zooey

Not sure if duncann was, but I am :) Since nobody asked, here's how I think IR management in Helix should work... Helix should track which IR each patch uses not by its slot number, but by the hash of its actual content. (A hash is kind of a digital signature that uniquely identifies a piece of data, independent of its file name or location on disk, even across different computers and operating systems.) Among other benefits (more below), that removes the need for slot number prefixes, since locations don't matter any more. [EDIT] It also means Helix doesn't have to do any housekeeping if you reorder your IRs, since those hashes won't change. The Helix app should also know about a set of directories where your original IRs as received from the vendor (not Helix exports of them) are stored, and maintain a local database of the hash signatures of all those files after conversion to Helix format, by vendor, product, and original filename. That would allow it to identify the original vendor IR for any whose names got truncated in Helix, including ones whose truncated names are the same. It would also let it definitively recognize IRs in third-party patches, as long as you already had them. An extension of this would be that Line 6 (or someone else) could maintain an online global database of the Helix-format hashes of all IRs owned by anyone who wanted to participate. That'd let the Helix app tell you what IR was used in any patch, even if you don't have it yourself. [EDIT] The ability to audition IRs directly from disk, without explicitly loading them into your Helix would also be a big workflow enhancement. Of course it needs to actually load them to use them, but it could do that into a hidden buffer that doesn't overwrite any of you loaded IRs. I've been thinking about passing those ideas along to the Helix team, but I haven't gotten around to it, and I'm sure they have their own ideas percolating anyway. Thoughts are welcome of course. Speaking of which, guess I should put this up on IdeaScale...

Not sure if that was addressed to me, or if I'm understanding your question right, but here's my situation: I was out of IR slots, and had new stuff I wanted to audition and potentially keep some of. Since some of my existing patches used IRs I already had loaded, I was stuck in the dreaded Inaction Zone, not knowing how to deal. What I decided to do was move all the in-use IRs to low-numbered slots, starting at #1, nuke everything else, and start over, auditioning things and keeping ones I liked. That meant moving the used IRs, and manually editing all the patches that used them to point to their new locations. To do that, I used a tool I wrote (I'm a programmer by trade), that lets you choose a directory of backups, and analyzes all the presets and IRs in the one you pick. It exports a file with the slot numbers of all IRs that are used in any patches, and one with the IRs used by each patch. I opened those in Excel, made a plan for how to map old locations to new, and did it, by hand. I considered rewriting the patch files programmatically, but I'm wary of past and future changes to the patch file format, and special cases in the current one that I'm unaware of, since it's not publicly documented. I also have confidence that Line 6 will build better tools for this, so mine is just a temporary workaround for a (big) hole in the Helix ecosystem. Even with my crude tool, that process chewed it, badly. It would have been even worse if more of my patches used IRs, and/or more of my IRs were used. But it's done, and I've been happily trying out new IRs in my (hah) free time since.

That's right. The problem happens if you rename IRs exported from Helix, then import the renamed versions back into Helix. The files get renamed, but the title metadata field inside the file doesn't, and if a title exists, Helix uses it as the name of the IR when importing. Easiest solution is just to strip out the title as soon as you export, then you're free to rename/renumber with no side effects. That also has the side benefit of making IR exports that are identical except for the name actually identical, which allows dupe checking etc..

So I guess folks are aware of this behavior, and and using it to their advantage. My negative view of it comes from being in the middle of a major IR reorganization, involving renumbering everything I had used in a patch, before loading up new stuff to audition, with the plan of keeping some of it for real. In that scenario, it's just a PITA, cured by nuking all titles. Really, there are so many things wrong here, from nuking copyright info and all other metadata fields you might make use of, to making the contents of a file dependent on its slot-numbered name. I love my Helix, but this aspect of it is a pretty resounding Fail in my book. I'm sure Line 6 will improve matters some time relatively soon, and I'm very ready. I care much more about these basic workflow impediments than more amps etc.

Everybody but me may already be aware of this, but there's a really natural sequence of IR management moves that won't produce the results you expect and probably want. I think most people name their IRs with a 3-digit slot number prefix, to make it easier to restore them from backups after an upgrade -- just drag them back into the editor in one go. However, if after you export, you then rename them in the file system, like when you reorganize to make room for new stuff, there's a problem: If IRs you import have a Title metadata field, which exports from Helix do, it's used as the IR name in Helix, instead of the file name. So your nicely NAMED files may end up in the right slots in Helix, but it'll be super confusing, because the exported titles are still there, causing the names in Helix to be like they were when you exported. Small example: Your first 3 IRs are named foo, bar, and honk, with numbered prefixes on them 001, 002, and 003 Those export as 001 foo, 002 bar, and 003 honk To change their order, you rename them in the file system as 001 bar, 002 honk, and 003 foo. That's a simplified example, in reality you might move them to slots 81-83, and move some new ones in 1-3. Note what's happened here. During the export, behind the scenes Helix also set their Title metadata fields to be the same as the filenames it used. You renamed the files, but the titles in those 3 files are still what they were when they were exported. They no longer match their file names. Drag them back into Helix to import them, and the result looks really weird, like the files ended up in the wrong slots, or something. If you look closely at the actual patch contents, they're in the rights slots, but they have the wrong names in Helix, because Helix used their no-longer-correct Title metadata as their names. The simplest workaround I know of is to use an audio tagging tool like kid3 to strip out the title metadata field before reimporting them again. I'd suggest doing that immediately after exporting, so you don't have to worry about it. kid3 can also set the title from the filename automatically, but there's really no point, just kill it, so Helix uses the file name. IMO, Helix's auto-title behavior is super unconstructive, firstly for the reason explained above, but also because it means that whenever you move your IRs around and renumber them, the actual contents of the files change, not just the file name. You can't use any standard tools to search for dupes in your backups, or connect an exported IR whose name got truncated back to the original version, etc.. (You can't do that second one directly anyway, because Helix also changes the audio format, making the audio part of the content different too. But in theory you could import ant export everything in some (or all!?!) your vendor directories, then compare them to an exported backup file you were trying to identify. But that can't work, because if the file name is different, Helix will make the title different too.) Semi-OT, Helix exports also erase all other metadata fields except title, like Author, Album, etc., and other attribution info. Stripping out out copyright info seems especially unfortunate to me. If I were an IR vendor, I'd object. That also means you can't use metadata fields to store the vendor, package, and IR name, so you know what it is after Helix truncates the name.

