Snap Shots, is there a way to go from Distortion to Clean Sound and back seamlessly?

[MarkJarvis]

Snap Shots, is there a way to go from Distortion to Clean Sound and back seamlessly?

In my use case I have a Distorted and clean sound> When I am playing gain sound and 

holding a note then hit snap shot with clean the cut off of the previous amp

or if I use the same amp and go from distored to clean you hear the switch abruptly.

Maybe its a feature to allow amp 'trails'.  (NOTE I already use trails on all my reverb and delays

but still doesn't get me there..

[DunedinDragon]

Snapshots are doing exactly what they're supposed to do in this case with is switch with no delay.  If you want to blend the two back and forth you'd probably be better off doing a split between the two amps or effects arrangement and manage the amount of the split between the two with your pedal if you want the changes to be more gradual.

[arislaf]

As Dunedin said. Best way I am doing it is with a volume pedal, before each amp. 2 signal chains, 1st with clean sound, 2nd with distorted. At each chain one volume pedal at the start of the chain, with reverse controls, e.g. when the first is 100 the second should be 0. That is one way. If the dsp permits you, you can split the 1st chain, and put a panner before the two amps, that you can control with your foot.

[MarkJarvis]

ok cool, I will try a split, volume pedals...and I agree they do exactly what they are supposed 9snap shots) 

but its not perfect

[zooey]

What would happen in real life? If you wanted to cross-fade between amps, you'd have to hook up a pedal to do that. A footswitch wouldn't, it'd just switch instantly when you said to.

[homegrownbuddy]

The way I did this was just setup a parameter to push the drive or channel volume and set it to a footswitch so that I didn't have to change snaps just simply activate the pedal and it goes from clean to fuzz with zero gap. None of the other amp settings change and you get a seamless switch.  Unless I am misunderstanding you. 

[kylotan]

I had some situations where transitions between snapshots sounded abrupt or had a small pop, and I usually managed to narrow this down to dynamics changes in the chain. Try removing other parts of the chain and seeing if your problem goes away.

[cruisinon2]

On 3/16/2018 at 4:27 PM, MarkJarvis said:

ok cool, I will try a split, volume pedals...and I agree they do exactly what they are supposed 9snap shots) 

but its not perfect

Switching from clean to dirt will be abrupt and jarring to the ears until the end of time, no matter how "perfect" snapshots get, or whatever nifty tech feature eventually replaces them.... same as it's always been with channel switching amps. If you want a smooth transition, you'll have to fade one out, and the other in with the expression pedal as others have said.  

[MarkJarvis]

Quote

The way I did this was just setup a parameter to push the drive or channel volume and set it to a footswitch so that I didn't have to change snaps just simply activate the pedal and it goes from clean to fuzz with zero gap. None of the other amp settings change and you get a seamless switch.  Unless I am misunderstanding you. 

Exactly and I like that idea will give it a try!

[BigJayBrian]

On 16/03/2018 at 8:03 PM, DunedinDragon said:

Snapshots are doing exactly what they're supposed to do in this case with is switch with no delay.  If you want to blend the two back and forth you'd probably be better off doing a split between the two amps or effects arrangement and manage the amount of the split between the two with your pedal if you want the changes to be more gradual.

It looks like the switching actually has a " delay", by which I mean that each parameter is being changed one after the other. The sound doesn't "cut" but the delay between the different parameters can result in very loud "pops"

I managed to get a smooth transition between two amps, but if you are trying to get high and low gain sounds out of a single amp (amp only, not disto pedals), the helix can't handle it apparently (I have read a few threads about it, nobody had found a solution) 

[cruisinon2]

1 hour ago, BigJayBrian said:

It looks like the switching actually has a " delay", by which I mean that each parameter is being changed one after the other. The sound doesn't "cut" but the delay between the different parameters can result in very loud "pops"

I managed to get a smooth transition between two amps, but if you are trying to get high and low gain sounds out of a single amp (amp only, not disto pedals), the helix can't handle it apparently (I have read a few threads about it, nobody had found a solution) 

That seems odd...I can change the drive setting on a single amp with snapshots, with no dirt box involved, and I don't get any pops, squeals, gaps, delays, or any other weirdness. Might be worth opening a support ticket and see if there's something wrong with your unit. 

[phil_m]

1 hour ago, BigJayBrian said:

It looks like the switching actually has a " delay", by which I mean that each parameter is being changed one after the other. The sound doesn't "cut" but the delay between the different parameters can result in very loud "pops"

I managed to get a smooth transition between two amps, but if you are trying to get high and low gain sounds out of a single amp (amp only, not disto pedals), the helix can't handle it apparently (I have read a few threads about it, nobody had found a solution) 

I wouldn't say the Helix can't handle it... It's just that transitions from vastly different parameter settings can cause these sorts of things. I think it's just kind of the by-product of abruptly changing the processing of an audio signal.

[DunedinDragon]

On 3/19/2018 at 11:21 AM, BigJayBrian said:

It looks like the switching actually has a " delay", by which I mean that each parameter is being changed one after the other. The sound doesn't "cut" but the delay between the different parameters can result in very loud "pops"

I managed to get a smooth transition between two amps, but if you are trying to get high and low gain sounds out of a single amp (amp only, not disto pedals), the helix can't handle it apparently (I have read a few threads about it, nobody had found a solution) 

Apparently it can handle it as I do it all the time in numerous presets and have ever since snapshots became a feature.  As phil_m points out it's more than likely an abrupt and overwhelming change that's not being handled well possibly on the output side from too wide a range of differences.  I use a DXR12 as my stage speaker and QSC KLA12s on the FOH.  Most of the time when I do this I'm using two different amp and cab/IR setups and they're smooth as silk and absolutely quiet.

[MarkJarvis]

Thanks!

[Rocco_Crocco]

On 3/18/2018 at 8:12 AM, kylotan said:

I had some situations where transitions between snapshots sounded abrupt or had a small pop, and I usually managed to narrow this down to dynamics changes in the chain. Try removing other parts of the chain and seeing if your problem goes away.

Yes. I found that i have to stop playing the instant i switch snapshots or else a pop or some other weirdness becomes audible.

[BigJayBrian]

On 20/03/2018 at 7:23 PM, DunedinDragon said:

Apparently it can handle it as I do it all the time in numerous presets and have ever since snapshots became a feature.  As phil_m points out it's more than likely an abrupt and overwhelming change that's not being handled well possibly on the output side from too wide a range of differences.  I use a DXR12 as my stage speaker and QSC KLA12s on the FOH.  Most of the time when I do this I'm using two different amp and cab/IR setups and they're smooth as silk and absolutely quiet.

"it can handle it"

"not being handled well"

You need to decide whether you think it works or not ;)

Anyway, I'd enjoy trying one of your one amp preset to see if I can use your solution. Right now I am running two amps in my path in order to make the switching smooth, but I'd love to use only one amp (and save some precious dsp Haha). All my attempts with the cartographer have failed so far

[jbuhajla]

snapshots are an instantaneous change in a parameter or multiple parameters. If you do not want an instantaneous change, then do not use snapshots, but use an expression pedal which is an analog sweep in a parameter or parameters.