Did some IR work, have some gripes and questions

[zooey]

This afternoon I finally got around to loading up Helix with a bunch of free IRs. (Big thanks to roscoe5 and Chris Beaver for their freebies!) Some things happened that bug me, want to check if I'm Doing It Right.

 

- I collected all the IRs I wanted to load in a few directories on my PC, then used Bulk Rename Utility to rename them with a 2-digit sequential prefix, to make it easy to keep track of what's what when they get to Helix. First thing I did was drag them all into the editor, 80-something files. It made it only a little ways through before I got an error that Helix had disconnected, had to reboot Helix to reconnect. Tried again, same thing. Tried doing batches of 10 at a time, worked much better, but still not consistently successful. Is that "normal"? Is there some other approach to make that work better? Any signs L6 is working on that?

 

- I eventually got all the files I wanted onto the Helix, however, Helix stripped my numeric prefixes off all the first 40 IRs, and none of the rest. I went back and tried dragging those files into the editor again, same thing. I ended up copying and pasting individual names from the file system into the editor, for all of those first 40 IRs. Is that a known bug? A "feature" of some sort? It seems like a bizarre bug for Helix to have, but well, all software has bugs...

 

- Once I got everything loaded, I wanted to back them all up in Helix's native format, with the names how it left them. However, I didn't see a way to back them all up at once. Is it really true you have to export each one individually? Ouch.

 

In any case, it's good to get those resources on board to play with. Had to stop before I could do a whole lot with them, but I did pull up a preset built around an IR roscoe5 made a while ago from an Amplitube dual cab rig I had, tweaked it some, and it really was was pretty cool. As folks have said in that other thread, it's a pretty great time to be an electric musician.

 

So anyway, feedback on those IR questions would be much appreciated.

[roscoe5]

- Once I got everything loaded, I wanted to back them all up in Helix's native format, with the names how it left them. However, I didn't see a way to back them all up at once. Is it really true you have to export each one individually? Ouch.

 

 

You are able to multi-select the impulses in the Helix editor (standard Windows Shift select), right-click and select Export, the browse to your destination folder.  It will export all of them.

 

 

I just exported, re-numbered via Bulk Rename Utility, and re-imported all of my impulses.

 

While I had no problem bringing in the 128 impulses into Helix all at once, I was quickly reminded that Helix will read in the file Title if it is populated.  And Helix populates the Title when impulses are exported.  Maybe this is the "prefix stripping" you experienced.

 

[HonestOpinion]

This afternoon I finally got around to loading up Helix with a bunch of free IRs. (Big thanks to roscoe5 and Chris Beaver for their freebies!) Some things happened that bug me, want to check if I'm Doing It Right.

 

- I collected all the IRs I wanted to load in a few directories on my PC, then used Bulk Rename Utility to rename them with a 2-digit sequential prefix, to make it easy to keep track of what's what when they get to Helix. First thing I did was drag them all into the editor, 80-something files. It made it only a little ways through before I got an error that Helix had disconnected, had to reboot Helix to reconnect. Tried again, same thing. Tried doing batches of 10 at a time, worked much better, but still not consistently successful. Is that "normal"? Is there some other approach to make that work better? Any signs L6 is working on that?

 

- I eventually got all the files I wanted onto the Helix, however, Helix stripped my numeric prefixes off all the first 40 IRs, and none of the rest. I went back and tried dragging those files into the editor again, same thing. I ended up copying and pasting individual names from the file system into the editor, for all of those first 40 IRs. Is that a known bug? A "feature" of some sort? It seems like a bizarre bug for Helix to have, but well, all software has bugs...

 

- Once I got everything loaded, I wanted to back them all up in Helix's native format, with the names how it left them. However, I didn't see a way to back them all up at once. Is it really true you have to export each one individually? Ouch.

 

In any case, it's good to get those resources on board to play with. Had to stop before I could do a whole lot with them, but I did pull up a preset built around an IR roscoe5 made a while ago from an Amplitube dual cab rig I had, tweaked it some, and it really was was pretty cool. As folks have said in that other thread, it's a pretty great time to be an electric musician.

 

So anyway, feedback on those IR questions would be much appreciated.

I have not encountered the issue with the Helix stripping the prefixes. You can back them all up by doing a Shift-Select and highlighting them all at one time and then hitting the "Export" link or right-clicking the mouse and selecting "Export". This will bring up a browse window. Select the directory you want (rather than double clicking and entering it) and then hit "Select Folder". You do not have to export them one at a time. I would suggest creating a separate directory for exporting them.

 

Update: Looks like Roscoe5 was posting a few seconds earlier, sorry for the redundancy.

[zooey]

Thanks for the export tip. I could swear the right-click menu Export item was disabled when I selected more than one, but apparently I was lost in space.

 

Interesting about the title field. Some of the IRs I imported were from you roscoe5, and if they passed through Helix, not unlikely, then maybe they got tiltles that way, and maybe that is where my prefixes went. And come to think of it, #s 1-40 were all you. The freebies from Chris Beaver and Ownhammer come through prefix intact. Maybe Chris's were posted directly from his source directory, before going through Helix?

 

So now we need a bulk title prefixer, or remover, or something? Sometimes software's too smart for its own good, ends up doing something unhelpful from the user's POV.

[roscoe5]

Thanks for the export tip. I could swear the right-click menu Export item was disabled when I selected more than one, but apparently I was lost in space.

 

Interesting about the title field. Some of the IRs I imported were from you roscoe5, and if they passed through Helix, not unlikely, then maybe they got tiltles that way, and maybe that is where my prefixes went. And come to think of it, #s 1-40 were all you. The freebies from Chris Beaver and Ownhammer come through prefix intact. Maybe Chris's were posted directly from his source directory, before going through Helix?