If a maker of IRs offers higher bit rates, it stands to reason that their original content was created that way, and any lower rate versions were created by converting those. So it's really not a question of whether to convert or not, it's who do you want doing it. Arguably, if they're pros, they're likely to do it well. If not, who knows, and who knows how well Helix does it.

[cross-post from TGP] I finally got a chance to try out the Marshall pack, and I like! My provisional Next Big Plan allowed for picking one out of this set to load (more slots please Line 6, lots!), but in the end I kept all of the mixed ones except one. Didn't compare with other makers, just pulled up an amp and went through them. Some are darker than ones I typically use, but I found them quite fun and useful. I didn't have the time or brain space to try the single mics, just the mixes, of which there are some not super common ones. Didn't care so much for the PZM ones, but they're an interesting idea, if I had more IR slots I might keep some around. So bottom line, I definitely recommend these, not your standard fare!

When I first got my Helix I didn't have an FRFR rig, it was all headphones on the couch. Took me a fair while to get very comfortable. When I got a pair of Alesis monitors, I pretty much had to start over, all my patches sounded like crap crap crap. I'm quite happy now, redid everything. That's ongoing actually, has been all my life, with whatever rig I'm on. But the bottom line for me is that headphones, at least the AKG 240s I have, which in general are pretty well respected, have very little to do with FRFRs, at least the relatively cheap but relatively decent ones I have. YMMV and all that.

How about a footswitchable EQ block that you turn on for that one guitar? Either that or a separate bank of presets.

And if the effect is stereo, and you're taking the output from one side only, things will be a bit, uh, weird. Not exactly unpredictable, but quite likely not what you're after.

Not a Super Reverb fan?

@cruisin, read that post again, no Fractal anything ;)

Semi-OT: For anyone interested in that discontinued Goldtone IR pack, I asked Kevin about it a while ago, and he pointed me to the Tyler 10/12 cabs he has. If I remember right, the Gibson was pulled due to a severed partnership, or something like that. He currently has two 10/12 packs: - 1012 TWEED CQ, with a vintage Jensen C10Q and a vintage Jensen C12Q - 1012 TWEED VN, with a Celestion Vintage 10 and a Celestion "Marshall Vintage" G12V Search on the Ownhammer site for 1012, you'll find them.

Uh, sorry, interested, haven't had a chance. You certainly have cabs nobody else has. TBH, a 6" guitar speaker doesn't sound on the face of it like something I'd dig, but you never know. Interested in the PolyTone too, just because it's a unique thing. Really, everything you have is. But actually I'm a bit stalled in Helix IR-land. Shuffling them around without breaking patches is such a chore, and I don't have any more room, even to try out ones I already bought, including your insanely inexpensive 4x12. So, I know it's impossible, but don't take it personally :) I'm just one guy, and I have impediments, likely true for lots of folks. We mean well, honest, but I know that doesn't pay the bills, purchases do.

Ah, technology :)

Interesting development. I figured they might be reacting to the bunch of negative reviews of their cab IRs for being too scooped, bass-y and harsh. Given that, I wouldn't have expected a big deal announcement with a "subtly" different sound.

I'd think that the output impedence of the G10 would be low enough that the input impedence of the Helix itself wouldn't matter. Same for the active buffer in my guitar, but I haven't tested that, yet. Can anyone say definitively if that's actually true or not?

There are tons of threads about this, with many opinions, worth checking out. You might also want to make the thread title more descriptive. This whole section of the forum is about the Helix. :)

You probably know this, and I'm just parsing your wording weirdly, but you can turn up to 8 blocks on or off in any combination with one footswitch. A stomp switch toggles all the blocks whose bypass state it controls, regardless of how they started. If this is obvious, then as you were. If it's something possibly new, ping back and folks can try to explain.

I know what the opposite of Long is, so I just label it Long.

I deal with this a lot. The way I look at it is that the label says what will be on when the switch is lit. So for instance if it's a long delay when lit, I'd label it Long Delay, and when it's off, that's Short. Same for different amps, drives, drive levels, etc..

Might tapping in the time with the tap switch work out better?

Also very compressed, with harmony lead for the first half, possibly chorused for some parts after that.

I've never owned most of the amps, cabs mics, pedal or effects in the Helix, so I'm not trying to duplicate anything. It's more like somebody dropped me in a room with a ton of cool gear I could never afford in a million years. I get to hook up any pieces of it I want any way I want, then fiddle with all the knobs. If I find something cool, the gear remembers all the wiring and all its settings. How cool is that? Why would I worry about whether it sounds just like a 1968 Marshall full stack with the only 8 ever made of some mythical speaker only three people in the world have ever heard?

While I find many of the drives quite useful, I do agree that some have way more gain than I want even at minimum. Try putting a gain block before it, turning down the signal going in. For more flexibility, make it an EQ, try cutting lows etc. You can make that up later in the chain if you want.