Help me understand how to use snapshots!

[dacrane]

Hello all,

 

I just got a Helix and I'm already loving it, except for one thing...the glitch you get when switching presets. After doing some research, it looks like snapshots might be what I need, but I can't seem to figure out how to use them for what I want to do.

 

How I'm using the Helix is just for a pedal board replacement, not for the amps so much. I'm playing into a Rivera Venus 6 set pretty clean. In a particular song, I want to be able to click on one footswitch and have my crunch rhythm, then another footswitch for a high gain lead with delay, then back to another footswitch for a clean sound with a little slapback delay. What I thought was the right way to go was to make a preset for each one and assign it to a button on the board. Switching between these presets causes a dropout that is just not working for me.

 

I think snapshots could do this, but can't seem to figure out how to get to my snapshots to appear on the foot switches. Also, I want one snapshot with a distortion pedal with the gain set to 5, and another snapshot with the gain set to 10. So far all I can figure out is that I can turn the distortion pedal on and off in a snapshot, but I can't set the gain change.

 

I think it's pretty obvious what I'm trying to do here, basically I got tired of tap dancing on my pedal board to turn off a OD, delay, and Univibe effect to get back to a rhythm sound right before taking a big breath and stepping up to the mic to sing....I just want to hit one foot switch, and not have a big dropout. Any help would be appreciated!

[DunedinDragon]

Even without snapshots changing presets would be the wrong approach in this case.  This could all be done within a single preset by assigning multiple actions to a footswitch.  Snapshots are simply an extension of that capability.

 

The thing to bear in mind is that changing presets loads all the blocks or effects in your case, which causes a pause while the Helix loads and hooks up everything in the preset.  In a snapshot you're simply loading the preset once and then using snapshots to enable various combinations and settings on the blocks turning them on and off or setting new values so all of the blocks, whether used in the current snapshot or not, get loaded from the beginning in the preset so there's no delay in switching things.

 

There are far too many aspects of snapshots to expect someone to regurgitate what's written in the manual here.  If you have an aversion to reading manuals, go on to YouTube and search for 'Line 6 Snapshots' and you will get a pretty big list of videos that cover all aspects of Snapshots, how to set them up and use them.

[datacommando]

May I suggest you check out a thread started by a regular contributor to this forum - Peter Hamm - a true star.

http://line6.com/support/topic/21483-how-to-use-snapshots/

This real is a quick start for anyone who doesn't like ploughing through manuals, but it will get you up and running.

 

Scott, from the Helix Channel has a video tut up on YouTube (just one of many, many cool vids).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ahuQs41GORI

 

Also check out another contributor, CBTL, who has a few Pink Floyd/David Gilmour tones which incorporate several snapshots.

http://line6.com/support/topic/26040-pink-floyd-sorrow-tone/

Some or all of the patches are available to download from Customtone, so even if you are not a fan of that particular sound, you will have a chance to analyse how they are put together.

 

Stacks more stuff on here - you just have to trawl through.

 

Hope this helps - have fun.

[jbuhajla]

Also, download the 2.0 manual and go to the snapshots section to give it a read. 

[PeterHamm]

Five minutes of your time...

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cqzIapPUj88

[Doug6String]

I created a template patch I use a lot that has 7 snapshots going from clean to crunch to distortion to super-overdrive using an external preamp and 3 diff distortion pedals.  You're right in that you can only turn on/off effects so I sometimes use the same distortion pedal in my chain with diff settings so I can have a crunch snapshot and a distortion snapshot with a similar tone using the same pedal.  I have the rack so I don't know about assigning anything to the footswitches.  Since you don't have an amp and cabs/IRs in your signal chain, you have a lot of power to have multiples of the pedals you want use use with different settings.  I also use up to 4 gain "pedals" in my template so I can manage the volume on the 7 snapshots.

[dacrane]

Thanks for the replies, I'll check out the You Tube videos. Maybe I have the wrong version of the manual, but I did not see a whole lot about snapshots in the Helix SW manual, at least not to the level I could do what I want to do.

[MusicLaw]

The latest Helix 2.0 Owner Manual - Rev D - PDF is the one you want to download from the Line 6 site Manuals area.

 

This current version was released in July 2016 to coincide with introduction of the Snapshots feature.

