velvetscalpel

I'm a little confused as to why you would need to sacrifice half your DSP for spillover. All you would need is to reserve the processing power of 2 effects blocks for the time it takes until the delay tails off (and possibly reverb too, greedy greedy :O) Yes, you'd have less total blocks, but if it was available as an option, there are many guitarists who would choose to sacrifice a few blocks for this IMHO. This about design architecture, not horsepower. It can be achieved, or you couldn't have plugins within a DAW working separately in their memory space (even if that separateness is only virtual, so to speak) or indeed separate effects blocks in one patch. In any case, I thank you all for your time and trouble, but as I have returned mine, I won't keep bugging you all, but will drop in from time to time to see if the situation changes. I will tell you that when I unpacked the HELIX Rack, I thought it was the most visually stunning piece of kit I've seen in many a year. Whatever else, Line 6 have always been the guys generally pushing the envelope, which benefits us all in the long run, so health and happiness to all. \m/

Okay, here's what I'm saying (and before I go on, I used to be International Distributor Support Manager for Steinberg some years ago, so I know a bit about coding, processor use, etc. :O) I already have a GSP1101, with the beta 63 firmware that allows for Impulse Responses to be loaded. It sounds very good, even when compared to some more modern units, and it does delay trails pretty much exactly as you would like: The delay fades out while you are already playing the first notes of a COMPLETELY different Amp+Cab+Effects setup. This unit was made, what, 2006/7? Computing power doubles every 18 months at the same price, so being kind, I'll say you can buy SIX times the processing power at the same cost today. In order to achieve delay tails (and probably reverb too) you only need a pair of processors dedicated to this function so you can A/B between them (how you handle the rest of the modelling is up to you). The real cost of new products is R&D, Software Engineering, custom manufacturing of displays, hardware, circuit boards, advertising, marketing, etc. To include this from the design stage would cost maybe $50 in chips. So, ten years later, with processing power costing 1/6th the price, and it still hasn't occurred to anyone that this is one of the most desirable features guitarists want? Yes, I could jump through hoops with a lot of editing and programming to achieve this result using patches with 2 chains of amps/effects (wasting all that processing power in another way) that are designed ahead of time for a particular performance, but that destroys any spontaneous creativity, and means I'll spend probably tens of hours programming to achieve something essentially simple. Finally, at this price point, I'm just not prepared to accept it, as I can get great modelling from (e.g.) an Atomic Amplifire, and use a GSP1101 for delay/rev effects, with a lot of spare change left in my pocket. My HELIX has just been collected by the courier for return/refund. Maybe the future will bring one unit that can do it all.

I have to say that I'm utterly stunned to find that, having spent time checking out my new HELIX Rack (with Floor Control), that it won't spill delays over between patches. In the styles of music I play, I often need to switch between 2 very different sounds, and the ability to have delay trails as I start to play the next part is a deal-breaker for me. At this price point, it never even occurred to me that there WOULDN'T be this option, and I have a much cheaper rack modelling unit which DOES have this (and you don't have to jump through hoops, like having the same delay in both blocks, to get it, you just enable it in the global menu). I actually spent a couple of hours today looking through options, checking manuals, because I couldn't believe this is missing. I would GLADLY lose a couple of effect blocks, if that would allow enough DSP to let delay trails happen. Maybe as a global option? It looks like I may be joining the ranks of people sending their HELIX back, because I can see that the AX-8 scene function will allow me to do this. All it would have taken to do this right, is to have a dedicated section of code+DSP for delay and reverb, which runs separately with an A/B to allow trails. Sorry guys, but this to me seems like a colossal inexcusable error which spoils an otherwise gorgeous product.