Glossary

One thing in your signal chain — an amp, a cab, a delay, an effects loop, the input, the output. Presets are made of blocks.

Everything you will ever run out of is counted in blocks, so it is the unit your whole rig is budgeted in.

A chain of eight block positions. Path A is the main one; path B is a parallel branch that splits off A and rejoins it later.

The block limits are written “per path”, because each path has its own processing chip.

The two points where a parallel path leaves the main one and comes back. Move them and you change the shape of the routing.

Dragging the Merge down and the Split right turns the parallel path into extra serial blocks. That is how you get past eight in a row.

Line 6's name for using path B as a continuation of path A rather than a parallel branch, giving you eleven blocks in series instead of eight.

It is the answer to “I need one more block” and it costs nothing but the parallel routing you were not using.

A whole rig — every block, every setting, and the routing.

Changing preset reloads everything, which takes a moment and cuts off delay and reverb tails.

A saved position of the controls inside one preset: which blocks are on, and where their parameters sit. Eight per preset on a Helix or Stadium, three on an HX Stomp.

Snapshots change instantly with no gap, because nothing is loaded or unloaded. Build song sections as snapshots, not presets.

A reorderable collection of presets, for one gig or one band.

You can put presets in playing order without moving them in memory, so the same preset can sit in several setlists.

The footswitch layout where each switch turns a block on and off, like a pedalboard.

The commonest support question on every one of these devices is a unit left in Preset mode when the owner wanted Stomp.

The little display above each footswitch that renames itself to whatever that switch is currently doing.

It is the only reliable way to know what a switch does right now, because that changes with the mode.

A switch that senses a touch as well as a press. Touching selects the block it controls on screen; pressing actually switches it.

It is why the screen sometimes changes when you have not pressed anything. That is the feature working, not a fault.

A mode where the footswitches edit blocks, so you can make changes without crouching down.

It exists precisely for the moment you are on stage and something is wrong.

Line 6's term for the fact that models cost different amounts of processing, so what fits depends on what you chose rather than on a fixed count.

It is why two presets with the same number of blocks can behave differently, and why swapping one amp frees room for an effect.

A model carried over from older Line 6 units — the M-series, DL4 or POD — kept so old presets still work.

Legacy cabs in particular cost far more DSP than the current IR-based ones. Swapping one can buy back a whole block.

A recording of how a particular speaker and microphone respond, used in place of a modelled cab.

The longer 2048-point IRs cost twice as many slots as the 1024-point ones. That trade is not shown on the block.

A single block containing both an amp and its speaker cabinet.

It is one block where a separate Amp and Cab would be two — which is how you fit a full rig into an HX Stomp.

A version of an amp model with the power amp stage left out. There is one for every amp.

Use it whenever you are feeding a real power amp — an amp's effects return, a Powercab, a DT-series amp. It also costs less DSP.

A mode that keeps delay and reverb tails alive across a preset change, by giving up Path 2 entirely.

It is the fix for “my reverb cuts off”, and it halves your processing power. Know the price before you turn it on.

A way of wiring a modeller around a real amp so some effects sit in front of the amp and the rest sit in its effects loop.

The FX Loop block inside your preset represents your amp's preamp. Blocks before it are in front; blocks after it are in the loop.

A single-cable digital connection from a Helix to a Line 6 Powercab or DT-series amp, carrying audio and control together.

One XLR replaces the audio cable and the control cable, and the speaker follows your preset.

Line 6 guitars with modelling electronics built in. A Helix can power one, recall its model and tuning with a preset, and process its signals separately.

If you own one, the guitar's own volume and tone knobs become two extra expression controllers.

A master timing signal that keeps digital devices in a studio in step with each other.

Only the Helix Rack has it. If your studio runs a central clock, that is the deciding difference between rack and floor.

The free desktop editor for the original Helix generation. Builds and backs up presets over USB.

Editing on a computer is much faster than on the unit, and it is also how you back up before a firmware update.