SaschaFranck

And fwiw, I thought abusing the switch as an expression pedal might do the trick (as in heel down controlling off, toe down controlling on), hoping the Stomp would do active sensing for expression pedals, but that doesn't seem to work at all.

Hi, I can't get this to work, no idea where to look or what to do anymore. Scenario: I have a latched footswitch connected to the EXP jack of my Stomp (in fact, there's two switches connected, but the second one is just there for tap tempo and simply working). Now, that very switch has a status LED, which is excellent. LED on = contact closed, LED off = contact open. Pretty much business as usual. I have now been setting up a patch in which this very switch controls the "route to" function of an A/B spilt. Working fine, too. Well, not really, because that's where the problems start... When I set the properties of the switch to "latching", I need two switch operations to trigger things - which is sort of to be expected. So, I changed the switch properties to "momentary". All fine. At least for now. A single switch operation causes the routing to change, onboard LED of the switch is working fine, too, LED on representing, say, "route to B". Ok, patch saved. Now, whenever I select another patch and use the external switch just once (so its LED is off) and then return to the saved patch, the split is still routing to B - but the external switch's LED is off this time. The latter being expected, because after all I switched it off and it obviously can't know what the Stomp is doing. But: The Stomp should know the setting of the switch. So once it detects a closed contact, it would route to path B, once it's opened, it'd route to path A, regardless of the saved state. Obviously however, this can't work as the switch assignment's properties have to be set to "momentary", as a result of that, the patch will always revert to the saved status. Ok, long story made short: Is there any way I can assign something to an external switch so it always looks at the status of the switch and then sets the assigned parameters according to the switch status, regardless of the saved state? In synth lingo, a function such as this would be called "active sensing", so any external controllers with clearly defined values (on, off or anything inbetween, as delivered by expression pedals) would be read out once the patch is loaded. This is the way, say, expression pedals work as volume pedals on many devices. Is that somehow possible using an external latching switch? Thanks for any hints!

First off: It'd massively help if you'd a) used paragraphs and b) used the common signal flow descriptions such as guitar -> HX -> amp input, etc., rather than the other way around. And it'd help if you could get some parts of the terminology right, at least a bit. As an example, a power amp isn't sending audio, it's receiving audio. In case english isn't your native language and hence causing you problems, rather use Deepl. If you wanted to get things right in a 4CM scenario, the most important bit would be to get your send/return levels right. This is especially true for Fender amps as they usually don't have a "true" master volume, the entire overall volume often sits in the preamp (with the power amp always running at full volume), which results in the send level of the amp to wildly vary once you adjust your levels on the amp. I wouldn't bet on it, but I could imagine this to be no different on your amp. As a result, when running that kind of amp the 4CM way, you should possibly rather not touch the amps volume controls too much others than to balance the two channels. The Helix output would then function as your new master volume. Then, the first thing you want to make sure is that the HX loop your sending from to the amp is set to instrument level, that's just what the amp expects (this is done in the global menu). You should ideally also not do the entire cabling at once but start with the portion of the Helix you'd want to run in front of the amp. So, your first attempt would be to set up the amp so it sounds great. Then you'd run your guitar into the HX input, bypass everything on the unit, set up a send and connect that send to your amp. Ideally, things would now sound the same as without the Helix. Note: For a start, make sure to use one of the FX Loop blocks, not the separate send and return blocks. This is just to make sure the entire signal passes through the loop (the mix slider needs to be at 100% for that, which is the default). Your tone should now be pretty much identical to the pure amp tone. Note: a certain (pretty small but existing) coloration is to be expected. After all, the signal is converted to the digital domain and back, in addition the Helix has an input amp (even if it largely just serves as a buffer). In case the signal is somewhat higher or lower in volume, you can adjust the send level accordingly. Later on you might as well fool around with the impedance setting in the Helix, could as well be that the amp has a different input impedance than 1mOhm, so you might like to mimic that on the HX input - but for now, leave that setting alone (hence at "auto"). Also make sure the Gate and Guitar Pad are off. Next step would be to disconnect the HX and run your guitar straight into the amp (this is not a requirement but just to make sure things do in fact work). Now grab the signal from your Fender's preamp out and feed it into the return of the HX loop you plan to use. Then connect the output of the HX to your amp's power amp in. Ideally, the tone would now be pretty similar to the tone without the HX inserted. Compensate for volume using the HX big volume knob. Very important note: The previous step is possibly *the* most tricky part of it all. The level coming from your preamp out might be pretty hot, so the HX might not like it too much on a loop set to instrument level (which is what it needs to be because you're as well feeding the amp from there), but I wouldn't happen to know. Maybe things are just fine. In case they're not, you would possibly have to use two different loops, the first one set to instrument level, the second one set to line level. You would then use the separate send/return blocks and send to the amp using loop 1 but plug the amp's preamp out into the return of loop 2. If you should ever have to try it, make *absolutely* sure that "dry through" is set to 0 on the send and mix to 100% on the return. Otherwise a portion of the signal wouldn't run through your preamp. But: You might not have to do any of that, the plain FX loop block might be fine, so that's defenitely where you should start at. Anyhow, in case you're happy with the results of the last step, also do what you did first, namely connect your guitar to the HX and the send to your amp's input. This should now be a working setup to start with. Alternatively, ditch the entire preamp section of the Fender and just run the Helix into the power amp in. Just make sure to bypass all cabs. Ideally, you might as well just use the HX's preamp models instead of full amp blocks. But bypassing all cabs is paramount.

