Line 6 Helix

TimmyO

Today I played around with some of the Ownhammer IRs that I bought - just as part of my new toy - not because I felt I needed them.

I was using the "Class-A Duo" pack. It was actually really simple to audition a bunch of them - I grabbed the whole 'Summary' folder of suggested good IR mixes and dropped them into IR slots in the editor, then pulled up one of the AC30 amp models, added an IR block and used floor-edit mode to scroll through the IR slots, making note of the ones that sounded nicest. 

Once you've then built your patch and snapshots, it's really simple to scroll through again to see whether a different IR suits one of the snapshot sounds better now you've changed the sound.  This is actually simpler (for my way of working anyway) than tweaking cab parameters.

Drew_TNBD

Unorthodox said:

Very nice Drew.

Have you got any native glass for the a6500? Looking to get one this week.

I haven't actually, no. But I wanna get something I can use with AF - currently I'm MF all the way here.

welshboyo

TimmyO said:

Today I played around with some of the Ownhammer IRs that I bought - just as part of my new toy - not because I felt I needed them.

I was using the "Class-A Duo" pack. It was actually really simple to audition a bunch of them - I grabbed the whole 'Summary' folder of suggested good IR mixes and dropped them into IR slots in the editor, then pulled up one of the AC30 amp models, added an IR block and used floor-edit mode to scroll through the IR slots, making note of the ones that sounded nicest. 

Once you've then built your patch and snapshots, it's really simple to scroll through again to see whether a different IR suits one of the snapshot sounds better now you've changed the sound.  This is actually simpler (for my way of working anyway) than tweaking cab parameters.

Exactly why I use IR's....

TimmyO

Hmm, that's a bit worrying : had a random total freeze-up 

Went to change patch, the sound changed but the display didn't, and at that point the unit did not respond to any of the controls (buttons or footswitches) 

Power cycle cleared it. 

TimmyO

In more positive news, it turns out that a regular guitar volume pedal can be connected to Exp3 with a regular instrument cable and work nicely as a volume pedal when assigned to a volume block. I'll probably use it like this by default, meaning I can use Exp1 for Wah and Exp2 for any other patch-specific stuff e.g. Univibe speed

fretmeister

TimmyO said:

Hmm, that's a bit worrying : had a random total freeze-up 

Went to change patch, the sound changed but the display didn't, and at that point the unit did not respond to any of the controls (buttons or footswitches) 

Power cycle cleared it. 

I've had that once or twice.

Not sure what caused it.

TimmyO

I'll admit it is concerning 

Strat_a_tat_tat

TimmyO said:

Hmm, that's a bit worrying : had a random total freeze-up 

Went to change patch, the sound changed but the display didn't, and at that point the unit did not respond to any of the controls (buttons or footswitches) 

Power cycle cleared it. 

That would scare me... for live use.

Bridgehouse

TimmyO said:

I'll admit it is concerning 

Which FW version are you on?

welshboyo

TimmyO said:

I'll admit it is concerning 

Were you plugged into USB as well?

TimmyO

I'm on 2.12 the current firmware

USB may have been plugged in - I'd been using the laptop editor earlier in the day - can't say for certain

welshboyo

TimmyO said:

I'm on 2.12 the current firmware

USB may have been plugged in - I'd been using the laptop editor earlier in the day - can't say for certain

Hmm, I would put my money on laptop editor still being plugged in....I've seen a few instances of gremlins with USB still plugged in.

Bridgehouse

welshboyo said:

TimmyO said:

I'm on 2.12 the current firmware

USB may have been plugged in - I'd been using the laptop editor earlier in the day - can't say for certain

Hmm, I would put my money on laptop editor still being plugged in....I've seen a few instances of gremlins with USB still plugged in.

I've never had an issue with USB and audio interface duties, but you're right - it could be the editor going haywire and causing an issue rather than Helix itself. Never had a lock up standalone at all.

TimmyO

Well if it does ever happen again I'll make a point of noting if the editor is open/connected.

fretmeister

Mine wasnt connected.

The cable was plugged in, but nothing on the other end.

robinbowes

My Helix fund is currently only £309 short. I must make a concerted effort to sell more stuff...

sgosden

any one get any experience of Glenn DeLaune's patches/IRs ?

He's just released a 'high gain' pack that looks interesting, If nothing else just to compare how he sets up each patch.

For $25 its probably worth a punt at right?

TimmyO

sgosden said:

any one get any experience of Glenn DeLaune's patches/IRs ?

He's just released a 'high gain' pack that looks interesting, If nothing else just to compare how he sets up each patch.

For $25 its probably worth a punt at right?

@sgosden I have been nosing at some of the available paid patches, just to see how different people do things.

I like the videos the Youtube channel 'The Helix Channel' does, and have grabbed a few of his Freset Friday patches - I've not bought any of his paid-for ones as they are built around particular 3Sigma Audio IRs that I don't own.

I've bought a couple of Marco Fanton's patches - one which was bundled with the relevant Redwirez IRs and one built using a default cab

Today I grabbed Glenn DeLanue's Boutique Amp pack because I was intrigued by his use of custom preset IRs. I think what he does is take a sound captured from a real amp, then play the same thing in to a Helix model, and process an IR that makes one more like the other, then bundles that IR. Taking a look at some dirty-sounding patches in a few he's using the Jazz Chorus as the base model (!) and then feeding that through the custom IR. I'm guessing it's kind of a 'profiling lite' approach.

From digging around in the different 'pro' patches, they take different approaches - some are very much throwing different pedals in the chain before and after the amp, others far more fundamental in changing significant amp and EQ blocks between Clean/Crunch/Lead snapshots.

So basically any approach works, although none are afraid to do some hard EQing or high cutting to nail a sound. 

Cabicular

I had a look at Glenn's in the early days
I don't know if it was harder to get a good tone in the earlier firmware or I just got better at it but I don't feel the need these days
plus you need to learn what happens when you put the delay before the cab or after the cab or in parallel etc so you can get the best out of the unit
The most useful factory presets are the templates IMO
and often overlooked

Unorthodox

It's here! 2.20 is out

http://line6.com/support/topic/18284-latest-helix-firmware-220—march-30-2017