Line 6 Helix

rossyamaha

Sporky said:

I have a suspicion that use of the send and return blocks, and some patch leads, would enable some very flexible routing. I think you could use the paths in more elaborate ways fer example.

Just in case anyone hasn't seen this.. 

Cabicular

Pittster;1046810" said:

I guess so, but it's more my personal issue of having a brand new piece of gear fail I'd rather have replacement over repair. 

silly I know, maybe I'll change my mind as Andertons have offered the repair as an option.

Totally understand that but in the flip side you know the rest of it works . So you wouldn't like to wait for months to get one with a defective scribble strip, a burnt out mic input or God forbid a different failed footswitch

Cabicular

rossyamaha;1046852" said:

Sporky said:

I have a suspicion that use of the send and return blocks, and some patch leads, would enable some very flexible routing. I think you could use the paths in more elaborate ways fer example.










Just in case anyone hasn't seen this.. 

Sean is an amazing player but PUT SOME SHOES ON for God sake! If I wanted to see grown men in sandals I'd move to San Francisco

fretmeister

I've been thinking about that. Blending a fuzz and a B7K into one side of a bass patch. Mmmmmmmm

Sporky

Cabicular said:

Sean is an amazing player but PUT SOME SHOES ON for God sake! If I wanted to see grown men in sandals I'd move to San Francisco

I'm not sure they're even sandals. I think those are flip-flops! The only way it could be worse is if it was those satanic toe-shoes.

I just had a little play with the routing and I think my idea works.

Basically, patch cables between each pair of send & return jacks (ie send 1 to return 1, send 2 to return 2 and so on). Then you can put send 1 with dry through at -120dB in one path, but return 1 into the other path with mix at 100%. Go through whatever effects you want in the second path, then use send 2 (again, -120dB dry) and return 2 (mix 100%) to get the signal back to the first path. You can then do the same trick with s/r3 and s/r 4 to split one path into two sections, and put those sections anywhere into another path.

Hopefully that makes sense. Not sure how useful it is, mind, but it does let you have "more" paths after a fashion.

fretmeister

Can I have a diagram?

My brain is trying to follow it, and either I've got to draw it or you can...

Sporky

This is one example - so you can use the sends and returns to have blocks in three parallel paths. Or four. Or split a path and have some of it in one place and some in another. The black arrows indicate patch leads between sends and returns, the green lines are internal routing.

http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/Helix routing.png

Sporky

More practical uses probably exist - I've spotted that some of that could be done without the send/return trick. Also four sends and returns only gives you two mono "splits" or one stereo.

fretmeister

Thank you! I didn't actually expect a diagram.

Most kind.

Sporky

It's just occurred to me that you could do some really weird stuff if you had the parallel part of Path 2 go all the way to Send 4 in that diagram.

I'm still not sure how usable it'd be mind.

fretmeister

I got the correct delivery of all my patch cables today, so now I have plenty to muck about with.

One thing I do need to try is whether my old Ampeg SVP-BSP can be channel changed by the Helix.

Just as a stop gap until @Digital_Igloo gets his finger out and gets some dedicated bass drives happening!

Sporky

Pretty sure it can - the EXT AMP has assignable control of tip and ring.

Or you could just leave the SVT in "Combine" mode and run it into two effect returns, then you'd get both channels inside the patch and can route the outputs separately...

fretmeister

I like you.

Sporky

I know. It's OK, I don't find it as creepy as most people would.

Just creepy enough.

I need to try out this little Miduino I had made - if it works it'll make the looper vastly more useful.

Teetonetal

I'm still weighing up ditching my big board for a helix. I'm just kind of scared to do it, but the space, hassle and time taken fiddling with the big board are slowly wearing me down... 

Trouble is having to sell to buy, and then if I don't like the helix... well, that will be a night mare! Pondering the Boss ES8 to help with the board, but that route has more expense and cable issues attached to it.

Wish I could rent a helix for a month, but even finding one in a shop to test is an arse.

vasselmeyer

@Teetonetal I'm assuming Switzerland doesn't have the equivalent of the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations which give you up to 14 days after receiving goods ordered online to decide you want to cancel (and then another 14 days to actually send them back).

Teetonetal

vasselmeyer said:

@Teetonetal I'm assuming Switzerland doesn't have the equivalent of the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations which give you up to 14 days after receiving goods ordered online to decide you want to cancel (and then another 14 days to actually send them back).

No, you can only return something if it doesn't work or if it is completely unopened / unused in original packaging and within 7 days

I was half wondering about ordering one from Musik-Produktive, thinking as they are a German Company, distance selling regs would apply, but, local law supersedes  apparently.

Sporky

I would venture to suggest that with the Helix, if you think you might like it then you probably will.

I've always been happy with multiFX and I don't mind the odd menu, but the Helix's interface is just superb. Very quick and straightforward to put sounds together, but also the capacity for very complex signal chains. And while I'm not very cork-sniffy about modelling and authenticity it does sound superb too.

The only downsides that I can think of are:

1. Like almost every other multi, there's no spillover between patches (I know some can, but not many) for reverb or delay
2. There can be a definite gap when switching patches

From what Line6 have said neither of these is likely to go away - (1) would require double the DSP. But you can do so much with the footswitches in terms of setting up multiple sounds that I've not found it an issue at all, you can have wildly different sounds in one patch, even to the point of having one input go to four signal chains and mixing between them at the output.

I do appreciate that it's a hefty investment though.

Drew_TNBD

It's not really much more of an investment than most of our pedalboards to be fair.

Cabicular

I've not tried it yet but I might just wire a dd7 into one of the loops