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HX Effects - shifting between clean and dirty with expression pedal


Findlasse
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Hi!
I had a Vetta II earlier and it had a great feature. With the floorboard pedal in top position - I had a nice Police-like clean sound - pressing the pedal down to bottom position - the sound transitioned into a nice dirty sound.
I tried to mingle with the HX to get the same option, but with no success.
Thought it might be possible with 2 signal lines and then using the expression pedal to route to either 1st or 2nd signal path?.

Is it possible on the HX effects??

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4 hours ago, Findlasse said:

Hi!
I had a Vetta II earlier and it had a great feature. With the floorboard pedal in top position - I had a nice Police-like clean sound - pressing the pedal down to bottom position - the sound transitioned into a nice dirty sound.
I tried to mingle with the HX to get the same option, but with no success.
Thought it might be possible with 2 signal lines and then using the expression pedal to route to either 1st or 2nd signal path?.

Is it possible on the HX effects??

 

It's possible . . . I'm not sure it's the best way to do it. 

 

To do what you want, you would need to connect the expression pedal to control some option that adds dirt. For example, pushing it past a point could activate an overdrive pedal OR it could increase the drive of an overdrive pedal. 

 

It can be tempting to try to mimic an old way of doing things with a new device. However, I think the HX Effects has a lot better options. Snapshots are probably the best example, where with a push of a button you can change up to 64 settings in your signal chain. It doesn't take anywhere close to 64 changes to add dirt. 

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11 hours ago, Findlasse said:

Thanks! :-)
I may have expressed it unclear (I'm danish).
What I am after is sound1 to fade out and sound2 to fade in - using the expression pedal from top to bottom. Sort of seemless transition. Is that possible to do with the HX??

 

Interesting. I've never needed a clean sound to just fade . . . and to have dirt fade in, or vice versa . . .

 

Still, my thoughts are yes, you can. Most obviously, it seems like if you tied an expression pedal to the drive of a dirt pedal it's pretty much fading in . . ..BUT it sounds like you want something a little more distinctive than this so . . .

 

As you suggested in your original post, another option would be the two signal path approach. A clean signal path (Path A) and a dirty signal path (Path B).  Then tie an expression pedal to the mixer block at the very end. Set it to an A/B block, and have the expression pedal control the amount of A and B at any given time, with all the way down on the expression pedal completely shutting off A, and all the way up completely shutting off B. 

 

If you move the pedal based on this it will fade in your clean and dirt depending on the position of the pedal. 

 

This is just ONE way to get there .  .   . and it's block intensive, but still it might get you what you're after. In my opinion, the HX line's greatest strength, even beyond the quality of its modeling, is the huge routing possibilities. There is usually a MULTIPLE ways to achieve something. The challenge is thinking them up, and choosing the best one. 

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Thank you Sir! - this is what I want. I give it a go again. In my attempt to do so I had the mixer block at the beginning. I did not succeed in routing to either A or B for some reason - maybe it works better with the mixer at he end of the signal path.
I am happy you say it can be done. It gives me relief to give it a go again! :-)

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1 minute ago, Findlasse said:

Thank you Sir! - this is what I want. I give it a go again. In my attempt to do so I had the mixer block at the beginning. I did not succeed in routing to either A or B for some reason - maybe it works better with the mixer at he end of the signal path.
I am happy you say it can be done. It gives me relief to give it a go again! :-)

 

If you can't get it to work, let me know. I can always try fiddling with it myself to see what works best. 

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It seems to work - just tried quickly with A and B paths manipulating the mixer B level, B pan and B polar with expression pedal - normal min value and invert max value.
Seems to work. Andy Summers seemlessly morphing into John Sykes :-)
Try to set someting up tomorrow and check in depth!.
Thanks a lot for helping me in the right direction!!. :-) :-)

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Kilrahi - not quite sure I got it to work yet. Sounds a bit thin (maybe because I try on low vol.). I made path A with Uni-vibe and delay and path B with drive and delay. Some delay from path A is heard on path B even with path B's delay turned off. Otherwise it seems to work so the dirt morphs in and Uni-vibe is out.
Has to try on higher volumes to determine if it is good or bad. 

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9 hours ago, Findlasse said:

Meiannatee - yes, but I would like one path (clean with effects) to volume down to zero while the other path (dirty with effects) volumes up by pressing the expression pedal.

 

I've made one for you to use as a starting point. Dual amps with expression pedal blend control. Made for 8 stomp mode, with solo boost, OD pedal, reverb, looper, some modulation, and 2 types of delays. You can tweak it from there.

 

https://line6.com/customtone/tone/4658709/

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I am lost somewhere. It sounded ok yesterday at very low volume with only 1 amp. Found out I had it set for stereo, so today it did not sound right. Guess I was dreaming yesterday! :-)
Tried to make it real simple today trying to get to the bottom of it - but I got lost anyway. Maybe it is just not possible!?.
What I tried was:
Uni-vibe in signal path A - Teemah drive in signal path B
The goal is - with expression pedal - to have only path A (or B) open with heel down - and to have only path B (or A) open with toe down. Without dropout or sudden cuts. Fading in A and B out.
The split can't be controlled to route to either A or B - at least I don't get it working. And the same with the mixer, I guess.
Is it possible, do you think?. Anything I have missed?

