DSP Power indicator?

[gbakerjr]

Hey all, quick question.  Is there any way to see where you're at as far as DSP horsepower as you're creating a patch in the Helix?  I know the Helix won't let you add something if there's not enough DSP for it in the patch, but is there a way to know how much room you have left?

[reginaldStjohn]

Not that I am aware of

[DunedinDragon]

I'm not sure what good it would do you unless you knew how much DSP whatever you were thinking of adding would take up...and you already know that by what's greyed out.

[HonestOpinion]

An indicator or even DSP usage percent number on a block would be incredibly useful as you could identify exactly which blocks used up substantial amounts of DSP and swap them out of your signal path when necessary. Some amps and effects use significantly more DSP than others.

[spikey]

If yer gonna wish then I want that DSP usage block and a clip block too.

[guitar1969]

Zoom actually instituted something like this recently since many were hitting the DSP wall on the their G5n.  The preset software will tell you how much DSP a particular patch uses out of 100%, and then they just created a cheat sheet pdf that tells you the values of each effect percent it uses as far as DSP is concerned by applying a value.

[HonestOpinion]

Zoom actually instituted something like this recently since many were hitting the DSP wall on the their G5n.  The preset software will tell you how much DSP a particular patch uses out of 100%, and then they just created a cheat sheet pdf that tells you the values of each effect percent it uses as far as DSP is concerned by applying a value.

 

Cool! Looks like Zoom was on the track. I think an actual number within the firmware as opposed to a cheat-sheet would be more ideal. Line6 introduces not only new blocks with firmware releases but also optimizations and fixes that reduce the amount of DSP used by pre-existing blocks. I can see a cheat-sheet being difficult to keep up to date. A process that read the actual per block usage or a meter that showed you how much more DSP each block added makes more sense to me and has a much better chance of remaining current and accurate.

[hideout]

Not sure how much a DSP meter will actually help. However, I think that if they gave us a maximum total DSP usage number per path and gave each effect/model was accompanied by a DSP usage number, you could plan your effects chain accordingly.  Just an idea.

[MusicLaw]

As I recollect, Line 6's Helix Project Manager mentioned that there was just such a thing visible during development. It was removed from production units due to the belief that the information would be a user distraction and not alter the result of Dynamic DSP availability in Helix's Signal Paths.