soundog

I keep my Variax Standard on hand for some occasional guitar tracks that need alt tunings without having to worry about strings breaking. I even used the sitar on a song last month! I bought a few piezos to keep in the drawer in case of failures.

Anyone who has used Tonex, Sonible plug-ins, Chat GPT, or AI art-generation such as Dali surely must realize there is an enormous amount of power and potential in AI (machine learning, neural networks, etc). Unfortunately, a lot of companies are claiming AI features as a buzzword without having any real substance.

There are a LOT of Variax users out there that put their trust in Line 6. If Line 6 stops maintaining Workbench HD to work with OS updates for at least 5 years, they are doing their (former) customers a huge disservice.

That really sucks, I use Workbench HD on Mac. Line 6 dropped support for Workbench legacy that I needed for my Variax acoustic. The only way to use it now is via an ancient MacBook. I wish Line 6 would do some minimal maintenence to Workbench HD to keep it running -- otherwise there are going to be a lot of p*ssed off customers (or former customers) out there...

DI - I doubt Line 6 folks like yourself read these posts, but if you do see this, here's the deal. 1) All of the competitors for Helix Native provide a standalone mode. The reasons are obvious. It's not an "idea," its an essential feature. 2) User comments in this thread speak for themselves. Listen. 3) IdeaScale is a hurdle IMO - it's a bit of a pain to sign up for and use, is, and often broken. Do you really use it to prioritize features, or is it an appeasement? 4) If you search IdeaScale requests for standalone, you will find multiple threads for the same thing (add 'em up), and filter for Helix Native only. 5) All of your competitors provide standalone. 6) All of your competitors provide standalone.

Great stories shared here, and a lot of love for Variax. I used an Acoustic 700 at acoustic gigs for alternative tunings for many years. I kept an ancient MacBook just so I could run the original (and unsupported) WorkBench software. I still have my trusty Variax Standard for studio recordings when quick alt tuning is needed, and its a decent guitar. I pray Workbench HD is supported for a good while. And I agree with others, I hope parts (piezos, etc) will be made available into the near future, especially for the "newer" JTVs and Standards.

The writing has been on the wall for quite awhile, but now it's official .... Variax has been discontinued and no more will be made.

Monty Python reports that there are some nice used ones on E-bay. And a few new ones sprinkled about in inventory at some online distributors. So if you want one, get it while you can! I sold my ailing Variax 700 acoustic several years ago. I'll hold on to my Standard for alt-tuning slide tunes (for as long as I can keep Workbench running). I still like the thing and wish that the technology would have evolved. AI modeling built into guitar firmware could be cool...

Since no one at Line 6 is "calling the code" on Variax, I will. The Line 6 Variax guitar is officially dead.

I keep my now obsolete Variax for an occasional guitar track when I need a custom tuning for some slide work. Otherwise it hangs on the wall as a novelty item.

Sneaky little bastards.

Ho hummmmm indeed. Native gets little love, just leveraged code from the hardware. The only pinned note on this forum is still for Version 1.5! And there is STILL no standalone version for Native. Ho ho ho!

Exactly. Its good to try both (full capture, and DI + IR) and see which you prefer. @adagosto - glad your mind is blown!

If you want to have even more fun, definitely buy an Amalgam capture for your Tonex! Get one of the "Essential" packs rather than (DI + cab) packs. He has some excellent Vox captures, the best I've found, and the price is reasonable. I suggest the VX TB30 if you want great AC30 tones.

Study this thread from those wacky pre-COVID years for many more fun-filled tips and pieces of advice: