Scribble Strips: External Write by Sysex

[markwesse]

Hi All

I have had to resort to using external midi to manage helix atm...I use a mini pc for ext midi guitar synth so after not being able stuff going for switching on board eg gesturing as well...send midi out to processor eg Bome and then sending back in seems to be a workaround. This way I can also get multi state buttons etc too

 

So

 

If that is going to really work well...it needs to write back to the scribble strips; can anyone point me as to resources for that? I have done it before eg writing back to Mackie Control display for the same reasons

 

Any help greatly appreciated

[datacommando]

On 7/22/2022 at 1:32 AM, markwesse said:

Any help greatly appreciated

 

Hi,

 

Wow, the second comment in one week re: sysex and Helix.

 

Here’s my cut ‘n’ paste response from another post:

 

“Helix family of products has never been able to respond to System Exclusive messages.

See the reply from Digital Igloo (Eric Klein, Chief Product Design Architect at Yamaha Guitar Group, Inc. / Line 6 / Ampeg) in this thread from 2017 - “

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[markwesse]

Ok thats weird...I did a search of 'sysex' first and no results

 

Hmm sure if thats what they think...i guess we are only the consumers.

 

Well actually Im not interested in doing sysex if there was another elegant way of doing it tbh. I want to make use of the scribble strips; when I am communicating to eg a mixer or other device, I can generally use OSC which is a lot easier to navigate...but um...Helix and most users I accept arent on that page but surely there could be a little edit function where you can simply import a compliant B&W icon and let line6 handle the magic. I dont mean to be skeptical but this is my experience so far

 

• Purchase helix second hand from the original purchaser who has never used the mic but fails when we plug a mic in and turn the phantom on. The chips are on back order and will be another 6 weeks before I can even get the parts to fix it
• I bring the the helix home and spend 3 hours recreating some basic patches and I save the presets etc but no to HD thinking hardware is bullet proof and Ive never had a fail with the HD500 BUT
• I reboot the helix as the usb port seemed a little flakey ie I reset
• The helix freezes and despite spending a fair bit of time its obvious I have to reset and recreate the patches...3 hours of my life gone...I have better things to do than this and 1 after another, shortfalls and workarounds.
• Integrating USB is pretty clunky when I simply want to use it as an elegant fx loop
• USB audio driver has high latency is intermittently unstable and causes BSOD. Have switched to asio4all/Helix and seems to be ok now and round trip latency down to acceptable 6ms

 

So I think...yay at least its got all this great feedback for custom ui/ux satisfaction...access denied

 

Looking like mini pc and native etc really is the only way out of this...

 

Appreciate your help DC

 

 

 

[datacommando]

On 7/22/2022 at 11:30 AM, markwesse said:

I dont mean to be skeptical but this is my experience so far

Hmm… it seems a little sceptical to me, but maybe it’s simply that you bought a pre-owned lemon. The majority of Helix users are very happy bunnies.
 

I have been using my Helix on an almost daily basis since the end of 2015, and way back I did have a joystick fail with a dry soldered joint. It was a swift repair through the authorised service centre and soon back in action. That is probably the closest thing to a disaster I’ve encountered with this thing, and while it was in for repair I brought out the backup audio interface and HX Native - never missed a beat. Most of the time I cannot fault it - It does everything that I want it to do, obviously your experience is different.

 

O.K., a dead Mic input on a pre-owned unit, that is one of those situations where the term “Caveat emptor” springs to mind. A bad conjunction of the stars have obviously conspired against you to create a global shortage of chips in world slowly recovering from a pandemic. Who would have though that such a thing was possible. ;-)

 

Spending 3 hours creating presets and then losing them without having a “fail safe” back up copy is a best described as a disaster waiting to happen - the Helix is essentially a computer, and computers fail. It’s not a question of “if it fails”, it’s more a question of “when”. It’s a bit like flying solo without a parachute, you get struck by lightening - what you going to do? Bail out to safety, or crash and burn?

 

Ahh… the mysterious world of USB voodoo. Many people suffer from this, and lots more don’t. So far, I guess you could say I’m very lucky - I must live on a ley line, or be making all the right offerings to the gods, who inhabit the realm of USB cables, and are keeping the demons away from my stuff.

 

If you think a mini PC and Helix Native is the solution, then give it a go. You will never know until you try, but it could also be a lot worse. That’s just the way the world is. 
:-)