Line 6 Helix Megathread - 2.80 update

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Wolfhorsky

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Hi. New to HX family here. I got my HX Stomp a month ago to have sth simple for distant shows (going straight into FOH). I was dissapointed at first. Stock cab sims just suck. After an update, they sucked less, but still underwhelming. I got some IRs and it is a whole new experience.
I got metal mix and producer pack from sinmix. They are GReAT. Very good consumer care. Quick answers and overall very very good impression. Highly recommend them.
After that, my HX Stomp is on the whole new level. It can compete with the bigger brothers for fraction of the price and for size/convienience/simplicity sakes.
Cheers.
 

mikah912

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Yep. The Sinmix packs for the Helix family are must-haves for high gain. Even if you don't like buying third party presets, he includes a ton of great IRs from his personal collection of cabs.
 

sakeido

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Some locations used to years ago, but I don't think they do that anymore. Usually there are professional backline companies.

Unless things have changed in 15 years, you put down a fairly large deposit (or a suitable credit card) and then pay a flat rate.

Long & McQuade Canada

$25 for a day, $50 for a week, $100 for a month for the full Helix. LT is about 30% less.

No deposit on a Helix but they run a background check if the gear you're renting is over a certain amount.
 

Zalbu

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I'm planning on buying the Helix LT sometime in the near future, but is it possible to have it hooked up to both your audio interface with XLR cables for recording and to a FRFR speaker with 1/4 cables for jamming and have sound playing through both? I like to just set it and forget it and not have to mess around with plugging in/unplugging a bunch of cables whenever I want to play or record stuff.
 

sleewell

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I'm planning on buying the Helix LT sometime in the near future, but is it possible to have it hooked up to both your audio interface with XLR cables for recording and to a FRFR speaker with 1/4 cables for jamming and have sound playing through both? I like to just set it and forget it and not have to mess around with plugging in/unplugging a bunch of cables whenever I want to play or record stuff.


yes. pretty much if you can imagine it the LT can do it.
 

Rev2010

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I'm planning on buying the Helix LT sometime in the near future, but is it possible to have it hooked up to both your audio interface with XLR cables for recording and to a FRFR speaker with 1/4 cables for jamming and have sound playing through both?

I would highly recommend buying Helix Native along with it for the $99 and sending the dry signal to your DAW for recording (using the Helix Native plugin to provide the same sound as your LT patches) whilst playing the LT through your FRFR for jamming and such. You can have both hooked up at the same time but the benefit is if you decided to tweak your tone down the line, or if they come up with a killer new amp you switch to, you can simply update your Native patch rather than have to re-record the parts.


Rev.
 

Zalbu

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Good to hear, I'm going to look into getting the Helix Native as well.

Another question, is mono or stereo XLR the way to go when recording directly into your DAW? I want to have an XLR microphone connected to my interface as well as having the Helix plugged in, but my problem is that I'd have to upgrade my interface as well because I only have one XLR input on my current interface.

Good quality interfaces that have 4 or more XLR inputs are pretty damn expensive, so if I want to have both my microphone and Helix plugged in then I'd have to have the Helix running in mono, but does it really matter for just a hobbyist recording guitars for fun?
 

RobertVII

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An update is coming soon!

2.9 Model Updates:

-Revv Purple (Ch3)
-1x12 Fullerton and Grammatico Cabs
-Red Llama Drive
-Steve Vai Legendary Drive
-Harmonic Antagonizer Fuzz
-Rochester Comp (Billy Sheehan Compressor)
-Small Stone Phaser
-Split Dynamics (Path A/B Routing)

Feature Updates:

-Output Meters
-Gain Reduction Meters
-Clip Indicators
-IR Attachment by Name
-New Switch/Snap/Looper Layout Options
-New Model Subcategory Shortcuts
-Update from HX Edit
-A/B Compare for HX Native

Available “soon.”

I was also reading in some of the forums that the HX stomp 6 block limit will be expanded to 8 with the 3.0 update later down the line. This isn't hard confirmed in writing though.
 

