The controls you will actually use
Not all of them — the handful that account for nearly everything you will do, plus the gestures nothing on the chassis mentions.
03 · 7 min
Learn three things: how to change what the footswitches do (press FS6, marked MODE), how to save (press SAVE twice), and how to reach more parameters than the knobs can show.
Click anything
Every control on the Helix LT, and what each press, hold and turn does.
Helix LT · Top panel · schematic, drawn from Line 6’s panel diagram
FS1 – FS12
Twelve capacitive switches in two rows of six. The middle eight are lettered A–D on the chassis, printed between the rows rather than beside each cap.
- Touch, without pressing
- Selects that switch's block on screen without changing the sound. Helix LT Cheat Sheet (Rev B)
Worth knowingCapacitive, so a resting foot selects a block on screen. That is the feature working, not a fault.
Modes are the whole game
The footswitches do not have fixed jobs. What they do depends on the mode, and to change it you press FS6, marked MODE.
This is worth internalising because almost every report of a Line 6 modeller “breaking” is a unit sitting in a mode the owner did not choose. Nothing is wrong with it.
Save, or lose it
Changes are not saved until you tell the device to save them — press SAVE twice. Until then, an “E” beside the preset name marks it as edited.
Change preset while that E is showing and your work is gone with no warning and no undo.
Get into the habit early. Losing an afternoon's work to a preset change is a rite of passage nobody needs.
Helix LT Cheat Sheet (Rev B)