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How to tell what parameter a controller is controlling.


mileskb
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So this came up.    I was modifying a patch that actually came from the Fremen pack.   Really liking the Engl tones... 

 

I wanted to get rid of the Volume control on the pedal, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what else the pedal was controlling.

 

I removed the Volume block but the pedal was still adjusting something.   I ended up doing a "clear all controllers" and that worked in this case, but is there any way to reverse engineer what parameters in what blocks a controller is controlling?

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If it's a Stomp, you can touch it and it'll jump about to the various areas it's assigned to...

With an Expression pedal, that's not going to be as easy to follow around, come to think of it, as there's no way to interact with the expression pedals like that.

 

I'll have to investigate this once I'm in front of my Helix.

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There's no way to have them all listed out or anything, but any parameter that is being controlled by a controlled will have brackets around it, both on the unit and in the editor. On the unit itself, you just hold down the knob under the parameter being controlled, and you'll be taken to the controller assign screen. There you can see what the actual assignment is. On the editor, you'd just click on the Controller Assign tab. If there's multiple parameters for the same block being controlled, you can scroll to see them all in the Controller Assign screen on the unit, and in the editor, you can use the bars to go through them all.

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The cap sensitive switches are definitely your friend for locating assignments. Complex assignments or issues like tracking what the expression pedal is assigned to are why it would be great if the Helix provided some kind of an assignments screen where you could see all of your assignments in one place. That would be a nice addition to the Helix and Editor although I have been able to navigate easily for the most part without a screen like this.

 

Assignments screen Ideascale: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/idea-v2/824908

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Where this became tricky for me personally was the point where I took my 'super-patch' and create a Snapshot version of it (it came from before Snapshots, so it relied on various Stomp controller assignments to get things happening as I required, giving me a whole raft of the sounds I needed at hand for my 'Tele-twins' sit-ins with my good friend.

 

Noting it all so that I could re-build and allow Snapshots to do the adjustments where appropriate actually required a whole bunch of hand-written notes to keep track of it all.

Parameters, stomp scenarios, on/off status... but I wanted to be able to look at it without jumping back and forth from the previous revision to the new 'SS' version.

 

Worked out great... once in a while I stare at those notes; I was meaning to capture that data into a spreadsheet, and even began laying it out... then decided that, in this case, I could actually do the handwritten notes faster for this type of thing.

 

... so, an assignments display page would certainly be useful =]

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Where this became tricky for me personally was the point where I took my 'super-patch' and create a Snapshot version of it (it came from before Snapshots, so it relied on various Stomp controller assignments to get things happening as I required, giving me a whole raft of the sounds I needed at hand for my 'Tele-twins' sit-ins with my good friend.

 

Noting it all so that I could re-build and allow Snapshots to do the adjustments where appropriate actually required a whole bunch of hand-written notes to keep track of it all.

Parameters, stomp scenarios, on/off status... but I wanted to be able to look at it without jumping back and forth from the previous revision to the new 'SS' version.

 

Worked out great... once in a while I stare at those notes; I was meaning to capture that data into a spreadsheet, and even began laying it out... then decided that, in this case, I could actually do the handwritten notes faster for this type of thing.

 

... so, an assignments display page would certainly be useful =]

You could have just selected an unsaved snap, go to footswitch mode, select the footswitches then save. And so on....

I had the same issue going from pre-snap to snap mode.

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You could have just selected an unsaved snap, go to footswitch mode, select the footswitches then save. And so on....

I had the same issue going from pre-snap to snap mode.

 

I wish it had just been that; I had parameter adjustments peppered liberally all around the preset as well as block activate/deactivate instructions.

And I wanted to allow Snapshots control almost all of it... so I needed to allow for all that without there being controller conflicts.

PLUS I was making changes as I went; I'd maxed out the stomps, and had made compromises, which I was 'un-doing' as I went as well.

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I wish it had just been that; I had parameter adjustments peppered liberally all around the preset as well as block activate/deactivate instructions.

And I wanted to allow Snapshots control almost all of it... so I needed to allow for all that without there being controller conflicts.

PLUS I was making changes as I went; I'd maxed out the stomps, and had made compromises, which I was 'un-doing' as I went as well.

OOOOHHH I see.  Snaps to takeover some of it and the footswitches to do less.....

 

I think a controller list page would be very useful....

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OOOOHHH I see.  Snaps to takeover some of it and the footswitches to do less.....

 

I think a controller list page would be very useful....

 

Yes, exactly right.

When I was done, I'm left with just ... I believe just one Stomp controller (takes the delay time mix and sets them to instant 'Rockabilly' territory for me, so that's available in any of the 4 Snapshots I ended up with).

Before that...  it was pretty hairy; one Stomp was maxed (8 functions) to switch out an amp and pair of cabinets with another, plus turning on or off (I forget which right now) an EQ adjustment, plus something else I'm forgetting.. another changed the nature of the first amp in gain structure, adjusted the Channel volume to normalize that, input gate with unique parameters (Oh! I think that's the one more thing I forgot on the other Stomp I described...) etc...)

It was absolutely worth the effort to make the notes and create the new version(s) - once I had it 'transformed' to a Snapshot version of same, I then began a series of edits, eventually including using a FRFR speaker to guide me through the tweaks I wanted in order for me to be very 'neutralized' going into the board direct in live situations... before this, my reference speaker setup was causing me to leave in too much high (and low for higher gain) end; the live board had a treble roll-off...

After my experiments and tweaks, I gigged the results... excellent. Board was run completely neutral for me as intended.

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Would it be nice to have some kind of note pad some where on the edit programs screen so you could make notes pertaining to stuff like this?

 

That would indeed be most helpful.

... I say this, but the fact is, I only use the editor for backup & restore functions; my Helix Housekeeping is done right on the hardware.

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