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HELIX LATCHING & MOMENTARY SWITCH ACTIONS I'm doing a project where I needed to have the footswitches (Specifically FS8 & FS9) both latch and have momentary action behaviors. I have a few songs that reguire a change of setting for a bar or a few bars momentarily, then later, latch for a whole chorus. Rather than do the "stomp", "stomp" dance because of the briefness of the phases, I thought about a good way to do this without using up another set of Helix footswitches that I needed for other operations. The Helix allows you to program any of the footswitches for either "latching" or "momentary" action. Latching is the familiar (and default) action of the footswitch when you enable it; press once, on, press again, off. Momentary only sends an action when the footswitch is actually being pressed. The following is one solution that uses the Helix set to latching (default) and an external controller for the momentary switch action: I have two "piano" sustain type pedals that I use with an Arturia Keylab MkII 61. Your external controller, whatever it is, will most likely need to be programmed for the following type of action. In my case, with a foot pedal inserted into the Keylab MkII's "AUX1" input I set the Arturia MIDI CONTROL program software for the following: Mode; Switched Control, Option; Gate, and CC Number; 55 (in this case, this sends a command to the Helix to operate FS8). All others are default. Same for FS9, except CC Number is 56. and the 2nd pedal connected to "AUX2" input. As you can see, Arturia uses the word "gate" to mean "momentary". Manufacturers can use different terminology for the same kind of action. The Keylabs (or your controller) hardware MIDI output is connected to the Helix hardware MIDI input. I use MIDI channel 5. While the Arturia can send MIDI over USB when connected to a computer, you need to have translation software installed on that computer (like the Bome Midi Translator) to send the MIDI from the controller to the Helix over USB. Too complicated. The hardware MIDI connections on both devices makes the connection brainless ,easy, and computerless (and reliable). Now, while playing, when the short phase comes up, I press and hold on the "piano" footswitch associated with FS8 to momentarily change my amp settings; when the phase is over, I just remove my foot from the pedal. When the chorus comes up and I need to hold the setting, I press the FS8 switch on the Helix. This makes for much easier playing of a very short phase by just leaning into a pedal, without the "dance". Hope you find this helpful. Nick

Yeah, the MIDI implementation on the Helix is pretty good. And I'm so glad to see the 5-pin MIDI DIN hardware ports on the Helix. Fortunately, there is still a lot of new stuff still coming out with hardware MIDI, even if it's in the form of a 1/8" TRS. Not everyone needs the MIDI implementation, of course, but I do, and I'm glad it's there. Not always, but sometimes I'll need to have lots of expression pedals if I'm doing more than volume, and wah. The Arturia keyboard and the Pacer both have excellent manuals that cover the MIDI well. Besides adding a whole bunch of "stomp" switches and control messages (like controlling snapshots remotely in the case of the keyboard controller), I can add 4 expression pedals with the keyboard and 2 with the Pacer; that's 8 expression pedals including the 2 that the Helix hardware supports. Nice, especially with time effects and mixing needs etc., etc., How cool is that! Or, how nuts is that! Not to mention the 4 Relay outputs on the Pacer to control, well anything that accepts a closed circuit, like Amp switching, or lighting, etc. Some may not see the need to access the encoders via MIDI, but sometimes your workflow doesn't permit you to fiddle on the floor turning knobs down there; it's easier if the keyboard or whatever controller is right up there in front of you. I love the versatility of the Helix; it's surprising, when I got the Helix and I was getting the MIDI setup, it occurred to me that "if I only had control of the encoders, I could really expand out some options", along came update 3.15, and wish granted. Wow.

Well, that's easy to fix... Thanks! I'm using my Helix LT with a Nektar PACER MIDI floor controller and a DJ Techtools Midi Fighter Twister. Lots of versatility and programmability there. The Twister (www.djtechtools.com) is a really neat controller with 16 encoders with LED light rings and 16 push-button switches on the encoders (only thing it can't send currently is program changes). I can control the Helix from a desktop or floor, whatever suites my needs. I use the hardware 5-pin MIDI DIN connectors when they exist like on the PACER. I have a DoReMidi USB Host box to interface the Twister since it only has MIDI over USB. This way, I don't have to use any MIDI translation software on the computer (which can be "wonky", and hard to program). This makes implementing MIDI very easy (as hardware connections). A MIDIPlus 4-in Merge Box is used with the Pacer, Twister, and an Arturia Keylab 61 MKII. Ableton and Studio One are the main DAW's on the computer. I use the Helix in so many ways both in the studio and as a live gig; these controllers really add to the already versatile Helix LT's control abilities. I'm glad to see that the Helix encoders were made addressable, that adds more flexibility for me under MIDI. Nick Helix LT MIDI CC Mapping (For version 3.15).pdf

Hi, I'm enjoying the LT very much. Thought I would share my MIDI control mapping for the Helix LT now that version 3.15 includes control of the encoders. Hope it's helpful! Nick Helix LT CC Mapping (For version 3.15).pdf