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Helix-Powercab implementation


guix
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Does anyone find a bit weird that Helix only chnages parameters of whatever powercab preset is select instead of beaing able to select the powercab preset from helix instead?

Otherwise the current implementation is meaningless to powercab presets... woudl be much easier to have helix select the preset..... and then if you want to change the parametyers for that helix preset then ok....

What do you guys think?

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For now you seemt to be... but who knows there might be others.... :- )

 

Its simple

You could have helix tell powercab: Hey powercab when I am in Helix preset 1 snapshot 1 change to Powercab preset 34 for example

instead Line 6 has based powercab control on setting all the parameters of powercab within the Helix Preset/Snapshot not caring about the powercab preset that is selected

 

Makes sense?

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On 8/2/2019 at 6:55 AM, guix said:

Does anyone find a bit weird that Helix only chnages parameters of whatever powercab preset is select instead of beaing able to select the powercab preset from helix instead?

Otherwise the current implementation is meaningless to powercab presets... woudl be much easier to have helix select the preset..... and then if you want to change the parametyers for that helix preset then ok....

What do you guys think?

 

NO! You're not the only one who thinks it's weird you can't ALSO select PC+ presets in additional to editing all the PC+ parameters with "Powercab Plus Remote" in Helix 2.80.

 

I complained about this on thegearpage.net and Digital Igloo said Line 6 intentionally did it this way because they do not want us selecting just PC+ presets! I mean, WTF, I expected it would do at least that.

 

Why? Because that's the way midi works with PC+ (and works great, if I just want to use pre-programmed PC+ presets rather than program all parameters for each and every Helix preset I have.)

 

I hope they change their minds.

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4 hours ago, guitarsan1 said:

 

NO! You're not the only one who things it's weird you can't ALSO select PC+ presets in additional to editing all the PC+ parameters with "Powercab Plus Remote" in Helix 2.80.

 

I complained about this on thegearpage.net and Digital Igloo say Line 6 intentionally did it this way because they do not want us selecting just PC+ presets! I mean, WTF, I expected it would do at least that.

 

Why? Because that's the way midi works with PC+ (and works great, if I just want to use pre-programmed PC+ presets rather than program all parameters for each and every Helix preset I have.)

 

I hope they change their minds.

Well there is only one thing to it...ask Santa

https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/New-set-up-mode-for-powercab-Select-Powercab-preset-from-Helix/960524-23508

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Personally, I don't have an issue with the way that L6 has implemented Powercab+ control over L6 Link, although I do understand why others do and can sympathise. 

However, playing devil's advocate here, one of the major advantages of the current implementation is that all of this information is contained with the Helix preset, which means that I could share my presets with other HX/PowerCab+ users and they would get the whole shebang, and not just the "Helix" part of it.

Of course, this doesn't mean that L6 couldn't implement remote preset switching via L6 Link in addition to preset editing too! ;)

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2 hours ago, foxmeister said:

Personally, I don't have an issue with the way that L6 has implemented Powercab+ control over L6 Link, although I do understand why others do and can sympathise. 

However, playing devil's advocate here, one of the major advantages of the current implementation is that all of this information is contained with the Helix preset, which means that I could share my presets with other HX/PowerCab+ users and they would get the whole shebang, and not just the "Helix" part of it.

Of course, this doesn't mean that L6 couldn't implement remote preset switching via L6 Link in addition to preset editing too! ;)

 

True, but IRs work this way also. I can try a shared Helix preset that uses IRs and I must 1) have the IR and 2) know where to put it, which preset IR number slot to I have to use. Both requiring additional work on my part and possibly requiring a purchase. But sometimes it's worth that extra work if I like the shared Helix preset. Therefore there's precedence for having information in a Helix preset that may not be sufficient to use it "as is". So to me, that's not an excuse to not provide this option.

 

In fact, I can resolve this issue. Design this so that when you select a PC+ preset rather than the individual parameters in Helix Digital Output, Helix shows what parameters make up the preset. Boom.

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1
24 minutes ago, guitarsan1 said:

 

True, but IRs work this way also. I can try a shared Helix preset that uses IRs and I must 1) have the IR and 2) know where to put it, which preset IR number slot to I have to use. Both requiring additional work on my part and possibly requiring a purchase. But sometimes it's worth that extra work if I like the shared Helix preset. Therefore there's precedence for having information in a Helix preset that may not be sufficient to use it "as is". So to me, that's not an excuse to not provide this option.


As I said, just playing devil's advocate here - I don't see why they couldn't provide an additional "mode" in the output section for Powercab+ preset selection, and think it would a good idea for the next firmware update! :)

Personally, I don't see any particularly compelling reasons to load IRs into the PC+ *if* you are using it in conjunction with a Helix. I'm not saying there aren't good reasons, just none that apply to my workflow - I much prefer to use speaker emulations with my PC+, and as such eschew the use of IRs almost entirely unless it is one of those IRs that you need to get a specific sound, (e.g. acoustic or banjo sim)  so the current implementation works better for me than preset selection. YMMV of course, and likely does! :)

I suspect that if the L6 Link integration as it currently stands had been baked into the Powercab+ and Helix when the Powercabs were originally released, we likely wouldn't be having this conversation at all! ;)

 

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14 hours ago, guix said:

 

By the way, Eric at Line 6 said they will never do this: 

 

"We'll never add PC+ preset selection from Helix over L6 LINK, because we actively don't want users doing it that way."

