Helix Firmware 2.0 Adds "Snapshots"

[nicolasrivera]

There's a small drop out when changing amps via X/Y on my AX8. Not a big deal though.

But that dropout is so small it nonsense people complaining about it, there's a bigger gap switching between two real amps with a Radial switcher!

 

[atquinn]

Man, maybe there is a problem with some units, but i have no issues with dropouts between switching scenes and X/Y states on my AX8.

You're completely wrong. There have been several threads about this in the AX8 sub forum, including one where I posted audio samples of the dropouts when switching between presets and amp X/Y. And then there's post #6 in this thread...
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threa...-to-clean-and-vice-versa.112510/#post-1345578
But hey, he just works at Fractal, what does he know?
-
Austin

 

[atquinn]

But that dropout is so small it nonsense people complaining about it, there's a bigger gap switching between two real amps with a Radial switcher!

If there are any other things we shouldn't complain about, please let us know so we can avoid such topics in the future
-
Austin

 

[nicolasrivera]

You're completely wrong.

How can i be wrong if i have the AX8 here? I'll say it again, unless some units have a issue with a gap greater than mine, it's nonsense complaining about it as it's almost gapless!

 

[selta]

How can i be wrong if i have the AX8 here? I'll say it again, unless some units have a issue with a gap greater than mine, it's nonsense complaining about it as it's almost gapless!

Just because something isn't an issue for you, doesn't mean it's not an issue for everyone. Both of my bands have songs that seamlessly transition between each other. In both cases, one or two instruments are the only thing carrying over between those two songs. In both cases, a scene change is necessary as the tone change is moderately large. The gap is very very noticeable in these cases. It's similar to when listening to say, an album and for some reason the switch between two songs has a gap - it just breaks the flow of things.
I'm glad the gap doesn't have an impact for you, but don't make the mistake of thinking your case is universally applicable. It's not, and for some of us out here playing (often, and large shows), it ranges from an annoyance to a real issue.

 

[paranoid]

maybe Nicola is using simple presets with low cpu, and switching between similar amps or not switching amps at all. If you have a high cpu patch with a lot of modifiers and x-y changes the audio gap can be very annoying.

 

[nicolasrivera]

Just because something isn't an issue for you, doesn't mean it's not an issue for everyone. Both of my bands have songs that seamlessly transition between each other. In both cases, one or two instruments are the only thing carrying over between those two songs. In both cases, a scene change is necessary as the tone change is moderately large. The gap is very very noticeable in these cases. It's similar to when listening to say, an album and for some reason the switch between two songs has a gap - it just breaks the flow of things.
I'm glad the gap doesn't have an impact for you, but don't make the mistake of thinking your case is universally applicable. It's not, and for some of us out here playing (often, and large shows), it ranges from an annoyance to a real issue.

Please, share a sample of this, i want to hear your song.

 

[nicolasrivera]

maybe Nicola is using simple presets with low cpu, and switching between similar amps or not switching amps at all. If you have a high cpu patch with a lot of modifiers and x-y changes the audio gap can be very annoying.

The presets i have made are between 75% to 87% in cpu demand.

 

[selta]

Please, share a sample of this, i want to hear your song.

One band (Convergence) is only about 6 months old, no recordings just yet. But opening for / playing with national acts as they roll through. We're about to take a month or so from gigging to cut a couple of tracks.

The other band, Ara'Kus, has two components really: the album, and the live theatre performance. The live show deviates quite a bit from the album and is where the issue pops up. But, you can listen to and download (for free) the entire album right here:
http://heavymetalopera.com/music/

 

[jesussaddle]

No, because presets don't have spillover and gapless sound changes, but scenes/snapshots do. The difference with snapshots is that, since it captures more parameters, you can do more drastic changes between snapshots without needing to use X/Y states or different blocks. If you want a solo boost on an amp you could just go to snapshot 2, dial in things for that sound, and then save it. That is way more powerful than scenes in the Fractal world. I'm not sure why Fractal can't do the same thing, but I would imagine that there are too many parameters in the Fractal world that would have to be monitored?
-
Austin

Then maybe go into "Snapshot mode" and the Axe EDIT can highlight the available snapshot knobs/parameters, so those that are not possible won't be depended on, but at least we get some of the time saving aspect of it?

 

[unix-guy]

The presets i have made are between 75% to 87% in cpu demand.

CPU load is irrelevant (well, it may be worse if CPU is very high). There is always a dropout when switching X/Y on the amp block...
This is because the amp block gets reloaded. On the Axe Fx you can use 2 different amp blocks to avoid this.

For me, I have to do this as in some of my band's songs I am changing from a clean amp to a lead sound with no break in the playing. Changing X/Y states in these cases does not work - it sounds like I missed the change. Other songs there is no problem as they may have a natural "break" between sections that allows muting as I change.

This is a very common issue, there have been numerous threads on the topic in the 3+ years I have been using the Axe Fx and been on this forum.

