Line 6 Helix

fretmeister

"Out for delivery between 3pm and 4 pm"

Woohoo!!!!

Sporky

And my custom Miduino board has shipped, which will:

1) Let me have five more footswitches to control the looper (without going into looper mode and losing access to all the other control footswitches)
2) Generate MIDI clock synchronised to the Helix's tap tempo to drive the Reflex's LFOs

(2) will mean I can make dubstep wubwub-wubwubwubwubwub-wub-wubwub noises. With a cello.

Just need a cheap amp footswitch to mount it into...

fretmeister

Sporky said:

rossyamaha said:

I'm sure there is a global setting somewhere. 

50p and a chunky kitkat says there isn't.

The other way to do that would be to have two sets of presets, both the same except that one set has the cabs turned off. Not too tricky to do with the Helix application now.

I can't find a global that does that.

There should be one! Some of the presets are half-way good, but my lovely Zilla cab does the hardwork so I'd love to turn all the cabs off on everything and then scroll through the presets just to hear them all without fiddling.

Sporky

fretmeister said:

I can't find a global that does that.

Indeed. I should PM @rossyamaha my address so he can send me the 50p and kitkat.

There should be one! Some of the presets are half-way good, but my lovely Zilla cab does the hardwork so I'd love to turn all the cabs off on everything and then scroll through the presets just to hear them all without fiddling.

I think it'd be an excellent addition - check if it's already on Ideascale, and add it if not.

That said I can see that it might be trickier with the Helix than with other units. Firstly you can have more than one cab in a patch, and secondly you can have cabs as IRs - but you can also have things that aren't cabs as IRs. So you'd need to be able to identify IRs that you don't want to be globally bypassed.

fretmeister

It's a bit good! Only used a guitar with it so far, but I'm having fun. 

 I really need to get an expression pedal though.

Sporky

Reflex!

Fr srs.

fretmeister

I've put it in my birthday wish list. Slim chance, but the missus is always moaning knowing what to get me!

Paul_C

fretmeister said:

I've put it in my birthday wish list. Slim chance, but the missus is always moaning knowing what to get me!

what to get, or what to get that you won't sell a fortnight later ?

Sporky

Ooof!

Paul_C

To be fair I have had times where I have bought and sold a ridiculous amount of stuff so I'm certainly not teasing from a position of superiority

fretmeister

Ouch! (Guilty as charged)

fretmeister

This whole one button can change everything lark is excellent!

fretmeister

Right then.

How does the computer editor work?

My Helix is at 1.05 at the moment - do I need to update that first?

I've never had kit that needed updates before and I'm unnaturally petrified of ruining my lovely new machine.

fretmeister

Have I got this right...

From this page: http://line6.com/software/index.html

I first need to install the HELIX APPLICATION 1.04 on my PC

Then the LINE 6 UPDATER 1.08

then the firmware 1.10.0 (Or do I need to do 1.06 first to get the new amps / pedals?) - does this happen within the Updater software?

Then after all that is on - download the PC editor itself?

Sorry for the stupid questions - I've never had a unit like this.

hugbot

versions of software typically include all the old updates in the newest one.

andyoz

The one thing putting me off buying one is the thought that when you dial in a sound thats 'fine', in the back of your head you will always think that it could be a bit better with some fiddling and the hours will fly by?

With a valve amp, it is what it is.  All you can do is fiddle with the tone controls, cabinet/speaker types and pedals and that's it.  Hang on, that's alot of fiddling as well....Jesus the GAS has returned !?!?!

fretmeister

andyoz said:

The one thing putting me off buying one is the thought that when you dial in a sound thats 'fine', in the back of your head you will always think that it could be a bit better with some fiddling and the hours will fly by?

With a valve amp, it is what it is.  All you can do is fiddle with the tone controls, cabinet/speaker types and pedals and that's it.  Hang on, that's alot of fiddling as well....Jesus the GAS has returned !?!?!

If you have a valve amp and say 8 pedals, then all the Helix is doing is the same thing in a box. the only difference is that in a traditional set up the knobs are physically in different places and not in a rack.

But then if you need a Roland JC120 (or whatever) for a 10 second part in a recording then you've got that too.

I'm not convinced the "always tweaking" fear is accurate. If you are writing or recording a tune you might try various things, but you also don't try things you know won't work.

An artist painting a bowl of fruit won't experiment with glitter paint - he already knows it's the wrong choice. But the greens / oranges / yellows etc are all up for grabs because they are relevant for the task.

hugbot

IMO overtweaking is a symptom of focusing on tone rather than music. A tone is 'done ' when it fits into the song right.

Fretmeisters example of having more colours on hand is pertinent. If you decide to spend all day mixing the perfect shade of orange, thats on you.

fretmeister

I might have to try some of the User made patches that are on the L6 site. There are several that appeal.

I've downloaded a load of them and I'll install them later on and see what happens. For the moment I've stuck with the highest rated ones, but I might try some half-a-star ones too for a laugh.

Cabicular

Cure for over tweaking
Set up 4 versions of your patches for live use
Every time you tweak one you have to tweak them all
Let laziness save you