Defenitely something to contact Line 6 support.

You won't damage anything. If you set your outs to line level, either levels should be pretty much the same, the main difference being that the XLR outs are providing a balanced signal which is less prone to whatever interferences. Usually, with shorter cable runs, it doesn't make much of a difference, if any. You don't. Apart from the global EQ, all these settings are only available on the hardware.

Does it really say 3.5 in the splash screen of the hardware and in HX Edits "about" menu? Also, can you see the new stuff on the hardware?

Oh, so it was about the authorization, I see. That's another story then. Let's say I just don't like it. It also seems to get in the way of quick plugin loading times (at least with Bias FX it does), but I'm not too sure about that as my old cheesgrater Mac Pro is missing things such as AVX instructions, which might be used for the GUI stuff in Native and what not. Totally agreed. And a horrible company to boot. Been betatesting for them for a while, almost wrote my a** off, pretty detailed reports, feature requests and what not - and when the update was released, they didn't even offer a discount (usually as a tester, you don't pay anything - and that wasn't a public beta or so). They also didn't change anything with the dreaded plugin connecting to half the world, even after people were massively complaining. "How many more things would you like to mess up?" Positive Grid: "Yes!"

I could download them just fine.

As said above, mine is sounding pretty thick and mid-heavy. In comparison, yours sounds more shallow. And that shallow character is exactly why I started shooting and baking my own IRs some years ago. There's nothing wrong with your IR, might even be working better on recordings, but for live purposes, the ones I created (fwiw, I usually go for the slightly brighter one) suit me better as they never seem to get lost in a band setting. All kinda sounds I need for live playing. When I had the Floor (I scaled down to a Stomp which is only working as an FX unit on my current live pedalboard, the modeling duties are taken care of by an Atomic Amplifirebox and a NUX Amp Academy, both running a pretty similar IR, only slightly adjusted to suit the amp models a bit better), I was always only using one patch for live, within that patch I had two amps loaded, usually a Princess or Cali IV Rhythm 1 for cleans and a Line 6 2204 Mod or Mandarin 80 (both at pretty low drive settings, so I could slap dirt blocks in front) for any overdriven tones. The entire palette of tones within that one patch was ranging from very clean to solid rock, including all kinds of lead boosts and what not. Served me just fine for a plethora of gigs (my current board is serving me better, though).

And fwiw, it's wellknown that at least the demo (and likely the full version too) are calling home all the time whenever they can. The fact that they still work whenever there's no connection doesn't change anything with that. Similar to Bias FX btw, which is trying to call up around 25 web adresses on each launch (nice things such as Googleadservices and Facebook included).

But how can they otherwise magically fix things in case it's not calling home?

Hm, so Native is actually calling home all the time?

So what was the problem?