As someone already said, it may not be a problem for you but it is definitely a problem for many people.

 

[nicolasrivera]

CPU load is irrelevant (well, it may be worse if CPU is very high). There is always a dropout when switching X/Y on the amp block...
This is because the amp block gets reloaded. On the Axe Fx you can use 2 different amp blocks to avoid this.

For me, I have to do this as in some of my band's songs I am changing from a clean amp to a lead sound with no break in the playing. Changing X/Y states in these cases does not work - it sounds like I missed the change. Other songs there is no problem as they may have a natural "break" between sections that allows muting as I change.

This is a very common issue, there have been numerous threads on the topic in the 3+ years I have been using the Axe Fx and been on this forum.

As someone already said, it may not be a problem for you but it is definitely a problem for many people.

I guess you guys are right, for my music is a non issue.

 

[lauke-lux]

Before I picked up the AX8 (read: last week), I had assumed Scenes allowed you to store parameter differences... e.g. different gain in Scene 2, or more delay, etc.. I wouldn't say I was disappointed, just surprised, that you couldn't alter parameters per scene.

If FAS did add this feature, you could indicate at a glance which parameters had changed against Scene #1 by highlighting their label in a different color (e.g. #FFF white instead of light gray, or a muted blue, etc.).

And like controller Damping, you could define a x-fade time between scene changes so you could fade to a new scene like Kempers new morphing feature (except for block bypassing, which would happen immediately). So essentially the same thing as a scene controller but automatically applied to all modified parameters between the current and target scenes. If you need a block to x-fade too, leave it ON in the target scene, and modify its Mix/Level parameter if it has one.

Would be great to have (controller damping). Lot of this is possible with the Axe Fx but limited to parameters that are controlable only. For changing parameters between scenes one would have to use scene controllers that are more difficult to tweak as a direct setting. So the fast way would be to add some more scene controllers for more flexibility, if needed (personnally 2 are more than enough for me). The other way round would be to automatically attribute an extra 'inherent' scene controller to each scene instance of a patch and register it's position at saving the patch. It would be kind of the equivalent of the snapshot feature. Howbeit I think it could seriously slowdown patch and scene changing, also this would mean that each parameter would have 2 possible controllers : the controller I/O menu controllers and the (hence hidden) scene controller, not sure this is possible on Axe Fx, until now it was always impossible to link two controllers to one parameter.[/QUOTE]

 

[willowdale]

We all know Fractals track record speaks for itself, but Line6/Yamaha are also leaving no doubt that they are taking this Helix unit very seriously......it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out & if Kemper also gets into the all in one floorboard wars! lol

Customers win at the end of the day......

 

[lauke-lux]

It's been fun showing Scenes to all my Helix friends. Today, Line 6 added "Snapshots" to the Helix (firmware 2.0). I must admit that they look very cool. My understanding is that EVERY value for every parameter is captured in a snapshot. If that's the case, it is a very powerful feature. We can control on/off, X/Y, volume and we have two Scene Controllers. That is powerful stuff. Being able to easily capture a multitude of settings is very very slick.

Feature request???

There's lot that can be done with 2 scene controllers, but it sure needs some tweeking and a profound knowledge how to work around. 64 parameters I would not even think about it with scene controllers. From that point of view the snaphot is a new view on things and appreciable. I won't change my gear for that, as sound remains the main issue for me, but it's a good development on music gear as is.

 

[lauke-lux]

We all know Fractals track record speaks for itself, but Line6/Yamaha are also leaving no doubt that they are taking this Helix unit very seriously......it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out & if Kemper also gets into the all in one floorboard wars! lol

Customers win at the end of the day......

Customers don't always win at the end of the day (end of the same day I mean)...when Digitech stopped 2101/2120 series in 1995 due to the concurrent rise of floor multi-effect boards, we had to wait for more than 14 years until FAS came out with the Axe Fx ULTRA that was the first innovating unit to do things better.and that put a big kick in the ass forward on guitar gear.

Also customer approach, the endless customer service attitude of FAS, G66 are not close to be equalled IMHO. Nevertheless, the world of digital music gear is advancing high speed and it's good. The snapshot option is a good thing.

 

[fremen]

Before I picked up the AX8 (read: last week), I had assumed Scenes allowed you to store parameter differences... e.g. different gain in Scene 2, or more delay, etc.. I wouldn't say I was disappointed, just surprised, that you couldn't alter parameters per scene.

It's not straightforward, but you can do it :

 

[GotMetalBoy]

I haven't read all the previous posts but I use my FAMC Liquid Foot+ (LF+) Midi Foot Controller with my Axe-Fx II and don't need to use scenes because I program my LF+ presets to control everything. It can even send sysex messages to change any parameter value that Axe-Edit can change like B/M/T. So with my LF+ I can pretty much do the same thing as Scenes and Snapshots.

The LF+ also has LED displays for labels on every footswitch too.

I think the RJM Mastermind GT Midi Foot Controllers can do the same thing too.