cruisinon2

I'd wait till it hits 300, then sell...;)

Harrumph!!! ;)

There will forever be problems associated with using patches created by someone else...but this is true of any modeler, and has nothing specifically to do with the HD500. There are numerous variables that come into play when creating tones...the guitar, pickups, playing style, the output method that was used ("real" guitar amp/cab, FRFR speaker(s), headphones), and especially the volume at which the tweaking was done. The moral of the story is that just because you come across a patch that claims to emulate a particular artist or song, there is absolutely ZERO guarantee that it'll sound like that on your end when you load it up. You might get lucky once in a while, but most will leave you scratching your head as to what sort of recreational chemicals led the guy who dialed it in to conclude that it sounded just like Joe Satriani. You will likely find yourself downloading dozens (if not hundreds) of tones, just to find the one or two that you can actually use without extensive modifications...ask me how I know, lol. It's an easy rabbit hole to fall into, and an EPIC time waster. In the end you will inevitably conclude that you'll get to where you need to be much faster if you just do it yourself. So the bottom line is this: Get used to creating your own tones. You can try others' patches to get a general idea of how it's done, but no modeler is a "plug and play" device. They tend to have a learning curve which can be rather steep, depending on your familiarity with modeling in general. And some of the older devices are much less user friendly and not quite as intuitive as the newer stuff. It's gonna take some getting used to. All that being said, there's nothing inherently wrong with what you've got...just don't expect instant gratification, 'cause that ain't happening no matter what device you choose.

Nope...PM's are not an option on this forum. But I'm sure I'm not the only one curious about what "~$80" actually means, so let the negotiations commence! ;)

Nobody hangs around here in the "Lounge"...honestly, I don't know why it's even here. Post this is the Spider V forum...it'll remain largely unnoticed in here forever.

Lol...it is a mystery, isn't it? All they have to do is pipe 1's and 0's from one end to the other. Shouldn't be that hard. And like you, I've still got several 1/4" cables that I've had since college that work just fine. I only know because they're emblazoned with the House of Guitars logo (Rochester, NY) which I'm amazed is still legible after all this time, well over 30 years ago at this point. Wow...what a depressing realization that is. ;)

I'm not gonna say its impossible...however, a wise man once said "The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to clog the drain". And while it's quite likely that somewhere, some intrepid soul has probably tried to daisy-chain multiple wireless units in the manner you suggest, but for the life of me I don't know why you'd bother. It's just one more thing (and a wildly unnecessary thing, while we're at it) that can go on tilt and ruin your night. It's one more battery that you have to keep charged all the time. Plus, given the "clear line of sight" these units need to function properly, it's a good bet that any obstacle (namely you, or anyone/anything else on stage) between the the unit transmitting from the pedalboard to the amp will cause a drop out at some point. Latency may also become an issue. I love playing with a wireless...but you're the only one who benefits from being untethered...your pedalboard doesn't give a sh*t, lol. It sits still all night long, regardless. Just run a cable from the board to the amp, and duct tape it down like everybody else...;)

In a word, "everything". FRFR speakers and traditional guitar cabs are completely different animals. Any tones that you've created with one, will sound completely different through the other. You have great deal of EQing in your immediate future. The good news is, you'll only have to do it once.

If you're using a USB hub, get rid of it and connect Helix to your computer directly...the hubs tend to cause problems.

Post this is the Helix forum. Putting anything here in the Lounge is basically screaming into the void. Nobody's gonna see it...

Nothing "artificial" about that. That's old school stupid... as real as it gets. We've all been there, lol. Bob Ross used to call them "happy accidents"...;)

Lol, indeed. AI, the new HD. And so much of it BS... but who wanted to risk being the last guy walking around without hi-def boxer shorts? ;). Madison Avenue has always loved a good fairy tale. Hang the right badge on your product, and you can sell snow to an Eskimo...but I digress. That being said, if AI shoelaces can tie themselves, sign me up. :)

Somebody stole the Fetzer valve, send it back... :)

