Rewolf48

Separate Pre, Power and Cab blocks (as we now call them) were asked for against the HD500 to enable simulation of effects in an FX Loop for example. One workaround for this as Helix is currently described is to use a 3rd party IR that is a power amp + cab.

I apologise if my humour didn't come across - it can be a bit dry and that is by British standards. I am certainly more Rock than anything else, have some hearing damage (mainly to the right ear which might be down to driving long distances at high speed in pre Air Con days with the drivers window down because I didn't have power windows either), oh and I am very amateur indeed. I think what happened with these posts is that the quality of a simulation is very difficult to quantify - as others have said, and without being able to quantify it in the first place to have a relative value between them is impossible; to say one is relatively better than the other in this aspect or other - yes, to say 8% better would be just like politician's statistics... whoops there I go again :P

Sssshh - it is a little known secret, but not all Line 6 users are Rock guitarists :ph34r: and its its only a small percentage that are professional

Thanks - I have only been familiar with mono spring reverbs built into amps, so is that stereo as in L and R are processed separately through 2 spring reverbs e.g. no trace of L on the R output or is that L and R are passed through with L + R being fed into a single spring and the result mixed with L and R so that while the delays from the Ping Pong are still hard L or R there is a trace of reverb from the delay found on the other side? Just curiosity really because I run mono anyway! Unless the L2T that arrives tomorrow is so good I just have to get another one, in which case I will be very tempted even if the only person who hears the stereo effect is me..

Just out of interest... what exactly is a stereo Spring Reverb? :) I presume that spring is mono and that Room (variation) Reverbs are stereo

Line 6 must know this right? If they launch a product that is 3X the cost of HD500X, then the only way to get their enthusiastic customers* to go for it is if it is better than the HD500X in every meaningful way, let alone to get the higher budget customers of competing products who will demand that it is equal or better than other products they are considering, and that even a single failure will cause no end of grief. Just look at how they are going on about lack of scenes or preset switching trails on the TGP thread! My view on that is that with 32 blocks, my fairly simple rigs, and the ability to switch 8 values is that I probably have everything I need within a single preset, but I will wait to see how it works in reality before tempting the agnst**. * that would be us because we are enthusiastic enough to come on a support forum for a product not yet available! ** that would be the reaction of Mrs Rewolf

The Helex FAQ Thread: Various threads on TGP and other forum about how long a IR is needed to achieve various effects - 2048 is the High Resolution IR size on an AxeFX so there is some talk about it. I had confirmation when I asked the question that Acoustic Guitar "body" would be possible that would sound good for picked notes, but may not be as good for a strummed guitar - the question was however in the context of using IR as a guitar simulator; that is making a clean electric sound like an acoustic, I suspect that it is plenty to make a piezo pickup sound like a miked acoustic guitar.

I would like to point out that you are focusing on Tone or Sound and ignoring that people like Sean Halley have been saying that it is the Feel that is most improved. I expect that the tests DI refers to had the guitar in the testers hand, listening in studio monitors to the miked real amp or HX model (blind test), and they couldn't work out which was which. We all know that the moment it is released that the internet will be full of Helix v everything else comparisons mostly trying to get that perfect "djent", and mostly of dubious value as the conditions will be different!

Limits are 4 IR's per patch and maximum 2048 sample length So 4 miked Cabs - Yes but nothing else; the thing about IRs however is that you can combine them externally so potentially 2 is all you should need even with 8 mike positions spread in a stereo field But 2048 sample length presumably at 96K samples/second gives only 2 hundredths of a second which I am told is good for cabinet sounds and potentially Acoustic Guitar body resonance, but is nothing like long enough for reverbs or other long duration time effects

One nice feature of a Yamaha Motif keyboard is that it acts as a USB host, so can use USB memory for backups etc, but can also use a USB WIFI adaptor to connection to all sorts of things including network storage. The probable difference is that a Motif basically is running Linux under the skin and so such things are relatively easy to add

On the Huge Rack forum Sean said about these videos:

What shape would this take? As I understand it (not having a DT) the signal is tapped from the Amp model, so you are perhaps thinking a "DT Poweramp + Speaker" block that incorporates the settings for the DT and routes to the L6 output? Not that I have anything to do with it you understand, just trying to visualize how it would work, in the mean time I am just waiting for the Check to clear before I get the stagesource

What about the ability to switch Variax Patch, Volume and Tone settings using a Helix Switch? Perhaps with the ability to revert if the switch is not latching?

Have you seen Sean Halley doing a simple demo at Gearfest? It is only one amp but some emphasis on varying the guitar volume, plus some of the new effects:

Talking about the naming made me think... what about the "Double Helix"? In the future this could be a new version of Helix with higher rated processors; nobody has shown a picture of the bottom of the unit yet, but some equipment has space for additional processors on a daughter board designed in from day one. Yamaha for example have Flash Memory slots on Motif XF keyboards that allow up to 2G of fast access memory to be added that can store samples and waveforms. But in the meantime for those with deep pockets and complex requirements a Double Helix could be connecting a Helix Floorboard to a Helix Rack via a digital connection - just needs integration of the UI so that the two units behave as one.

Pretty much any wireless system going back to the older analogue ones has a brighter response because you only use 12 to 18" of cable from guitar to transmitter and when you roll off the volume there is no treble loss because there is no capacitance on that limited cable length. Adding the modelled cable tone to your units made them respond much more like real cables so you can be consistent. Still waiting for simulated treble bleed cap on the JTV though - I like having a brighter response when I turn the volume down (the tone knob is there if needed)

You would never guess that I work in IT would you... staring at XML documents and XSLT transformation right now. Yes I meant the XLR outputs - hard left and right at mic level into the desk (or snake)

Good News at least for those upgrading in future: Helix apparently allows you to define a set of MIDI messages that are sent on Patch Change

1) this was possible on the HD500 - just don't place any mono effects after the mixer and use the XML outs 2) "Not on release" - or whatever it is that DI keeps typing. There are harmony options just not vocal ones

Perhaps a predefined configuration of active inputs and outputs, routing, switch programming, and perhaps default blocks... So can Users define their own Templates?

Every now and then Digital Igloo mentions in an answer that he will "set up a template for that" What is a Template in the context of Helix?

The main conversion would have to be on the Variax where the six strings are individually available - the Helix/Pod part would just be routing from VDI to MIDI ports I know that the Variax can do pitch detection on a string by string basis - because that is how Virtual Capo works, but that isn't exactly an instant process. If this was every to be implemented I would expect that it would be a MIDI Guitar mode where you get Variax Mags and MIDI but not Models

You mean you kept at it until they were so fatigued they couldn't tell the difference between a Microcube and a Champ??? ;)

The HD500 at the very least is the Backup - I have felt rather exposed not having an alternative other than hoping there is a guitar amp I can borrow

Mr Igloo, Can you please tell us a bit more about "3 Osc Synth"? Are we talking SY-300 functionality? (in combination with other effects perhaps)