jester700

Excellent post! Tech nerd note: audio latency is actually ~1ms/ft, not ~1ms/10ft. So 50 ft of distance gives you roughly 50ms delay.

No judging by me - Vito Bratta is my favorite 80's player! I'm guessing you mean the album PRIDE, which was their second (and best) album. But also check out the third album BIG GAME, which had the awesome tune "Little Fighter" on it. The first and fourth albums were nowhere near as good. OK, now I gotta go break out my CDs...

Yup. But I'd actually say "any era". History is replete with human weirdness.

Well, the devil's in the definitions. ;-) I get your point, but by "know" I didn't mean "believe really, really strongly". Of course there are those (though maybe not billions; IME most theists aren't fundamentalists). I was mostly arguing against the popular idea of a theist > agnostic > atheist continuum by saying MOST folks would admit they don't know for sure, but believe certain things anyway. And participate in various communities despite questioning those beliefs. That's why I prefer the "agnostic theist" and "agnostic atheist" labels. And we didn't evolve to be logical. We evolved to survive; thus snap decisions followed by justification.

Which pretty much makes us ALL agnostics. And is, in fact, the only logical position for humans. So, there are us agnostic atheists who don't know but remain unconvinced of any deity, and agnostic theists who don't know but believe in one (or more). What a fascinating conversation. And props to qwerty - well formulated posts, IMO. They reflect my thinking but are worded better than I would have done!

Not that I dance around naked or anything... But with a Pod GO, TWO cheapo $50 guitar wireless systems, and this hack to make one an in-ear system (bring your own buds) you have a wireless setup for $550. AND a full blown modeler. I do this with my Helix and it works well - very little latency. One caveat: it IS mono. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXTZNY5Ta-o

I used to work at an electronics retailer, and they REALLY pressed us to hammer customers to buy extended warranties. It was the only thing I wasn't good at (because I knew they were overpriced) and was the reason I quit the job. IIRC, most insurance policies are priced so they payout over 50 percent. That is, the policy is designed to be under 50% profit. Extended warranties were over 85% profit when I looked into it. They're not necessarily worthless; just way overpriced. As they said back in the day "it's the most profitable item in the store". So, I'd return it. Then take care of your Helix! The only time that doesn't make sense is if your $$ situation is so tight that you couldn't afford to have the Helix fixed if it had a problem. But $250 is a BIG chunk of the purchase price - bank that, and you'll HAVE fix money. After 3 years, if you didn't need it (which is likely) you'll have $250+interest.

Good advice above. Of course, in your situation you can't HAVE a "cranked cabinet in the room" sound or feel, and that's the point of your search. There are many great modeling paths. If HX Stomp and Pod GO were out when I bought my Helix LT I may have chosen one of those, as I just wanted a good quality sound with basic effects in a modern unit (and they're smaller). I was already pretty happy with my Digitech GNX3000, through headphones or studio monitors. But I'm glad I got the Helix - I've made some pretty complex presets that the lesser units wouldn't be able to do. Still...it's BIG... ;-)

I like Litigator because I prefer a smooth breakup with little bite for this sound. But it's all preference, really.

Hmm. Helix Jr. I'm interested in what kind of power it has vs. the HX stomp. Will it be the $800 in-between machine?

There are some great lightweight digital bass amp heads out there. It's amazing how small and light an 800 watt package has become. But any good amp design of the same wattage will do the same thing - bass head, PA amp, or guitar power amp. After that, it largely depends on the cabinet.

Those look good. There are many wireless headphones tested at https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tests/connectivity/non-bluetooth-wireless For latency as well as other things. Most other review sites I've seen don't address latency well, if at all.

I saw this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXTZNY5Ta-o and figured for $50 it was worth a shot. Much lower latency than Aptx-LL bluetooth. It actually works well at home in close range, but I can't speak to it in a gig situation. For that I'd probably pony up the $$ for a pro solution. Not the most high fidelity solution for a full mix, and it's mono, and clunky with the unneeded 1/4" plug and no clip, but it's cool to be untethered when practicing. The above caveats regarding 2.4GHz apply. I'd like to see a 5.6GHz version of this, since my cheapo 5.6GHz unit has good range and hasn't given me any interference grief.

That's it. Some driver is poorly written and is holding onto an interrupt longer than it should, denying access by your USB audio devices for too many milliseconds. nVidia graphics and wireless networking are common culprits on laptops, and sometimes you never find a way around it. With desktops you can at least switch out hardware. Or disable devices in device manager if you don't need them - or better yet, in BIOS. That way drivers don't load, interrupts aren't taken, system runs smoother.

