Mudloop

Thanks for clarifying your opinions. All I'm saying is that I believe that user experience is key to making products viable. Making them as hassle-free as possible is important. As is clear from the responses here, many would rather not deal with a dongle, or a higher price after already having paid for the hardware. You may not give a rat's lollipop about what others want to deal with or not, but it should matter because you do care about the product's long-term sustainability, and I personally feel like your suggestions would do more harm than good, because they could very well lead to less sales. So I can understand your desired outcome - I want the same thing - I just think your proposed methods are a bit outdated and even shortsighted. But of course, this is all just speculation, and it's not like it would be possible to A/B it and compare the results :) I believe that L6 made the right call when it comes to pricing and keeping it dongle-free (as far as I know), and I trust they know what they're doing. But yeah, agree to disagree I guess :)

Seems odd to me that you're trying get a company to raise the price of a product... Why is it a concern of yours that some people might try to cheat the system? They either have a solution for that that we don't know about, or they calculated that risk into their pricing model. A higher price doesn't have any benefits to you. The only reason that i can think of is that you're concerned that they won't make enough money and will have to stop supporting Helix, but I'd say raising the price for loyal customers - after announcing it differently - has a much higher chance of doing that. Stop worrying, they've got this. Personally I'm just glad that they're unlikely to listen to you on this, because removing the discount would destroy a lot of people's trust in them... And as a hobbyist musician, I already spent enough on my Helix Rack + Control... I'm really looking forward to the workflow enhancements that Native will offer me, but $100 is all I would be willing to spend on that, at least for now. A higher price might not be a big deal for you at this point in your life, but it is for other people. And people who bought the Helix made the development of Helix Native possible, so the discount is appreciated. Also, a dongle, really? That's such a PITA. I don't just have unlimited USB ports available you know. If they decided to go that route, sure, I'd find a way, but I really hope they don't do that. Plus it's something I might lose (I lost my Propellerheads Reason dongle, luckily it's not really required). Also, it would take some time to arrive here, which would mean I'd have to wait a week or two longer before I can use it, and that's providing it doesn't get lost in the mail (which is rare, but it happens)... I don't see any benefits for me. Sorry if I seem a little aggressive here, that's not my intention... Your suggestions are just really really weird to me, and I can't imagine why anyone would argue in favour of having to deal with something as outdated as a dongle, and for having to pay more than what was initially announced, all to help them solve a problem that they never stated was a problem for them (as far as I know).

Curious why you keep expressing that doubt, I think I read that like 10 times now (no offence, just curious about why you seem to be so sceptic about that)... Since it's the same algorithms, it will sound the same, unless there's some kind of bug, which they would then iron out at some point... The only variable is the input / ad conversion, so as long as you have a good dry signal, it should sound good. The hardware isn't affecting the signal directly, the software is.

Clearly I don't either, because I just realised that virtual machines do exactly that, so it would possible :)

Someone doing this probably wouldn't pay full price for it anyway... So for Line6, it's still an extra $99 compared to the $0 they were otherwise getting. Sucks for the retailer though, who sold a Helix and has to take it back, for no real reason. Don't think it's possible to reserve blocks of CPU. This is not RAM. To do something similar to that, they'd have to basically give the CPU nonsense to work on when they don't need it, and that would pretty much be insane.

Here's my setup. Might seem weird that the floor control is on top, but it's easy to get out and put on the floor... But I keep it on top most of the time, as I use this for recording and sound design exclusively at the moment. To the left is my bass rig, and to the right is an iso cab and an IPB-10, neither of which I actually use anymore. The best recent improvement to my setup has been "red cable for bass, blue for guitar", as my cables tend to get all tangled up all the time.

I can agree that it's unlikely that someone steals patches, and that this would cause a significant loss of profit to the creator. However, if someone wants to protect their work, that's not such a crazy request. I personally wouldn't really care too much, but I can see how it might be important for a big rockstar or something :) I know that some big rockstars try to keep their pedal setup etc secret. Others like to share what they know. Both are valid.

A 4 digit pin code is probably a better option than a password. Easier to enter, and plenty secure. One thing that should also be considered is : what happens if you forget your code/password? I'd say it's just as likely that someone messes up a gig because they're a bit drunk and can't remember the code... maybe even more likely than someone messing up your patches out of malice. Could store it in your phone or wallet, but you could lose that as well... So there should probably be a way to generate a special deblocking code from the line6 website, tied to the serial number of your registered devices... That is, if you remember that password :)

Hi, I'm not Line6, but I believe some of the advantages of owning both the hardware and software would be : - Great AD conversion... You can obviously have great AD without the Helix, but if you have the Helix hardware, the VST should sound exactly like the hardware - Zero latency recording... There's other options for that too, but unless you want to listen to your dry signal getting recorded, most other options probably won't be that easy - You can copy the same patches to your hardware if you ever want to perform your songs live... Or if you just want to play a bit without having to boot your DAW, set up a channel, etc Probably some other things that I can't think of right now. I have a Helix Rack + Foot control, and am anxious to get Helix Native. But if I were buying now, I would probably get the LT (+ plugin when it becomes available), as I don't perform at the moment and don't plan to do so any time soon, but I don't have any regrets, as I love my Helix Rack.

This sounds great! Would you mind sharing those patches (or explaining what went into making them, other than the IRs)?

