cruisinon2

That is the title, yes... but this thread is 3 years old. The more recent request was this one below...dropping the low E to B... who knows? Ancient thread resurrections never go well, lol

xe3h gi Yup...if I had to guess, I'd say there are probably as many requests for a bouzouki model, as for wind chimes or a duck call. ;)

Well unfortunately the alternative is to continually lament the way things are, and never buy anything for fear of how soon it'll become a paper weight. We live in a disposable economy, with the planned obsolescence of nearly everything we buy. It's been that way for quite some time, now.... as far as I'm concerned, just about the only thing you can buy and keep forever at this point, is a Zippo. I'm not saying it's a good thing, merely that it is. So I see myself with two choices: 1) I could get pi$$ed every time the "latest and greatest" becomes yesterday's news...or...2) Get used to it, and approach purchases accordingly. The $1K I spent on my JTV wasn't chump change, but I didn't need to take out a home equity loan for it either. Gotta choose your battles...I knew what I was getting into when I bought the thing.

It might not be ideal, but for a tech-heavy product, it's par for the course... it's a 6-stringed computer. Can't think of it as if it were a nice LP or a Strat...I've got guitars that are 20+ years old, but I never expected my JTV to remain "current", or to be supported that long. It just isn't how things work anymore.

Far be it from me to rain on your bouzouki, but we'll probably see a xylophone or washtub bass model first... To say nothing of the fact that updates/new models have pretty much ceased for the current generation of Variax stuff.

Hallelujah...

Anybody else getting a feeling of deja vu? ;)

I don't pay much attention to the numbers themselves, so I'm not sure what the latest version is, but the numbers attached to OS versions go up, so 10.13 would not be newer than 10.5. Sometimes however, Apple has versions labeled with multiple decimal points (such as 10.10.1, or similar), so at a quick glance you might misread what you currently have installed. Double check exactly what you've got and see where it falls relative to the system requirements for Workbench.

The absence of 'no' is hardly a 'yes'... especially given L6's propensity for refusing to divulge the time of day.

Helix II, or the question about trying to drive a speaker without a power amp? For the latter, I think it is... it's not the first time I've seen that question asked around here. As for a Helix successor this soon, I doubt it...I think he was goofing. Either way, I don't care... finally got this thing working the way I want. I'll be damned if I'm gonna start from scratch again... just barely had his one for a year, lol

Unless it's a typo, he's asking to drop from E down to B... don't think that thing can go any farther than drop D.

Or get a 7 string...

As Phil said, can't be done with Helix... or anything else that I know of. And even a Variax with a custom tuning would be a stretch, as you're looking to drop a 4th, which which is a wide interval.... I'm not saying it wouldn't work at all...I've never shifted anything greater than a whole step with mine, so I'd hafta give it a try. But generally speaking the bigger the shift, the greater the likelihood of unpleasant artifacts.

Imho, you should have just kept the JTV... because you essentially replaced it with the same thing... the modeling is all the same no matter which version you buy. The Standard, Shuriken, and all the various "custom" finishes are little more than the repackaging of existing tech to appeal to different target demographics... with the added bonus of further monetizing an already developed and proven platform. And I don't blame them... companies exist to make money. If they don't make money, they go away, and then I don't get new toys to play with anymore. But the reality is the Standard came along to appeal to those shopping in the sub-$1K guitar category, the Shuriken is for the Djent/Nu Metal crowd, and the occasional nifty color is for the guys who want to be able to say "the are only 500 of these", while torturing all the dogs in a 3 block radius with a screetching, 110dB rendition of "Sweet Home Alabama"...;)

Lol...that's everything I just said, essentially verbatim...bug fixes and support for new OS...4 1/2 years worth. We're going in circles here, and I have no intention of getting into a philosophical debate over the definition of "significant". By all means continue to fix things that don't work properly,... but no matter how many bugs get fixed, it doesn't change the fact that neither the guitar's basic functionality nor what the models sound like, have changed for a good long time. And again, that's not a criticism...I like mine, and I've figured out how to squeeze what I need from it... but its the same device it was 4 years ago, so we all may as well just admit it. And as I've already said... the average user is never gonna equate "oops, we found a bug and fixed it", with developing new sounds, functions, and features. They are two totally different things... one maintains the status quo, and the other says "here's some new $hit, enjoy!"

