MakeItShredNo1 Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 So, I often find myself running out of pedals in stompbox mode. So I made myself an arduino MIDI footswitch to get four more switches and a second expression pedal all in one box (I'm rather proud - it's simple, but I made it). The problem is if I ever need to leave stompbox mode and change Snapshots or Presets, the pedal can become unsync'd with the Helix. For example: I am in stombox mode, I hit the arduino pedal to turn on a phaser. Then I flip over to Snapshot mode, change to a snapshot where the phaser is off. Then when I hit the Midi pedal again...nothing happens. Because the midi pedal just turned the phaser off, which it already was. I could solve this with a second midi input - but besides not having a place on the chassis of my pedal to put a midi input without drilling, it would mean another cable on stage. Especially when there's an easy solution, it would just have to be implemented in software. I would love it if there was an option to have a midi CC toggle a pedal. Currently, if the Helix receives a CC message <64, it turns the assigned pedal(s) off and a CC >64 turns the pedal(s) on. But, if instead the Helix toggled the state of a pedal whenever it received (for instance) 127 on a certain CC, then external pedals and the Helix itself would always be in sync*. This would allow external pedals have momentary options to function with the Helix in both stompbox mode and between Snapshots and Presets. It would also open up the option of leaving your Helix on Stopbox or Preset view, while still having access to a selection of bypass switches for single or multiple effects, all with a single MIDI cable. *in function. That is, stomping on an external pedal will always do a thing. If you have a way of monitoring On/Off State on your external pedal (led, etc), then THOSE will go out of sync, which is why I think this functionality should be an option and not default. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Are you sending CCs to control the footswitches or are you controlling the individual blocks themselves? They are really both set up to be controlled by CC Toggles already... Really, the issue happens because you're controlling the bypass states of blocks with snapshots. Even the Helix's own footswitches can get out of sync with the actual state of a block when you're using snapshots. It seems to me that it's much more useful to have dedicated on and off values for controlling effects blocks, because you know that whenever you send those CC values, those blocks will always be in the state you want them in. If the block continually went back and forth, you would have the same sort of problem you're having now, but it would be more unpredictable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItShredNo1 Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 I'm sending CCs to control the individual blocks. Because within the Midi footswitch, every time I stomp a switch it toggles between 127 and 0, if I send 127 and then turn the block off with a Snapshot, pressing the switch again does nothing. If instead I could set the Midi footswitch to just always send 127 (which I can, and many programable footswitches can), and then have the Helix just toggle the state of the block when it receives 127 then the footswitch would always toggle the block. I realize why this wasn't first implemented - it is likely not the most obvious use case. But I think it would be very useable and useful for some situations/midi pedals. In my case, I don't need to monitor the on/off state of a block from the MIDI pedal - I just need it to toggle when I hit the button, no matter what it did last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Have you tried actually controlling the footswitch instead of the block? The footswitches actually behave exactly how you're saying. They simply toggle no matter what value they receive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItShredNo1 Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 But then I'd still be limited to 10, yes? That would allow me to have footswitches available while still in Snapshot view, but wouldn't give me additional footswitches. (I know, more than 10 seems excessive, but I run into it quite often with worship patches as well as cover gigs where I try and stay in one preset to make tweaking between venues easier) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tagmusenmagnus1 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 I made an arduino-pedal too... But I just use the Arduino to switch snapshots - then you have 10 switches for stomps that is plenty for me ! I'm afraid that what you are seeking can not be done with Helix right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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