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We REALLY need longer IR filename lengths!


zooey
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The filename of nearly half of the IRs I have are 31 characters or more long, too long for Helix to store*. HxEdit displays even fewer. Most of those IRs are from well-known commercial developers, not out-of-control oddballs.

 

That's after a small amount of renaming:

- Added a two letter (usually) "origin" prefex plus a space, for example 'OH ' (Ownhammer), 'CP ' (Celestion Plus), 'CI ' (CabIR.eu), mostly so I can tell where things came from, but also to make name collisions between different sources less likely.

- Removed some obvious and unnecessary patterns, like ' Celestion' in all Celestion IRs. I think that's the only one I've done so far actually.

 

To put it bluntly, this is a pretty rotten state of affairs. For instance, I loaded up all the multi-mic mixes for one Celestion cab, to audition them and pick favorites to keep on board, but I couldn't tell which one was which. 4 sets of duplicates in just those 10 files. All the Celestion packs are like that, give or take. Many packs from other makers too.

 

So now what? Manually rename all these files, trying for unique names that aren't too long? Before I even know if I like them enough to care about them at all?

 

Ugh.

 

 

*I verified that 26 character + extension limit pre-2.30, not 100% positive what it is now. But I am sure that Helix itself doesn't show the full file names, as noted above, and that Hx Edit shows even less than Helix.

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Hear hear! Finding creative ways to abbreviate the relevant information without getting to a point where it is no longer decipherable is a challenge in and of itself. It’s bad enough when you are doing it for your favorites, but more frustrating still when you have to rename a pile that you just want to audition so you can actually tell what you’ve got loaded...

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But I am sure that Helix itself doesn't show the full file names, as noted above, and that Hx Edit shows even less than Helix.

I found this out after editing the file names of all my favorite IRs, they were cut even shorter in the Helix menu. The naming convention I chose did not fully display and did not work for what I was trying to accomplish. So now I just note which IR slot it is in then go to my IR folder on my laptop to see which one it actually is. 

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I suspect it is a file system limitation, so it may not be possible. How many of these IRs are you actually using? I find that I only actually use 2 or 3 of them, so I just name them things like "Mesa412." That's really all I need to know about that IR when it comes to selecting a cab for my patch. It's not so useful for finding the original file I suppose, but I can't say that I've ever actually needed to do that. But maybe that's just me. I guess my point is, how much of the info you are putting in the file names is actually information you need to know when choosing an IR? Do you actually need to know it came from Ownhammer? Do you need to know it used a 57 and a U87 at 2" away at a 30 degree angle? Or do you just need to know that this is the only Mesa 4x12 IR you have on the Helix?

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...you could name them Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel. If you know what it is, what difference does it make how it's labeled?

...and you could also name your stomp scribble strips Lucy, Ricky, etc... and change the LED colors. It doesn't make a difference as long as you know what they actually are, but silly to do. 

 

A few extra characters would allow the user of IRs to not have to rename entire folders of individual files as they are supplied by the IR companies, and also display the same on the Helix user interface. 

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Short generic names are fine if you've settled on a set of IRs you're going to use forever, and don't plan on getting any more. That's not me, and probably never will be, unless I decide I can't deal with IRs at all any more. I'm an explorer. That's one of the things I love about Helix,I can just pick some amp I've never heard of and couldn't buy if I tried, and check it out, from home, for $0. Just plain Whee, end of story.

 

So one of the big reasons for real names is when you're checking out which mics and mixes and positions you like from a given maker. I don't have the time or inclination to play every mic and mix and position of every pack, so I try to pick a few for each IR maker, and at least start there for their stuff.

 

I also care who made what, so I can check out more from whoever made ones I like. Same with mic, speaker, and cab types. Lots of folks here say to head for the cabs and speakers you like. That's much much easier if you know what you're listening to :)

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Agreed, the short namespace is egregious and needs to be lengthened. This change is long overdue and it is dead obvious that it is required. Until then managing(renaming) IRs is just a huge pain. As soon as you start using more than a very few IRs or start experimenting with swapping new ones in, the contortions required for maintaining them to accommodate the too short namespace become abundantly apparent. I shouldn't require the encryption skills of a Navaho "code talker" or Alan Turing in order to maintain my IRs and have them named so that they convey the significant information regarding their configuration. Can you imagine having an OS where you had to contract every filename or they were just automatically truncated rendering them unidentifiable because the OS did not conform to modern standard naming conventions? Loading IRs right now is like trying to load a modern 30+ character filename from Windows 10 into Microsoft's very first released version of Windows limited to an 8.3 filename space. Please fix this already!!! 

 

Btw, I still think using 6 characters for the snapshot camera icon is a waste of namespace as well. It would be so easy to visually indicate a snapshot differently without eating up those valuable characters. Changing this would allow more detailed and meaningful snapshot names.