Fwiw, I have a bunch of IRs I created to suit some individual HX amp models (obviously so I would like them), might post them whenever I find the time to sort them out a bit. Thing is, over the years I learned that mids are a guitar player's best friend, so I always try to bake some of them straight into the IR already (usually I'm looking for some baseline IRs of my own featuring "interesting" mids and then I might cut away some lows and highs in addition).

With Firefox under macOS I'm getting an option to rightclick the player (which is automatically being added - I don't think it has always been like that), allowing me to select "save audio as" or "copy audio adress" - both resulting in a file with .wav extension. Whatever, here's the last two zipped. SF_Live_IRs.zip

Same thing under Windows, really. HX Edit must be up to date to display the new goodies.

Fwiw, quite some IR companies have dragged their free teasers (or entirely free portfolio) back more or less recently. RedWirez is out of the game (their free Marshall cab hooked me back in around 2008), Ownhammer has no teaser anymore and Seacows is now distributed by Audio Assault. Whatever, here's my main two live IRs. They're pretty far from sounding like most other IRs (and incredibly loud, for whatever reasons which I could sort of describe) but I used them pretty much exclusively on the Floor for around 3 years. Gen_01_bright.wav Gen_01.wav

My bad - that was so easy I should've gotten it...

What in the world does that stand for?

He defenitely needs to check the actual version he's running.

Very likely HX Edit isn't properly updated.

First thing to do: Rightclick the .pkg file and select "open". In case that doesn't work, look here: Somewhere at the bottom you'll find some help regarding the issue (which is related to macOS' Gatekeeper) Did you install HX Edit and tried updating from within there?

Bitte einmal hier entlang:

Hm, dunno. Might be true for the pedals and amps, but otherwise I always thought that Fractal was pretty much on the front edge. I mean, they're offering really excellent FX and things such as modulators, allowing you to do some pretty nifty things - the only other modeler coming at least sort of close in that aspect would be the GT-1000 (and in plugin land Guitar Rig, which is a modulation monster, too bad they almost stopped developing it). There's not too much to be had of that kinda stuff in HX land. Sure, some neat FX, but being able to modulate parameters would certainly bring them to quite another level. Agreed - but as said above, aren't the things around the core tone something Fractal is just as strong at?

Sort of off topic: I know this is likely considered blasphemy round some parts of the modeling world, but is that really all that important? All I know is, that for me, it isn't. Fwiw, this is also why I have a sweet spot for the Boss modeling. The best sounding amps and drive boxes in their units IMO are those not trying to be literal copies of existing devices. And on my recent pedalboard, the amp model I'm using for all my driven tones is a pretty much modified (as in using pre- and post-EQ plus some custom-made IR) Bassman of an Atomic Amplifirebox with some (real) pedals slapped in front. Apart from a completely clean tone (which is provided by another pretty much modified Super Reverb coming from a NUX Amp Academy), I hardly ever need anything else (I could use the Stomp in addition but only ever do so for certain rare recording situations). For me, as long as it feels well while playing, offers enough flexibility to get everything I need done and sits well in a mix (especially live), that's all it takes. In the end, for me (<-!) the usability aspect has turned out to be much more important than whatever super accurate amp replications. And for my use case, with my current setup pretty much all usability boxes are checked (apart from some that, interestingly enough, are almost exclusively related to the HX Stomp, even if I like it quite a bit in its role as an almost-only-FX unit). Now, I know that's just me (well, maybe not just me, but still...), but when lurking around the modeling world's various channels, I can't help it but think that this almost endless quest for whatever perfect amp emulations is keeping away at least quite some people from concentrating what all this at least originally was almost certainly about: Playing guitar, ideally through some nice sounding pieces of gear. It often seems to be along the lines of "Until I don't have amp XYZ at my disposal, all of my rock star attempts must be brought to a halt!" I'm not saying it's necessarily like that, I'm also not adressing anyone in particular, but that's the impression I often have. And as far as myself is concerned, ever since I decided to not use a one-size-fits-all-in-one-box modeler anymore (even if I still own the Stomp), I'm playing more than ever throughout the last 2-3 years. Fwiw, partially related, in my case it also seems to massively help that I simply don't have to use any editors and what not for any common things anymore. It's all knobs, directly exposed WYSIWYG style, sitting next to me (my pedalboard is raised to chair level at home).