Line 6 Helix

BGG

Any one seen the video on Facebook of the Helix through the new Matrix FRFR cabs ? sounds killer !!

PJH

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

I'm glad you liked it.

Cheers,

Peter.

fretmeister

Is the lag bad? I keep flipping between a new amp or getting a helix, but lag between patches would do my head in.

ElectroDan

BGG said:

Any one seen the video on Facebook of the Helix through the new Matrix FRFR cabs ? sounds killer !!

The Marshall one sounds really good. Wasn't so keen on the "clean" ones.

May have been just the way they were recorded/played though.

Cabicular

fretmeister said:

Is the lag bad? I keep flipping between a new amp or getting a helix, but lag between patches would do my head in.

It's about a second

bad enough you don't want to be doing it mid song

on the other hand you can get A LOT in a preset

fretmeister

Cabicular said:

fretmeister said:

Is the lag bad? I keep flipping between a new amp or getting a helix, but lag between patches would do my head in.

It's about a second

bad enough you don't want to be doing it mid song

on the other hand you can get A LOT in a preset

So within a preset the individual things on / off is quicker?

Cabicular

It's instant

Cabicular

With trails

fretmeister

Ah, that's better. I need to play with one really.

handsomerik

New 1.06 firmware is now available for free on the line 6 website. The new FX are GREAT!!! Timmy pedal is brilliant and the new tremolo and phaser offer much, much more customisation than the previous models offered. Plus 3 amps models based on the 3 channels of the matchless DC30. Brilliant!

Anyone wanting to upgrade will first need to upgrade the firmware updater programme which is available on the same page.

rossyamaha

I really need to check on of these out. 

digitalscream

Cabicular said:

fretmeister said:

Is the lag bad? I keep flipping between a new amp or getting a helix, but lag between patches would do my head in.

It's about a second

bad enough you don't want to be doing it mid song

on the other hand you can get A LOT in a preset

Yeesh. That's pretty horrific.

By comparison, my newly-arrived Digitech GSP1101 has instant patch switching and delay trails. OK, so it's not the uber-accurate modeller that the Helix is, but I'd rather have those two things without having to screw about with loads of complex patch setup than perfect tone.

handsomerik

The lag isn't a whole second but it is quite noticable and obviously worse depending on the complexity of the patches involved. 

The way you can route things within a single patch though is really quite amazing and I can't really imagine not being able to get what I'd need for a single song within one patch. 

Coming from using a standard pedalboard into an amp, the flexibility that this thing offers is a dream come true. Parallel routing, multiple stereo paths, multiple parameters/fx assigned to single footswitches, the expression pedal being able to do pretty much anything you could possibly imagine etc. 

It would be nice if the lag was not so noticable but for me the flexibility that can be achieved within a single patch and the quality of the sounds that can be found is well worth the trade off compared to other devices that may switch quicker. (I say this coming from a high end pedalboard that consisted of strymons, eventide H9, drybell vibe machine, SP compressor etc etc. I spent 3 years building that pedalboard up to a point that I was happy with and it was a big gamble for me selling it all off to buy the Helix. No regrets as yet.) 

TBH I do miss some of the awesome sounds available in the H9 though! ;-)

Cabicular

I have a patch set up with everything I could possibly need and I still have a spare dsp line for vocals
Signal path is ..(wait for it)

Vol
Pitch Wham (Octave up on toggle)
Minautor (Klon)
ext loop B3
Rotary
Ext loop KOT
Phaser
808 screamer
Compulsive drive (OCD)
Amp Block (JTM 45 Clean)
Chorus
Flanger (on Toggle)
Dual Delay 350 and 700 mix with Exp 2
Reverb plate
Dual cab 4x12 green back and 4x12 orange

hubobulous

handsomerik said:

TBH I do miss some of the awesome sounds available in the H9 though! ;-)

You could always get another and stick it in a Helix loop.......

Digital_Igloo

Cabicular said:

fretmeister said:

Is the lag bad? I keep flipping between a new amp or getting a helix, but lag between patches would do my head in.

It's about a second

It's anywhere from 40ms (simple preset) to 120ms (extremely complex preset with dozens of blocks, 64 controller routings, all custom footswitch labels, etc.). WAY less than a second.

Cabicular

It seems like a second when you are doing it

Cabicular

Ok @fretmeister how do fancy this?
Don't worry...it's only 120 ms apparently ...

kjdowd

Also an issue on the Ax8 apparently..

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/lag-on-the-ax8-when-switching-presets.108343/

fretmeister

Cabicular said:

Ok @fretmeister how do fancy this?
Don't worry...it's only 120 ms apparently ...

That is shit.

I don't care how good the sounds are, that would be unusable live.