kerryhall1 Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 From the manual, I can see that in "Stomp footswitch mode" I can toggle blocks on and off. But I don't want to just toggle blocks on and off, I want to switch presets entirely. But is it possible to simply switch to another preset? For example: * Preset 1: compressor -> eq -> tube screamer -> (send to amp's preamp) -> expression pedal used as volume pedal -> delay -> reverb -> (amp's power amp) * Preset 2: eq with different settings -> chorus -> flanger -> (send to amp's preamp) -> eq -> (amp's power amp) * Preset 3: different compressor -> eq -> wah -> tube screamer with different settings from preset 1 -> chorus -> (send to amp's preamp) * Preset 4: compressor -> eq -> chorus -> flanger -> delay -> reverb -> (send to XLR outputs while muting the 1/4" outputs) * Preset 5: eq -> chorus -> expression pedal as whammy -> (send to amp's preamp) -> eq -> (amp's power amp) * Preset 6: ... etc My thought was to use 1 bank of presets per song, and then as the song progresses I can switch between presets as needed. Then for the next song simply switch banks. I want to be able to toggle between these with minimal switching delay. (All in stereo) Is this doable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 This is what snapshots are for. Switching patches entirely will always be accompanied by an audible gap... using snapshots within a particular patch to toggle blocks on and off, and/or change settings within one or more blocks, eliminates that problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerryhall1 Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 Ah ok interesting...this sounds like it will definitely work for me in that case :) Can snapshots switch outputs from 1/4 to xlr? Can they send midi commands? Can they toggle an expression pedal from "volume" to "whammy" mode? It seems very likely that all three things are possible. Are snapshots limited in the number of settings they can change? Can they change the order of blocks? Can snapshots be named? Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 1 hour ago, kerryhall1 said: Ah ok interesting...this sounds like it will definitely work for me in that case :) Can snapshots switch outputs from 1/4 to xlr? Can they send midi commands? Can they toggle an expression pedal from "volume" to "whammy" mode? It seems very likely that all three things are possible. Are snapshots limited in the number of settings they can change? Can they change the order of blocks? Can snapshots be named? Thank you!! Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 They can't change the order of the blocks. Nothing can do that other than editing the preset. Snapshots exists totally within the confines of a specific patch. So anything you could normally do within a patch can be accommodated within a snapshot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerryhall1 Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 Ok no worries, as long as everything else is possible it should be fine :) Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerryhall1 Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 Apologies, one more question. Can snapshots toggle the "EXT AMP" control? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 19 minutes ago, kerryhall1 said: Apologies, one more question. Can snapshots toggle the "EXT AMP" control? Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerryhall1 Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 That rules. Thank you again :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerryhall1 Posted December 17, 2018 Author Share Posted December 17, 2018 Ok I tried out a Helix today...it didn't have a snapshot mode. I held down the bank up/down buttons at the same time but nothing happened. Were snapshots added with a firmware update? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawrence_Arps Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Just want to point out that for the vast majority of musical situations the patch changes are more than fast enough to change patches mid song. Yes there are some musical styles where there is noise (OK sound;-)) on every 124th note.....but the majority of musical styles have spaces. In the last live band I worked with I used helix without snapshots and changed patches between verse /chorus/solo etc hitting the switch fractionally before I started the new part......no one ever heard a gap - that includes on recording while sitting listening for the gaps. There was , out of 80 odd songs, a couple of times I would use stomp mode so that delays or reverb might hang over a change. I do use snapshots now, but only 4 per patch and using 4 patches for 16 main sounds.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 8 hours ago, kerryhall1 said: Ok I tried out a Helix today...it didn't have a snapshot mode. I held down the bank up/down buttons at the same time but nothing happened. Were snapshots added with a firmware update? Snapshots were added way back in the 2.0 firmware update. Anything past that would have it. How did you determine snapshots weren't there? Did you look in global setups to see if it could be set for 4 snaps/4 stomps? It's likely the unit was set for all stomps if it was one that was fresh out of the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerryhall1 Posted December 17, 2018 Author Share Posted December 17, 2018 Gotcha! The firmware on the unit I tried was 1.x. I think it was a display model that sadly never got updated. Well good to know :) This is another plus for the Helix, because if Line6 keeps adding features in firmware updates, who knows what might be possible for the Helix in the future! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulemurin Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 FWIW, I have only had the Helix for a couple of gigs and rehearsals so far, and am no expert, but have found it to be no problem to switch presets on the fly...super easy to do. There's a brief audio gap, but we're talking milliseconds. So you can't do it mid-phrase, but you can certainly do it in the middle of a song wherever you have a breath. The most important thing you have to do is make sure the different presets are well-balanced in terms of volume & tone so that the change isn't too extreme. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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