Presets and compatibility

[JTruelove]

Much has been brought out about making the core code for all HX products unified so that future development can be done more efficiently and to the benefit of all product owners releases. My question is: Would we be able to acquire the artist patches made for the HX Stomp for other HX products like Helix and Helix LT.  HX Effects would of course have issues due to missing amp cab access.

Has anyone tried to move patches between Helix and HX stomp yet?

[silverhead]

My current understanding (and experience) is that the presets are device specific, except for Helix Floor, Helix Rack, and Helix Native which are compatible and transferable. But presets for those 3 platforms are not compatible with HX FX or HX Stomp, and HX FX and HX Stomp are not compatible with each other. My attempts to load HX FX presets into HX Edit and Helix Native (both with Helix Rack connected) failed with an 'incompatible device' error message.

 

I expect it's possible to make them all compatible and transferable but I have no idea how difficult that would be and whether we will ever see it.

[bsd512]

Doesn't work, unfortunately. Even if you limit to six blocks. HX Edit throws a pop-up error saying "incompatible device type".

 

That's very unfortunate. Especially since my Stomp and Helix and usually remote from each other so it's pretty inconvenient to plug them in at the same time to the same computer. If you do that, though, you *can* copy a block from the Helix HX Edit window to the Stomp HX Edit window. That works fine, but any snapshots and stuff will need to be re-sync'd manually, which is a pain.

 

I was really hoping for Line 6 to translate Stomp presets to Helix and vice versa. I'd be fine with throwing an error pop-up if the Helix preset wouldn't work in the stomp, but work fine if it would, i.e., limited to 6 blocks on Path 1 and 3 snapshots and 3 stomp assignments. That *should* translate just fine. But you have to do it manually instead. The only help they give you is copying a block and all it's settings.

 

I debated about returning my Stomp and paying the difference for an LT. But an LT really doesn't solve my use-case. It's just too big - only slightly smaller than the Helix itself.

 

I really still LOVE my Stomp though. The preset thing is an inconvenience and not enough of an inconvenience for me to not own it and use it to its fullest.

 

I made this dual-amp preset on my Helix - it uses the Placater (BE100) Ch1 and Ch2 amps feeding into the same cab. I used snapshots to change the cabinet settings (mic, distance, cuts, etc) as appropriate for each channel and came up with a very nice "clean", "crunch", and "gain" preset that works really well for me. And it translates to the Stomp perfectly. Pretty awesome little device!

 

EDIT: and actually, I think there was enough DSP for a stereo chorus for dreamy cleans in that patch that would be enabled on the "clean" snapshot. The problem with that of course, is it would then exceed 6 blocks so I'd have to eject something else for the Stomp. I like everything else in there better than the Chorus, so the chorus got the boot. :-)

 

 

[bsd512]

Edit to the above Edit ... I was wrong on the stereo chorus. Granted, it's a little frivolous anyway, but really just showing how much you can do with this little single DSP Stomp. With the amps I chose BE100 Clean and Gain channels, it was just too much to put in a stereo chorus. But if you replace the Placater Clean with a Jazz Rivet (an awesome clean amp), that gives you plenty of DSP to add a stereo chorus and a bunch of other options.

 

Moral of this story - the Stomp is pretty incredible, and to do some dual-amp patches - either with the amps combining their output for a centered "brand new" tone, or using the split and snapshots to "channel switch" between two different amps, judicious choice of amps that still serve your purpose can get you there, since not all amps are created equal in the amount of DSP they use. Also, if you keep the Placater Dirty (BE100 drive channel), you have some other options as well, such as the US small tweak and the Soup Pro for clean amps. If you go with something other than the Placater Dirty (an intensive DSP amp) and instead with something like an ANGL Meteor (ENGL Fireball), your options increase quite a bit more to the Interstate Zed, AC15, both A30 Fawn channels, Matchless CH2, and - yes the Placater clean (a really great clean amp).

 

There hasn't been much that I've really wanted to do that I haven't been able to do in the single-path 6-block Stomp. And it's TINY!!!

 

Did I mention it's Tiny!?

 

Dang, I'm starting to sound like a Line 6 commercial.