Helix Floor/LT/HX/Stomp/PodGo owners' Club - Tips, Ideas & Patches

[jimbobothy]

27 minutes ago, cattytown said:

The E next to a patch name means it has changed from the preset, either a manual tweak to an effect or amp setting, or a change of snapshot or an effect on/off.

Load a patch it will go, adjust anything and it's back.

Paul.

Thanks, just hadn’t noticed it before lol!

[Frank Blank]

11 minutes ago, JamieMillsBass said:

Straight to the point.  I like it.

Ok a couple of concerns to alleviate then I think I will pull the trigger today.

1. I see a lot of chat about updates.  I assume some kind of software is required for this.  How likely is said software to work smoothly on a 2010 mac running El Capitan with 4GB memory?

2. Is it possible to record via USB from the stomp into logic or am I better just running via the audio interface as I mentioned above

3. Anyone know the cheapest place to order from?

 

1. If you want to edit your parameters via a PC/laptop then you use HX Edit (much simpler IMHO than using the Stomp itself) I can't find anything that shows minimum system requirements unfortunately.

2. Yes it is possible but 'better' is difficult to quantify.

3. £409 at PMT seems to be the cheapest at the moment, no doubt someone will be along to shoot that down if I'm wrong.

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, mikegatward said:

Just a heads up on 2.9 update having just done mine.

For some reason, FS3 became tap tuner for all my presets. After a short panic I twigged it just needed a global setting change to set FS3 function back to Stomp.

Never came across this when I upgraded to 2.8.2 so it must be a new bug, feature

I noticed that a well but i loaded a back up and things all went back to normal. Because I did it all in one go I missed that there are new bass presets (apparently), so might do a system reset and have a look later, and then restore again. 

Edited April 22, 2020 by dave_bass5

[stoo]

1 hour ago, JamieMillsBass said:

Straight to the point.  I like it.

Ok a couple of concerns to alleviate then I think I will pull the trigger today.

1. I see a lot of chat about updates.  I assume some kind of software is required for this.  How likely is said software to work smoothly on a 2010 mac running El Capitan with 4GB memory?

2. Is it possible to record via USB from the stomp into logic or am I better just running via the audio interface as I mentioned above

3. Anyone know the cheapest place to order from?

 

If you use the stomp as your interface, you get the ability to easily record the unaffected input signal as well as the normal output... So if you later wanted to tweak the sound you could reamp without having to rerecord the take

[JamieMillsBass]

1 hour ago, Frank Blank said:

1. If you want to edit your parameters via a PC/laptop then you use HX Edit (much simpler IMHO than using the Stomp itself) I can't find anything that shows minimum system requirements unfortunately.

2. Yes it is possible but 'better' is difficult to quantify.

3. £409 at PMT seems to be the cheapest at the moment, no doubt someone will be along to shoot that down if I'm wrong.

Thanks, by 'better' I'd read that converting the signal back and forth between the stomp and the audio interface can cause some degradation in sound quality and you're better just using the stomp as the interface itself via the USB.  That being said I would imagine the degradation in quality is so minimal that my ears probably couldn't pick it up.

[LukeFRC]

I struggled to get much gain out of the stomp in via usb into GarageBand. Maybe set up wrong at GarageBand end?

[dave_bass5]

18 minutes ago, JamieMillsBass said:

Thanks, by 'better' I'd read that converting the signal back and forth between the stomp and the audio interface can cause some degradation in sound quality and you're better just using the stomp as the interface itself via the USB.  That being said I would imagine the degradation in quality is so minimal that my ears probably couldn't pick it up.

This is how I see it. Once the signal goes in to the Helix it’s converted to digital. It will stay like that until it’s either output though the analogue outputs, or out of the DAW. 
Probably not a lot in it if you use another interface in front, but it will be there. 

i just tried using my Stomp in to Adobe Audition on my PC and had bags of volume on tap. Not used a Mac for audio so can’t help with that. 

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Frank Blank said:

1. If you want to edit your parameters via a PC/laptop then you use HX Edit (much simpler IMHO than using the Stomp itself) I can't find anything that shows minimum system requirements unfortunately.

 

2 hours ago, JamieMillsBass said:

1. I see a lot of chat about updates.  I assume some kind of software is required for this.  How likely is said software to work smoothly on a 2010 mac running El Capitan with 4GB memory?

I run the Helix Floor and use HX Edit exclusively to program it and manage the firmware updates. Unless something has changed with the most recent update, I can confirm that it works fine with El Capitan on an even older Mac than the one you are using. Having said that it does have significantly more RAM than 4GB.

