cclement Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 While I wait patiently for my Helix to be delivered.. I had a thought... Can you use an external footswitch to use as a solo boost? My reasoning behind this is that I've got big feet... and many is the time I've hit FS8 on my HD500x (which I always have set to a volume boost for solos) and hit the TAP tempo or something else instead. Let's say you have the foot switch plugged into say.. EXT 3 - something like the Roland FS-5L. When when the switch is open you get a value of A, when the switch is closed.. you get a value of B. This is not too dissimilar from a controller pedal that moves between value A to B and back. But in this case, you get no in-between settings. So... could you set it up such that a volume block is assigned to Ext 3, and then using the MIN and MAX values could give you a selectable amount of control to toggle solo and not? Just curious... more of a thought exercise while I wait. Way back in the old days, I made a little box with a 1meg pot and a switch to bypass it to use as a poor-man's solo boost. I would set the volume loud with the switch bypassed, then dial it down with the pot for the "rhythm" mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verne-Bunsen Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Interesting idea! The Helix looks for a 10k pot in an expression pedal, so if you made your box with a 10k resistor and a switch to bypass it maybe Helix would never know the difference? You could even have it toggle bypass states using the position based auto-on feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rewolf48 Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Why not just use an Expression pedal that is set for the range you want say 70% to 100% gain? Push down on the toe to boost and heel for normal volume, and you do get the in-between settings for when you want to fade back. Plus you can always see what state it is in by the physical location. If you do want a switch then 10k ohm is one end of the range and shorted out 0 ohm is the the other. Helix can handle the inversion if needed, but you can't see the state of most switches unless you have the parameter that it is controlling visible by being the currently selected effect. The FS-5L is an exception because it does tell you the state - through an LED and battery on board which gets around this problem, but you still need a customised cable to make it work: The FS-5L has two positions Open which is infinity ohms and Closed which is zero ohms. If you take a simple 1/4 Jack cable where you can open the Jack up to get to the the wiring (or make one yourself), and solder a 10k ohm resistor between the Tip and Sleeve tabs of one of the Jacks, then it will give 10k ohms to Helix when the switch is Open and 0 ohms when it is closed which is exactly what Helix wants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdiddy5000 Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Check out http://line6.com/support/topic/25582-properly-setting-levels-between-presets/?fromsearch=1 . There's a post wth a schematic to something similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterHamm Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 I've done this before. You have 3 EXPs on Helix, so it's REAL easy to hook up a volume pedal to go between the two states. Just do that, you don't need to make some custom switch. It works great and with Helix, you can make it so that a BUNCH of parameters change, not just gain or volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaurentJoulzy Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 It rather looks like a good idea to me. Sure, the expression pedal would work. But if you only need a solo boost, a simple switch could probably cost less and would take much less space on a pedalboard. Strymon pedals accept either an external switch or an external expression pedal with a single port. Raph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterHamm Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 If it HAS to be a switch, this guy could make it affordably for you I bet.this1smyne.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cclement Posted February 14, 2017 Author Share Posted February 14, 2017 Sure.. you can do a Exp pedal for this... and it would give you a whole lot of other options. I was just thinking out loud... and what could be done for super cheap with stuff I might already have here at the house. Side note: I've got my old Mission Exp pedal that was for the HD500X... but I never ended up using it. Any reason it wouldn't work with the Helix? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterHamm Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Side note: I've got my old Mission Exp pedal that was for the HD500X... but I never ended up using it. Any reason it wouldn't work with the Helix? It works perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manysounds Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 A simple SPDT push-on push-of switch will work. You can even plug in a (normally open) keyboard sustain pedal and it will work as a non-latching momentary switch. The 10k resistor is unneccesary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a2dconverterguy Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Howdy Folks, You can use a footswitch plugged into an EXP Jack to go from full on to full off with a a latching switch (or stutter FX if the footswitch is momentary... Just solder a 10K ohm resistor across the switch terminals... Also, (Previousy posted on TGP)... here's something that I implemented on my HELIX from an idea on the AX8 Forum... https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/tip-adjustable-lead-volume.123607/ It is for adjustable lead volume... this is useful when you need to globally adjust the lead volume depending on the stage... It is a small box with a pot and 1/4" jack connected to the HELIX EXP2 I set The EXP2 Position to GLOBAL and set EXP2 to control the GAIN of a Volume Block (MIN to MAX = +3 to +6dB) I marked +3, +4, +5, and +6dB positions on the box, but it is infinitely adjustable. Since EXP2 is set to Global, the Lead Volume that is set transfers to all Presets and Snapshots... Just in case you need that little extra boost... available at the turn of a dial Please let me know if you have any questions seeya Joe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinAndrew Posted May 28, 2018 Share Posted May 28, 2018 I would like to use a Boss FS6 in front of my vocalist in a momentary mode to turn a delay on. Is this at all possible? It can't seem to switch effects on or off directly and I've tried using Bypass Assign with "learn controller". No success. Any chance we can could expect this in an update if the hardware can do it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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