Please upvote this Auto Engage bugfix at ideascale

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PLEASE upvote this Helix bugfix at ideascale: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/On-off-option-for-wah-auto-engage-to-fix-snapshot-bug/1026321-23508

 

On/off option for wah auto engage to fix snapshot bug

 

It is very hard for me to put this title into short but catchy words so if anyone has a better title, let me know and I'll edit it.

 

The problem: Using an expression pedal to "auto bypass" say a wah results in a bypass toggle rather than actually specifying bypassed or enabled.

 

This causes the wah to often be in the wrong state and turn off when it should turn on in snapshot situations, as documented in many threads such as: https://line6.com/support/topic/47968-auto-engage-and-snapshots/

 

From page 50 in the Helix manual "For example, moving EXP 1 forward past the heel down position can enable a Wah or Poly Wham block, and returning EXP 1 to the heel position will bypass it again"

 

This is not actually true. When using this method, the Position parameter actually determines the toggle point. Whatever state the wah is currently in, going past Position will toggle it.

 

Example problem case:

1. Lets say you have enabled your wah and the wah is on and everything is working fine.

2. You are done with your wah movements and lift your foot off with the pedal halfway thru its travel, but above the Postion value

3. You now switch to a new snapshot where you specify the wah being bypassed. The wah is in fact bypassed and all is fine, until;

4. You decide you need the wah on so you move it forward.

5. Since it has not crossed Position, it stays bypassed. Well, OK, you just rock it back to heel down passing thru Position. Oops! Now the Wah is ON on heel down, but moving it back towards toe down bypasses the wah once you pass Position!

 

Suggested (but not really working) workarounds:

1. Put the expression pedal in per preset mode. Same problem, the bypassed/enabled state can still flip the wrong way (and can happen in presets as well as snapshots!)

2. Put the expression pedal in global mode (snapshots will no longer bypass the wah, though you could set the mix to 0% for snapshots where you KNOW you'll never want a wah)

 

What DOES work (with caveats, and silly to need to do) which hopefully Line6 can implement in the EXP Bypass method:

 

According to the manual on page 51 "Incoming CC values 0-63 turn the block off; values 64-127 turn the block on"

 

Unlike auto-engage with the EXP pedals, this is not a toggle. So as silly as this sounds, plugging the MIDI out of the Helix back into the MIDI in of the helix can work far more closely to the intended behavior!

 

The video at this link shows proof that MIDI controls the bypass state as claimed: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vr4ihix5usjy0zc/2021-07-25 12-07-12.mp4?dl=0

 

(I was wrong about the stretching, so ignore it when I say that in the video, as I learned a bit later.)

 

This next video shows the wah working with wherever you set the MIDI value so you can pretty well emulate the Position parameter that you attempted to use with the EXP pedal: https://www.dropbox.com/s/750xhpkcifzcd19/2021-07-25 12-25-58.mp4?dl=0

 

Desired Behavior:

 

1. Have at least the option to change the EXP pedal bypass method to On/OFF rather than toggle, like MIDI control of bypass can do. ( I can see use cases where toggle would be the desirable behavior, so it would nice to chose)

2. Still able to have the wait time as it is now

3. An option to turn the wah on by moving it even if it is currently past the Position value, and of course turn if back off once it goes under

4. Be sure that this works as predicted with snapshots, especially if that snapshot is meant to start with the wah bypassed

Of course all this applies to other FX such as the whammy and others that would be nice to auto engage

 

Please share this!

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Would it be bad to have wait time added to the midi bypass control?

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YAY!!!!!!!!!!! 3.15 knocked this out of the park!!!!