Digital_Igloo

Last I've heard is that between 30 and 40 submissions have been labeled "Released", but we try not to make a big deal out it, because it shakes the hornet's nest. Pretty much all features and models added to POD HD since 2010 were taken directly from customer feedback. The problem is that before IdeaScale, the guys whose job it was to convert customer feedback into official doctrine couldn't prove anything. With IdeaScale, we can now say "See? These guys definitely want a Peavey 5150 model more than a motorized guitar pick holder." I could wax poetic on development schedules, resourcing, compliance, testing, and resolving product roadmaps, but some people will still believe there's a dedicated army of engineers for every product Line 6 has ever released, and if updates don't show up soon enough, that army must be sitting around doing nothing. Copy and paste: We read every single IdeaScale submission. Personally, I check it twice a day, and on Fridays, my entire department gets an email with all submissions received the previous week. We couldn't avoid it if we tried. Most submissions echo things Line 6 has already discussed, but it's nice to know we're on the right track. Some submissions detail products we've already developed in the past, but for whatever reason, were never able to bring to market. Many submissions detail features we've already been working on for months (or years). Some submissions detail things we're about to release. Some submissions spawn ideas on how to better implement an existing feature for a future product. But mostly, we use IdeaScale for prioritizing. Super-rough guess, so don't quote me—You will see dozens of IdeaScale submissions implemented to various degrees by the end of 2015. Firmware development takes a long time. I suppose if Line 6 were two dudes in a garage making three products with no investors to satisfy, we could crank out new goodies every week. At the other extreme, if Line 6 were Apple or Google, we'd just throw money at it and hire 10,000 new engineers. We're somewhere in the middle—lots of products to support, active development of dozens more, yet subject to the whims of the relatively tiny MI industry. No feature is ever "easy to implement". Extensive testing is required for very minor changes, in case a compiling anomaly breaks something else. Some feature you believe may be bonehead simple may be extremely difficult (or impossible) to implement, due to myriad factors. For example, POD HD's EQs not displaying in dB or Hz deals with the method in which the DSP and MCU communicate. It would require fundamental architectural changes, and preclude fifteen other feature requests. That said, we're not done with POD HD. Please be patient.

Hi Guys, I suppose this is as good a place as any to get some input on Spider's UX (user experience) and UI (user interface). We'll talk sound quality and model compliment later. Which Spider do you have? What, if anything, frustrates you most about using Spider's UI? How important is it for the larger Spiders to have presets beyond four A B C D channels? What's the minimum number of presets required? How important is it for the larger Spiders to have an LCD display? Is it acceptable to reserve deeper parameters (FX model select, cab select, delay feedback, etc.) to a Mac/PC/iOS/Android editor? Do you prefer front or top-mounted UI? What's the best-looking affordable amp on the market right now? When you hear "Line 6 Spider", what's the first thing that comes to mind? Thanks!

We're working on some stuff for bassists.

Yosemite-compatible HD Edit, USB drivers, and Monkey were made available October 14th, two days before Yosemite's official release. If you're having trouble installing one or more of them, please contact Line 6 support and they'll get you sorted out.

Yeah—I've heard the rumors too, and frankly, there's nothing to them. Fractal makes a great box—a couple Line 6ers even own one—but we have zero interest in making a super-deep $2500 modeler and $750 controller for it. That's just not our market. Yes, we're working on lots of stuff—including gear for studio and touring professionals—but it's Line 6 stuff. We don't follow.

No. Now saved to a local text file, so I won't have to Google it again: "AMPLIFi's engine is based on an enhanced, optimized version of POD Farm 2.5 because it gives us the widest variety of models that are the easiest and most predictable to tweak—not just for us, but for the tens of thousands of users publishing their tones. By comparison, POD HD features what's considered a more advanced engine, but its depth, detail, and nuance (e.g. obsessing over bias excursion and cabinet resonance level) don't necessarily make it the best candidate for "grab a guitar from your couch and jam with Deftones between "Game of Thrones" and "Silicon Valley". Sometimes I want to obsess over bias excursion and cabinet resonance level. Sometimes I just want to play "Minerva" while my girlfriend's grabbing popcorn." Maybe try dialing back Res Level and Thump to 0%? Some headphones handle bass extension worse than others and will distort, which can be mistaken for digital clipping.

Indeed. It also has to do with how real acoustic pianos respond with feedback (vibrations) back to your fingers, not to mention the actual reverberation of the room you're in. Very difficult to nail. But the big reason pianos are so hard to get right is that we're all so familiar with them. Everyone at one time or another has played one—even plinking a note or two. People are more forgiving with, say, contrabassoon samples, because contrabassoons aren't sitting in countless living rooms, schools, hotels, and churches. Dig the Modartt stuff. Believe it or not, I generally gravitate toward the Steinway Grand sample built into GarageBand and Logic, because it somehow sits in my (very busy) mixes better.

Sure we can. Probably have to ask permission tho'. ;)

There's no disconnect. We know exactly what our customers' concerns are. Context is everything: If one expects Line 6 to behave like a small software developer with zero hardware development overhead, sorry—that's disingenuous If one expects Line 6 to behave like a small hardware developer with huge margins and exactly four (expensive) SKUs—that's disingenuous If one expects Line 6 to behave like the second-largest tech company in the world, with cash in the tens of billions—that's disingenuous If one expects Line 6 to behave like a medium-sized MI hardware manufacturer that supports many dozens of products and reports to a much larger, publicly-traded MI hardware manufacturer—cool, because that's what we are

Unfortunately, 1024 samples is closer to 40% of HD500X, and 50% of HD500. That results in a terrible user experience. If we can't do a new feature right, or it'd feel like we're shoehorning it in, we'd rather punt on it. That's not to say we're giving up on user-loadable IRs—just that they're not likely to see the light of day in POD HD.

