Variax Knob Only Modification

[asdftrain]

I've been a helix user for a very long time and am constantly in awe of the midi capabilities. I am a bass player I have been using my Helix Floor to control programme changes on my Meris Enzo to great success however I would love the ability to be able to change parameters on the fly from a knob on the guitar. I have been using an expression pedal however I have found this to be rather inprececise when changing cutoff and resonance on the Enzo.

I think if I had a Variax bass I could do this by mapping CC changes to the Variax knobs however I don't own one....

 

I was wondering if anyone has had any success modding their instruments with Variax knobs, I'm not particularly interested in the other features of Variax guitars and I love the way my P bass plays so I'm really just looking to mod it with only the knob functionality and not the pickups.

 

 

My other train of thought to achieve this effect would be to add the guts of an expression pedal to my bass and run a second cable into the EXP2 using that to change CC with command centre but i thought Variax has the potential to be a bit more streamlined.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[waymda]

I'm a variax user and would never be brave enough to dissect one but I think you'll find the whole box and dice too integrated to just have a knob. As far as I can see you'd need:

• a PCB board with all the processing
• a network type connection wired for the variax and to carry power
• the knob(s) you want

And even then I have no idea if the board etc would work without a whole range of other inputs it expects.

 

So short answer is I think its unfeasible.

 

If you want a definitive answer join the "Line 6® HELIX® Family User Group OFFICIAL and ORIGINAL" group on facebook and shout out to "Partev Sarkissian" he knows more about this stuff than anyone (tech for L6).

 

On the use of the expression pedal - have you tried playing with the pedal's paramters to refine its outputs so you get the outcome you want?

[asdftrain]

Thanks for the reply, I guess that makes sense, bit of a shame but I think I'll be able to make the exp pedal guts trick work.

 

I currently use an external Moog expression pedal with a TS connection in exp2 assigned to a bunch of parameters on different blocks however I've found it to be rather imprecise even when fiddling with the knob on the pedal.

About 50% of the treadle play takes it from 0-100 on the helix so its essentially an off or on switch rather than a precise expression controller.

Is there a way to fix this within the expression setting on the helix? My search has been unsuccessful so far.

 

Thanks