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?posts/28932164/

 

So they appear to know better than us users, again, even though one can currently select presets over midi. (Which I am all too happy to abandon now that we have PC Remote over L6 LINK).

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I agree with Eric on this one. I want a PC+ preset to control PC+ parameters when used with devices (like HX Stomp) that can’t control those parameters. But Helix can control all the PC+ parameters. There’s no need to complicate things and store the preset parameters in two places. 

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There is one parameter the midi can do that the helix and the PC plus editor cannot - the hf tweeter trim value. It would be good to adjust up or down if the frfr mode is a tad too trebly. I have been moving towards the LF Flat mode for most electric amp presets, frfr for presets involving acoustic guitar models. The HF driver trim value is in the midi section of the PC plus users manual... 

 

One thing that I tried was hooking up a second powered frfr speakers to the PC plus out, and while you can choose a virtual mic for the speaker modes, the frfr and LF Flat mode are simply passing through the unaltered signal that would go to foh... no advantage for the tweaking of the PC plus. I'll continue to send to foh directly from the helix xlr out. 

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@tenayar

 

When you change from patch to patch on the Helix it will change the settings on the powercab, but it will not update the display. This is because as as per the rest of this thread the helix is not selecting a particular Powercab patch, but instead it is sending a message to the powercab telling it what settings to use.

 

The other possible reason is that you have not done the required update on the powercab for the function to work?

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On 8/8/2019 at 12:42 AM, davidb7170 said:

There is one parameter the midi can do that the helix and the PC plus editor cannot - the hf tweeter trim value. It would be good to adjust up or down if the frfr mode is a tad too trebly. I have been moving towards the LF Flat mode for most electric amp presets, frfr for presets involving acoustic guitar models. The HF driver trim value is in the midi section of the PC plus users manual... 

 

One thing that I tried was hooking up a second powered frfr speakers to the PC plus out, and while you can choose a virtual mic for the speaker modes, the frfr and LF Flat mode are simply passing through the unaltered signal that would go to foh... no advantage for the tweaking of the PC plus. I'll continue to send to foh directly from the helix xlr out. 

 

The HF Trim value is a Global Setting in the Powercab, not a per preset one. That's why it's not exposed in the Helix.

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I've done the update of my two devices too....

I've started playing with the new implementation. It seems to work as if the Helix has the same behaviour to command the Powercab as if we were playing with Powercab Edit...

At first, i find it pretty usefull 'cause it replaces a remote, i don't have to move and play with the parameters. I could make a lot of test, following the speaker modeling, the high/low cut, etc....

On the other hand, I realize that i have to work on every presets/snapshots to put all those parameters back (and i have to disable all my midi commands).

In fact, I would have prefered to call back the speaker i want as the midi command do and having default parameters that i can change if i want to....

It's gonna request me much more time to rebuilt all my presets (that i haven't done entirely yet)....  

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16 hours ago, davidb7170 said:

Nice to hear the HF driver trim is in the global settings. Will I find it on the control panel of the PC plus or only in the editor? So far I have not spotted it...

 

If by editor you mean HX Edit, no it doesn't show up there. It does show up in Powercab Edit, I believe. The Powercab global settings are things you'd "set and forget". Not things you'd change on a preset per preset basic.

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Phil, thanks. I was referring to the PC plus editor. I did look at the HXEdit initially and didn't find the HF driver trim, nor in the helix. I originally had scanned the PC plus editor but didn't spot it, but it's a stretch to reach from my computer. I did find it in the global settings on the PC plus, though  - thanks Steve! 

 

I use the helix and PC plus with my gigging band, but with my old band, we jam with a mixer and headphones. The helix floor sounds less harsh with that set-up than through my several iterations of frfr powered speakers, and now the PC plus. The PC plus sounds better than the frfr's to me, but still a bit too hot for the distortion in some cases. I have moved to using the LF Flat mode and that sounds decent, but the foh still gets the frfr range, so there's a possibility of disconnect between what I setup as new presets LF Flat mode...

 

Anyway, I was able to trim the HF driver to -2.5dB and it matches the headphone signal pretty well, and the distortion is less raspy sounding.  I think it's likely to vary between individual units and individual people as well. We'll see how it plays live. Just my take on the subject. 

 

Thanks, 

Dave 

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On 8/27/2019 at 10:13 PM, davidb7170 said:

Phil, thanks. I was referring to the PC plus editor. I did look at the HXEdit initially and didn't find the HF driver trim, nor in the helix. I originally had scanned the PC plus editor but didn't spot it, but it's a stretch to reach from my computer. I did find it in the global settings on the PC plus, though  - thanks Steve! 

 

You're welcome !

If i remember it well (and after had a look at a picture on the web), you can go in that menu by clicking on the "system" icon on the powercab window's editor right side up. I found it by chance a long time ago....;)

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