Why? 90% of the digital devices in my studio have never once received a firmware update, much less multiple, regular ones. <_< Without the iPod, Apple couldn't make the Mac Pro. Without Focus and Fusion, Ford couldn't make the GT. Without products like Spider and AMPLIFi, Line 6 couldn't make POD HD500. Maybe try AMPLIFi in your living room. Maybe you'll play more guitar, like the rest of us have been doing all year. The Android app just dropped this morning.

If you can, please PM me the dealer's name. I'll make sure our sales guys are taking care of them. POD HD500X and HD Pro X aren't going away anytime soon.

Yesterday, I was working on a product that may not be released until 2017. The stuff we have coming out next year? Started working on those in 2010. I'd say "floor modelers" generally take top priority in Line 6's development/update pipeline, but we have a lot of other stuff to work on. For example, just getting our huge list of legacy products working properly with OS X Yosemite was a massive undertaking. 2015's going to be big for us.

To be fair, we've said "we're not done with POD HD" in other threads like this one. B)

Feel free to copy and paste as necessary: We read every single IdeaScale submission. Personally, I check it twice a day, and on Fridays, my entire department gets an email with all submissions received the previous week. We couldn't avoid it if we tried. Most submissions echo things Line 6 has already discussed, but it's nice to know we're on the right track. Some submissions detail products we've already developed in the past, but for whatever reason, were never able to bring to market. Many submissions detail features we've already been working on for months (or years). Some submissions detail things we're about to release. Some submissions spawn ideas on how to better implement an existing feature for a future product. But mostly, we use IdeaScale for prioritizing. Super-rough guess, so don't quote me—You will see dozens of IdeaScale submissions implemented to various degrees by the end of 2015. Firmware development takes a long time. I suppose if Line 6 were two dudes in a garage making three products with no investors to satisfy, we could crank out new goodies every week. At the other extreme, if Line 6 were Apple or Google, we'd just throw money at it and hire 10,000 new engineers. We're somewhere in the middle—lots of products to support, active development of dozens more, yet subject to the whims of the relatively tiny MI industry. No feature is ever "easy to implement". Extensive testing is required for very minor changes, in case a compiling anomaly breaks something else. Some feature you believe may be bonehead simple may be extremely difficult (or impossible) to implement, due to myriad factors. For example, POD HD's EQs not displaying in dB or Hz deals with the method in which the DSP and MCU communicate. It would require fundamental architectural changes, and preclude fifteen other feature requests. That said, we're not done with POD HD. Please be patient.

If your phones have three rings, they won't work. You're hearing something akin to the L and R difference channel, and anything in the center is cancelled out. That's why everything is low in volume and reverbed out. You might be able to string multiple adapters to get those headphones working, but it's much, much better to just buy a pair of traditional headphones. Even dollar store ones.

Couldn't tell if you're using Apple earbuds (three rings around the 1/8" jack). If so, they simply won't work.

Are you using iPhone ear buds (the ones with three rings around the 1/8" jack)? If so, the reason the volume is so low is because you're hearing only the L/R difference channel. This exact thing happened to me on Monday night—my Fostex T40s died, and the only closed-back headphones we had in the studio were iPhone ear buds. Didn't work. That Sony adapter should work with any pair of headphones with TRS connectors, although it may not physically fit, because there's a sleeve.

Model list is identical. HD500X has more horsepower (most users will get an extra block or two), tour-grade switches with LED rings, and a slightly better display.

If you need continuous control (knob behavior), you can assign expression pedal 1 and 2 to MIDI CCs.

What's a 5150? Kidding!

Don't have a spec handy, but it should be negligible—only the latency of D/A/D conversion, which should be less than a millisecond. Sub-1.5 ms for sure.

Of course. The point is that Apple customers weren't screaming for a portable music player. If Apple only ever made products people expected them to make, and only added features people actively asked for, they'd be dead by now. Instead, they're one of the most successful companies in the world.

Not all, but a decent-sized chunk, yeah. So thanks! :D Hopefully, most of you see that as a good thing. Although IdeaScale is great for propagating (sometimes crazy) new ideas, it works best when validating—or on occasion, invalidating—existing ideas. If we can't predict a large majority of user feature and model requests, we're not doing our job. We're Line 6 customers as well, and want the same features you do. But what's more difficult is figuring out whether feature A, B, or C is most important. Or rather, if feature A is soooo critical, its complexity and development time is worth kicking features B and C (and maybe D, E, F, and G!) out. IdeaScale will tell us that, which is awesome, because prioritizing features can be really difficult. We also try to predict features none of you even know you want yet. Going through IdeaScale and saying "Done, Done, Done, Done, Done," may be satisfying, but it's not very fun. And it certainly doesn't make a successful company, at least not long-term. An extreme example: No one was asking for the iPod when Apple first announced it. But I guess that doesn't answer your question. Is IdeaScale only for new products; that is, have we forgotten about POD HD? Nope.

True—I was kinda joking anyway. :D