zooey

Only downside of having output block level controlled by a footswitch is that both the boosted and non-boosted levels have to be programmed into the switch, you can't set it up to add a certain number of dB. So when you want to change the level of the whole patch or snapshot, you have to do it in the output block, and the boosted and non-boosted footswitch levels. Would love to see relative settings available for footswitches, would simplify this sort of thing.

Helix has models of two channels of some amps. You could set up separate snapshots or presets using them, or any two amps you want. But really, each snapshot or preset can have different settings for the same amp, for instance, one with low gain and high channel volume -- clean, in other words, and another the opposite -- dirty. Presets or snapshots can have EQs, overdrives, anything, with different settings, and different blocks enabled. Short version is that Helix gives you tons of flexibility to create a wide variety of different tones, and switch between them quickly. Experiment!

Helix channel volume and output block volume are purely volume controls, they have no effect on overdrive (if you're not clipping, which just don't).

Would you be happier controlling delay time with a switch or exp pedal than having it change with snapshots? You could change it at a moment that you knew wouldn't glitch. OTOH, you would have to do that. I wouldn't rule out separate delays in each snap either. Sounds extravagant maybe, but I don't think they use tons of DSP. One of those options seems like the way to go given the current tech.

The reason to update before you play is that updating reverts all presets to the new factory settings. If you saved any presets, to preserve them, you'd have to export them before installing the update, then restore and have Helix update them after. If you just update immediately, you won't have any custom presets you'd need to preserve. Just to be clear, that whole process is totally doable, and you'll have to go through it for any later updates, but this is your one chance to skip it. Of course you'd rather just wail, and you can is you want, just be aware of the options. No clue about your turnips, sorry.

They have to be loaded into Helix before you can listen to them. Being able to audition them directly from your computer's drive is a big wish-list item for better IR management. Once they're loaded though, pedal edit mode is your friend. Select that parameter, then you can step through them one at a time without taking your hands off the guitar.

No problems I'm aware of with the update, smooth as silk, for once.

That tool (Bulk Rename Utility) is great, if a bit opaque. I've been using it for IR name management ever since I realized what I needed to do.

Trails inherently make any block using them behave differently from ones without trails. As for having Helix automatically create a second delay instance to handle that case, maybe. Besides the work to build it, I've already said I'd rather have all DSP requirements be predetermined, so you know when you build a patch that you you can use any combination of the blocks in it, instead of running into DSP limits while you're playing. In order to do that, Helix would have reserve DSP for a second delay block in any patch that had one, in case this scenario comes up. Personally, I'd rather leave that juggling in the hands of players for this is an issue, when it is.

While I do use IRs sometimes, I use the built in cabs too, and FWIW I don't agree that IRs are required for good sounds. That said, try some of the free ones, at least, why not? Try stuff! If you hear too little warmth etc, dial in more. Everyone's environment, instrument(s), playing, taste, and musical context are different. Presets for any device often s*ck because of that. At least you CAN try lots of stuff without buying all those amps, cabs, stomps, and rack FX :)

Short version is that there is no 10 snapshots mode for footswitches, because each preset only has 8. As others have said, there's a global setting that lets you select what appears in each row of switches. I think all combinations are available if I remember right.

Well if it's active in the second snap, it HAS to change to the time stored in that snap, right? If you're looking for the previous snap's trails to use the old time (and other settings), but the second snap's new-signal processing to use the settings from that snapshot, they overlap, and that inherently means two delays. You could build that yourself with two delays, but a single delay block has a single delay time in effect at a time.

I already mentioned this, didn't see your reply, but have you tried enabling the input pad on the Helix?

Great discovery. Hope you've reported it to Support, to help them narrow it down.

