Line 6 Helix

matt1973

You need to get on the stock alert systems. Guitar Guitar had 10-15 delivered a week or two ago and I believe they went quick.

andyoz

OK, I'll just wait for all the mania to settle down.

Digital_Igloo

Cabicular said:

I'd rather be open and up front about what the device can and can't do. Life is a serious of compromises but when you make one you shouldn't try and say that you haven't and Patch switching is one Line6 made for very good reasons
Just don't come on here and tell me I'm imagining it. I'll react badly.

Oh, you're not imagining it. There's a gap. All products like this have a gap, although (much) simpler boxes with fixed, serial signal paths and limited controller assignment will of course switch faster. Your concerns are legitimate, and we're working on it—I just wanted to make sure we didn't have to chase down fifty people across the 'net claiming they read "Helix takes 1 second to switch patches", that's all. 

Cabicular

Noted
I hope you know I'm a big fan of the Helix and I am trying to help. I genuinely believe it won't affect the majority of scenarios ... But it's one of the first thing people notice when they drill through the presets

guitargeek62

Cabicular;951306" said:

I stand by the statement you cannot seamless switch a tone mid song without a noticeable dropout.

The only issue I have with this is that "tone" should be replaced with "patch"; you can absolutely changes tones/amps/fx within a patch without dropouts/latency.

Cabicular

I know
I posted two videos demonstrating it

andyoz

It'll be interesting how Line6 develop the firmware. I'd say less than 100 people gave them feedback during development and soon they'll have 1000's of users giving them feedback.

guitargeek62

@cabicular - apologies, not disputing that part - just the phrasing that could be used out of context.

@andyoz - check out line6.ideascale.com - I think the FW development will be fine if they continue to listen to the market.

Cabicular

I'm thinking of hiring an image consultant

matt1973

The downside to piling eveything into a single patch is that you can easily run out of DSP.

I think Line 6 need to prioritise this, it really will make a big difference to the guys using it live,

Cabicular

I wouldn't say you can easily run out of DSP ?
I'm hitting it pretty hard and still have a fair bit spare
What are you doing that's flattening it?

matt1973

Really. Ive been finding this is working against me. My presets are roughly based on the A-B tone template and Im filling most slots.

Although, lets make sure Im understanding things correctly; effects, amps, cab, IRs' start to become unavailable when one starts using up the DSP. Correct?

kjdowd

I found DSP limits to be a bigger problem with the FX8, not so much the Helix. Like @cabicular I think I'm hitting it pretty hard...

Cabicular

Are you joining the paths together?

stickyfiddle

For "normal" gigging usage I'd use Helix in place of pedalboard+amp setup, and occasionally switch patches between songs where I need something synthy or whatever;

How heavily-loaded up can you make a patch before running out of DSP? Can it happily do 2 clean amps, and one crunchy, with a couple of distortions, a whammy and 2 or 3 delays?  

kjdowd

stickyfiddle;952382" said:

For "normal" gigging usage I'd use Helix in place of pedalboard+amp setup, and occasionally switch patches between songs where I need something synthy or whatever;

How heavily-loaded up can you make a patch before running out of DSP? Can it happily do 2 clean amps, and one crunchy, with a couple of distortions, a whammy and 2 or 3 delays?  

I have a patch with two amps, an impulse response, whammy, 2 reverbs, 2 delays, phaser, trem, wah, compressor, 2 drives, rotary and a tube preamp. So yes, I think you could do that.

kjdowd

Tried the frfr thing at rehearsal last night (using a line 6 stage source l2t). Tentatively very impressed. Bit more 'hi fi' than a tube amp but not in a bad way, and the band loved it. Might be something in this...

Cabicular

I have an EQblock for live use that rolls off a bunch of top and bottom end and gives a big whack of mid
It really makes a massive difference
Then when I'm recording or playing at low volume I switch it off
Why not use the Global EQ I hear you say
Because It doesn't apply to all outputs. So if you use the L6 link in to an L2 or L3 the Global EQ doesn't apply to that output for reasons that have never been adequately explained

matt1973

Cabicular said:

I have an EQblock for live use that rolls off a bunch of top and bottom end and gives a big whack of mid
It really makes a massive difference
Then when I'm recording or playing at low volume I switch it off
Why not use the Global EQ I hear you say
Because It doesn't apply to all outputs. So if you use the L6 link in to an L2 or L3 the Global EQ doesn't apply to that output for reasons that have never been adequately explained

Sounds like a good idea! Can you elaborate on your settings for that? And are you using Line6 Stagesource speakers?

Cabicular

I'm not in front of the box but it's fairly severe
I cut most stuff under 100hz and most stuff over 4 kh
And then just sweep through the midrange when you're in the studio with a couple of DB boost and about 3-4 on the Q
Best do that with your feet while the drummer is playing
Once you get it you will know it