We've been through this before... what was in the 2017 update? New models? Tweaked existing ones? No... minor bug fixes. In fact, I just scrolled through all of the JTV firmware, and the last update that included anything but bug fixes and/or support for newer operating systems was v2.1, all the way back on 4/22/14. So I'll stand by what I said. It's been years since anything has changed significantly. It's not a criticism.... merely a statement of fact. There is a difference between a product that is still being supported, and one for which there is still ongoing development. I don't expect any platform to continue to evolve forever, and frankly, I'm glad that they don't. Trying to keep stuff alive indefinitely is guaranteed to be technologically stifling, because everything has its limits, and absolutely nothing has the potential for infinite improvement....eventually you're "putting a silk hat on a pig", as they say. Sooner or later, everything requires a trip back to the drawing board if you want to see any real growth. How happy would Helix owners have been if a $1500 device had only recycled HD modeling with a new UI? And if I'm wrong, I'll happily admit it if you can point out any recent Variax firmware that the average user would actually consider an "update".... yes, bug fixes and support for the latest OS are good, and it's nice that time is still dedicated to fixing problems. But that's not what Joe Average is thinking about when he starts wondering about the next "update". He's thinking "What new/better stuff am I getting?", not "Gee, I hope they fix a half dozen bugs that I didn't know existed"...and the former we haven't seen in quite a while. Whether that's good or bad doesn't much matter....it is what it is.

Yes, the following is an assumption, but one based on past experience: I wouldn't hold your breath for any more JTV/Standard firmware updates.... it's been years since we've seen anything significant, beyond a bug fix involving how model names were displayed in Helix, and I believe that only affected the Shuriken. Generally speaking when any sort of updates cease for an extended period, it indicates that development for that device(s) is pretty much done. Doesn't mean that they'll be mothballed completely and taken off the shelves, nor does it mean that support won't continue for some time for the device as it is. But, progress marches on, and nothing is continually improved upon forever. Is it possible that I'm completely wrong? Sure... but I'll bet money that I'm not. The current Variax platform is 8 years old...in today's world, that's the technological equivalent of having been buried with the Sphinx. Smart money is on a new generation of Variax stuff showing up in the not too distant future... though exactly what and when is anybody's guess. Whatever it is might be backwards compatible with current Variaxes for all I know, perhaps available as a paid upgrade to existing guitars, similar to what they've done with model packs for the POD. Who knows? Anything is possible.... but I'll bet all day long that free major improvements/new models/ etc ain't coming. At some point, that always stops...

In L6 Monkey, each firmware version should have a list of changes that were made. The only real difference in functionality is with Workbench. The pre-HD versions cannot use Workbench HD, and the older version of Workbench is a bit more primitive, and allows for fewer adjustment options... most notably the ability to adjust piezo output for individual strings. The older version only allows global adjustments, while with Workbench HD you can adjust the outputs on a per model basis.

Good idea/ bad idea in this case relates only to subjective opinions about what the models sound like... it's not like the newer versions are gonna brick the guitar or anything. Firmware versions 2+ are the "HD" models, and no...they're not universally loved. But whether or not you'll prefer one over the other is entirely up to you. You can always roll back to an earlier version if you don't like the latest one.

I think I've seen this movie...

Unless you've run out of room and can't move the saddles any farther forward (the direction you'd need to go if the fretted note at the 12th fret is flat compared to the harmonic), then there's no reason you shouldn't be able to get it intonated. Only other thing I can think of is the strings... if they're old and dead enough, you won't be able to keep the thing in tune no matter what you do.

Oh there's a pattern, alright... it's called "when it's ready". Version after version, device after device, for years on end, now. Best part about this kind of schedule is it's always right on time.

I've had floating bridges for going on 30 years... its no different than intonating anything else. It's either on, or it's not.

Shoving a 12AX7 into a solid state power amp to allegedly provide "tube tone" or "warmth" is a decades old marketing ploy. A power amp is either tube driven, or it's not....a preamp tube dumped into a power section is window dressing.

I'm jealous, lol... Being from the Bob Ross school of songwriting, just about everything I've ever written is the result of a series of improv-ed "happy accidents".