No. It's the same algorithm. The Whammy 5 is just slightly more complicated to use if all you want is a "drop pitch detuner" and is bigger. But it also gives you the ability to pitch upwards and the whammy effects. I got mine just because I got it used for the same $$ as a used Drop. But after buying it, I mainly use it to drop pitch and would prefer the smaller unit.

A polyphonic pitch block has been a request for at least 4 years. This was on Idea Scale 4 years ago with almost 800 votes: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Polyphonic-Pitch-Shift/776657-23508 There are several similar requests: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/ideas/search?templateId=0&query=polyphonic+pitch I assume this is a difficult thing to do, either in DSP power or programming, though Digitech and EHX have done it. I'd love to see it in Helix, but for now my Whammy V works well.

Truth is, high bitrate MP3s CAN sound very good. Not perfect, but way better than the vinyl and cassette of my youth. And yes, you're right about the emperor's clothes.

IMO it's unlikely the Helix is causing hum in the signal path. But if you only get hum when using it, maybe it's the source of EMF when you're in the non-humbucking positions. Have you tried plugging directly into the amp but having the Helix switched on at the time? Do you have hum then?

Except M-Audio isn't really that small. They make a bunch of stuff and sell a ton. Also, that a company goes under doesn't mean the stuff stops working. My Parkers are my favorite guitars. ;-) Also, I had to ditch some great old JBL speakers because the drivers were no longer available. How is that any better? No slight to JBL, mind you - my current monitors are 308s. It's just business. But I wouldn't run from a great speaker just because the company is small. If I were buying new monitors, I'd be looking hard at some Kalis, for example. Of course, it's nice to have a familiar speaker you find everywhere, even if they don't sound the same in every room. NS-10s, for example, sounded equally crappy in almost every studio you went to back in the day! ;-)

True, But M-Audio has been around for a while now, and is generally well reviewed. I'd trust them. In reality, many speakers are in need of surrounds after a decade anyway - including big, old brands.

+1. I love my Helix - best modeler I've ever had. But DigiTech just does pitch better. My HarmonyMan intelligent shifter (for "twin guitar" parallel 3rds) and my whammy for drop tuning (same algorithm as the Drop) are just better.

Agreed - Helix's harmonizer is decent on guitar. Not so good on vocals. There is a 2 voice max per block, but you can use more than one block (use a Y split and then merge or it gets really weird really quick). I've set up 4 harmonized parts before, but you get more artifacts the further you shift, so I like to keep it to 3rds & 4ths. If you needn't hear the part clearly you can add in further shifts and turn the level down a bit, EQ it, chorus it, etc. You can set up a momentary footswitch on the block so that when it's open the pitch shifts a diatonic third but when pressed is a perfect fourth. This can solve the usual "twin guitar" issue where the line is mostly parallel thirds but occasionally a fourth to fit the underlying chord. Not automatic, but pretty cool.

Part of these "kids these days" disagreements - now and going back to at least Socrates - is that (as above) there are many examples of "I did/learned this, which kids don't do these days". But the truth is, many people didn't back then either. And many kids today DO. I see many first year college students who are sharp, critical thinkers already and can troubleshoot PC problems like a pro. I wish I could hire those right now. Others can barely make their iPhone apps work. As it has always been, since my dad & grandfather would regale me with tales of their friends who didn't have the brains of a stump...

I agree with your general points, but...No. No we didn't. The US has NEVER been a bastion of critical thinking on the whole. It has never been widely taught in schools because it's actually not in the best interests of government to have a populace that questions. It's better for them to have a trained workforce, which is not the same thing. What "results" do you mean? The world is not yet run by millennials - those hosing it up are exactly those saying "kids these days" and "get off my lawn". And though I also chafe at our over litigious society, it's unfortunate that "McLawsuit" is a term. That story wasn't what you think it is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants Now, I agree - standardized tests are not the answer. I work in academia, my ex was a 5th grade teacher, my current is a college History prof., so I see the effects of mollycoddling the next generation. But it's also a more complex world, and they're now learning stuff in high school I didn't have until college. And most people I know of my generation and older aren't any better at critical thinking than younger folks. Well, beyond the fact that young people have less life experience and thus will be a bit...dense... in many ways. But then, so was I at that age. And so were my parents. To the specific point, SOME updates simply can't be automated beyond a certain level; there are points that will require input. So these things will happen. Some will complain and threaten to go elsewhere. Some actually will. Those folks will realize that things are the same elsewhere. ...and on it goes...

BTW, I forgot to say - thanks for the reminder. Ben's site was in my bookmarks but I'd forgotten about him...