Helix login/password feature

[cruisinon2]

Amazing, all the hate. I don't know what scares you people so much about the OPTION of enabling a password. If it scares you so much, don't enable it. And try to pay a little bit of attention to what's going around you these days. Theft of items isn't the big thing these days; theft of data is. Each an every city has guys that peddle stolen proprietary information for a living. Yeah, everything from an incredibly big movie library to a music library, every incarnation of the Adobe Suite, Microsoft Office, Windows, iOS, you name it. It's all for sale. You probably use some free email service, too, thinking that the company is just really nice and is trying to help you out. How do you think they stay in business? I hate to break it to you but YOU are the product. Your connections, your contact info, your pictures, everything about you. In other words, YOUR DATA.I've had guys offer to sell me entire copied plugin suites from local area studios, complete with the go-to presets for things such as compression and EQ. I'm also a bit amused bout how you are so certain that nobody is interested in any of my sounds. Perhaps it's just that nobody is interested in yours. And Maybe you can tell me why my smart thermostat maker REQUIRES a password. I mean, by your logic, who would want to get into my thermostat?You're imagining some crazy implementation where you can't use the device without it. Read my posts - that's not what I said. I'm talking about copying or changing.So here’s a practical application: I set up to rehearse the night before a gig. I have two options, tear down and take my stuff with me (the option I almost always choose) or leave my stuff in place. If I leave it in place, a number of people have will have access to it – such as all employees of that venue – anyone with a key. Of course, they could steal it outright. But that’s only if they’re complete scum, and most of the people who work in those venues aren’t complete scum. Same with the people who are asking for my tones, in fact, I think most of them are pretty good people. But what if they could copy my tones without actually physically stealing anything? That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Of course not, but it is still wrong and this is something I can see a few people doing because it just doesn’t seem like a crime. But it is.So why not accept the fact that the Helix is a computer and offer one of the nice protections that computers offer? And for those who are against passwords, the best advice I can give you would be to simply not enable that feature, if Line 6 were to offer it.

Personal info that can be monetized, or lead to identity theft should be safeguarded. Copyrighted media, too. However, your Helix patches are not this summer's upcoming blockbuster film, nor do they contain anything that would allow some nefarious actor to drain your bank account or apply for a mortgage in your name. Hell, they couldn't even use them to figure out your shoe size. As such, they are intrinsically worthless for all practical purposes, save one...your Friday night gig. In order for there to be a black market for something, it has to have value, and no matter how much it bruises the ego, nobody wants them but you.

 

But you're right about one thing...nobody wants mine either. That's OK though, I have plenty of company. ;)

 

You'd think this was a discussion about blood diamonds...

[jeremyn]

The value of a famous guitarist's setup to the general public is in the fame of the guitarist/band, not necessarily the 'awesomeness' of their tone (which changes regularly and is dependent on other factors outside a single piece of gear like the Helix including the guitar/pickups/outboard gear/etc, and most importantly the guitarist's technique. If a guitarist wants to keep their setup totally secret, they need to play behind a black curtain, and pack everything up in a lock box whenever it's not being used. They also shouldn't let anyone hear their tone, because it's pretty easy to get a close facsimile of someone else's tone (and sometimes get an even 'better' tone) if you know what you're doing and have a recording (ie. that you made with your phone, or found on Facebook/etc). Just because someone might consider that something is 'wrong', doesn't mean it actually is.

 

There are digital mixing consoles that have password options, but those are most useful for installed applications where the person setting them up isn't the same as the people using them. So I can set up a digital mixer with a couple of 'default' patches that allow the entire desk to be pre-loaded with EQ/dynamics/levels/etc so a completely inexperienced user can make simple adjustments like fader movements/etc. This doesn't apply to the Helix as patches need to be tweaked for each player.

 

I prefer a simple fixed 'button lock' combination to lock/unlock a piece of equipment where necessary. And even those are annoying if the unit gets locked and you forget or don't know the button combo to unlock it - at least you can look up the manual to find the unlock combination (which will be common that brand and model of device).

 

If someone was being malicious, they can always run a full factory reset on the device which wipes all the settings and clears the passwords. That option will always be available on a non-security oriented device like the Helix, otherwise customer support has to field all the "I forgot my password" calls.

[cruisinon2]

The value of a famous guitarist's setup to the general public is in the fame of the guitarist/band, not necessarily the 'awesomeness' of their tone...

Amen. If you start jabbering about guitar tone to someone who isn't a musician...which is the overwhelming majority of "music fans"...all you'll get back is a blank stare. As musicians, we spend a lot of time amongst and around other musicians, talking about music stuff, so it's easy to forget that the rest of the world doesn't do that. Much of the listening public would have a hard time distinguishing a guitar from a bass, or a sax from a trombone without a visual cue...never mind appreciating the subtleties that separate Strats, Teles, and LP's. They're all just electric guitars to Joe Average, because he isn't listening analytically the way musicians do. He hears a wall of sound which he either likes, or doesn't. Subtle nuances in tone or timbre are a complete mystery to the average person. I've tried having these kinds of conversations...it goes nowhere, and you feel like you're talking to yourself.

 

Which is why I am perplexed that anyone would genuinely believe that there is some mysterious cabal of Helix patch thieves skulking around local watering holes, waiting till the guitar player's back is turned so they can siphon off his tonal awesomeness, and sell it to the highest bidder on the Dark Web...there are no buyers. It ain't happening.

[MojoAxe]

I'm fine with the developers implementing a password providing its an option I can turn it off so that I never have to use it.

[zooey]

I'm fine with the developers implementing a password providing its an option I can turn it off so that I never have to use it.

^^^ This, with the addendum that for me it's a much lower priority than a lot of other things.

 

That may not be true for everyone, which is what IdeaScale is for, sorting priorities based on user demand.

[BuleriaChk]

Another way would be to bug Decksaver to make a cover for it.  (Of course, you could throw a blanket over it, or find a flight case that might fit...)  But a password?  That is a solution looking for a problem, IMO, FWIW, YMMV, ....

[jbuhajla]

Guys, thinking you don't like the idea is fine, but no need to shoot the messenger.

Man, that's no crap. It's been getting pretty bad lately.