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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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OK. Apologies if this becomes a long post.
The way that I use a combination of Snaps and Stomps is to operate in ‘Stomp Mode’ so, in Settings>Pedals, you would have the following settings
Press = Stomp Select
Preset Mode Switches = Snap / Preset
Stomp Mode Switches = 8 Switches
Snapshot Mode Switches = Auto Return
Up / Down Switches = Banks
Swap Up / Down = Off
When you return to home, and you are in Stomp Mode (top right hand FS which toggles between Preset / Stomp), you should see a pile of stomp switches laid out in front of you. You need to get rid of these.
Hopefully you are editing on a computer of some kind (I’m using PC) so click on the Bypass / Controller Assign tab and you should see a list of all the footswitch / stomp function assignments. You need to go through this list and set anything that you don’t need to see to ‘None’. From your post I guess that what you will want to see are 5 Snapshot footswitches (which we shall add in a moment) plus ‘Pitch Shifter’, so set everything but Pitch Switcher Bypass to ‘None’. Decide where on the pedalboard you would like to have the pitch switcher footswitch and assign that number accordingly.
You should now have a pedalboard layout with Bank Up / Down on the left, Preset / Stomp and Tap Tempo on the right, the Pitch Shifter wherever you’ve chosen and everything else blank – great, don’t panic.
On your PC open Command Centre (Window > Command Centre). You should see a new window with a representation of the pedalboard layout, with everything blank.
Choose which FS is to be Snapshot 1, click on it and from the Command Tab pulldown select HX Snapshot (second up from the bottom of the list). Once chosen select the following options
Behaviour = Press / Release (default)
Press = SNAPHOT 1
Release = None (default)
On the Helix you should now see Snapshot one (or whatever you have renamed Snapshot 1 within your preset) on the board.
Go back into Command Centre and repeat the process assigning the other Snapshots to footswitches in whichever position you choose.
Back to the actual Helix. When you select another Snapshot by pressing the footswitch something strange will happen. The Helix will activate Snapshot 2 as you might expect but all of the Snapshot FS will now display SNAPSHOT and an Up arrow (which means ‘next’). If you’ve selected Snapshot 2 reopen the Command Centre window and click on one of the Snapshot virtual FS. You will see that the assignment is Press = Next. You have to go through each snapshot in turn reassigning ‘Press’ to the appropriate Snapshot number. It feels like a pain but, if you were only using 2 snapshots then you could assign them both to the same switch. i.e. When you are in Snapshot 1 the FS displays SS2, press to move to SS2 and the FS now shows SS1, the same switch toggles between the 2 snapshots.
This may all seem to be something of a faff but once you master it (and it’s really not that difficult) you open up all sorts of possibilities. I have a patch per song and each patch only displays the FS that I need for that song making life very easy when you are performing. I even have FS assigned to MIDI commands such as muting the PA or triggering samples.
If you get stuck I’m happy to answer further questions or even do a Zoom call if it will help.
Yes, I think that you would have to change all of your other presets but, in my opinion, worth it if this layout works for you (at least you’ve only got 5, I’ve got 2 setlists of 30 odd songs each). The important bit is to establish a methodology that works for you. You can do all sorts of things with the Helix once you know what it is that you want to do.
Amp channel switching can also be done per snapshot. You could either assign the switching to a FS and leave it visible on the board (as per the Pitch Shift) or you may be able to do it with Instant Command (the little lightening symbols in Command Centre). I must admit that I’ve had limited success with amp switching. I’ve recently acquired a 50 year old Fender Pro Rev amp and I’ve been using my Helix purely for effects. I tried to get the Helix to switch the Vib on / off on the amp but it hasn’t worked – yet (I suspect poor contact on the back of the amp rather than a Helix setup problem).
Would you be able to save what you have created on https://line6.com/customtone/ ?
I will download it later tonight. I am sure I will have a few questions, but I always find it interesting how other people make their presets.
It works exactly as you say.
I must admit that I haven't really explored this part of Helix (Instant Command & Momentary) but I will use your 'FB Test' preset as a Template (which I won't change) & have a play around with it & add some different amps & FX's. Cheers!
Any way on the bypass / controller assign I also dont have that much defined so gonna see if i can muddle on from here anyways
cheers