PeterHamm

happy to tell you that, from everything else I've heard from them both on and off the record, that is incorrect. They are highly motivated to make you happy by getting you that editor, which they honestly hope to have to you by the end of March (Frank is on record as saying that).

I've heard a lot about this. And you know what...? This is what makes me NOT want Fractal. I love the frequent updates. I like less thinking that if I stay current, I may have to adjust all my patches on a regular basis. I do not want that. I want to make music.

This makes me wonder if Cliff and Fractal, when they saw the Helix, didn't have an "oops" moment. Their thought it that if you want FX only, you buy the FX8, and if you want amp modeling, you buy the AX8... where with Helix, if your needs change or you do one thing sometimes and the other other times, one box does it all. What if there was an AFX8 that let you configure it as an FX8 one day and an AX8 the next (or the next patch for that matter), with more I/O (more loops and stuff). Yes, I know they are different products (and I'm not interested in either, because I need 2 simultaneous chains), but this seems like a "mark II" upgrade that would merge the two product lines, add some capability maybe, and up the price... no brainer... Then on the other hand, early adopters would probably be pissed if that came out too soon for the same price...

That's like the sportscar thing. I don't know if it's still true, but it used to be that the major car manufacturers didn't make hardly any money on their high-end sportscars. But... they make money on every Dodge Charger SRT they sell to a guy who wishes he could afford a Viper and thinks that's a "Viper Junior"...

i suspect that Line 6 are the first to agree with you on these points.

The problem, I think, is frankly the Boss GT-100 and Line 6 HD 500 are just... that... awesome... stretch a little to the Amplifire... and perhaps there just is no way to create something meaningful in the 750-1000 dollar space...? I mean, adjusted for inflation, consider how the AX8 and Helix blow away anything that would have been available 20 years ago at what would have been the price then...? Honestly, on one level here, we're complaining about nothing, aren't we. I mean, I love Helix, but if I had to use HD 500 for another 10 years, I'd be delighted still. I never got tired of that box!

I agree, and wonder what people might have up their sleeve in that space. First guy to do it and really deliver something meaningful wins. Eleven Rack was in that space. It's essentially gone. Amplifire is in that space, but is really its own thing. I'll bet that everybody's R&D departments have this in mind right this very second.

Heck, you can get a lot out a favorite cab model just by changing which mic is on it! And... dual cabs are da bomb. Even in mono.

Midi program changes are only 1-128. There are some ways to get around that, but they don't always work and aren't implemented in everything. I'd recommend re-arranging your set lists so that the factory and template lists are in locations 6, 7, and 8, and your go-to patches are in banks 1, 2, etc. If you need more than 1 or 2 banks, imho... there is something seriously weird there... but you can more easily manage this aspect of your recording work flow.

yeah, but...

ED ZACHARY!

yes. I'm about to get my first smart phone, and when I tell the people at the store I want it to last 4 or 5 years, they literally laugh out loud at me. I am typing this on a 3 year old computer that still works fantastic, and I don't want to replace it anytime soon, because I don't want the newer OS that is, imho, total lollipop. I've NEVER felt that way, though, so that's new...

They have a working TARDIS.

it's not just that, though. If I make a Whizbang 2000 that literally does everything you'll ever need, you'll only ever buy a new one when it wears out. You won't buy the Whizbang 2000 XL (and forget about the Whizbang 2000 XL Mark III Special Edition) if it doesn't do anything new. So... I have to make sure that the next iteration of the product has something compelling that makes you want to move on, otherwise, I don't sell any products after a while, I have to lay people off, they lose their jobs, and then band together and start a Civil War and overthrow the government in their distress... It's good for the planet for us to buy this year's model, people...

DI, while you're at it... my guitars have 22 frets, which means it's hard for me to play the really high meedly meedly Yngwe Malmsteen stuff that makes all the girls want me in an almost unnatural manner... Can you guys please make a 27 fret guitar that still has the neck pickup in the right place... Thanks...

Great... now I need a new ****ing brain...

One of those things that I guess I adore but don't notice since I'm focusing on the awesome tone and flexibility...

Dude, I'm super-famous! What are you talking about? And... not an endorsee, but I am a beta tester, so that's close... :D The percentage of working musicians in that "super-pro" category is, I'm certain, really really miniscule. In fact, the percentage of people who buy any product like this or Axe or Kemper or even HD 500 who are normal working musicians who you will never hear of is probably really small compared to the whole. And... I might add, most of them aren't complaining about what a product can and can't do. They just figure out what works for them and work within those limitations (often throwing more gear at those limitations to ease them up). In fact, the main reason I even engage in these discussions is that because I'm beta testing for Line 6, I feel obliged (in a good way) to help folks out who are trying to figure out the unit and I feel obligated to engage in these discussions for everyone's benefit.

Yes, and if the only way to do this is to cripple the unit, most of us wouldn't buy it. Scenes? To a certain extent, you can do something like that now in Helix, as I've described earlier. You can do SO much in one patch, even switching out multiple amps if you want. The other very useful thing is, on some amps, there are sorta two channels "built-in" to one amp model. Matchless Jump is like that, so is the /13. REAL useful for multiple tones from one amp in one patch. Not the solution for everyone, yup...

Except that there are a TON of products out there that have problems just like this with 10.10 and .11. It really is NOT just L6. I'm staying on Mavericks as long as I possibly can.

Well... I am able to construct a patch with Helix that has the equivalent of 3 or 4 of my HD 500 patches within it, so I don't have to switch patches very much anymore. Most of the time I live on one patch (that gets me clean, edge-of-breakup, crunchy, and more crunchy on one patch with several delay options, acoustic guitar layered in at the same time, and special FX verb and 2 modulation options) for song after song after song. You can probably work around this better on Helix than on AX8 in fact.

You forgot to mention the trilateral commission... I am a "pro". I get paid to make music and it helps me do that better by far than any other product in this category I have ever used. They made it for me. I was their target.

Kinda like Henry Ford's quip that if he gave the people what they asked for, he would have bred faster stronger horses.

The AX8 looks AMAZING to me. If I didn't do the 2-voice thing virtually all the time (AX8 is only one chain) it'd really be on my radar. As it is, one of the other guitar players at my church here who goes direct and is a gearhead is about to upgrade from HD 500 to AX8. Between his AX8 (once he gets to the top of the list, which at this point might be 2020) and me on Helix... I think they'll play nicely together tone-wise. What a time to be doing this!