Preset management between Helix and Helix Native

[kylotan]

I have a Helix Floor and Helix Native, and I anticipate keeping the presets broadly synchronised between the two. I'm going to be creating patches on both devices, often to be used on both devices, with the idea that tones I create for recording sessions can be used live, and vice versa.

 

For now, I'm going to use the USER 5 setlist for my computer-made presets, and the USER 1 setlist for my floor-made presets - that way, I should be able to import whole setlists from one to the other without risking overwriting changes I made on 'the other end', but allowing for the preset to be copied between setlists if necessary.

 

What I want to know is - am I missing a better strategy for this? Is there any facility to just say "load in every preset from the setlist or bundle, except any that are older than what I have already?"

[silverhead]

.... Is there any facility to just say "load in every preset from the setlist or bundle, except any that are older than what I have already?"

 

No, there's no facility to do that afaik.

 

I find it takes a bit of careful attention to keep track of synchronized presets. That's because there are three distinct areas where the respective presets can live, at least as I understand it.

1) Arbitrary folders on your computer. Both the Helix app and Helix Native let you save and load presets to/from anywhere on your computer disk. If you use different folders you have to track these manually in order to transfer the presets between the Helix device and Helix Native.

2) The Helix Native preset library. This space is maintained by Helix Native. You can import a preset from a computer folder as above, edit it, and then save it to the Helix Native library. You now have two different versions of the same-named preset in two different locations.

3) Your DAW session file. You can be working on a preset in your DAW session that originated from either of the above two locations .You can make changes to it within your DAW session and not save those changes to either or both of your computer folder and/or the Helix Native library. If you then save the session file and exit your DAW you will have a third different version of a preset with the same name in a third location (within the DAW).

 

It can get confusing.

[soundog]

Agreed .... it can be quite confusing. I found its a good idea to experiment with the "save preset" options to see what happens .... its not straightforward, and there is some inter-dependency.

 

I recommend saving a copy of your song's associated helix .hlx presets when you package or archive your DAW recording, in the same folder. Just to be safe, and in case you change your preset bundles down the road.

[kylotan]

I'm going to save each preset out to disk, but even there the problem remains... if I pull the latest presets from the floor unit to my computer, I have to remember which ones I changed and overwrite the saved ones on the computer, and not overwrite ones I edited in Native.

 

As I'm a programmer, what I might do on the computer is actually use version control software to 'commit' the changes when I save them to the computer, so I have a history of changes and can revert them if necessary. That doesn't help me with the sync process however, just reduces the chance of accidentally losing something.

[Triryche]

You could save set lists to different folders, one for the hardware and one for the plug-in.

[soundog]

Its probably always best to save the original unprocessed guitar track, try to save your Helix preset so you can recall it later (its all a bit confusing now, eh wot?), and bounce your Helix-processed track down to a separate audio track.

 

I've been bitten too many times using virtual instruments, expecting everything to load up "the way it used to be"

[kylotan]

The last 2 responses suggest that maybe I wasn't clear about what I'm trying to achieve.

 

I actively want to be able to make changes on the computer and have them reflected on the floorboard, and vice versa as well. So I don't want them entirely separate. It's just that it's easy to lose track of these changes if you're not very careful. For example, say I'm working on a demo at home, so I tweak my clean tone in Native and come up with something I prefer, but I don't get a chance to plug in the Helix Floor and synchronise it. Then I play a gig and make some adjustments to my clean tone afterwards based on feedback. The next time I sync that tone - whichever way I do it - I'll lose one of my changes, and it won't be obvious. I will probably just use version control so that if I do overwrite something by accident, I can revert back to an older version and then work out how to merge them together.

 

I'm not sure whether the Native plugins store their full state or whether they store a reference to a preset, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens when I load a preset into one song in my DAW, update that preset in another song (perhaps by loading a floorboard preset), and then go back to see what has happened in the first song. Probably there'll be no change unless I explicitly re-select the preset. Probably. :)

[soundog]

You'll need to find your own system that works for you, and be really mindful when you edit a preset on either device. There are lots of opportunities for overwriting something you didn't want to overwrite.

 

I think I would just keep one master folder on my computer, and be sure to always save to it and restore from it.

 

These days I'm using Native for songwriting and recording, and Floor for performing. Completely different presets. But I back both up to computer in separate folders.

[Thurston9]

Have there been any updates to the best way to manage presets between floor, Native and DAW?  

[d3r3k123]

Hi. easiest way to synchronise between the two is to

1. switch on Helix

2. open HX Edit

3. open your DAW 

4. Open Helix Native in your DAW

5. Have the HX Edit window and the Native window side by side

6. Drag and drop from one to the other in whatever direction you want.

You can drag and drop entire setlists in seconds.