Lachdanan0121

I am one of those many... Reverbs are the weakest link in Helix quality wise. HX stereo reverbs, and mono versions!

I suspect this is a large contributing reason for this perception. That, and blind brand loyalty. (fanboyism) Yes, an EQ after the cab can achieve similar results. (albeit with different curves/slopes)

Shows a doubling down on investment on the Helix line. So I am excited about that as much as I am about the extra year manufactures warranty.

No HX reverbs yet. Wait until at least that to move away from Axe Fx. Especially if you want to use it just for FX.

I'm flat-footed, the shoe 👞 rarely fits... 😜

Funny to insinuate...I will state I completely disagree, do not ilok. Do not change the pricing already stated. 😉 Iloks have been hacked so the security is really just a deterrent. Not to mention many people having account issues with it for varying reasons over the years, and not just because they were "virtual blooming idiots." Honest Opinion covers enough above. It is a flawed system with better alternatives, which is why many plugin makers are moving away from it, or going a different route. I hope Line6 has enough foresight to decide not to go the iLok route.😉

Do not iLok Helix Native! Just tie it to your L6 acct, and be done with it. ImageLine doesn't go for that iLok crap, and neither does Toontrack, or Waves... And they are hardly hurting financial wise.

Your entire post brings a good perspective, but I wanted to comment on this for a moment. I think possible eventuality is yes. Speaking from an evolutionary point we have compensated for "blue light triggering the brain to mean slightly less dangerous time/area," to working night shifts, and working with lots of blue light. ...even though it is still a large symptom of insomnia. As far as the rest of your post, I do not know if the lack of "cues" is the sole variable, but I do think it is one of them. Free will is an illusion if you define it as an absolute, and not somewhat dynamic. You flinch from fire unless you purposely teach yourself over time. Or you cannot look in a 360 direction simultaneously no matter how hard you want due to human/physical limitation. Fate can also be viewed as a snapshot of a trajectory as a result of multiple, and growing outcomes of previous events. I think in some form everything "has something to do" with everything. Its just how far "down the rabbits hole" (so to speak) one wants to go. Look at scientific advancement for a moment. If one field gets a break through in their research, or tools, etc. Then many other fields often get break through(s) in their own field as a result, even though they don't seem to "have anything to do" with that initial field, and their break through. Elementary example, but should convey. lol Great posts.

Thank you for wording this in a way that makes the concept I have only started to fabricate in my head more reasonable sounding lol. (it wasn't near as clear as how you put it). It was a concept I started thinking of as clues that come before. Almost like a bullet travelling through the air (removing human limitations for a second) the split of the air (friction that is heating the head of the bullet) would actually hit the target before the actual bullet does. Taking this concept to a usable, or even a measurable level is kinda what you are talking about. Its a pre-user-feedback (not signal feedback) in a way that makes the piano, and stuff like that much less of an issue. Ahh makes sense, and I appreciate this post. Anything to further understanding on the matter, and I think you have brought up a damn good point.

I must correct you my friend. Onboard audio which is what you are talking about. (even if you don't know it) Onboard audio (a chip on the motherboard) have come a long long way. People use to buy soundcards because onboard audio was crap. Now you can have stellar onboard audio if you don't cheap out on your pc, look at gaming. Better yet if you build it yourself. (which is also completely accessible these days) That said if you are recording guitar you will be using an external soundcard. That is what your Apollo is. That will be the unit that has the A/D/A in it. Everything that is happening in the PC is all still Digital. Interface takes analog to digital - usb to PC/mac - into your DAW - out your USB to your Apollo - through its digital to analog converter and out to your speakers. This is whether you are using software for FX, or not. The interface, or sound card is what houses the A/D/A process. As long as you have a decent one of those you will get decent results. Also decent interfaces have become quite affordable, and accessible lately. You do not need an Apollo to get great results. You could probably get great results out of cheaper interfaces like Focusrite Scarlett series, albiet it may not sound clinically identical to the Helix. Your Apollo has all the A/D/A you will need. It is a quality interface. I think the difference you were hearing between software, and hardware was the coding/engines/algorithms of the software you were using just weren't up to snuff compared to Helix/Kemper/Axe FX. More-so than any A/D/A that was happening. Also to clarify a post above. If a plugin is more cpu intensive a lot of times it is designed that way so it will have less latency. This was a route that has opened up the last 5 years with the power of CPU's going through the roof. Some plugin designers go the other route (mainly for mixing/mastering plugins) where it uses less cpu (so they can have more open) but increases latency. This is also this is a route that is opened due to the advancements of "Automatic Plugin Delay Compensation."