[JamieMillsBass]

8 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

I run the Helix Floor and use HX Edit exclusively to program it and manage the firmware updates. Unless something has changed with the most recent update, I can confirm that it works fine with El Capitan on an even older Mac than the one you are using. Having said that it does have significantly more RAM than 4GB.

Thanks, I think my next step will be to add RAM - got a couple of slots still empty.  So I think I'm all good.

[Deedee]

5 hours ago, Al Krow said:

I'm catered for on the synth front with my Boss SY-1, so won't need to faff about with Helix for that particular fx. Nice little SY-1 review posted earlier today from a fellow BCer.

Thanks for the pointer. After watching a couple of online demos I think I've got to get one! Some great sounds. 😍

[bassfan]

Just updated my HXFX and it worked well. All my existing presets were there. The flashing red led around the tuner came back on- easy enough to switch off! 
I’ll plug it all in later and have a blast through the new effects. 

[Al Krow]

54 minutes ago, Deedee said:

Thanks for the pointer. After watching a couple of online demos I think I've got to get one! Some great sounds. 😍

My apologies for causing you (and possibly also Mr bassfan) additional expense! But, I have to say, as a pedal the SY-1 is a huge amount of fun and insanely tweakable - fortunately setting both filters on noon is a great starting place...anyway this is definitely moving off topic!

...back to Helix 😉

 

[bassfan]

5 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

My apologies for causing you (and possibly also Mr bassfan) additional expense! But, I have to say, as a pedal the SY-1 is a huge amount of fun and insanely tweakable - fortunately setting both filters on noon is a great starting place...anyway this is definitely moving off topic!

...back to Helix 😉

 

Nah.  You are alright. Got a Sadowsky in my sights first. I doubt I’d use it much live. Happy to pick one up eventually but I’m not in any rush. 
You must have had yours longer than a month now, nearly time to offload it?! 😂

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, bassfan said:

Nah.  You are alright. Got a Sadowsky in my sights first. I doubt I’d use it much live. Happy to pick one up eventually but I’m not in any rush. 
You must have had yours longer than a month now, nearly time to offload it?! 😂

Haha - @Woodinblack wagered I would be selling mine in time for him to pick up used, that was back last July. He's got a new one!

[bassfan]

Just now, Al Krow said:

Haha - @Woodinblack wagered I would be selling mine in time for him to pick up used, that was back last July. He's got a new one!

I’m patient. There’s a mosaic I’m still waiting on. 😂 

[dave_bass5]

Been playing with the new Comp, and it’s much easier for me to get the effect I want. I gave up on the Helix comps and got a Becos, and really, really love that one. I think the Helix ones are a bit too complicated for my small brain, but the new one seems very close to my Becos and I can hear it’s doing a very similar job. 

[dave_bass5]

Love that the clipping Indicators are always visible, but can anyone actually see them on the stomp from a standing position?
I suppose they are more for setting up the patches (and are much more visible in edit mode)

[jimbobothy]

3 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I struggled to get much gain out of the stomp in via usb into GarageBand. Maybe set up wrong at GarageBand end?

.... same here Luke, anyone know how to get a better signal into GarageBand (using an iPhone SE into HX Stomp via an Apple camera kit).

[Cuzzie]

43 minutes ago, jimbobothy said:

.... same here Luke, anyone know how to get a better signal into GarageBand (using an iPhone SE into HX Stomp via an Apple camera kit).

Has your USB audio interface not got a gain stage, or in fact use a USB audio interface between the stomp and the DAW.

Isnt sometimes mixing at very low gain way better practically? Easier to take a low signal, balance and crank rather than take a hot signal down?

[Jack]

Without meaning to be patronising, have you increased the USB gain using the trim setting in global settings?

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Haha - @Woodinblack wagered I would be selling mine in time for him to pick up used, that was back last July. He's got a new one!

I thought that was a safe bet!

But the SY-1 is one of those things that I can't imagine offloading

 

[dave_bass5]

21 minutes ago, Jack said:

Without meaning to be patronising, have you increased the USB gain using the trim setting in global settings?

That’s just for USB in as far as I can see. 
There is also the option to just increase the output gain for each patch. I’ve used this method with my iPad and it works fine. Just need to remember to put it back afterwards. I suppose I could keep a copy of it just for recording purposes. 

[LukeFRC]

If logic isn’t having the same problem it could just be GarageBand 

[Jack]

9 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

That’s just for USB in as far as I can see.

You're absolutely right, my mistake.

[dave_bass5]

Just saw this posted on FB

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/line-6-helix-the-overachieving-audio-interface/

Edited April 22, 2020 by dave_bass5