MonkeyXT

Live I'm yet to do a Snapshot conversion (but I'm about to do that experiment). For the jamming I've done at home, I've created a few presets which fully utilize Snapshots - for that I switch to Snapshots bottom/Stomps top - capping me at 4 Snapshots available without changing modes. Seems to work out for me thus far.... but it's true; the conundrum in the offing is wanting to directly access more than 4 Snapshots plus stomps... I suspect my conversion mentioned above might both make me wish for more simultaneous stomps and snapshots and press me to be creative on what I can wring out of the Snapshot/Stomp combo.

This discusses aspects which I recently commented on as well; I'm going to investigate this more by doing a new Snapshot experiment / conversion much as zooey has done - and thanks for posting your observations, as it's shedding more light on something I've already encountered . For my sit-ins with my long-time friend, I use Helix set with a 'super-patch' which has me standing on the platform of a very Vince Gill inspired clean sound, then gives me a couple of levels of clean boosting, a mid-dirt sound, and a (thus-far un-used in this context) high-gain sound, plus some spices for context-specific uses (a nice gentle phaser for Waylon stuff, chorus... and a switch which turns my delay into a 'rockabilly' type of delay sound, etc. 'Super-patch' because I run it in 10-stomp mode as a 'pedalboard.' It's made up of direct bypass switching combined with a few controller stomps or combinations of the above - it works marvellously well - I've now gig-tested 3 times as of this past weekend and it covers a lot of ground for me. I'm going to copy it again and then do a test-conversion to a Snapshot version, but I do expect to have some 'growing pains' on this, as I've run into to conflicts that seem to arise with certain controller switches working within the Snapshot environment (meaning; changing from SS1 to one of the 7 others) - I had an issue I reported elsewhere on the forum recently wherein my controller stomps would control the bypass of an effect block properly, but the parameter controls I had assigned to the input gate were ignoring the first switch strike, then kicking in - thus creating an out-of-sync issue with the state of the controller stomp and effect block vs. the gate parameters. My goal will be to find a Snapshot-oriented approach to side-step this unexpected behaviour and wind up with a combined Snapshot & Stomp hybrid that serves the same purposes as well (and probably better, as it will negate certain multiple switch steps - no more than 2 to date, but that's one more than I'd prefer =]). I'll make a point of updating my findings here once I've done this experiment.

I had a single stomp-area switch on Helix Control go south on my early on, much as reported above (unresponsive to switching for several hits at times, then would sometimes work - I guess I should've just said 'intermittently' just thing...); reported to my retailer via email to my contact sales rep at the store, and a day or two later they had a replacement unit in-hand ready for me to come in and exchange. *knock on wood* replacement seems just fine.

I'm going to have to explore this further to see the interaction and understand it as best I can; but as I know it, parameters are set explicitly to be controlled by Snapshot, or a different controller. The brackets around the decay parameter weren't present in the preset (because I wasn't varying it by Snapshot; it was always the same setting) - so, the only instance of control I assigned to the decay parameter was the footswitch I set up. I had also de-assigned it and re-set it all up to attempt to focus/correct the behavior - no difference. It may be an inherent behavior of the way it works now, but I would definitely have to describe it as a conflict (especially with the fact that it can put that switch's results into a flip-flopped state) - and I'm going to then have to look at a lot of other presets I have made which pre-date Snapshots to see whether their behavior is being impacted.

I've discovered a condition which causes an incorrect result with controlling parameters. Firmware 2.01 on Helix Rack with Helix Control. No external gear attached, including no Midi interaction with a computer etc. I have a high gain preset which uses a footswitch controlling a gain stomp on/off block while also altering the decay parameter of the input gate (longer when the gain pedal (Screamer) is off, shorter when on). This preset is also set up so that I have Snapshots doing their thing - the preset has a full-on gain, medium gain, and an amp/cab switch-up for crystal clean. So the Snapshots are responsible for altering the status of that gain/gate controller footswitch, as well as the on/off status of the input gate. All of the above things happen essentially correctly. However, my reason for assigning the gate decay along with the gain boost control was simply to allow me the option to step on that to turn it off/on as required to drop back or increase the gain without jumping out of that Snapshot. However, when toggling that controller within a Snapshot, the footswitch does indeed toggle the gain pedal, but the gate decay parameter ignores the first press of the switch - hitting it again does indeed trigger the parameter change of the input gate decay, but is now out of sync/backward to the gain boost stomp. Add to this a third value for the input gate decay which I did not set as either min/max gets involved in the third Snapshot wherein the gate is off (clean path). Snapshots do not have control of the input gate decay parameter; the footswitch controller does. For some reason, this appears to be in conflict with the Snapshot function.

I can say that in my case this wasn't the issue; I'm all global - but I had noted something was amiss, so I put the focus of the parameter on-screen and observed. It skipped to the other value with no other intervention. I moved the EXP to re-position and it happened again. My Mission is good and tight, so it doesn't sag under its own weight and such... Might just be an oddball bug here. I have to test this out again tonight, and will report back. This might be best moved to the Bug Reports forum area.

I might have run into this - just the other day. I'm running Helix Rack & Controller with Mission EXP pedals - #1 is the toe-switch model, which I use for Wah etc. I think I caught it jumping parameters on me. I'll try to recreate.

Nice setup, nicely explained. Excellent results - nice way to get all the 'boys' to play well together =]

Thanks for confirming that works.