I felt that way for a while too, as this was my experience until I came across EZMix 2. (it is a preset box, with 2 adjustable parameters) Some of the guitar tones in some of the presets of the expansions can yield some very nice results. (as many of them are already dialed in for "in a full mix" context) Better than anything I got out of the Pods, or Pod Farm. This, along with CLA guitars plugin from WAVES, has removed any kind of doubt that the software can get there. It is only software in the Helix right now... If you have quality input, and A/D/A, your only worry really should be about the latency if you don't intend to wet monitor through hardware. IMO These are better sounding plugins than Amplitude, or Guitar-rig.

Analog piano on average takes 8ms for the sound to reach your ear after hitting the key. Not all that perceivable. Though I do hardware monitoring for a reason as my thru-put latency is usually too high to be usable. Up in the 12-20ms area.

I can see how this would be beneficial for the studio work. I will vote the idea when I get home.

Good question as all this blindly increasing of security has normal people quite inconvenienced.

Isn't that the freaking truth...

The modern route is it will more than likely have your license tied to your Line 6 account. Much in the way Image-Line, Toontrack, and WAVES do. No back up needed. This, of course, is my educated guess. Not from Line 6.

Nailed it! I Don't think I could have said it any better.

Totally! My background is recording. Coming at the helix from an engineer perspective rather than just a guitarist removed many of an arbitrary barrier in my understanding of the equipment. I know that this is not exclusive to me.

Sucks? Not really, however there are some areas that they could have some real improvements. Multiple merge points per path. HX reverbs. Better IR management. More mic positions on HX cabs. Signal metering, and clipping lights. A few more vocal FX. The usb drivers wouldn't hurt from some stability improvements. But I dont think much of anything in the Helix sucks.

I have had some great customer service. Amazon Image Line Sweetwater... But I must say Customer Service has become a joke overall. Just recently I had to deal with Gamestop CS, and it was like dealing with children. Comcast is so clueless, and inefficient you battle more than just their abysmal customer service. Glad you got some quality service.

I will add for FL Studio. You open FLS. Setup the routing however you want with Helix Native. Now save the project file (to the desktop) as Helix Jam. Now everytime you launch that file from the shortcut on your desktop it wll load the project as you had it saved last, including the routing with Helix Native. FLS will Probably be one of the easiest to do this with.

Same here. I have horrible sinus problems, and I live in Louisiana. My eustachian tubes are constantly tortured here. This is more than likely a problem that a lot of us share, but often overlook. It does affect how you perceive sound.

Great advice! This is how I approach my tones these days. Though I am more of a producer/composer/guitarist than just a guitarist these days. Once I started looking at it from that point of view I got a lot more tones I was happy with. The guitarist perspective I would have a few different patches that would be on everything that I did. The producer perspective has opened that up for me tremendously. Its only partially what it feels/sounds like while I am wet monitoring, recording, or doodling. The other part that matters (and this really matters) is the tone/feel in the context of a full mix. I use more types of tones now than I ever did before, because I am always conscious of the direction of the full mix, and the entire song. (as I do it all myself) When I was only a guitarists that wasn't near the concern for me, it was just quickly dial in and wail away.

This! The Helix needs a couple visualizing improvements. The compressors you speak of is one of them. Even newer transient plugins offer similar visualization. The other is signal level meetering throught the chain. Or at the very least, an indicator of when you are clipping going into any given block. The EQs could also benefit from this. As someone who works in a DAW a good bit, I welcome this kind of addition. The ears are the final judge of course, however speeding up the results by having a visual aid would be a great benefit.

If Helix didn't have its audio interface capabilities... I would have gone with a competing product. In this market, it would have been too big of a missed opportunity. Especially when there was so much backlash of the HD series lack of proper ReAmping capabilities. So like Peter said above it has helped the helix far more than hurt it.