PeterHamm

I have the Digitech drop.... its much better using digitech than the whammy in Helix.. especially when u strum..

 

However... send/return can only be used once.. meaning.. if u have 2 parallel path, 1 and 2... only one path get to use the digitech signal.... wish Line 6 can change that in future...

How? Laws of physics. If you want two different signals to go through one effect and back and stay discreet. That is physically impossible. You'd need two Digitech Drops.

What else would you expect L6 to say? "No, people aren't interested in our newest product that we spent so much money inventing and hyping."

Pretty easy to believe them, though, when they can't meet demand and that thread on TGP has how many thousand posts?

I think a lot depends on how well the Helix ends up selling, and the jury is still out on that.

Except that it's been out a few months now, and Line 6 says that it's selling beyond their wildest dreams. I think the jury is mostly not out on that anymore.

I can't help but thinking Line 6 truly cannot be motivated to release an editor while the boxes still are for the most part in such high demand that they are still back ordered at full MSRP...

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).

...The thing I think that makes Fractal so enticing is the software updates.  Not only for each unit, but the fact that they update over the life span of all the products.  And I do not mean, just add new amps, Fractal is always adjusting the tones of the existing amps to match...

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.

The one thing I really don't like about the AX8 is that you are stuck with using one of the processors for amp and cab modeling and the other for effects. So if you're looking to use it for effects only, you're stuck with using only half of the processing power...

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"...

...BUT, if you don't continue to work on this thing diligently - meaning releasing new content (amps, cabs, effects) and improving existing content (bug fixes etc) at least monthly - you will lose your momentum.  

 

Sooner or later your design will be topped.  What will keep people coming back is the community you've built and the content...

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

Hey Peter, I think you are right and there is a gap in the market right now. I was hoping Zoom would have stepped up and fixed some issues with the G5 but the "new" G5n seems to have fallen short. Digitech seems awfully quiet - I really liked the gsp1101 (with the beta firmware for IRs) but it seems to have floundered.

 

What but the HD is there?

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!

... It still seems there is a big void between the $500  "POD-like" devices and the $1500 + devices.  Imagine if there were no guitars available between $501 and $1,499 ...   

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.

I played ONLY with the 5150, which is not MY favorite model. By the time I got through most of the cabs and the mics on each one... WOW!!!!!!!!!

 

Way more tones in there than the HD500X had! I have a feeling I'm going to be deep tuning cabs on all of my presets now.

Don't even have to touch an amp parameter for awhile. Just cab tweaking is amazing.

 

Glad I finally had a non lazy moment!

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.

...And I certainly know how to swivel my hips and giggle my junk while giving a couple girls an evil grin which drives them bonkers. 

Sometimes I forget that not everyone has read the 9,000+ threads over decades about preset switching gaps/spillover on this forum, Fractal's forum, Roland's forum, Kemper's forum, Atomic's forum, Zoom's forum, Korg/VOX's forum, Yamaha's forum, Kurzweil's forum, Waldorf's forum, Akai's forum, E-MU's forum, etc...

yeah, but...

Doctor who?  ;)

ED ZACHARY!

This is a relatively new phenomenon, though. "Built to last" used to be a badge of honor, it was regarded as a good thing, and companies and the economy endured. When something broke, you fixed it, or you paid someone with the appropriate skill set to fix it for you. Then we discovered cheap overseas labor, and started digging more landfills for all of our disposable crap...we collectively chose to do it this way. Technology just makes it easier for two of humanity's most charming traits....greed and laziness...to blossom.

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...

Wait a minute. You mean to say you're not? I thought I remember seeing some pictures of your amp storage room at Line 6 that had a console in there that allows you to fiddle with the universe's constants.

They have a working TARDIS.

Absolutely. But planned obsolescence is a business model...has little or nothing to do with the technology, or products themselves. Keep 'em spending...we're feeding an addiction. It's how we've chosen to keep our toilet-paper economy going.

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...

That's why hd700 is getting neurological support

Transmits straight to brains no need for amps

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

Personally, I feel the most "pro" feature of Helix is its 123dB of dynamic range (via patented circuitry), which is 13-23dB higher than most other modelers, but that doesn't mean I'd ever consider—must less state—that others aren't "pro."

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

I don't want to belittle you but I mean quite famous pros...not people who plays in church, pubs, weddings, baptism, bar mitzvah, etc. even if they do it for job.

I mean session guitarists, people who play on records, people who can endorse the product.

Are you one of them?

 

In Italy a lot of well respected session guitarist use KPA, so all young guitarists say i want it too.

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.

From what I hear the Kemper is probably the shortest, but that makes sense since the signal chains it allows are very simple compared to other modelers. The Axe FX offers scenes, and that may work for some users, but it's not necessarily an answer for all users.

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...

I'm on 10.10, on two macs the helix USB audio corrupts.

 

I have quite a few other devices that send audio over USB, none of them have any problem at all.

 

So from my perspective this is not an apple problem it is a line 6 problem.

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.