Helix Edit under Linux (Arch)

[M4R71N88]

Hello, I searched the internet for help on using Helix Edit on Linux. I have no problem running the native Helix plugin under Arch Linux using Yabridge, which works flawlessly. However, I still need to perform firmware updates for my Helix Floor and enjoy the convenience of editing presets using Helix Edit.

Since I couldn’t find anything online, I decided to come up with a solution myself. I can confirm that I was successful in running Helix Edit on Linux. Below are the steps to achieve it:

1. Install Wine and Required Dependencies

Make sure you have Wine and its required dependencies installed.

 

-  sudo pacman -S wine wine-mono wine-gecko winetricks

-  yay -S wineasio

-     register the ASIO driver within Wine:  wine regsvr32 wineasio.dll

 

2. Install Line 6 Helix Edit in Wine

1. Download the Helix Edit installer 

2. Run the installer using Wine: wine path/to/helixedit_installer.exe

3. Follow the installation prompts.

3. Workaround for USB Connection Using USB Passthrough with VirtualHere (USB Sharing):

Since Wine doesn't natively support USB devices like the Line 6 Helix, a solution is to use a USB-over-network tool like VirtualHere, which allows USB devices to be shared with Wine over a virtual connection.

 

Steps for VirtualHere:

 

Installation:

 

-     yay -S virtualhere-server-bin

-     yay -S virtualhere-client

 

 

1. Run the VirtualHere USB Server on your Linux machine:

   sudo ./vhuitarm -b

   Or use the appropriate version for your machine.

    

2. Run the VirtualHere Client in Wine:

   wine path/to/virtualhere_client.exe

    

3. The USB device (Helix) will now appear in VirtualHere, and you can "attach" it inside Wine

 

  (Alternative to VirtualHere) Configuring USB Device Access via usbip:

For a more manual solution, you can use USB/IP to share your USB device and try to access it from Wine.

 

1. Install usbip:

   sudo pacman -S usbip

    

2. Load the necessary kernel modules:

   sudo modprobe vhci-hcd

    

3. Find the USB device:

   usbip list -l

    

4. Bind the USB device (replace <busid> with the correct ID from the previous command):

   sudo usbip bind -b <busid>

    

   The device should now be accessible within Wine. 

[Schmalle]

Awesome, thank you!

[Uberjohn]

This is exactly what I was looking for!  Thanks to both of you (Schmalle pointed me here.)

[adamtaylor1]

Hi, I'm really struggling with this.  Can you explain it in more detail please.

[UndeadKernel]

I have the feeling that this has never worked, or we are misinterpreting what the original poster did.

I spent quite some time trying to get this to work without any success.

[PerS]

Hi, I am in the process of migrating from Win10 (that works great) (investigation, collecting info and evaluation stage) to Linux (at this point Ubuntu Studio or Mint). Main reason is that I’m not at all impressed of Win11 and haven’t seen a description of “Win12”, a system spec’s of next release and a release date. And it’s about 6 month to end-of-support…
My hardware looks OK for Linux and the app’s I use can migrate to similar in Linux, except one, L6 HX Edit and probably the same with L6 PC Edit. Had some hope when I saw this thread, but got a bit worried when I saw some of the comments, here and also on other forums (e.g. linuxmusicians.com, reddit etc.). So, my three main questions are

• Has anyone else tested above configuration from @M4R71N88 and got it to work? Without tweaks? All functions as a soundcard, MIDI-interface, all controls, firmware update etc.?
• Tested on Line6 Central and PC Edit (Powercab Edit) too?
• If you got it to work, have you made a successful firmware upgrade on your Helix in Linux environment? If so, what distribution and version did you use?

I guess it can be of interest what you used when any of above failed too (just as a hint, can probably be many reasons…).

Anyone who can share experiences with me? 

Big thanks /Per
 

Edited May 14 by PerS
spelling

[ChaserHUN]

I tried it on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, but I couldn't get it to work with either methods sadly :(  Even tried that chatgpt helps me, but no luck :(

[ChaserHUN]

On 10/21/2024 at 12:46 PM, M4R71N88 said:

Hello, I searched the internet for help on using Helix Edit on Linux. I have no problem running the native Helix plugin under Arch Linux using Yabridge, which works flawlessly. However, I still need to perform firmware updates for my Helix Floor and enjoy the convenience of editing presets using Helix Edit.

