HX Edit Pilot's Guide

12
Impulses Panel
The Librarian's Impulses tabbed panel provides a list of all Impulse Response les
(along with respective ID numbers in the left column) that currently reside on your Helix
or HX device. Initially, this Impulses panel is empty, awaiting your import of Impulse
Response les.
IR Commands
IR Index Numbers
Selected IR
Impulses Tab
The Impulses panel
HX Device Owners: IR les can be used by all Helix and HX devices. All func-
tionality described in this chapter is the same for use with all devices, unless
otherwise noted.
What are Impulse Responses?
Impulse Responses (or “IRs”) that can be used in Helix & HX devices are audio les that
are the result of capturing the sound of a test tone (frequency sweep) through a guitar or
bass amp speaker cabinet, which has been de-convolved with the original tone signal.
This represents the frequency response of the miked cabinet itself, and can be used to
simulate the way it alters the sound. This is similar to a convolution reverb, but with a
much shorter decay.
Add an IR block to your preset as an alternative to using one of the Cab blocks to
provide speaker cabinet simulation. Several companies now oer large selections of
professionally recorded IR les that can be used in Helix devices, or you can even do
some research on how to record and create your own.
You can also nd some IRs that were created using this convolution process to capture
the properties of acoustic guitar bodies, guitar pickups and other sources. These IRs
can certainly be used in the Helix IR blocks as well, to allow even deeper tone sculpting!
TIP: Line 6 oers a free pack of excellent IRs from Allure - you can grab them now
at http://line6.com/allure/.
You can also nd a great selection of IRs, specically created for Helix products, on the
Marketplace - see page 33.
IR Formats and Restrictions
For all Helix and HX devices, as well as Helix Native plug-in, the following IR le types
are supported.
• Helix Impulse Response (.hir) - This is the proprietary Line 6 IR le format. All
IRs purchased through the Marketplace are of this le type. (Please also see
“Marketplace & Account Options” on page 33.)
• WAV (.wav) - Most IR producers and vendors typically oer IRs within the .wav
format. It is possible to import a mono or stereo .wav le IR, regardless of its bit
depth, length, or sample rate frequency. While this is very convenient, please
be careful to import only .wav les that were created specically for use as IRs,
not just any audio .wav le, or you may experience unexpected sonic results.
Helix Native Plug-in Users: If you plan on utilizing your Helix presets on both a
Helix device and Helix Native plug-in, the best practice to import the same exact IR
les into both, and in the same IR list order. This allows all IR blocks to reference and
load the same indexed IR les for all presets that use them. Please also see “Preset
Compatibility with Helix Native Plug-in” on page 4.
Importing and Exporting Impulse Responses
To access the IRs stored on your Helix or HX device, click on the Impulses tab. From
here you will be presented with a list of up to 128 IRs and their index numbers. Your
presets will access these IRs by their IR list index number only. The IR les themselves
are not directly associated with presets, only the IR's index number, as shown at its left,
is referenced.
NOTE: Premium Helix IRs purchased from Marketplace are also imported & ex-
ported using the following steps. It is required that you have Authorized your com-
puter, and that you are Signed In to your Line 6 account in HX Edit to initially Import
or Export them. Once imported into HX Edit, no active Internet connection is necessary
to utilize your Marketplace IRs. Please see for “Marketplace & Account Options” on
page 33 details.
To Import an IR, rst select the desired index location in the application's Impulses
panel and select Import. Select the desired IR .hir or .wav le you wish to load onto
your device. It is also possible to select multiple IR les and all will be imported in one
action.