Oh yes, I fully appreciate that these things take time... I'm a software developer myself, so I have some idea about the amount of work that goes into a polished product. Doesn't mean I won't be checking twice a day to see if it's out yet :) I want it to re-record some songs, and I want to get going with that asap. Re-amping is too involved for me, I'm a real-time tweaking kind of guy. Also, for Line 6, it's good that people are hyped up about / talking about an upcoming product.

Me too, checking the website at least twice a day to see if it's there yet :)

Even if it's a feature that they'd have to enable manually? Sucks that their pickiness would affect the studio guy who just wants to protect the lifespan of his device... EDIT : I'd be willing to compromise, and have it just dim the screens a bit after a while :) EDIT 2 : Or even a slightly hard to reach manual standby (just turns of the screens until I press something) Posting these ideas here because I might put it on ideascale, and want to have a solid suggestion first :)

I do, because I don't play live :) But also, it could be an option that you have to enable manually... and it could only kick in when you haven't touched any controls for over an hour, and maybe when no audio above a certain threshold has entered the device. If it's just the screen that's turning off for protection (and the tap/tuner light), I'd say that's acceptable under those circumstances... Especially if they turn back on as soon as you use any control.

Thanks. I wish it had a standby mode where it would turn off the screen etc. I now set it up as my main audio interface, and I notice that if I do turn it off, when I turn it back on, some programs don't seem to use it until I reboot it (Spotify). This is slightly annoying, but I might be able to solve it by putting it in an aggregate device.

Thanks... I would probably keep my floor control turned off most of the time, so the scribble strips wouldn't be a concern, but the touchscreen would be... Thanks for the response, however I wasn't concerned about the quality of the Helix as an audio interface, but rather about the wear it would have to endure if I kept it turned on all the time. I did have a quick listen to your music, and the sound quality is excellent. The music is well done too. It's not my cup of tea, I like music with a bit more grit, but you're obviously a great musician.

Hi, I currently use a gen1 Focusrite Scarlett as audio interface, but I've been experiencing some issues (buffers seem to overload, causing stuttering/crackling audio), mostly with YouTube videos, but sometimes with my DAW as well. I was considering buying a new one (gen2), but then I realized the Helix Rack has everything I would need from an audio interface (or at least I think so, haven't tried it out yet). The only issue is that I would leave it on pretty much all of the time. I rarely shut off my computer, and I listen to music pretty much all day... And I don't want to turn it on and wait for half a minute every time I want to have some audio... The Helix being quite an expensive device, I fear that this might decrease its lifespan too much. So even though it might save me $200 now, long term it might not be such a good idea. Any thoughts on this? Should I not worry about leaving the Helix powered on all the time? Also, does anyone know what's better for devices like this, leaving it on for extended periods of time, or regularly turning it off and back on? Thanks!

Cool, do you have an ETA? Thanks!

Thanks for taking the time to listen and respond. I do realise that tastes differ, but my ears have heard this track so many times now that I'm no longer able to judge the sound properly. Ear fatigue is what I think it's called. So it's good to hear that you hear no glaring issues, I want it to sound at least a bit professional... and I might try making the lead a bit thicker, and see how that sounds. One of my main influences is always the pixies (their old stuff), not necessarily intentionally, but that's the band that I listened to the most when growing up, so that influence is always there.

Hi, Here's a track I'm working on, which I would like some feedback on. I wrote it, played bass and rhythm guitar, and a friend of mine played the lead (I wrote parts of the lead too, but he plays with a lot more feeling so I got him to play it... I'm just a bass player who dabbles with guitar a little :) ). The bass isn't done with the Helix, but the guitars are. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2553312/Tracks/Little%20Vixen%20Instrumental.mp3 I'd like some feedback on the overall tone of the guitars. Most of the patches used are based on the Fremen patches, which I modified (some more than others). Feedback on the song itself is also welcome. It hasn't been properly mixed/mastered yet, will get that done after the vocals are recorded. Thanks!

Thanks for the answer... That's kind of lame though... Makes me long for Helix Native even more :)

Hi, So I tried re-amping for the first time today. Is it possible to route a certain USB channel to the patch input of all presets? Seemed like I had to switch the input of my preset to the correct USB in. This makes switching through presets to find a good starting point quite tedious, and I now have some presets saved with usb input, which means I'll have to change them later, and then back again if I want to use them for live playing. So it would be great if I could either route an usb channel to the inputs permanently, or have a global re-amp setting that does this... It might be possible already, but I couldn't figure out how to do this. Thanks!

I really love this preset pack. Some things I'd wish for : - some decent bass presets... there's not a lot of those going around - some crazy leads for over-the-top soloing, with autofilters, unison and other effects Granted, those crazy leads might be there and I just have to dive in a little deeper in to the patches.

Sounds like feminism to me :)

I get that you're a bit disappointed - I probably would have gone for the Lite version if it was out at the time when I purchased my Helix, and I'd have had an extra $500 to blow on some gear. More actually, because I have the Rack+Control. Or I may have just gone for the plugin, and saved even more money. However, I don't believe that Line 6 should take the value of their products on the used market into account when developing and releasing new products. Clearly you thought the Helix was worth the money when you bought it. If you only bought it because you assumed that you could sell it for $X in the future, that's too bad, but ultimately not Line 6's responsibility, and that assumption was a bit of a gamble to begin with. Another company could have also released a much cheaper Helix killer, and that could have devaluated the Helix a bit as well.