedal (which I'd like) to fit, I'd possibly need another 3-5cm more space on the right.
But well, for the time being, this is working quite fine for me and I've got no plans on adding external pedals or whatsoever any day soon. I may go back to a half-analog setup, though, we shall see next year (when all the live stuff will possibly be happening again).

[SaschaFranck]

Oh, as far as sun protection goes, I could actually use the lid of my case if it was a mixer-style case. But as you can see (or rather guess), the lid is kinda L-style, so that very L-part is getting in the way quite a bit. And once there's light from the L/R side or diffuse light conditions, it all won't work too well anymore anyway.