Nicky-T

Kind of late to the party here, but here's my situation: Is there a way to set the Helix to NOT force tunings to Standard when the Variax tuning knob is in a forced tuning setting? I am in a band where some of our tunes are in standard tuning, most are in 1/2 step down "Strat" tuning. So I tune down 1/2 physically. My plan was to make a 1/2 up tuning on the Variax tuning knob so I could then use that on the few tunes we do in standard (those would be for the harp player). I am finding that when I switch snapshots and the guitar model or tuning changes (in the snapshot), the tuning goes to what is set in the Helix, without the Variax affecting it (back to standard, not 1/2 up where I want it). I then need to turn the dial on the Variax back and forth to the 1/2 step difference, and it takes it where I want it. To be sure, this was an on-the-fly issue I never ran across before... just this one rehearsal where we decided to kick it down a 1/2 step and try it out. I am using the current generation (HD) firmware. I am likely to just make presets for the individual songs in the future, but wondering if there is a Helix option that would allow the settings on the Variax to sort of MIX with the settings on the Helix... so they are BOTH active!

I'm going to do just that. Thanks again.

@rd2rk - Just wanted you to know I copied and pasted your instructions onto page 13 of the User Manual PDF. Good on you.

Thank you. That is helpful. I wish L6 had documented the details of the operations better in the User's Manual. I know other people are confused about this as well (I've been asking for help elsewhere). My wish would be to use the two empty switch assignments to access well-defined functions and put multifunction buttons in clearly defined spots (like separating Clear All and Undo). Rec/Stop - these are two separate controls on every analog piece of equipment I have used since my 1970s cassette tape recorder, why combine them when there are unassigned switches? ODUB OUT/IN makes sense, it's a binary switch. Is it useful to anyone to have a Reverse function? There's a switch you can reassign to a useful function. I suppose someone must use the ½/Full Speed switch, but I can't imagine why when it offsets the loop by an octave (and there is free software that makes it easy to play back at any speed, without or with pitch changes in intervals as small as a cent). Is there a quality difference between the two modes? I can't find it documented. Why not just default to ½ speed and get the longer loop duration? There's no logical reason why one would prefer the shorter. There's another switch that could be reassigned if needed. The Helix is probably the easiest interface - hardware and software - that I have seen. I was to surprised to find this as unintuitive as it seems.

Oh, boy. Is that right... Is there a way to even clear it w/o changing presets or rebooting?

Does anybody ever USE factory presets? That would be a surprise. Being able to change the defaults would be helpful.

Is this really possible? If so, can you give more detail on the process?

Wow, this would make life so much easier...

Thanks. I do remember seeing that when I was reading. I hardly even knew what is was at the time ;-)

@hurghanico I had not used the setlist page before. The method you describe is much simpler. I see I can directly select a patch from the setlist page instead of using the setlist control drop-down on the left. Easier this way. Any other uses for this page I should be aware of? BTW, I've read all the documentation (RTFM) but it's hard to remember it all when you're not familiar with the product to begin with.

I'm a longtime Variax user, and new to the POD HD500X. I want to set the Variax Model (Jazz-5) to remain in effect, but have the Tone and Volume controls work normally. The Variax section in the Mixer has 5 options: None, Volume Lock, Tone Lock, Vol+Tone Lock, and Vol+Tone+Togl Lock. So there is no setting for Togl Lock separately from Volume and Tone! I did find a workaround. I set the amp's Ch Vol controlled by Variax Vol and the amps's Treble to the Variax Tone. This setting will lock the Model Selector and leave the other two controls to their assignments. Kind of a pain, and not what I wanted. Can't find any other way to do it in the manual. Seems like such a simple thing.

@hurghanico Thanks for the link, it looks useful. I'll check it out.

@hurghanico Thanks for the info. I nearly always use the software. Doing it on the hardware is difficult for me, too linear. I like to see everything laid out. I do it that way on both my other multi-effect units. That's why I got rid of my M13. Too complicated, no software.

Thanks, that's much easier. @pianoguyySo I have to look at Flash Memory, not USB Firmware.

I don't see that. My Variax is connected, too, but this shows 500X.

Monkey shows nothing newer, I have 1.04. It still worked for me.

I looked around the forum and came up with a solution: Save the setlist to disk, give it a new name, load it from the saved file - voilá! - new name is the file name. Thanks to @silverhead.

So how DO you create a new setlist? Is it possible? And is it possible to rename a setlist? I am a newbie. I have already go t patches in both user setlists. I would like to create different setlists for different purposes and name them accordingly.

Looking back, even I can't understand what I am asking! At the time, I had some models saved into the Custom banks with alternate tunings. I must have wanted to apply one of these directly into the alt tunings knob. Still don't know how I would do this, but I recreated them as global options. Obviously, I can see the tunings in the alt-tunings knob in Manage. I have made it a practice to save an entire bundle whenever I add or move a tuning. Still wish I could save tunings in a separate file. Another issue I've come across is a bundle applied will show the names you may have altered for individual models, and banks that are applied by importing from the menu also do this. But (as I recall, anyway), a drag-and-drop on a bundle reverts to the default names (T-Model, etc.), but the models are intact. As a consequence, I now import banks from the menu options.

Manage allows you to rename them and place/remove them to an alt-tune bank. Save lets you save a new tuning with a name (to be used in Manage), but does not save it to a file. Having had much more experience at this point, the only way I've been able to successfully save them is with an entire bundle (.bun) file.

@GiRa Thanks for your insight. This was driving me nuts. Couldn't find it in the help file.

Anyone know how to save alternate tunings from the models knob to the tuning knob from Workbench HD? I can only find instructions on how to do it directly on the guitar. I have several tunings applied to models that I want to transfer to work globally. I've named and saved them in the Manage dialog box, but can't find any way to save them to the tuning knob. I could save them manually, but I'd like to know for future models. (I hope I've made this understandable) Another thing: Is there a way to view what's programmed into the alt tuning knob?

Brian May uses ukulele on some of his songs!