Since I couldn’t find anything online, I decided to come up with a solution myself. I can confirm that I was successful in running Helix Edit on Linux. Below are the steps to achieve it:

1. Install Wine and Required Dependencies

Make sure you have Wine and its required dependencies installed.

 

-  sudo pacman -S wine wine-mono wine-gecko winetricks

-  yay -S wineasio

-     register the ASIO driver within Wine:  wine regsvr32 wineasio.dll

 

2. Install Line 6 Helix Edit in Wine

1. Download the Helix Edit installer 

2. Run the installer using Wine: wine path/to/helixedit_installer.exe

3. Follow the installation prompts.

3. Workaround for USB Connection Using USB Passthrough with VirtualHere (USB Sharing):

Since Wine doesn't natively support USB devices like the Line 6 Helix, a solution is to use a USB-over-network tool like VirtualHere, which allows USB devices to be shared with Wine over a virtual connection.

 

Steps for VirtualHere:

 

Installation:

 

-     yay -S virtualhere-server-bin

-     yay -S virtualhere-client

 

 

1. Run the VirtualHere USB Server on your Linux machine:

   sudo ./vhuitarm -b

   Or use the appropriate version for your machine.

    

2. Run the VirtualHere Client in Wine:

   wine path/to/virtualhere_client.exe

    

3. The USB device (Helix) will now appear in VirtualHere, and you can "attach" it inside Wine

 

  (Alternative to VirtualHere) Configuring USB Device Access via usbip:

For a more manual solution, you can use USB/IP to share your USB device and try to access it from Wine.

 

1. Install usbip:

   sudo pacman -S usbip

    

2. Load the necessary kernel modules:

   sudo modprobe vhci-hcd

    

3. Find the USB device:

   usbip list -l

    

4. Bind the USB device (replace <busid> with the correct ID from the previous command):

   sudo usbip bind -b <busid>

    

   The device should now be accessible within Wine. 

Can you please give a more detailed explanation of this? Maybe some screenshots. I tried this for like 3 hours without any success :( 

[ChaserHUN]

I've gotten to the point where virtualhere sees HELIX, but I can't use the device because I get the following message:

2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :VirtualHere Client 5.9.3 starting (Compiled: Aug 13 2025 12:19:17)
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO : Client OS is Windows 10 (build 19043), 64-bit edition
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :Using config at C:\users\nagy\AppData\Roaming\vhui.ini
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :Administrator mode
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :IPC available at \\.\pipe\vhclient
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :Auto-find (Bonjour) on
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO : Auto-find (Bonjour SSL) on
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :In file ../src/msw/treectrl.cpp at line 2228: 'TreeView_SortChildrenCB()' failed with error 0x00000005 (Access denied.).
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :In file ../src/msw/treectrl.cpp at line 2228: 'TreeView_SortChildrenCB()' failed with error 0x00000000 (Success.).
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :In file ../src/msw/treectrl.cpp at line 2228: 'TreeView_SortChildrenCB()' failed with error 0x00000000 (Success.).
2025-08-31 09:17:09 INFO :In file ../src/msw/treectrl.cpp at line 2228: 'TreeView_SortChildrenCB()' failed with error 0x00000000 (Success.).
2025-08-31 09:20:10 INFO :No drivers found, they will be installed
2025-08-31 09:20:10 INFO :SetupDiEnumDeviceInterfaces failed
2025-08-31 09:20:10 ERROR :Hub failed to open error, No more data available. (0x00000103)
2025-08-31 09:22:36 INFO :No drivers found, they will be installed
2025-08-31 09:22:36 INFO :SetupDiEnumDeviceInterfaces failed
2025-08-31 09:22:36 ERROR :Hub failed to open error, No more data available. (0x00000103)
2025-08-31 09:24:31 INFO : No drivers found, they will be installed
2025-08-31 09:24:31 INFO :SetupDiEnumDeviceInterfaces failed
2025-08-31 09:24:31 ERROR :Hub failed to open error, No more data available. (0x00000103)
2025-08-31 09:27:59 INFO : No drivers found, they will be installed
2025-08-31 09:27:59 INFO :SetupDiEnumDeviceInterfaces failed
2025-08-31 09:27:59 ERROR :Hub failed to open error, No more data available. (0x00000103)

Is there anyway to solve this?