 

So now we need a bulk title prefixer, or remover, or something? Sometimes software's too smart for its own good, ends up doing something unhelpful from the user's POV.

 

All of the IR's I shared on Dropbox were exported from Helix after I imported the originals into Helix.  I thought it was a good way to ensure good, consistent IR's that users would have no issues with importing back into Helix.

 

Dang, I probably hosed everyone with the Title thing.  Sorry.

[roscoe5]

But knowing that Helix reads the titles if they exist, and the fact that titles are populated when exported from Helix, does it really make sense for Helix to be reading the title on import and not the file name?  Was this intentional by Line 6?

 

There is a Windows method to remove file properties like Title, but it doesn't seem to work in Windows 10.  A bug?

 

[bsd512]

This afternoon I finally got around to loading up Helix with a bunch of free IRs. (Big thanks to roscoe5 and Chris Beaver for their freebies!) Some things happened that bug me, want to check if I'm Doing It Right.

 

- I collected all the IRs I wanted to load in a few directories on my PC, then used Bulk Rename Utility to rename them with a 2-digit sequential prefix, to make it easy to keep track of what's what when they get to Helix. First thing I did was drag them all into the editor, 80-something files. It made it only a little ways through before I got an error that Helix had disconnected, had to reboot Helix to reconnect. Tried again, same thing. Tried doing batches of 10 at a time, worked much better, but still not consistently successful. Is that "normal"? Is there some other approach to make that work better? Any signs L6 is working on that?

...

 

So anyway, feedback on those IR questions would be much appreciated.

 

I see your other questions are answered, but didn't see this one addressed.

 

I can only speak from my own experience, but this is not normal.  I've dragged the full 128 capacity of IRs into the "IMPULSES" section of the editor and it loads them all no problem.  I've done this multiple times and never experienced a disconnect or any problems.

 

I'm using an old 2009 era "cheese grater" Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan, if that matters.

[zooey]

Roscoe5, I certainly didn't mean to point fingers at you, we all appreciate all the work you've put into these, at least I know I do. I was just trying to understand what was happening.

 

I looked at the Properties of a half dozen of your IRs through the Windows file system, and none of them show a Title on the Details tab. I'm on Windows 7 Pro SP1 64 bit, if that matters (also re bulk import), not sure where you're seeing that property (or the method to remove it, but I'm so far just dealing w normal user UI).

 

More confused now.

[jpdennis]

I have imported Roscoe5's IRs without any problem and the titles are there.  Not sure what the issue is.  I'm using several PCs based upon what room I and the Helix are in at the time.  Win 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise, & Windows 7 Enterprise.  In my case I use the IR select knob #1 and have had no issues to date; that was once I realized how to use the IR feature in the Helix. :huh:

 

Dennis

[roscoe5]

Roscoe5, I certainly didn't mean to point fingers at you, we all appreciate all the work you've put into these, at least I know I do. I was just trying to understand what was happening.

No worries. I didn't take it negatively :)

[zooey]

I have imported Roscoe5's IRs without any problem and the titles are there.  Not sure what the issue is.  I'm using several PCs based upon what room I and the Helix are in at the time.  Win 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise, & Windows 7 Enterprise.  In my case I use the IR select knob #1 and have had no issues to date; that was once I realized how to use the IR feature in the Helix. :huh:

 

Dennis

Not sure which of us is misunderstanding the other, but the behavior I was talking about is this: I renamed all the IRs I wanted to load (in the file system on my computer), giving them a 2-digit sequential number prefix corresponding to the Helix slot where they were going to go (00 {filename}, 01 {filename}...), and when I dragged them into the editor, it stripped those numeric prefixes off the names it gave the files, in some cases. "Some cases" was either slots 0-40, or all roscoe5's IRs. I didn't try one of his in an higher numbered slot, or someone else's in 0-40, just wanted to play with these new toys, but it's an odd coincidence, if it is that.

 

The reason people are talking about titles is that roscoe5 suggested Helix might be naming the imported IRs from the title property in the files, not the filename. I don't see a title property at all on the Details tab of the Windows file system Properties dlg, for any of the half dozen or so of his files I checked, so I'm not sure what he's seeing that makes him think that. He's on Windows 10, so maybe it's a property Win7 can't see?

 

And just a shout-out to everyone who's made and shared custom IRs. You read right, I imported I think 41 from roscoe5, and that doesn't include his new ones from yesterday, wow! I Chris and others have made a bunch too, awesome gifts to us all.

[radatats]

in File Explorer select Details as the view type and right click in the header area.  This brings up a list of categories you can display, select Titles and voila.  Click and drag in the header area to rearrange the columns as desired.

Yeah, interesting that it reads the Title rather than the file Name.  I didn't know that, thanks!

[zooey]

radatats, what OS are you on? In Win 7 Pro 64 bit, I don't get a menu right clicking "the header area" of the Details panel, if by that you mean the strip w the column titles "Property" and "Value". I see a grouping of properties at the top of the properties list, labelled "Description", first one is Title, and it's blank (then Subtitle and Rating).

 

Weird if Win 10 and 7 see different metadata for the same file.

[Garhel]

Not sure it helps, but for what it's worth I renamed all of my 3S IRs in the same way, so I could be sure I reimported them into the right slots after any update... Bulk name changed done on a MacBook Pro, reimported to Helix with no problems. I think this might point to an OS issue, but I'm really an amateur with this stuff!