markvargha

2 hours ago, themetallikid said:

I agree with Cruisin, either there is enough DSP to run the effect as its designed or it isnt and it'd be grayed out.  For this purpose alone to spread things out, for me I use the 'break' between path 1 and 2 as the connection between amp and cab.  everything and including before the amp block on top line, everything cab and post after on line 2.  gives me the most DSP to play with stuff.  Occasionally I have to put a 2nd amp on the 2nd path, but this gives me the most dsp for better quality/higher effects choices pre/post....

 

but to also answer your question the quality of the effect doesnt change because of more available DSP

Great, thanks man! I also use path 1 & 2 if I use highly DSP intensive blocks (like the Poly Capo, where it eats up the major part of DSP available on the path, so I put almost everything else to path 2), but there I obviously have no other choice. For my basic presets however, I don't need to do that, and - as you made it clear - it would not make any sense either.

1 hour ago, cruisinon2 said:

There's either enough available DSP to run a given amp model, effect, etc,  or there isn't. Nothing will ever sound any different or "better" based on how much unused DSP remains.

Cool, that's what I thought, thanks.

Hi guys,

My question is possibly dumb and it clearly shows that I don't have a single idea about how DSP works - but you might be able to clarify.

I know that the dual DSP power of the Helix is shared between the paths. I am running a fairly simple signal chain, eveything in serial (noise gate, wah, amp, IR, volume pedal, delay, maybe chorus) and since I am not maxing out DSP I am only on path 1.

Would it make any sense - strictly from a sound quality point of view - to "share the load" between the paths, that is, connect path 2 in serial and move some blocks over there (say, starting from the IR block)? Could this result in improved sound quality or you would say it doesn't matter since the DSP in path 1 is not maxed out?

You could also say "try it for yourself and decide", and I have actually done it and did not notice any huge sound quality difference, but possibly the difference would only come out in certain circumstances (with higher volume on a stage, or with higher gain settings etc.). I am basically interested in how DSP processes my sound - is quality affected by how much of it I actually use (like a video card is processing the graphics of a game on a PC, but sometimes it lags because it is not powerful enough) or is it working regardless of the "load" it has?

Many thanks for any inputs on this.

19 hours ago, Hillman1312 said:

Maybe share the same preset of both setlists on this forum so we could have a look/ listen as well? This might help in further understanding the problem.

Sure, I could do that. As I've mentioned, the issue basically appears for all presets copied from User 3 to User 4 (high gain leads, relatively high gain crunch tones and pristine cleans), what do you suggest? To me it is the most obvious on the high gain leads. 

BTW, I am running ML Sound Lab IRs in all of the presets, so how would it work? I assume you are not supposed to share these around or you get into copyright issues, right? (Mikko worked so hard on these and deserves all the money and credit, since they sound awesome) 

On 6/2/2020 at 7:12 PM, themetallikid said:

agreed, I never had the issues I have with Helix doing the same thing with other units in years past.  But, never the less, this is still good advice to always backup.  

Yeah, I regularly do the complete backup for the Helix, but I've never thought of exporting single presets and importing them back to see if it works better than copying, so I'll definitely try this way. 

On 6/2/2020 at 3:48 PM, cruisinon2 said:

 

Copying and pasting stuff is convenient, but sometimes unreliable, it seems. I used to copy and paste entire patches all the time to edit one and A/B with the original, etc etc... but apparently if you do it enough, make copies of copies, or with certain combinations of blocks, weird things can happen. I've noticed that some FX will behave erratically in certain configurations with a copied patch, or if you edit the copy in certain ways, some stuff might not work properly. The original patches generally continue to sound fine, as do identical patches that I've re-created manually block by block. It takes longer, but there's less chance of a hassel down the line.

Sure, I'll give it a go, obviously it takes some time and there is always the worry that you get some of the settings wrong as you go through the blocks, but of you A/B it with the original and finally it sounds the same, it's worth all the trouble. 

Many thanks for the answers everyone. The unit itself is delinitely great and sounds are awesome, this was just a small thing I could not get my head around. And the weird thing is that the problem does not seem to be copying just by itself, as if I copy the preset to another slot within the same setlist (say, from 7A to 15A within setlist User 3) it sounds perfectly identical, so the problem really only appears when copying into another setlist. Another thing adding to the "mystery" is that I tried copying the worse sounding copy back from User 4 to User 3 setlist to an empty slot, amd when I do it is sounds perfect again in User 3... :D

Anyway, I'll definitely try 2 things, as suggested: exporting the preset and importing it to the other setlist, and I will also try to build it up again manually from scratch, and see what the results are. 

Many thanks for all the suggestions! 

Hi guys,

I have recently noticed on my HELIX LT that my presets sound slightly different when I copy them to another setlist. Namely, I have the very same presets in User 3 and User 4, and the same preset in User 4 sounds noticeably less alive (as if I'd dialed presence or gain back a bit). I mainly use User 3 folder to create the presets and then copy them to User 4 in the convenient order, but I've just discovered the issue above and I was wondering if there is a logical explanation behind it.
Some could easily say that it is just my ears that trick me, but I've shown it to other people and they noticed it to - so the difference between the very same preset in User 3 and copied to User 4 is not huge, but definitely noticeable. And while it is easier to notice it on high-gain presets (the sound is thinner in User 4), it is definitely there for clean presets as well. Since it is the case for basically all presets that can be found in both folders, it seems like a general difference between the folders, which is strange since I don't know about any options to set something like a general EQ which is only for a certain folder.

Any ideas on this, anyone?