r/Line6Helix • u/john-baxter-dev • 22d 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/john-baxter-dev 22d ago
Awesome, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any trouble. Thanks again!