As is the case with most pitch shifting algorithms, the farther away the altered pitch gets from the original source, the uglier things get. Small intervals are generally OK...half-step, whole step. But the more you stretch it, the more artifacts creep in. By the time you're in octave territory it's usually a mess...so the farther up the neck you're placing the "virtual capo", the more craptastic the results will tend to be. It is what it is...minus a substantial computing revolution, pitch shifting algorithms will never be perfect. Also, if the guitar's intonation isn't spot-on, that'll throw things off too. And even then, "perfect" intonation doesn't really exist because string tension increases in both directions the farther you get from the 12th fret. This causes notes to be pulled progressively sharper the closer you get to either the nut or the bridge. Thus, creating a pitch shifting algorithm for any fretted instrument is difficult because we're never really 100% "in-tune" all over the neck in the first place. A properly intonated guitar is really just "close enough for jazz", as it were, lol. Unless you go the squiggly-fret "true temperament" route...but I get nauseous just looking at those things.

That's because there were never that many in the wild to begin with. Comparatively few were willing to fork over the exorbitant asking price...if they sold 2% as many units as it's Korean counterpart, I'd be surprised.

You'll have better luck posting this in the POD HD forum...few will see it in here.

I've been using one (mostly) cheap clip-on tuner or another on stage for as long as I can remember. Never fails, easily visible on a dark stage, no toggling in and out of tuner mode or engaging a separate pedal. And unless you're jumping around like EVH in his prime it ain't going anywhere. Just roll off the volume knob, tune, done. Through more years than I can count, I can recall exactly one instance where it fell off the headstock. And the cheapo Snark tuners you can get for about 12 bucks are just as good as the fancier expensive ones. I probably wouldn't use one to set intonation, but for tuning up between songs they work just fine.

There are a number of options in the Helix family of devices that would suit your needs... it'll boil down to your budget, and exactly how many of the bells and whistles you think you'll need. HX Stomp, or he Stomp XL might be a good place to start.

Yeah that about sums it up. They'll send you a copy of the report from the CEO's last colonoscopy before letting go of any IP...;)

Unfortunately, I think they have...;)

Yup... but Variax was effectively DOA a decade ago (give or take), updates of any significance having ceased sometime in 2014, before the Standard even arrived on the scene. Honestly, I'm not sure why they even bothered with it. It was always a niche product, and whether or not one finds it useful depends a great deal on the individual player. It's too dependent on what you play and how you play it... issues with higher gain tones, palm muting, and the dreaded "piezo plink", for example. The tech just wasn't ready for prime time... still isn't, imho. It works for some, but not others, and you can't build a successful platform that way. Whatever a product does, it has to do the same thing for everybody. You can't have strange issues that only crop up for some folks, and allow them to go unsolved/unexplained for years, as was the case with the aforementioned "piezo plink"... because the result was essentially telling everybody: "All the fancy features work great, but only if you never use more gain than Angus Young". That doesn't look good in the brochure, lol...

I've had Helix for 7 years, and yet after all this time the damn thing STILL won't make me a sandwich. I'm writing a letter...

If you're talking about the factory patches, save yourself the aggravation and just pretend they're not even there, lol... they're useless, for a variety of reasons. Modelers can be a little weird, and there's generally a learning curve. Best part is, there really are no rules... if whatever you've constructed sounds good, then it's a win. Doesn't really matter how you got there, and what works for me might sound like nails on a chalkboard for you. Experimentation is really the only way to get a handle on it... but once you've done it enough times, you'll develop your own "preferred method" for creating tones.

I find it very hard to believe that both batteries just decided to have the same catastrophic failure simultaneously... stuff like that rarely happens, if ever. A rechargeable battery's performance/longevity declines gradually... it doesn't just suddenly fall off the cliff from one day to the next, and certainly not two of them announcing "We're dead now" at the exact same moment. Nope, something else is going on. What it is, I have no idea...

If it's just for goofing around, then you probably don't need all the bells and whistles of a full-blown Helix. Get a Stomp, or the POD Express and call it a day. Repeatedly setting up and tearing down a laptop and interface is gonna get old quick... use the right tool(s) for the job.