Rev2010

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Another question, is mono or stereo XLR the way to go when recording directly into your DAW?

Depends on the source. Anything mono should be recorded mono. Stereo sources you record stereo. So vocals, guitar, bass for example you should record mono. If you want it to sound stereo you either record two takes and pan left/right or route the mono track to a stereo group/bus then put a stereo reverb on that group/bus.


Rev.
 

sakeido

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I would highly recommend buying Helix Native along with it for the $99 and sending the dry signal to your DAW for recording (using the Helix Native plugin to provide the same sound as your LT patches) whilst playing the LT through your FRFR for jamming and such. You can have both hooked up at the same time but the benefit is if you decided to tweak your tone down the line, or if they come up with a killer new amp you switch to, you can simply update your Native patch rather than have to re-record the parts.


Rev.

Big +1 to this

Using outboard gear is fun and all but the workflow of software VSTs is extremely convenient. Hands down my favorite way to record, especially if you are doing a lot of edits or comping for a super tight sound. I'd only go hardware if your computer can't handle a lot of Helix instances.
 

Rev2010

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I'd only go hardware if your computer can't handle a lot of Helix instances.

Helix Native does indeed use a good amount of CPU power, depending on your presets of course. My primary preset is a dual amp configuration running into a single IR. I've got an i7 4790K and it's pretty darn powerful so I usually just create a new set of tracks for each part (verse, chorus, etc) especially because sometimes the levels need to be a bit different between parts. I found though that my preset being dual amp is pretty intensive on CPU so I had to stop doing that and now I mostly just use volume automation to change levels and only create new tracks when the preset needs to be different. Working good this way.


Rev.
 

Backsnack

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An update is coming soon!

2.9 Model Updates:

-Revv Purple (Ch3)
-1x12 Fullerton and Grammatico Cabs
-Red Llama Drive
-Steve Vai Legendary Drive
-Harmonic Antagonizer Fuzz
-Rochester Comp (Billy Sheehan Compressor)
-Small Stone Phaser
-Split Dynamics (Path A/B Routing)

Feature Updates:

-Output Meters
-Gain Reduction Meters
-Clip Indicators
-IR Attachment by Name
-New Switch/Snap/Looper Layout Options
-New Model Subcategory Shortcuts
-Update from HX Edit
-A/B Compare for HX Native

Available “soon.”

I was also reading in some of the forums that the HX stomp 6 block limit will be expanded to 8 with the 3.0 update later down the line. This isn't hard confirmed in writing though.
Wonder if the block counts will increase for the other hardware also?
 

Backsnack

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I'm idly wondering when Line6 will supercede the Helix line with the next big thing. I think the original Helix floor came out in 2014? Seems like they're in it for the long haul ...
 

Metropolis

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I'm idly wondering when Line6 will supercede the Helix line with the next big thing. I think the original Helix floor came out in 2014? Seems like they're in it for the long haul ...

It was 2015. If Pod HD was 2010, HD X-versions three years later in 2013, then it would be possible to expect something in couple of years... maybe if this five or so years pattern turns out to be true.
 

HeHasTheJazzHands

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The Axe FX II also had a new version with more processing power on boar about 3 years into it's lifespan. I'd guess the next thing for Line 6 to do would be a Helix XL/Helix LT-XL.
 

Backsnack

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The Axe FX II also had a new version with more processing power on boar about 3 years into it's lifespan. I'd guess the next thing for Line 6 to do would be a Helix XL/Helix LT-XL.
My suspicion is that they’d probably shrink the various floorboards since almost everything that’s been released after the Helix competing with it have been smaller.
 

spudmunkey

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My suspicion is that they’d probably shrink the various floorboards since almost everything that’s been released after the Helix competing with it have been smaller.

There's definitely a market, though, for something where you don't need ballet slippers on to not hit neighboring footswitches, and a robust expession pedal.
 


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