Can a Helix Control be used to control the Axe-Fx?

Pwrmac7600

Power User
Curious if anyone has attempted to control their Axe with a Helix control board?

To be clear, I am not talking about a full blown Helix unit, just the control board for the rack version of the Helix.
 
Curious if anyone has attempted to control their Axe with a Helix control board?

To be clear, I am not talking about a full blown Helix unit, just the control board for the rack version of the Helix.
Not sure, I have the floor unit , but the 2.20 FW Line6 released yesterday does greatly improve the MIDI implementation of both units. (sadly, the update, anticipated some time, does not improve the core tones ....guess we leave that aspect of innovation to Cliff..............)
 
I just figured since it does have a USB port that maybe the was some way to utilize that for midi programming via USB.
 
Would be also curious if this would work somehow. The Helix Controller is a beautiful piece of hardware with its 2x6 pedal layout, a main LCD and small pedal LCDs. Metalcase. An all that to a very affordable price. IMHO this is how a MFC-101 successor would have to look like, I'd immediately buy it. It would be really nice if this device could be combined with the Axe, even if another device for USB<->Midi would be needed. Hopefully someone owning a helix controller keeps looking for an option.
 
I as well would love to see the Line 6 Helix control foot controller hacked to work with the AXF III. My suspicion is Cliff modeled the new FC controllers off of the Helix control.. Wish I had the hardware to see what would happen if you connected the Helix Control ethernet out to a FASLINK XA-1 then mic cord into the FASLINK II input port on the AFX III. Both the Helix Control and the FC pedals are dumb terminals getting all display and button info from the rack unit. And the price point for such a dumb pedal looks a lot more attractive for the Helix Control at $399.00

Maybe bradlake could try it and tell us what happens?
 
At present time, no the Helix Control can't be used with anything other than the Helix. I picked one up a few months ago to try some protocol analysis on it but it operates on a different format than other Line 6 controllers. That being said, it can probably be hacked (I returned mine before opening the unit up to see what serial chips it used). If you were interested in trying their FBV-3 controller with the Axe III, however, that should work. Check out my other recent post on unlocking these foot controllers.
 
Good to know there are other options. For myself I really need 3 expression pedals and the Helix Control is one of the few that have that option. Sure you could do another controller module to take care of expression pedals via midi but thats adding to the rats nest on the floor.
 
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