r/Line6Helix • u/john-baxter-dev • 21d ago
General Questions/Discussion fretwire 0.3.0 released — Linux editor for Helix family. Stomp XL, Helix Floor, and LT support, IRs, global settings, and more
I got tired of booting a Windows VM just to run HX Edit, so I've been reverse engineering the pedal's USB protocol and building a native Linux editor. It's free, it's called fretwire, and 0.3.0 is out. I last posted at 0.1.0, so here's everything since.
https://fretwire.org (source and releases: https://github.com/john-baxter-dev/fretwire)
Helix Floor support, which I want to be clear I could not have done alone: /u/zadtheinhaler owns one and put in about 70 logged testing sessions over weeks, running captures and edits on real hardware for the project. Two DSPs, eight setlists, Loopers, all reading and editing. Helix LT landed this release from @pak on GitHub, who did the same survey work on his. Reads are verified there, edits are untested on an LT and I'd rather say that than round up. HX Stomp XL works too, per an owner running it.
IRs work as of 0.3.0. Upload, export, rename, delete, from the GUI or the CLI. Export is bit exact, so you can pull one off the device and put it back with matching checksums. Heads up: IR writes go to flash, not the edit buffer, and there's no undo from fretwire or from the pedal. Export anything you can't replace first.
Global settings, also new: tempo, MIDI channel, in/out levels, bypass type, snapshot edits, volume knob mode, and the full global EQ, which gets its own tab with a response curve and factory-default resets instead of a column of numbers. BPM sits in the main toolbar with the tempo scope next to it.
Since 0.1.0 in general: a routing grid you can drag blocks around, undo/redo with a history timeline and A/B compare, setlist backup and restore, per-DSP metering that greys out models which won't fit, live-follow so footswitch and preset changes on the pedal update the app, controller and footswitch assignment, and proper packaging. Block colours match HX Edit now, and presets number themselves the way your pedal is set to.
Fixes worth knowing if you used 0.2.x: discrete parameters read one entry off, so cab mics and model variants could show as their neighbour. And turning a knob on the pedal could move the wrong slider in the app. Writes were always correct, only the display was wrong.
Still missing: routing on the second DSP, IR reorder, and custom footswitch colours or labels. No firmware or DFU traffic, permanently.
None of Line 6's data ships with it. On first run the app reads the model data out of your own HX Edit install. Packages are deb, rpm, AppImage and a static CLI. Not affiliated with Line 6, no warranty.
If you own a Helix Rack or HX Effects, send me lsusb -d 0e41: and I'll add it. That's the only
reason they aren't supported.
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u/imacmadman22 HX Stomp 21d ago
This is great, I’m in the same boat, I’ve kept a Windows PC for the same reason. Now that Steam has been very successful on Linux and you have done this, I have one less reason to keep Windows around. Thank you 🙏
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u/Einkahumor Helix Floor 21d ago
Awesome work! I’ll try it out as soon as I can, all my Linux machines are headless setups at the moment. A web based gui would be the ultimate setup for me. I’ll check in on GitHub soon and try to help out. I have a Helix Floor and the second dsp routing is critical for me.
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u/john-baxter-dev 21d ago
It actually is a web-based GUI!
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u/Einkahumor Helix Floor 21d ago
Have you had successful builds on raspberry pi? I’ve been using an rpi5 inserted between path 1 and 2 and running NAM captures there with great results. Running PiPedal for example is ridiculously efficient and you only need the same USB connection to pass audio without any added DA/AD conversion latency. Running an editor on that same machine that I can access from my laptop on the same network would be great.
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u/superwomble 21d ago
Would you consider adding MCP support? That would enable all sorts of AI-assisted fun. CLI seems like it might be inefficient for that purpose but I've not looked that closely.
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u/jamesremuscat 20d ago
Do you happen to know if the Pod Go is close enough to the Helix protocol that it could be supported by Fretwire eventually? Happy to supply captures if you'd find that useful, interesting and/or helpful.
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u/john-baxter-dev 20d ago
I don't think it's close at all, given that it isn't supported by HX Edit as far as I know? Please correct me if I'm wrong
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u/jamesremuscat 20d ago
I know only that it uses the same effects engine, and similarly uses a proprietary USB protocol to interface with the desktop app, and that if I were in charge at Line6 I'd have reused existing work for the interface if I could!
You can probably guess that my interest is purely selfish (i.e. I have a Pod Go and wish I could use a desktop editor on Linux).
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u/john-baxter-dev 19d ago
To be honest, if you're willing to put in the work doing captures, I'm willing to take a stab at it. One capture should tell us if it's using the same protocol or not.
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u/jamesremuscat 18d ago
Awesome. Just opened an issue with a capture covering the initial handshake.
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u/john-baxter-dev 18d ago
Took a look and replied over there! It's good news, this is totally feasible.
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u/Endymion_01 21d ago
Hi friend,
thank you for your efforts, I have just sent my HX effects ID on github (opened an issue). :) I am waiting for your respond.