Possible bug(s) with Expression pedal settings

[VirtualGuitars]

Hey Everyone,

I use my Helix Floor with two Mission Engineering expression pedals.  My presets are setup to use the built-in EXP1 pedal for volume control, EXP2 for wah, and EXP3 for anything else I may need.  The factory presets are the other way around; however, I discovered an issue when tweaking some of my settings.

Some of my presets use stereo effects; however, as the manual states, every block before the amp/cab models will become a mono signal afterwards.  After I rediscovered this in an effort to reclaim DSP processing power, I changed all of my blocks before the preamp back to mono (volume, wah, and distortion).  As soon as I did this, the volume and wah EXP1/EXP2 pedal settings reversed to the factory preset behavior.  Since I am using two paths, I had to fix this on both of them.  I didn't even change the volume or wah models - just flipped their settings from stereo back to mono.  That's it.  Possible bug(s)?

FYI, I am on Helix v2.53 and HX Edit v2.52.  I made the changes using the HX Edit (macOS) application, so it's possibly an issue with the software and not the Helix firmware.  I have a bunch of presets to change and fix now.  :)

Thanks,
David

[HonestOpinion]

Hey Everyone,

 

I use my Helix Floor with two Mission Engineering expression pedals.  My presets are setup to use the built-in EXP1 pedal for volume control, EXP2 for wah, and EXP3 for anything else I may need.  The factory presets are the other way around; however, I discovered an issue when tweaking some of my settings.

 

Some of my presets use stereo effects; however, as the manual states, every block before the amp/cab models will become a mono signal afterwards.  After I rediscovered this in an effort to reclaim DSP processing power, I changed all of my blocks before the preamp back to mono (volume, wah, and distortion).  As soon as I did this, the volume and wah EXP1/EXP2 pedal settings reversed to the factory preset behavior.  Since I am using two paths, I had to fix this on both of them.  I didn't even change the volume or wah models - just flipped their settings from stereo back to mono.  That's it.  Possible bug(s)?

 

FYI, I am on Helix v2.53 and HX Edit v2.52.  I made the changes using the HX Edit (macOS) application, so it's possibly an issue with the software and not the Helix firmware.  I have a bunch of presets to change and fix now.   :)

 

Thanks,

David

 

Behavior like this is exactly why I do not reverse the Helix's default settings of assigning the volume block to EXP2 and the wah to EXP1. I don't think you are really hitting a bug but instead running up against the by design default expression pedal assignment behavior on the Helix. This is why I think it is easier if people use EXP 3 if they are only using one external expression pedal. It is also a good idea where possible to stay with the Helix's default assignment of EXP2(Volume) - EXP1(WAH) or you can find yourself constantly fighting the Helix's auto-assignment of these two blocks and having to go back and manually reassign expression pedal inputs after making minor changes to blocks that use the expression pedals. 

 

Ultimately you should use whatever expression pedal setup works best for you but just need to be aware of the auto-assignment feature when a wah and volume block are employed and the fact that if you choose different EXP assignments from the default you are going to be looking at extra work on preset configuration. Not to speak of the fact that, as you mentioned, most Factory and third-party presets are going to work differently than your custom assignments.

[VirtualGuitars]

Behavior like this is exactly why I do not reverse the Helix's default settings of assigning the volume block to EXP 2 and the wah to EXP 1. I don't think you are really hitting a bug but instead running up against the by design default expression pedal assignment behavior on the Helix. This is why I recommend people use EXP 3 if they are only using one external expression pedal. It is also a good idea where possible to stay with the Helix's default assignment of EXP2(Volume) - EXP1(WAH) or you can find yourself constantly fighting the Helix's auto-assignment of these two blocks and having to go back and manually reassign expression pedal inputs after making minor changes.

 

Thank you for responding.  And you're absolutely right.  I like using the external pedals for wah because it feels more natural and there's less travel distance between 0 and 100.  I rarely use the volume pedal which is why I like using the built-in pedal for it.  I have seen others plagued with this default behavior too.  Maybe a future update will allow the user to set a preference for this in Global Settings that would automatically update the factory presets accordingly - but I doubt we will see this change as it could be confusing.

 

I just wish my presets weren't altered when I change a minor settings.  That's not a feature.  :)

[HonestOpinion]

Thank you for responding.  And you're absolutely right.  I like using the external pedals for wah because it feels more natural and there's less travel distance between 0 and 100.  I rarely use the volume pedal which is why I like using the built-in pedal for it.  I have seen others plagued with this default behavior too.  Maybe a future update will allow the user to set a preference for this in Global Settings that would automatically update the factory presets accordingly - but I doubt we will see this change as it could be confusing.

 

I just wish my presets weren't altered when I change a minor settings.  That's not a feature.   :)

 

I totally hear ya. A global setting was my first thought when I encountered this behavior as I naturally think of EXP1 as my volume pedal which is not how the Helix is configured. As I have mentioned before not a major thing to me as it is clerical and primarily only affects my workflow conceptually and not operationally.  I think it was wise of Line6 to have an auto-assign feature for the volume and wah or many new users probably would have had endless configuration problems getting the two working together properly on the internal pedal. With that said, a bit more flexibility with default assignment might be nice to have.  I am reminded of a friend who rented a car with "collision avoidance" and had it automatically stop in front of an oncoming truck in order to avoid another vehicle, completely freaking everyone in the car out in the process. Sometimes a device can be a bit too "smart" or just require even more complex "intelligence" built in to handle contingencies. ;)

[jbuhajla]

That is not a bug. If you went to a block before the amp, changed it to mono, you get the default settings of that block. You are choosing a "fresh" block in place of the one you had. 

[VirtualGuitars]

That is not a bug. If you went to a block before the amp, changed it to mono, you get the default settings of that block. You are choosing a "fresh" block in place of the one you had. 

 

Makes sense from that perspective.  From my perspective, I was just changing a parameter so I didn't think that would qualify as a new block - but point taken.  Thanks!

[jbuhajla]

Makes sense from that perspective.  From my perspective, I was just changing a parameter so I didn't think that would qualify as a new block - but point taken.  Thanks!

Mono and Stereo blocks are completely different blocks, so it will always revert to default settings. You will also lose any snapshot parameter control by doing that as well.