HonestOpinion

What firmware version are you running? Perhaps the presets are from a later version of the firmware than you are running on your Helix.

Thanks for your continued testing. Your results this round are very reassuring. Ultimately what I would be curious about is how various modeling devices and DAW convolution engines compare direct out to a powered FRFR speaker. I suppose the fact that each device/computer may have different D/A conversion and signal/output processing makes this difficult to do an apples to apples comparison, especially as some devices or apps may be applying some kind of automatic behind the scenes correction via an EQ algorithm. With a little practice you get facile at EQ'ing the Helix but I still can't help but wonder why the IRs and cabs tend to be so strong on the low and high end and often tend to require so much EQ to get an optimal sound. It seems like they should be a little more restrained without modification but perhaps it is just the nature of the beast or an effort to offer maximum flexibility. Maybe we have just come full circle back to the fact that an FRFR speaker simply does not respond like the more limited range and different frequency response of a traditional guitar cab.

Given the political context, "Heavy Vetting" is a very clever title... ;)

I am not sure that this potential issue with IRs does not extend to the Helix native cabs as well which are essentially optimized customized IRs. Those tend to be a bit on the bright and woofy side as well although changing the mic selection can make a significant difference and help in adjusting the EQ. Would definitely love to hear DI or Line6 chime in with a technical explanation of their IR implementation and, as amsdenj mentioned, perhaps specific instructions on how to EQ their cabs and IRs for best results on the Helix. Maybe this is simply an issue where better educating the user base would do the trick. Or, perhaps there is a fix or EQ modification that needs to happen under the covers that would require less modification by the user to tame these beasts and have them responding in a fashion more akin to other products such as the Axe, Kemper, and various DAWs and their convolution engines. Still loving my Helix and able to get some great sounds out of it but I think this thread has brought an issue to light that perhaps requires addressing.

Yep, voted for this one a while ago. Being able to save your own customized blocks would be great for a number of reasons and if the snapshot assignment settings saved with it that would be a great way to address the "assign all" request. The only challenge with "assign all parms in block" with assignment settings being saved with custom blocks or in general is if that block for instance causes your preset to exceed the limit of 64 parameters assigned to snapshots. I guess the Helix would have to kick back a message or have that block grayed out if it would exceed that limit.

You need some kind of stage monitor or speaker(leaning into the PA at FOH ;) ) you can face the guitar towards to get proper feedback.

You are correct that the one click assignment method is fast and simple and was quite an excellent implementation. I have found however that once you start using snapshots consistently to design your presets there are certain blocks such as the 10 band graphic EQ and the amp and cab parameters as well as some assorted other blocks where I assign either all or almost all of the parameters to snapshots. This means not an extra click or two but many extra clicks. As you pointed out, not incredibly difficult with the current snapshot assignment shortcut but you can't help but look at for example the ten clicks required for the GEQ block and not think that it would be nice to be able to assign them all at one time. For some blocks it would be easier just to "assign all" and then unassign the one or two you may not want controlled by snapshots. By way of a rough analogy if you wanted an entire paragraph in Word to be in bold you would not want to have to go to each word and bold it, you want to just highlight the section and hit the 'Bold' button once. I don't see this so much as a "problem" that needs to be fixed but just a convenient and probably not too difficult or time consuming enhancement to the code to make snapshot setup faster. One thing that does mitigate this a bit is I have some templates I have created that serve as a starting point for my presets that already have an assortment of parameters that I always assign to snapshots already set up.

I personally have not experimented with Eb tuning using the whammy as I have a Variax. Gangsterusa is pretty much an authority at getting this to work properly so I do not discount his advice to put this at the front of the signal chain. I do want to relate my experience with the "3-Osc Synth" although it may have no bearing on how the whammy block operates. When I first started playing with the synth I put it at the front of my signal chain as I assumed that was where it would track best. To my surprise placing it after a compressor and the amp/cab block actually improved the tracking. So Glenn Delaune (gangserusa) may be correct but it might be worth experimenting with placement and compressor settings to see if you can get it to track better. Perhaps hotter guitar pickups/outputs have more success with the pitch whammy at the beginning of the signal chain and weaker pickups benefit from having the whammy block placed in the signal chain somewhere it can get a boost and a steady output level from a compressor or even after the amp/cab block.

I agree with duncann and Phil_m, using the snapshots to get you there should work just fine. Just setup and label the snapshots to indicate that they are wah or whammy and you should be good to go with a minimum of confusion.

Voted! Btw, there is an Idea that has been out there for a while effectively advocating the same thing you are. The idea has been enthusiastically endorsed with 645 votes last time I checked. I hope this one gets implemented at some point. The other idea is: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Ability-to-save-default-blocks/741187-23508

Thx!

