New guy here, help with BPM programming

[New2HelixLT]

Hi all,

I've been a pedalboard user my entire life. I found a good deal on a used Helix LT and decided to check it out. I’m trying to figure out the best way to program delay BPM’s for a setlist. I know tap tempo is available,  but I prefer to have BPM’s dialed in beforehand and exact. 
 

I plan on using it in stomp mode since that’s most familiar to me. My thought was to have 10 presets all exactly the same, then pre-program BPM’s on each preset. So preset #1 would be song #1 and so on... But realized if I made any adjustments to an effect, it wouldn’t automatically be saved to all the other presets. This would require me to copy and paste my tweaked preset every time I make an adjustment. 

 

Does anyone out there have a solution for something like this?
 

Thanks!

[cruisinon2]

1 hour ago, New2HelixLT said:

Hi all,

I've been a pedalboard user my entire life. I found a good deal on a used Helix LT and decided to check it out. I’m trying to figure out the best way to program delay BPM’s for a setlist. I know tap tempo is available,  but I prefer to have BPM’s dialed in beforehand and exact. 
 

I plan on using it in stomp mode since that’s most familiar to me. My thought was to have 10 presets all exactly the same, then pre-program BPM’s on each preset. So preset #1 would be song #1 and so on... But realized if I made any adjustments to an effect, it wouldn’t automatically be saved to all the other presets. This would require me to copy and paste my tweaked preset every time I make an adjustment. 

 

Does anyone out there have a solution for something like this?
 

Thanks!

 

No. If your patches are all gonna be identical with the exception of the delay time, then it will be a whole lot less work if you just get used to using the tap tempo with one patch. Otherwise there's no way around the copy/ paste edit dilemma you've described.

 

As for the "exactness" you prefer... unless your drummer is playing to a click, that's out the window anyway if all your delay times are fixed...unless he's a human metronome, and those guys are few and far between.

[New2HelixLT]

9 minutes ago, cruisinon2 said:

 

No. If your patches are all gonna be identical with the exception of the delay time, then it will be a whole lot less work if you just get used to using the tap tempo with one patch. Otherwise there's no way around the copy/ paste edit dilemma you've described.

 

As for the "exactness" you prefer... unless your drummer is playing to a click, that's out the window anyway if all your delay times are fixed...unless he's a human metronome, and those guys are few and far between.

I’m always with a band playing to a click track. So being locked in is imperative for me. I think I found a solution. The Selah Quartz can send midi clock for time based effects. You can preprogram BPM’s and scroll through a setlist and it will send midi time. It’s an extra pedal to lug around, but the easiest solution I’ve come across. 

[DunedinDragon]

Am I missing something here?  Since you're using different presets per song, why wouldn't you just dial in the specific BPM on each preset?  Then you could just dial in the specific note value (1/4 note, 1/8 note, dotted 8th, etc.) on your delay pedal or any other pedal that's BPM specific.  All you do is select the preset and you're ready to go.  That's what I've been doing for years.

[MojoAxe]

2 hours ago, DunedinDragon said:

Am I missing something here?  Since you're using different presets per song, why wouldn't you just dial in the specific BPM on each preset?  Then you could just dial in the specific note value (1/4 note, 1/8 note, dotted 8th, etc.) on your delay pedal or any other pedal that's BPM specific.  All you do is select the preset and you're ready to go.  That's what I've been doing for years.

 

If I understand the OP correctly, that’s what he’s already doing.  He has ten patches that are all identical to each other except for the BPM setting.  The issue is that if he wants to adjust the settings of an effect, say for instance, the  amount of gain on the preamp, then he has to make that same adjustment to the other nine patches if he wants to keep all ten patches identical to each other (except for the BPM setting).

 

Its been a while since I’ve used a Helix, but this be accomplished with snapshot, correct? As I recall, you can make an effect parameter variable between snapshots, so each snapshot could have a different BPM setting.  Of course, if you plan to use the buttons to turn other effects on and off within the patch, then you’re not going to have enough buttons leftover to be assigned to switch between different BPM tempos

[New2HelixLT]

3 hours ago, MojoAxe said:

 

If I understand the OP correctly, that’s what he’s already doing.  He has ten patches that are all identical to each other except for the BPM setting.  The issue is that if he wants to adjust the settings of an effect, say for instance, the  amount of gain on the preamp, then he has to make that same adjustment to the other nine patches if he wants to keep all ten patches identical to each other (except for the BPM setting).

 

Its been a while since I’ve used a Helix, but this be accomplished with snapshot, correct? As I recall, you can make an effect parameter variable between snapshots, so each snapshot could have a different BPM setting.  Of course, if you plan to use the buttons to turn other effects on and off within the patch, then you’re not going to have enough buttons leftover to be assigned to switch between different BPM tempos

This is exactly my point. Once I make a change to a drive level on preset #1, I’d then have to copy and paste that change to every other preset. I also thought about snapshots, but as you said I wouldn’t have the ability to access other effects throughout a song. It would be cool if there was a master setlist that would keep your pedal settings the same except for time based effects’ tempos. Then you could scroll through songs with the same overall preset, just different BPM’s for delays and tremolos. 

