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Usability question


fizbin
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I'm looking for a pedalboard replacement, just effects. Amp models are fine too if I can bypass them or turn them off.

Does Line 6 carry a unit which:
1. Can have AT LEAST 5 of *any* effects on at a time. You know compressor, dirt, reverb, mod, delay. 
2. Can have named patches, not numbers or letters or numbers and letters. (ie. not just 32B)
3. Can have named songs (not numbers/letters) which may themselves have up to five patches.
4. Has to have 5 footswitches up front for those patches, for the song.
5. Has named setlists by which I can arrange my named songs, which contain my named patches.
6. No audio dropout when switching patches.

This is what I want. This is what I need.

Thanks for your time.

-Jay

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HX FX.  Designed for people who just want effects but want to program everything.

https://line6.com/hx-effects/

You can even have other pedals in the effects send/return and you can run your delays etc into your FX return on your amp if you have one - so you can decide what goes into the front of the amp and what goes into FX return. - per preset!

Sounds like everything you just asked for.

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2 hours ago, fizbin said:

Does Line 6 carry a unit which:
1. Can have AT LEAST 5 of *any* effects on at a time. You know compressor, dirt, reverb, mod, delay. 
2. Can have named patches, not numbers or letters or numbers and letters. (ie. not just 32B)
3. Can have named songs (not numbers/letters) which may themselves have up to five patches.
4. Has to have 5 footswitches up front for those patches, for the song.
5. Has named setlists by which I can arrange my named songs, which contain my named patches.
6. No audio dropout when switching patches.

 

1) Yes, depending on DSP requirements for the specific FX chosen.

2) Yes

3) No. A preset can have 3,4 or 8 variations (depending on the specific device) called Snapshots, but you can not organize Presets as Songs.

4) Footswitch arrangement and display is very flexible (depending on the specific device).

5) On the Rack, Floor and LT there are 8 setlists of 128 Presets. See 3).

6) On the Rack, Floor and LT, simple Presets can be designed to do this (Spillover Enabled), at a cost in DSP. That said, in the latest version of the FW (3.1), I don't detect any audio dropout when changing presets even without Spillover Enabled. There's no audio dropout when changing Snapshots.

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1 hour ago, rd2rk said:

 

1) Yes, depending on DSP requirements for the specific FX chosen.

2) Yes

3) No. A preset can have 3,4 or 8 variations (depending on the specific device) called Snapshots, but you can not organize Presets as Songs.

4) Footswitch arrangement and display is very flexible (depending on the specific device).

5) On the Rack, Floor and LT there are 8 setlists of 128 Presets. See 3).

6) On the Rack, Floor and LT, simple Presets can be designed to do this (Spillover Enabled), at a cost in DSP. That said, in the latest version of the FW (3.1), I don't detect any audio dropout when changing presets even without Spillover Enabled. There's no audio dropout when changing Snapshots.

See, I sense a problem here. I could do without named songs, but just switching snapshots isn't enough. That means I'm stuck with the same effects on a preset. I have one or more songs where the mod or reverb might need to change entirely. Just switching it on or off isn't enough. I had a quick tryout of the POD Go, and well, it wasn't at all enough.

Am I wrong here?

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19 minutes ago, fizbin said:

See, I sense a problem here. I could do without named songs, but just switching snapshots isn't enough. That means I'm stuck with the same effects on a preset. I have one or more songs where the mod or reverb might need to change entirely. Just switching it on or off isn't enough. I had a quick tryout of the POD Go, and well, it wasn't at all enough.

Am I wrong here?

 

 Did you read my reply to #6? The more complex and DSP intensive a preset is, the longer it takes to load, and the more likely there'll be an audio dropout. So far in the latest version I haven't come across a change that caused an audio dropout, but that doesn't guarantee that some preset you come up with won't be the one.

 

Reality - if you hit a chord and let it ring while you switch presets, there WILL be a sudden and probably jarring change if the effects are that different, and there's no FX unit in the world that won't happen with. IF that happens, you'll have to adjust your playing or adjust your preset. Same with an audio dropout between presets. It's not like the audio dropout between high DSP presets is 2 seconds long, we're talking a couple of milliseconds.

 

The main point being that there's no way to predict if it would even happen, so why assume that it will? There may be other devices that GUARANTEE no audio dropouts ever, but they CAN'T guarantee against the jarring juxtaposition of radically different effects. If you find such a device, AND it does everything else Helix does, by all means buy it.

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Right, I have a setup that's complex and huge with expensive effects modelling pedals (that have been around for over 10 years) and also a loop switcher that sends MIDI to said effects. No dropouts. Won't drop the name but I'm trying to get away from that.

It also has named presets, songs, setlists. It's just a huge hassle to get it all to work together because it's not a single unit. I like the Line6 effects a lot, they just haven't given me a proper solution.

 

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8 hours ago, fizbin said:

This is what I want. This is what I need.


Well, you really ought to download and read the Helix 3.0 Owner’s Manual - Rev E.


It’s free.

 

https://line6.com/support/manuals/helix

 

Read, study and inwardly digest - then you will know exactly what it can, and cannot, do.

 

Enlightenment!

 

Oh, yeah, it’s O.K. to say Fractal, Kemper or even, Quad Cortex in here - fire won’t rain down upon your head. We know about their stuff, some even own some versions of their hardware.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

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As you read the manual you may come up with more specific questions than "Will it do everything I want or might ever want it to do?"

It's a lot easier to answer your questions when they're more specific to the unit.

But, in the end, your best bet is to find a store with a good returns policy, buy one, hunker down and try it.

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6 minutes ago, PierM said:

And yet another Helix vs Fractal thread in 5, 4, 3, 2.....

 

WARNING! Fire WILL rain down upon your head!

 

The proper forum for Helix vs XYZ is TGP.

Go soon. Stay long! Have BIG FUN!

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47 minutes ago, rd2rk said:

 

WARNING! Fire WILL rain down upon your head!

 

The proper forum for Helix vs XYZ is TGP.

Go soon. Stay long! Have BIG FUN!

 

Im a fanboy, I shall fight the battle!

 

8-CA0-BB46-F7-D8-4919-92-C5-0-ABDD82539-

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