Agree, the different guitars really makes is hard to judge the difference and character in the amp IRs. Glen has access to a pretty cool variety of amps and guitars though :)

While we're on the subject, most of my recent patches have snapshots covering 4 levels of drive, from clean through some flavor of maxed out. I run 4 snaps/4 stomps mode, with one stop being a Boost, just roughly 4 db of louder, no tone change, generally for solos or other lead lines. Do most folks do something similar? If so, do you set up your 4 drive snapshots to be the same volume, or louder as they get more overdriven, like it'd be if you were actually turning up a non-master-volume amp? I've been making them get louder, because it just feels right to me. Still, if you were in a cover band for instance, there would quite likely be songs by generally overdriven bands, and you might or might not want those whole songs louder. Is there a "best" approach do you think? Or is it just individual per situation, try it and see what works?

PROBLEM SCENARIO 1. Snapshot A has a 500ms delay with trails on, and in B it's 300ms, but the delay is off 2. You're playing along in A and switch to B DILEMMA - If the delay time changes to 300ms, as it does now, you hear glitches - If it doesn't change, it's not at the setting stored in the snapshot when you turn it on, clearly wrong and unhelpful POTENTIAL SOLUTION - If the previous snapshot had a delay on with trails enabled AND - If that same delay is off in the current snapshot AND - If that same delay has a different time setting than the previous snapshot THEN - Don't change the delay time to what's in the current snapshot until something (stomp switch or snapshot change) turns that delay on That'd be better in most cases, but still not bulletproof, potentially still wrong if you then quickly went to another snapshot, muddying the idea of "the previous snapshot". It also seems like a lot of work and testing and potential bugs for an inherently transient case that may not be all that commonly a problem.

What pickups did you end up with? Is your music in the same vein as JP's?

If the amps are different on each side, each half of the audience hears your tone a little differently though. I still dig stereo enough in my basement that I can't let go of it, even though I know it's almost always an actively poor idea live.

If I'm understanding correctly, the problem being reported isn't from changing from active to bypassed. It's that the delay time in the second snap is different, and it affects trails even though it's now bypassed. Unfortunately, that means that using the mix parameter to mute the effect, instead of actual bypass, wouldn't make any difference, the delay time still changes. The workaround/fix is to keep delay times the same across snapshots you navigate between frequently when you have trails turned on. Or embrace the glitches, call them cool, watch people stress trying to duplicate the effect!

If you decide you really can't deal, I'd be happy to take it off your hands (;-)

Same issue about when delay time should switch would apply to changing presets. You definitely need to be able to have different delay times per preset!

I too would like to use the editor with having my Helix connected. It'd be great to do reorganization and housekeeping chores on the living room couch. But as I understand it, that's not going to happen, because the editor is fundamentally a remote control for the physical device, not a standalone emulation of it. I've considered building an emulation myself (I'm a mostly-web programmer professionally), and a lot of it is quite straightforward -- just controls for editing different parameters. But there's a lot of proprietary info that you'd have to suss out on your own, and that info does or could change over time (new models potentially file format changes, etc), and I'd hate to be responsible for the integrity of other people's patches. Watching the recent headaches L6 has gone through lately migrating patches from one firmware release to the next reaffirms the wisdom of not going there IMO. But I might anyway, among other reasons because there are some easy things missing in the current ecosystem, like a quick way to know which IR slots aren't used by any patches. A while ago I built a thing to count all the block types and IRs used by all the individual patches in a directory full of patch files. Blocker to making it publicly available is that ideally it'd work on whole setlists, and I haven't figured out how to unpack the zip format they use.

@pete1975: An IR is a kind of snapshot of the acoustic characteristics of a room, cabinet, hardware device, etc.. IRs can capture frequency response, and also ambience, but short ones like Helix supports can't carry the full decay of a large room. IRs can't model distortion. I'm not Glen, and he hasn't publicized everything about his "tone match" process AFAIK, but I think he matches the tone and distortion character as best he can using the Helix's built-in blocks, then uses software to generate an IR with the difference between that tone and the one he's after. In other words, it's a very specific preset EQ.

You can't do that in all cases, or you couldn't have different delay times for different snaps. Seems to me you'd have to set this up manually yourself, by matching the delay times in the snaps where that was an issue. If you set them in musical units controlled by that patch temp, you can change the delay time with the temp stomp switch, but all snapshots will change together.