trinitypc

Interesting... HX Edit 3.0 will not start on my Windows 10 laptop with my SD card inserted. If I remove it, it starts just fine (then I can reinsert the card back into the slot with no issues). If I close HX Edit, I need to remove the SD card again to restart the app.

Sorry, but I'm a bit confused... Does the Big Sky allow you to blend both the "Bloom" and "Cloud" reverbs together? Is that what you are trying to approximate by blending the "Cavern" and "Particle" verb in parallel on the Helix? Any chance of an audio clip comparison?

For the most part, standard fare. They do have a boot/strain relief molded to the connectors, similar to the picture below (I cut off that little rubber bump so it would fit in the NE8MC-B ethercon housing). Besides two of the Line6 branded cables, I also own a 3 meter custom VDI cable that I purchased via eBay from a seller in the UK that uses Van Damme Tourcat Cat5 cable, at a cost of about $30 shipped to the USA. It's a good solid cable, but I like being able to keep a few of my "cheap" cables in my gigbag as backups. For my purposes a 25ft cable is just way too long and unwieldy, considering I'm connected to a floor Helix that I wouldn't normally be more than 10 feet away from it while on stage.

I wanted some shorter 10ft VDI cables, so I recently purchased a pack of 25 Neutrik NE8MC-B ethercon connectors of off eBay for $30 shipped, along with some cheap 10ft Cat6 ethernet cables (total cost came out to about $5 USD per cable). The NE8MC-B's fit over a standard ethernet cable, as you can see from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02dksd-eTzg. So far they've worked out perfectly.

I ordered a set of 10-46 gauge to try out. I put a GFS X-Trem on my JTV-59, and had trouble with the high E breaking near the ball end. Switching to M-Steels has seemed to addressed the issue, but I still get nervous every time I do a bend on that string above the 12th fret. After watching the Petrucci and Gilbert videos, I figured I should check them out.

What you're describing could be accomplished by incorporating "Scenes" (like Fractal has with the AX8 and FX8)

In some ways it most likely is a hardware limitation. My understanding, after reading forum posts by Cliff from Fractal and the boys at Line 6 on the subject, is that you need a dedicated DSP to handling the change over from one patch to another to avoid a drop out. In a box with two DSPs handling multiple paths (like the Helix), chances are you'd need two additional DSPs to handle seamless patch changes. This is specifically why the Digitech GSP1101 was designed with two processors... one specifically to handle seamless patch switching.

Just curious, which specific IRs from the free pack worked best for you?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've spent a fair amount of time over at the Fractal site, particularly the AX8 forum and I can't say I've seen all that many posts by Cliff himself. M@ maybe, but not Cliff.

I've never owned a Kemper, but I just located this video on YT. It looks like the Kemper solution appears to be that it buffers the signal somehow as it switches over to the new patch. Notice that while there's no audible dropout when switching patches, the switch seems to lag a half second or so behind pressing the footswitch... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VHzDTri_Gc

I would think by now it's fairly clear that the only way to implement seamless patch switching is to add a redundant DSP. In the case of something like the Helix, which uses two DSPs, that would mean adding two additional processors to handle the switch-over. One might assume that this should only add a $100 or so to the overall cost, but in addition to the hardware there is an immense amount of code needed as well. Perhaps adding another $200 or $400 to the price just for this one feature is worth it to some. I'd wager that most customers wouldn't be willing to dish out that much more $$$ for it however.

Just curious... What modelers have you owned that have NOT had a dropout when switching patches? The only one I'm aware of is the GSP1101.

You may want to switch over to Fractal's AX8 or Axe FX II... oh wait, both of those also have that dropout delay when switching patches.

Hey Dave, Any chance of posting one of these patches on Customtone? I'd like to do the same thing with my Variax. Thanks, Frank

Not 100% sure, but he's easy to contact via the website... http://stores.ceghardtails.com/contact-form/ His communication with me throughout the process was fantastic.