How to change the on/off state of the LED on a footswitch

[cdehughes]

Hi, is it possible to change the state of the LED when a footswitch is a assigned to a block or external amp? What I mean is, currently I have a footswitch assigned to the footswitch input of my external amp to toggle the channel between clean and distortion. What I would like is for the LED on the Helix to light up RED when the distortion channel on my external Amp is selected, and dim down when clean is activated. Currently the opposite happens, it lights up when my clean channel is selected and dims down when I go to distortion.

 

Another example. I want to toggle between my FX loop and a local modelled Pre-amp, I have assigned both blocks (FX Loop + Preamp) to a single footswitch and that works great. But I would like the LED to light up turquoise (the color of the FX loop block) when the FX look is active (and the Preamp is inactive), but again the opposite happens, it lights up when my Preamp mod block is activated and vice versa.

 

So, my question is, can I toggle this behavior somehow? Thanks

[datacommando]

On 8/5/2023 at 10:31 PM, cdehughes said:

Hi, is it possible to change the state of the LED when a footswitch is a assigned to a block or external amp? What I mean is, currently I have a footswitch assigned to the footswitch input of my external amp to toggle the channel between clean and distortion. What I would like is for the LED on the Helix to light up RED when the distortion channel on my external Amp is selected, and dim down when clean is activated. Currently the opposite happens, it lights up when my clean channel is selected and dims down when I go to distortion.

 

Another example. I want to toggle between my FX loop and a local modelled Pre-amp, I have assigned both blocks (FX Loop + Preamp) to a single footswitch and that works great. But I would like the LED to light up turquoise (the color of the FX loop block) when the FX look is active (and the Preamp is inactive), but again the opposite happens, it lights up when my Preamp mod block is activated and vice versa.

 

So, my question is, can I toggle this behavior somehow? Thanks

Hi,

 

You may want to familiarise yourself with all the functions of your Helix by reading the Manual.

https://line6.com/data/6/0a020a3f041b611d61cac763b/application/pdf/Helix 3.0 Owner's Manual - Rev F - English .pdf

 

Page 52 > Customizing a Footswitch Label

To customize the footswitch’s LED color, turn Knob 5 (Switch LED) to select the desired color (or turn it off).
Normally, you should leave this set to “Auto Color.

 

Also, Page 67 > Global Settings > Displays

Knob 1 - LED Ring Brightness - Determines whether the Stomp mode footswitches’ colored LED rings appear dim when bypassed or off when bypassed. When playing in bright sunlight, you may want to set this to “Off/Bright” to increase contrast.

 

There are more customisation options with Snapshot, and or Command Centre.

 

Hope this helps makes sense.

[theElevators]

I understand... So you want the ring light to be on when something is disabled, and off when something is enabled.  In stomp mode, you can assign multiple blocks to the same foot switch.  When you press the foot switch, the bypass statuses of all the relevant blocks get toggled.  So with one button press you can turn some things on and also turn some things off.  Press it again and things get bypassed/un-bypassed. 

 

I'm pretty sure you can do what you are asking in Command Center... But here's a simple workaround instead:

 

In this example we will be using foot switch 9.  And using a block that does absolutely nothing whether or not it's enabled/disabled -- gain block with everything at the default settings; or an EQ block with everything at center.... or a send block.... just basically a dummy block.

 

1. add the dummy block and do bypass assign -- assigning it to FS 9

2. press the FS so that it is now off, and the dummy block is in fact off.

3. now assign whatever you want to control to the same FS 9.

4. end-result: the same FS 9 will have 2 states:

       a) dummy block is on, other thing is off (light is on)

       b) dummy block is off, other thing is on (light is off)

 

 

[cdehughes]

On 8/6/2023 at 4:44 PM, theElevators said:

I understand... So you want the ring light to be on when something is disabled, and off when something is enabled.  In stomp mode, you can assign multiple blocks to the same foot switch.  When you press the foot switch, the bypass statuses of all the relevant blocks get toggled.  So with one button press you can turn some things on and also turn some things off.  Press it again and things get bypassed/un-bypassed. 

 

I'm pretty sure you can do what you are asking in Command Center... But here's a simple workaround instead:

 

In this example we will be using foot switch 9.  And using a block that does absolutely nothing whether or not it's enabled/disabled -- gain block with everything at the default settings; or an EQ block with everything at center.... or a send block.... just basically a dummy block.

 

1. add the dummy block and do bypass assign -- assigning it to FS 9

2. press the FS so that it is now off, and the dummy block is in fact off.

3. now assign whatever you want to control to the same FS 9.

4. end-result: the same FS 9 will have 2 states:

       a) dummy block is on, other thing is off (light is on)

       b) dummy block is off, other thing is on (light is off)

 

 

 

Yes, that's exactly what I meant, and your workaround works, thanks! Would be nice if this was an option that didn't require using up a dummy block of course, but this will do if there is no other way.

[PaulTBaker]

I have had a situation where I have a footswitch assigned to multiple parameters of an amp.  for example, on will increase the master and lower the drive and the bass, off will reverse these.  In playing around with this, sometimes the light for on/off gets switched.  Which is what I think you want.   When this happens, I found that if I just tap the footswitch (not press all the way down) it will cycle the light on or off.  So if the footswitch is On, tap it and the light goes off.  Save the preset.  This seems to let me do what you are trying to do.

 

So pullup your preset.  Step on the footswitch to go to drive (light should be off).  Just tap the footswitch, the light should go on.  Save the preset.  You should be good to go.

 

If that doesn't work, play around with the Global parameter for selecting the footswitch and then try my suggestion again.

 

Good luck.

[theElevators]

On 8/10/2023 at 1:20 PM, PaulTBaker said:

I have had a situation where I have a footswitch assigned to multiple parameters of an amp.  for example, on will increase the master and lower the drive and the bass, off will reverse these.  In playing around with this, sometimes the light for on/off gets switched.  Which is what I think you want.   When this happens, I found that if I just tap the footswitch (not press all the way down) it will cycle the light on or off.  So if the footswitch is On, tap it and the light goes off.  Save the preset.  This seems to let me do what you are trying to do.

 

So pullup your preset.  Step on the footswitch to go to drive (light should be off).  Just tap the footswitch, the light should go on.  Save the preset.  You should be good to go.

 

If that doesn't work, play around with the Global parameter for selecting the footswitch and then try my suggestion again.

 

Good luck.

Oh, so just touch the button with the capacitance enabled, with your finger.  Damn.  learn something new everyday!  (not that I'd need this, as I'm 100% a snapshot user)

[cdehughes]

On 8/10/2023 at 7:20 PM, PaulTBaker said:

I have had a situation where I have a footswitch assigned to multiple parameters of an amp.  for example, on will increase the master and lower the drive and the bass, off will reverse these.  In playing around with this, sometimes the light for on/off gets switched.  Which is what I think you want.   When this happens, I found that if I just tap the footswitch (not press all the way down) it will cycle the light on or off.  So if the footswitch is On, tap it and the light goes off.  Save the preset.  This seems to let me do what you are trying to do.

 

So pullup your preset.  Step on the footswitch to go to drive (light should be off).  Just tap the footswitch, the light should go on.  Save the preset.  You should be good to go.

 

If that doesn't work, play around with the Global parameter for selecting the footswitch and then try my suggestion again.

 

Good luck.

That indeed seems to work for footswitches where multiple things are assigned, so that's useful thanks. Doesn't seem to work for a footswitch assigned to the external amp though, tapping it just brings up command center. I also checked out the global settings but couldn't find anything regarding the on/off state of the footswitches. So, for external amp control I'll still need the dummy block workaround, but no worries, it'll do.