Welcome. And, absolutely you can; you'd put it into a loop and assign that loop wherever you'd like by placing the loop send/return as you like. ... just a thought to add to this too; splitting hairs a little here, but you might find that your VPJR may be able to function as an expression pedal plugged into the #2 or #3 EXP PEDAL jacks on the unit - then you can add a volume block into your patches wherever you'd like, and continue to use your familiar pedal, but in this new way. Although a tiny thing, it saves from having to run a send and return to the pedal wherein your signal goes through the D/A -> A/D conversions and adds a bit of length to your signal path - and the only reason I bring this up is that there's a solution built into the Helix which I believe will be able to use your existing pedal to control it. No added length of signal path, etc. ... perhaps someone can confirm that the EB volume pedal family is indeed compatible as an expression controller for Helix - and it would be a simple patch cable from (I believe) the output side of the VPJR.

Wow! Awesome stuff!

(Quoting isn't working for me for some reason...) @zooey; cautionary tale about thinking 'out loud' I suppose. I haven't run into such a requirement for myself, just had that thought at that moment - I suspect others have pondered using a 3rd party add-on to cover some of these bases. But as you suggest, it wouldn't integrate or have the advantages that a L6-built extension would have. The idea of satellites like that isn't new to me: I come from a history of having used a Rocktron/Bradshaw system to handle switching and audio routing - significant footswitch controller. That system also affords the option of connecting up to two more of the floor controller units in order to station controllers elsewhere (stage tech, elsewhere on stage, plus the 'main' one. Anyway; I was quickly envisioning a L6 extension similar to the way that Bradshaw (and the various others who have adopted his methodology) has expandable controllers. ... but in this case, that would add a lot to the footprint. I'm pretty sure I would just as soon continue to work with what's available on my Rack Controller as is. Anyway; /thinking-'out-loud'

(8-button satellite Snapshot-devoted board as a 'side-car' to the floor units, allowing 10-stomp mode plus access to all Snapshots, for those with the need/want - ?) ... I know; adding hardware isn't ideal... but it would address some of these things folks have brought up.

For the above you can run a dual cab, and use a combination of close mic on one, and something further away (and likely different type) on the other - the result gives dimension without adding a layer of texture like a reverb would.

Exactly as above - I believe this addresses what you're after; it's exactly how I use things. The marvellous combination of the original v1.x firmware's ability to create controller/state stomp switches, PLUS the additional enhancement of using Snapshots. And, I always use 'discard' mode so that I can 're-set' the state of the Snapshot simply by re-stepping on that SS's footswitch. V2.0x is a great time to be a Helix user =]

Early Reflection setting helps with this also.

Also; not a 'bug' exactly, but a cautionary note in case anyone has run into failed exports and confusion: Patches allow a broad range of characters to make the patch titles - this title is used as the file name when you export that single patch. However, you will run into failures / errors if you've used characters which are restricted in terms of filenames for file systems. (Probably a possible issue with previous devices; I don't recall due to my habitual naming conventions, avoiding those special characters automatically) I noted this when exporting backups including individual patches, and finding errors, never having noted that some of the Bass-oriented presets using a prefix for their names - "BAS:" The ":" colon character is an issue - at least on Windows file systems, and most likely on any currently existing file system. There are others @ # $ % & * ? < > | \ / Spaces and '.' periods are special cases more or less. At least some of these are available for patch naming on Helix. There are articles on the web which discuss this topic much more effectively than I can =]

Possibly related to the above, I had my various presets with function switches created by me (multifunction controller and block on/off switching) 'flipped' yet again, as happened with the 2.00.0 update. Upon reloading and rebuilding my presets after the 2.01.0 FW update process, I checked and found all had been changed such that the LED indication was flipped - not quite as above, wherein shred440 had the actual STATUS of the effect flipped - but possibly related. I'd like to know why these assignments don't seem to stick (I suspect it's something about the stacking of the functions, their order, and how that might be 'reorganized' on a rebuild etc). I have a simple enough method to get the LED showing how I want it to again, I just don't want to have to do it for the MANY presets I've created which use this feature. Some of those won't work to my liking being converted to Snapshots, so that's not the answer that I'm hoping to get =]

I note from the freeze frame above in that video that his Strat-style guitar (not a Fender it appears) is loaded with some type of Seymour Duncan pickups - not sure what you have in your instrument, but that can make an immense difference right there. EDIT - in fact, it seems a mystery what he's got in the bridge position, as it's never shown in this video at least. Could be a full sized humbucker, which - as above - impacts on the results a lot. It's a decent sound; sometimes an ok or decent sound can be made to sound amazing by way of the playing mannerisms applied to it. This person has great sound in the hands, I'd say. And did I miss something - did he tweak out the amp and cab parameters off-camera?

Nice!

Excellent - and happy birthday!

My first off-the-top-of-head thought would be to go into that snapshot and make sure that the expression pedal is still set to be the controller for the wah position - EXP assignments can be controlled/changed via Snapshots; and unintentional assign/de-assign maybe? I'm going to try to run an experiment - but I often assume I'll get slightly different results being as I'm using Rack/Controller. Some of the niggles that've shown up with the floor unit are non-issues by nature of the fact that there's no single EXP that switches to 1/2.

My 'E' indicator comes on quite frequently - my expression pedals are set to preset / non-global currently. Using Helix Rack & Controller. As above, I ignore it... but it gives me pause sometimes, wondering if I've tweaked something that I meant to keep, and in an unusual but not-unheard-of move, neglected to save.

Very illuminating. I think a lot of us probably recognize at least moments of each 'type' in ourselves. I just upvoted some posts - notably ones which are practically polar opposites - and I did so because I acknowledge, appreciate, and spend times on both realms. The OP was putting out some humour, but what's the real harm in inspiring us to take a look at ourselves - and it's absolutely true; rarely if ever do people ever fit and stay within any one 'profile' like the above... That's a marvellous thing. And these introspective moments have been granted to us for free, also =]

No, not in the current scheme of things. You'll be tasked with adding it manually - but I'll take this moment to remind you that, if you're short on blocks available, or just want to use what's already there, there's a gate at the input ready to activate and use.