[MojoAxe]

Not this is of any help to you, but the Boss GT-1000 does exactly what you're asking for.  It has a mode called Stompbox, which allows you to save ten different variations of every effect within the unit, including the amp models.  Lets say you've tweaked your amp settings for a great Fender Twin type tone.  You can save that amp model along with its settings into one of the ten Stompbox slots allocated to amps.  You still have nine more amp slots available for other variations that you come up with, so you can have your favorite Marshall, Vox, whatever ,amps saved as presets.  The same goes for delays, reverbs, distortions, chorus, and every other effect within the GT.   

 

Now, lets say you want to create a patch from scratch, you can go into your Stompbox library and grab the  amp and various effects that you want, and piece the patch together with effects that already have your favorite settings.  When you do so, you have an option for how you insert it into your patch;.

   

1) You can copy the Stompbox into your patch in which case it becomes a totally independent effect which you can further tweak as desired

 

 2) You can reference it in your patch.  When a Stompbox is referenced, then any change you make to that particular Stompbox's settings will also occur on every other patch that references the same Stompbox.

 

Going back to the OPs original post, option 2 would accomplish exactly what he would like to do.  That favorite amp model could be saved as a Stompbox and then referenced within as many new patches as desired.  If you change any settings to the amp, then those settings will also change on every other patch that references it.  If at any time you decide that you would like for the effect to become independent, then its a simple matter to copy the effect into the patch rather than reference it. 

 

Personally, I don't use referenced effects just because I don't want to worry about inadvertently changing a patch other than the one I'm currently editing, but it certainly could be useful to some people.  I do however use the Stompbox as a library of preset effects.  For instance, whenever I'm tweaking an effect (lets say I just created a nice sounding slap-back delay), I'll save it into a Stompbox slot and name it Slap-Back.  Now the next time I'm creating a patch and I need a slap-back delay, I just copy that Stompbox into my patch.  From there I can make further tweaks if necessary. 

 

There are a number of things things about the GT-1000 that could have been done better, but the Stompbox feature is one that works very well. It would be nice to see something similar incorporated into the Helix. 

[HonestOpinion]

On 8/26/2019 at 10:47 PM, MojoAxe said:

Not this is of any help to you, but the Boss GT-1000 does exactly what you're asking for.  It has a mode called Stompbox, which allows you to save ten different variations of every effect within the unit, including the amp models.  Lets say you've tweaked your amp settings for a great Fender Twin type tone.  You can save that amp model along with its settings into one of the ten Stompbox slots allocated to amps.  You still have nine more amp slots available for other variations that you come up with, so you can have your favorite Marshall, Vox, whatever ,amps saved as presets.  The same goes for delays, reverbs, distortions, chorus, and every other effect within the GT.   

 

Now, lets say you want to create a patch from scratch, you can go into your Stompbox library and grab the  amp and various effects that you want, and piece the patch together with effects that already have your favorite settings.  When you do so, you have an option for how you insert it into your patch;.

   

1) You can copy the Stompbox into your patch in which case it becomes a totally independent effect which you can further tweak as desired

 

 2) You can reference it in your patch.  When a Stompbox is referenced, then any change you make to that particular Stompbox's settings will also occur on every other patch that references the same Stompbox.

 

Going back to the OPs original post, option 2 would accomplish exactly what he would like to do.  That favorite amp model could be saved as a Stompbox and then referenced within as many new patches as desired.  If you change any settings to the amp, then those settings will also change on every other patch that references it.  If at any time you decide that you would like for the effect to become independent, then its a simple matter to copy the effect into the patch rather than reference it. 

 

Personally, I don't use referenced effects just because I don't want to worry about inadvertently changing a patch other than the one I'm currently editing, but it certainly could be useful to some people.  I do however use the Stompbox as a library of preset effects.  For instance, whenever I'm tweaking an effect (lets say I just created a nice sounding slap-back delay), I'll save it into a Stompbox slot and name it Slap-Back.  Now the next time I'm creating a patch and I need a slap-back delay, I just copy that Stompbox into my patch.  From there I can make further tweaks if necessary. 

 

There are a number of things things about the GT-1000 that could have been done better, but the Stompbox feature is one that works very well. It would be nice to see something similar incorporated into the Helix. 

 

I agree, Helix could really benefit from the ability to save and select from customized blocks; hope this makes it into the 3.0 firmware version. You can do this now by saving a few presets as Templates and copy & paste from them but that is pretty kludgy compared to being able to pull a customized block from a select list. The ability to "reference" them is also a no-brainer and would be excellent.