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I suspect it is a file system limitation, so it may not be possible. How many of these IRs are you actually using? I find that I only actually use 2 or 3 of them, so I just name them things like "Mesa412." That's really all I need to know about that IR when it comes to selecting a cab for my patch. It's not so useful for finding the original file I suppose, but I can't say that I've ever actually needed to do that. But maybe that's just me. I guess my point is, how much of the info you are putting in the file names is actually information you need to know when choosing an IR? Do you actually need to know it came from Ownhammer? Do you need to know it used a 57 and a U87 at 2" away at a 30 degree angle? Or do you just need to know that this is the only Mesa 4x12 IR you have on the Helix?

Man, I wish I could get to where you are! You mention a Mesa 4x12, so to run with that example I have 8 IRs loaded that are all Mesa 4x12s. They have names like "110 412 C MES-ST V70 OH1F" which tells me the IR slot number (for file management purposes), that the cab is a 4x12 closed back cab, specifically it is a Mesa Standard Slant cab, it is loaded with 70w Vintage 30s, and is Ownhammers OH1F mic mix. The other 7 are different cabs, different speakers, different mic mixes, and I use different ones for different sounds with different guitars. Add to that the fact that there are also Marshall, Bogner and Orange 4x12s loaded, and that in addition to that there is a similar variety of 10/12s, 1x12s, 2x12s and 4x10s, and yes, all of those pieces of information are necessary to find the one I'm looking for. "Mesa412" won't cut it. 

 

When auditioning a new IR library, loading them directly inevitably results in the end of the original filename being truncated, and in a batch of similar IRs it is the end part that is unique. So if I want to know which ones I like when auditioning them, I have to change the names before loading them. Which gets cumbersome when you're checking out a lot of stuff. 

 

In short, if you're only using a small handful of IRs, the current filename length restriction is a non-issue. If you like an assortment, it's a major stumbling block. It may be a limitation of the filing system as you point out, I can't know. 

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I agree, the names shouldn't be cut. I do rename my IRs in a way that is convinient for me but they can get a bit long and are cut off. The name could be something like "Rw-Marshall-1960A-Celestion-G12M-25s"  for a Mix of the Redwirez IR. So I can recognize exactly which IR it is. The bad thing is that the names are cut off not only visually so that on export you have the cutted name.

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Seeing as IRs are wav files it should be possible to store a description in a tag then the editor could show that on a mouse hover.

 

Craig

Maybe, but

a. I want to see it on the Helix too

b. You'd still need to go through the thrash of creating the tag. I think there may be tools that can create tags from the file name, not positive, but in any case, it's an extra bit of fiddling about.

c. I haven't checked 2.30/Hx Edit yet, but prior versions discarded all tags on export (including copyright and author info, not cool).

 

And just to say it, this is obviously not a file system limitation, unless you mean the file system on the Helix itself, which we know nothing about, even if there is such a thing. The names that are too long for Helix already exist in the computer file system, or this wouldn't be an issue.

 

This limitation just needs to be fixed, period.

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Not sure why after 2 years, this is still an issue? Can we at least have some sort of explanation here?

I am not looking for an explanation. It's just another thing on my list that are a "Nice to have" if they decide to change it. Just thought I would chime in with how I "work around" the issue. I still add three digit number at the beginning of my IRs so I can go back and reference the original file name in my folder so I know exactly which IR I chose for a particular preset. 

 

Yes, I agree that we shouldn't have to do that, but we do. I just go with it. Pounding my shoe on the table won't help anyway.

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I am not looking for an explanation. It's just another thing on my list that are a "Nice to have" if they decide to change it. Just thought I would chime in with how I "work around" the issue. I still add three digit number at the beginning of my IRs so I can go back and reference the original file name in my folder so I know exactly which IR I chose for a particular preset. 

 

Yes, I agree that we shouldn't have to do that, but we do. I just go with it. Pounding my shoe on the table won't help anyway.

I dont know if you use IRs as often as I do. I have MAYBE two worthwhile presets using hlx cabs, so IRs are very important to me. So much so that i feel its the only thing making Helix useable for my needs. 

 

The reason that i asked for an explanation was because this issue seems to have gone on completely ignored since 1.04. I mean ive seen absolutely NOTHING. Now i dont frequent gersluts and the like, so if it was said elsewhere, i aint gonna see it.

 

Point is, it seems like a pretty simple implementation that a lot of us have been asking for- for a long time.

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Dont know what else needs to be said here. Just posting to support the OP/thread.

 

Not sure why after 2 years, this is still an issue? Can we at least have some sort of explanation here?

In fact this was one of my first wish when I got the Helix (one from the first run). I wrote it on another forum (can't find it anymore) but didn't get much attention.

It's true we can live with but In my opinion there is no reason to cut the name and I don't think there is a technically limitiation for doing it. There was never an explanation from Line 6 itself so we can just guess...

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