gf_rtmd30

This got me reading about IRs, which led to "The Working Guitarist: All About Impulse Responses" and then to "Convolution reverb" which mentions: So, it looks like it's already a thing, it's just not implemented in Helix, but, given sufficient DSP power I'm sure it could be. It'd definitely be interesting to hear.

Why not in the editor? It beats up the USB when they're shooting that information across the cable. Imagine if someone was recording and had the compressor or output block selected and HX Edit open.... Line 6 could do it, but I think they're trying to be kinder and gentler and avoid those tech reports that the sound had latency when the meters were displayed. We all love flashing lights and meters wiggling but we don't need them when we're recording or performing, only when we're getting set up to do those things. I mean, seriously, why do we need meters when we have cell-phones? We can look at the phone instead when we have a couple measures free to do nothing, then stick it back in a pocket with the screen lit up and make the audience wonder WTF!?.

Oh those knuckleheads! I bought a Helix when they were first introduced, then sold it, and am back now, and I remembered there was a meter, but it seems to me it was available in the editor and one of the global displays (maybe), and couldn't find it when I went looking for it this time around. I found one in the compressor a couple days ago, but the one in the output block escaped me. It's a useful place for them to have stored it though.

From my experiments, if there's something wrong with the file, the Helix doesn't seem to validate it and reject it, it tries to bravely soldier on, like a puppy, trying to be pleasing and then wets the floor. I was experimenting with converting blocks to mono from stereo. The .hlx files are JSON, and, as a developer for many decades, I've used and edited many JSON files, so the changes only applied to the @stereo lines, toggling from "true" to "false". The Helix seemed happy when loading them, but then later an amp block had all its volumes pushed to 10 and all the cabs sounded like crap. Resetting and rebuilding the presets didn't help; The Helix would start rebuilding at about 243 and then quickly stop rebuilding, and declare itself done. I eventually got fed up, forced an update back to the latest build, then told it to rebuild all presets, and it seems to be happier now. I'd like to see the editor (at least) do a preflight sanity-check, or have that as an available option, or for Line 6 to specify the ranges and types for all the variables in the .hlx files we could write something that validates, or does a lint-check and flags oddities/inconsistencies.

I'm using sed at the command-line which makes it very easy and fast to swap from stereo to mono when playing with the *.hlx files. I'm using: for i in *.hlx do sed <$i >mono_$i 's/"@stereo" : true,/"@stereo" : false,/' done Some blocks won't convert because there's not a mono equivalent block, but Helix seems happy to accept the block definition, it just still shows the block as a stereo device.

Helix already knows about .wav files because that's what an IR is, so that's the first choice for storage and retrieval of sounds. If the Helix had a USB-A port so it could take a thumb drive, or act like an external drive to portable devices, then we could dump/load captured loops as .wav files. Being able to store them on a thumb drive or a tablet would work nicely for people using the looper during performances. Or, a different option would be for Line6 to modify the firmware and the editor so we can export looper sounds as .wav files to re-purposed/re-labeled IR slots, then recall them using a foot switch, or switches. Or, combine the two; A Helix with a USB-A and thumb drive would use the drive as additional space for looper sounds, and a modification to the firmware could present a list of the files available on the drive, kind of like scrolling presets and snapshots, but only available inside the looper.

In mono the Mimiq sounds more like a slapback echo with a short delay and vibrato, but the delay and vibrato change randomly a tiny amount. They put a lot of work into the algorithms driving it, it's not just a LFO sweeping a little bit. A friend of mine has one on his board he uses with his AX8, and the Mimiq sounds amazing.