 

 

On 8/26/2019 at 10:59 AM, New2HelixLT said:

This is exactly my point. Once I make a change to a drive level on preset #1, I’d then have to copy and paste that change to every other preset. I also thought about snapshots, but as you said I wouldn’t have the ability to access other effects throughout a song. It would be cool if there was a master setlist that would keep your pedal settings the same except for time based effects’ tempos. Then you could scroll through songs with the same overall preset, just different BPM’s for delays and tremolos. 

 

A method some folks here have used in the past is to directly edit the JSON code in their exported presets and and then load them but that is definitely an approach for the meticulous and computer savvy only as you run the risk of corrupting your presets.

[samtowns]

I have the exact same issue! Playing with tracks and drummer who is on a click - having my delay bpms preprogrammed for each song in the setlist is key!

I've been used to using a strimon timeline with a switcher which allowed me to simply cycle through the banks for each new songs tempo. Now trying to move to the Helix but snapshots don't seem to allow for different tempos - once you change the tempo in a snapshot it changes in all of the snapshots within the preset. I literally can't find a way of solving it at the moment and would LOVE the option to have different tempos in snapshots. 

[phil_m]

1 hour ago, samtowns said:

I have the exact same issue! Playing with tracks and drummer who is on a click - having my delay bpms preprogrammed for each song in the setlist is key!

I've been used to using a strimon timeline with a switcher which allowed me to simply cycle through the banks for each new songs tempo. Now trying to move to the Helix but snapshots don't seem to allow for different tempos - once you change the tempo in a snapshot it changes in all of the snapshots within the preset. I literally can't find a way of solving it at the moment and would LOVE the option to have different tempos in snapshots. 

You can have the tempo saved per snapshot. Go to Global Settings>MIDI/Tempo>Tempo Select and set it to Per Snapshot.

[themetallikid]

3 hours ago, phil_m said:

You can have the tempo saved per snapshot. Go to Global Settings>MIDI/Tempo>Tempo Select and set it to Per Snapshot.

Or just copy/paste the same preset however many times you need it and save the BPM per preset that way all snapshots in the preset use the same BPM saved.  

 

Preset/Song 1 - BPM 65

Preset/Song 2 - BPM 128

etc...

 

Even if all your doing is changing the bpm per preset and keeping the same sound/snapshot programming. 

[HonestOpinion]

17 hours ago, samtowns said:

I have the exact same issue! Playing with tracks and drummer who is on a click - having my delay bpms preprogrammed for each song in the setlist is key!

I've been used to using a strimon timeline with a switcher which allowed me to simply cycle through the banks for each new songs tempo. Now trying to move to the Helix but snapshots don't seem to allow for different tempos - once you change the tempo in a snapshot it changes in all of the snapshots within the preset. I literally can't find a way of solving it at the moment and would LOVE the option to have different tempos in snapshots. 

 

15 hours ago, phil_m said:

You can have the tempo saved per snapshot. Go to Global Settings>MIDI/Tempo>Tempo Select and set it to Per Snapshot.

 

After changing Global Settings>MIDI/Tempo>'Tempo Select' = "Per Snapshot" as phil_m suggested you may also want to set Global Settings --> 'Preferences --> 'Snapshot Edits' = "Recall".  At least while you are editing. This will retain the different BPM values as you set them in each snapshot, requiring only one save when you are finished editing the preset. Probably the most convenient mode for editing a preset.

 

The other option, Global Settings --> 'Preferences --> 'Snapshot Edits' = "Discard" can require a save in between the editing of each snapshot. If you click away from the snapshot and return to it without saving first with the "Discard" setting, the snapshot will have reverted to its last saved state and your changes will be lost.  You may find this is your preferred mode for a live performance.

 

Btw, related to the above snapshot settings although not particularly relevant to BPM settings is the ability to prevent any parameter from being bypassed by a snapshot.  Including it here if for no other reason than to remind myself it exists. The options for assignment in the HX world have gotten crazy good.  There are also some interesting settings for deciding what happens if you click the same snapshot switch a second time.

 

Snapshot Bypass instruction from the manual for preventing a block from being bypassed from a snapshot switch:

Helix Floor / Rack / LT

Select a processing block, press ACTION, and set Knob 5 (Snapshot Bypass) to “Off” to disable snapshot control of that block’s bypass state

HX Effects

Select a processing block, press ACTION, and press the “Snapshot Bypass” switch to disable snapshot control of that block’s bypass state

HX Stomp

From Edit view, select a processing block, press ACTION, press PAGE >, and set Knob 3 (Snapshot Bypass) to “Off” to disable snapshot control of that block’s bypass state

Helix Native / HX Edit

Right-click (Mac: control-click) on a processing block and uncheck “Snapshot Bypass.” Alternatively, right-click (Mac: control-click) the Bypass button to uncheck “Snapshot Bypass.”