Release Notes 2.30 - Helix

Released 11/21/17

New Amps

• Voltage Queen, based on* the Victoria® Electro King
• Derailed Ingrid, based on* the Trainwreck Circuits® Express
• Brit Trem Nrm, based on* the normal channel of the Marshall® Plexi Tremolo 50
• Brit Trem Brt, based on* the bright channel of the Marshall® Plexi Tremolo 50
• Brit Trem Jump, based on* the normal and bright channel (jumped) of the Marshall® Plexi Tremolo 50
• Cartographer, based on* the Ben Adrian Cartographer
• Agua 51, based on* the Aguilar® DB751 bass amp

New Effects

• Distortion > Kinky Boost (Mono, Stereo), based on* the Xotic® EP Booster
• Distortion > Thrifter Fuzz (Mono, Stereo), Line 6 Original
• Dynamics > Kinky Comp (Mono, Stereo), based on* the Xotic® SP Compressor
• Modulation > Bleat Chop Trem (Mono, Stereo), based on* the Lightfoot Labs© Goatkeeper
• Modulation > Double Take (Mono, Stereo), Line 6 Original doubler
• Delay > Cosmos Echo (Mono, Stereo), based on* the Roland® RE-201 Space Echo
• Volume/Pan > Stereo Width (Stereo), Line 6 Original utility to collapse stereo paths

New Features

• Helix FW: Support for HX Edit—Helix, Helix Rack/Control, and Helix LT now work with the new HX Edit application (Mac/PC)
• HX Edit: Full State Backup and Restore—The all new HX Edit application can perform a full state backup and restore of your Helix, Helix Rack/Control, and Helix LT presets, IRs, and global settings. IMPORTANT! You MUST back up a Helix running firmware 2.20 or higher and MUST restore to a Helix running 2.30 or higher! From the File pulldown menu, select "Create Backup…" Click Create Backup to confirm. To restore from a backup, from the File pulldown menu, select "Restore From Backup…" From the Backup File pulldown, select the desired backup and click Restore Backup. You may choose to restore any combination of 8 setlists, IRs (including the index order), and/or Global Settings
• Helix Native+HX Edit: Show/Hide PRESETS/IMPULSES List—Click the icon to the left of the preset name to show or hide the PRESETS/IMPULSES list
• Helix Native: Plug-in Window Resizing—Click and drag the lower right-hand corner of Helix Native to resize the window and view more or fewer parameters and model list items
• Helix FW: Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo > Duplicate PC Send—Before 2.30, Helix would purposely omit MIDI PC messages with an identical value as the previous PC message. You may now choose to send duplicate PC messages
• Helix FW: LFO reset—Stepping on TAP once now resets any LFO-based effects, such as tremolos and rotary speakers
• Helix FW: Support for Variax Shuriken banks—When a Variax Shuriken is connected, Helix's Input > Multi and Input > Variax blocks will reflect the proper factory bank names. These bank names are retained until a James Tyler Variax or Variax Standard is connected

Improvements/Changes

• The Distortion > Obsidian 7000 model has been tweaked to sound and feel even more like the original

Bug Fixes

• Helix Native: In the rare case that all paths are full, it is possible to drag more blocks into them, which may result in the error "Failed to move item. (Unknown. )" -FIXED
• Helix Native: On rare occasions, a warning dialog may appear during AU Validation scan of other AudioUnit plug-ins -FIXED
• Helix Native: After updating from OS X 10.12 Sierra to OS X 10.13 High Sierra, Helix Native may not load properly in GarageBand -FIXED
• Helix Native: After importing an IR file in a certain instance of Helix Native, the same file may not automatically appear in subsequent instances -FIXED
• Helix FW: Turning the Cali IV Rhythm 1 model's Master knob down can occasionally cause an increase in output volume -FIXED
• Helix FW: When UK 846 and Teardrop 310 wah models' Level and Mix parameters are set to 0, ~3dB of gain can be added -FIXED
• Helix FW: Pitch blocks' Interval parameters may not be properly restored after exporting and then importing a preset -FIXED
• Helix FW: MIDI clock could become unstable for a brief time after adjusting certain parameters on the Global Settings > MIDI/Tempo page - FIXED
• Helix FW: In the Command Center, if an Ext Amp message is assigned to a footswitch, Ext Amp messages assigned to Instant commands may not restore properly -FIXED
• Many other minor bug fixes and optimizations
• General stability improvements

Known Issues

• HX FW: In rare cases, MIDI note commands set to momentary can switch to "latching"
• HX FW: If its Mid and Bass parameters are set to 0.0, the Cali IV Lead Amp/Amp+Cab model sometimes exhibits a decrease in gain
• HX FW: If snapshot names have been cleared, preset names can sometimes appear blank when switching from Snapshot footswitch mode to Preset footswitch mode
• HX Edit: In rare cases, moving a block from Path A to Path B can result in the Split block being created in the wrong position
• HX Edit: In rare cases, importing an IR file into the current "Empty" slot of an Impulse Response block can cause audio output to mute Workaround: Drag impulse response files directly into the IMPULSES list
• Helix Native: Recalling an effect or instrument rack in Ableton Live with Helix Native instantiated can mute the track. Workaround: Uninstantiate and re-instantiate the plug-in
• Helix Native: In rare cases, clearing Helix Native's preset library while the DAW is under high CPU loads can cause the plug-in to become unresponsive. Workaround: Close the Helix Native plug-in window and reopen
• Helix Native: EXP pedal assignments may not automatically be assigned
• Helix Native: The copy/paste clipboard may be cleared after closing and reopening Helix Native