 

The USB stick supplied with the Helix unit, most likely still has the now long outdated earlier version of the User Manual PDF.

 

Line 6 has announced that the User Manual will be updated only for major firmware releases. This presumably means full interger firmware versions. Thus, no new User Manual is expected until firmware 3.0 is released. No schedule was provided.

 

As there have been no addendums published to the 2.0 User Manual. Users are left to find the Release Notes for the interim releases on their own. Unfortunately, these are often cumbersume to find on the Line 6 website. The interim releases have been 2.10, 2.11, 2.12, and 2.20 (expected shortly). Line 6 has also mentioned a 2.30 fw is in the works. Thus, it is left up to the users to patch together on their own the aggregate new features and bug fixes of these interim releases until Line 6 revises the User Manual or provides an interim addendum.

[jbuhajla]

Here are some quick steps of how I program snapshots. There are details I am leaving out about how to do each one that you can find elsewhere. 

 

1. Create a preset with the core clean tone I am looking for, and add all desired effects in the routing scheme of your choice. 

2. Bypass all or most effects. 

3. Save this snapshot 1 as "clean-dry"

4. Touch/hold the snapshot FS you just saved, then touch the FS next to it. This will allow you to save your first snapshot into the next FS. 

5. Click on the new snapshot 2, add more amp gain or an OD pedal, save snapshot 2 as "Grit-dry"

6. Touch/hold the snapshot 2 , then touch the FS next to it. Save this snapshot in the next FS as snapshot 3

7. Add more OD or Distortion, add more amp gain (turn down amp main volume to balance). Save snapshot 3 as "Overdrive-dry"

8. I then click back to the "Clean-Dry", touch/hold, then touch the next FS, save snapshot 4

9. I then add reverb, delay, modulation, etc to the original clean sound, and save snapshot 4 as "clean-wet". 

10. I do the same thing for the other snaps

 

I start with a clean dry tone, and add on from there for each snap. Basically when I am done I have clean, crunch, drive dry and clean snapshots (6 total). I reserve the last two snapshots for any kind of "ambient" or "synthy" sounds I need for that song. 

 

I then save this preset as a "template" and I change out the amp models and cabs for a different sound, but maintain the same work flow. Then you just have to go to each snap and tweak it and save. My set list is filled with presets named for the core amp/cab model they are built around. Those are all my templates for different sounds. 

 

Then when I do a preset for a song, I just pick one of my preset templates with the appropriate amp/cab core tones, then tweak it for the song. I then save the preset as the song title. 

 

It's been working well for me. 

[MusicLaw]

Here are some quick steps of how I program snapshots. There are details I am leaving out about how to do each one that you can find elsewhere.

 

1. Create a preset with the core clean tone I am looking for, and add all desired effects in the routing scheme of your choice.

2. Bypass all or most effects.

3. Save this snapshot 1 as "clean-dry"

4. Touch/hold the snapshot FS you just saved, then touch the FS next to it. This will allow you to save your first snapshot into the next FS.

5. Click on the new snapshot 2, add more amp gain or an OD pedal, save snapshot 2 as "Grit-dry"

6. Touch/hold the snapshot 2 , then touch the FS next to it. Save this snapshot in the next FS as snapshot 3

7. Add more OD or Distortion, add more amp gain (turn down amp main volume to balance). Save snapshot 3 as "Overdrive-dry"

8. I then click back to the "Clean-Dry", touch/hold, then touch the next FS, save snapshot 4

9. I then add reverb, delay, modulation, etc to the original clean sound, and save snapshot 4 as "clean-wet".

10. I do the same thing for the other snaps

 

I start with a clean dry tone, and add on from there for each snap. Basically when I am done I have clean, crunch, drive dry and clean snapshots (6 total). I reserve the last two snapshots for any kind of "ambient" or "synthy" sounds I need for that song.

 

I then save this preset as a "template" and I change out the amp models and cabs for a different sound, but maintain the same work flow. Then you just have to go to each snap and tweak it and save. My set list is filled with presets named for the core amp/cab model they are built around. Those are all my templates for different sounds.

 

Then when I do a preset for a song, I just pick one of my preset templates with the appropriate amp/cab core tones, then tweak it for the song. I then save the preset as the song title.

 

It's been working well for me.

 

Well done!

 

DI should also use this as an example in whatever Tips and Tricks may be added to the future User Manual!