I think the OP was referring to the ability to be able to take for example the 10 band graphic EQ block and with one click assign all the bands in the EQ to snapshots. The same would apply to any other Helix block, for instance assigning all the parameters for an amp block to snapshots with one click. Right now each parameter in a block must be assigned one by one although that assignment does, as you point out, apply to all the snapshots in the preset. This "one-click, all parameters in the block" capability could be done at the preset level on the Helix and/or the Editor and would not require a global setting. There would simply be an additional option to assign all the parameters in the block to snapshots at one time.

DI posted this comment over on TGP in response to a post regarding a suggested feature for snapshots. I think this little pearl is worth repeating. I was not aware of this behavior and can see it being quite useful. Some might prefer to configure the Helix so they can use it this way. Comment from DI: "...pressing the current snapshot switch while in Snapshot Discard mode reloads the stored snapshot's settings."

You can also use two different cabs/IRs along with two different amp models if you are setting up a preset that is meant to emulate two completely different amps, for example a Twin for your clean sounds and Soldano for your crunch/lead. This can give you a couple of amp and cab combinations within the same preset that are more suited to the song part rather than getting one amp/cab to sound right for both rhythm and lead parts.

I'd like to see that feature as well. I had an idea that included this suggestion submitted before they added the one-click assignment in the Editor. It couldn't hurt to have it broken out in to a separate idea now though. https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Assign-parameter-to-snapshot-with-click-in-Editor/833883-23508

I like the idea of a more easily customized high/low cut with an adjustable curve, this gives you the option of a shelf or a more gently curved cut. I am not sure a high/low shelf is the answer due to the lack of ability to customize the rate of the cutoff.. A shelf cut may not be ideal to use for shaping IRs although for all I know it is what we have now. I agree with asmsdenj that if the current Helix IR implementation is flawed now is the time to fix it rather than to proceed with it broken and just add more customized cuts that essentially act only as a band-aid for a larger inherent problem. Along with normalizing the IR implementation if indeed it is flawed, it would also be great to have high/low cuts with a db curve parameter to provide greater flexibility in shaping the EQ for IRs.

Just a reminder there is a ground switch on the Helix itself. Worth a try I suppose.

Here is a related idea for high/low cuts in general: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Tapered-high-low-cuts-for-more-realistic-amp-cab-modeling/840630-23508

Excellent!

LOL :D

I don't have cats but I suppose it provides a welcome diversion for them - all those blinking colored lights. Its alright as long as they don't learn to use the Save button or decide to interact with the Helix in a more detrimental manner involving liquids of dubious and odious origin. I did catch my Helix and my old 'Simon' toy communicating with each one another a few nights ago in a most disturbing fashion. I think they were discussing the merits of one of the 'Terminator' sequels. :P

Is this promotion still going on? Is there any way to tell if the code will still be included from the packaging?

It's either that or my eyes have gotten very jittery, but only when I use the tuner... :)

Awesome, what a great perk to working in a music store! I have been watching and enjoying Koch's videos for years. His instruction videos and demos are vastly enhanced by his IMHO excellent sense of humor. He is a good instructor, and a great player. It is a shame the two of you never teamed up to do a radio/cable/TV/podcast show together (there's still time ;) ). That would have been a musical comedy team many of us would probably have found infinitely entertaining.

Yes, I wish I could have provided a method from the Editor but to perhaps spare folks needless searching around (at least as of the current 2.11 Editor version) I figured I would provide the release notes which explicitly mention that snapshot color can not yet be changed from the Editor. I agree that putting the color choice on the camera icon, or by right/left clicking the snapshot name, or even in a pulldown menu next to the snapshot name in the Editor would make a lot of sense. I can't resist mentioning another change I would like to see happen regarding the camera icon but this change refers to how it is implemented on the Helix itself. I am still hoping Line6 will offer us an option to not use the camera icon in a Helix scribble strip and instead have some alternate method of indicating a snapshot that does not require using 6 of the 16 characters available for a snapshot name just for the camera icon. This is almost 40% of a snapshot's namespace dedicated to just the camera icon. I find that when I want to give my snapshots more descriptive names I am forced to be more parsimonious than I would like with the description, abandon vowels altogether, and come up with abbreviations that require a secret decoder ring just to remember what they refer to. The camera icon is one of those things that is very cool looking and as a developer I would probably have been delighted when I realized the scribble strips could be used this way but I find that in implementation it is more aesthetic than functional. For those who would like the option of using a larger namespace rather than the camera icon please vote this idea up. It does not advocate doing away with them for those who prefer the icon, just giving an option for those who prefer more detailed snapshot names. https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Use-less-or-no-scribble-strip-spaces-to-indicate-a-snapshot/831165-23508