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1 hour ago, Findlasse said:

I am lost somewhere. It sounded ok yesterday at very low volume with only 1 amp. Found out I had it set for stereo, so today it did not sound right. Guess I was dreaming yesterday! :-)
Tried to make it real simple today trying to get to the bottom of it - but I got lost anyway. Maybe it is just not possible!?.
What I tried was:
Uni-vibe in signal path A - Teemah drive in signal path B
The goal is - with expression pedal - to have only path A (or B) open with heel down - and to have only path B (or A) open with toe down. Without dropout or sudden cuts. Fading in A and B out.
The split can't be controlled to route to either A or B - at least I don't get it working. And the same with the mixer, I guess.
Is it possible, do you think?. Anything I have missed?

 

It sure doesn't sound crazy to me. I'll try to get some time tonight to dink around with it. 

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I think I got some progress now.
Made signal path A and B. Put drive on A and delay on B

 

Split Signal Flow Settings: Split A/B
Mixer Signal Flow Settings: Main LR, Path B output

 

Split Control Settings: RoutTo: Parameter, Exp1: Controller, Min value B100, Max value A100

Mixer Control Settings: A level, Exp1: Controller

For now it works :-)

A nice way to go from a spacy ambient sound to a sudden rock in your face sound. And back again. :-)

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE - 5 mins later! :


Still works fine, BUT When connecting 2 amps, which I use gigging - 1 to L/Mono output - the other to R output. I only get sound to the amp connected to L/Mono!!.

Help needed on this issue! :-)

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On 10/30/2019 at 2:12 AM, Findlasse said:

A-B Preset.hlx

 

here is the preset

Sorry for the late reply, was busy this week. Looking at the file, it seems that your Merge Mixer block (when Path A & B converges) is the issue. They were both panned to the left.

Spoiler

        "join" : {
          "@model" : "HD2_AppDSPFlowJoin",
          "B Pan" : 0,
          "@no_snapshot_bypass" : false,
          "B Level" : 12,
          "A Level" : 12,
          "A Pan" : 0,
          "@position" : 9,
          "Level" : 0,
          "@enabled" : true,
          "B Polarity" : false

I've made another one that's hopefully compatible with HX FX. Enjoy!

CleanDirty HXFX.hlx

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Loaded your preset - and it works perfect! - I am very thankful, as I think it will become very useful for the sound variations I need in the acid rock trio! :-)

I tried to find where the panning is set for the mixer, but I don't find it. Where do I find the settings for that?.

BR

 

Lasse

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1 minute ago, Findlasse said:

Sorry - I just noticed you wrote some code - I guess it can only be set via the Helix then??

    "join" : {
          "@model" : "HD2_AppDSPFlowJoin",
          "B Pan" : 0,
          "@no_snapshot_bypass" : false,
          "B Level" : 12,
          "A Level" : 12,
          "A Pan" : 0,
          "@position" : 9,
          "Level" : 0,
          "@enabled" : true,
          "B Polarity" : false

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1 hour ago, Findlasse said:

    "join" : {
          "@model" : "HD2_AppDSPFlowJoin",
          "B Pan" : 0,
          "@no_snapshot_bypass" : false,
          "B Level" : 12,
          "A Level" : 12,
          "A Pan" : 0,
          "@position" : 9,
          "Level" : 0,
          "@enabled" : true,
          "B Polarity" : false

This code is just from opening your preset file with Notepad.

 

To edit the panning of the mixer block on HX Effects:

  1. Use the BIG KNOB to select the MIXER block (the point where the two paths converge).
  2. Use the < and > buttons (below the ACTION button) to access more parameters.
  3. Adjust the PAN parameters with KNOBS 1-3.
  4. See page 11 and page 31 in the HX Effects manual for more info.

Or you can connect it to a computer and use the editor, like Kilrahi said.

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On 10/21/2019 at 10:43 AM, Findlasse said:

Thanks! :-)
I may have expressed it unclear (I'm danish).
What I am after is sound1 to fade out and sound2 to fade in - using the expression pedal from top to bottom. Sort of seemless transition. Is that possible to do with the HX??

hej findlase. i am using a similar approach. i use my expression pedal to boost my amp or more acuratly its the opposite: i attinuate the inputsignal.

i set the amp to a well distorted setting. directly before the amp-input i put a volume pedal, wich i turn down to get a clean sound. the natural compression of a distorting amp takes care of the most volume-differences but when you run 4cable method or a amp-model instead, you can set a second volume block after the amp, controlled by the same pedal.

 

other people tend turn down the volume knob on the gittar but i like the controll with the expressionpedal more - and i have no volume knob on my cello;).

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2 hours ago, Metal-Cellista said:

hej findlase. i am using a similar approach. i use my expression pedal to boost my amp or more acuratly its the opposite: i attinuate the inputsignal.

i set the amp to a well distorted setting. directly before the amp-input i put a volume pedal, wich i turn down to get a clean sound. the natural compression of a distorting amp takes care of the most volume-differences but when you run 4cable method or a amp-model instead, you can set a second volume block after the amp, controlled by the same pedal.

 

other people tend turn down the volume knob on the gittar but i like the controll with the expressionpedal more.

Great idea! :-)

 

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