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Helix XL or Double Helix


cowboydunnit
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Let me begin this by saying I LOVE my Helix!!! It's awesome and I'm so thankful for Line 6 making such an incredible unit!!!

 

But, if they make a Helix XT (or Double Helix ðŸ˜). I want the top and bottom paths to have double the DSP. Two exp pedals built on. 6-8 more footswitches. Touch screen display. An algorithm that completely smooth out the spikes in volume and timing warble when switching between drastically different snapshots. Input and output meters. A dedicated knob for Time (BPM Knob) that can be disabled for live play so you don't bump it.

 

Pedals:

A true polyphonic pitch shifter update for the Dual Pitch.

 

Modulated Reverbs

 

Amps:

Boutique amps like Jackson or Morgan

 

Just the little things...

 

I really do love the Helix!!!

 

And even just the 4 DSP Chips would be great!

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why not linking two helix? ;)

Doubles the dsp power, place in the paths, second pedal.

And you can touch the two sreens (even if there's nothing happening) :lol:

 

Because I'm not Tim the Toolman Taylor and I don't need a 500hp lawnmower....

 

I've got plenty of capability to do what I need to do.  So far I haven't been hampered by the limits of two DSP chips.  No matter how much you spend on equipment it won't improve your guitar playing ability.

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Linking two Helix doesn't make sense when you could take that same money and buy somebody else's product(s) and vary your tone even MORE rather than have more of the same.

If you need more blocks than what's in Helix to make your tone, there might be something wrong with the way you are doing it. Seriously...

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Let me begin this by saying I LOVE my Helix!!! It's awesome and I'm so thankful for Line 6 making such an incredible unit!!!

 

But, if they make a Helix XT (or Double Helix ). I want the top and bottom paths to have double the DSP. Two exp pedals built on. 6-8 more footswitches. Touch screen display. An algorithm that completely smooth out the spikes in volume and timing warble when switching between drastically different snapshots. Input and output meters. A dedicated knob for Time (BPM Knob) that can be disabled for live play so you don't bump it.

 

Pedals:

A true polyphonic pitch shifter update for the Dual Pitch.

 

Modulated Reverbs

 

Amps:

Boutique amps like Jackson or Morgan

 

Just the little things...

 

I really do love the Helix!!!

 

And even just the 4 DSP Chips would be great!

 

Note that if you touch the TAP switch, Knob 6 (BPM) briefly becomes a Tempo knob. A dedicated Tempo knob would just eat up panel space.

 

Are we already talking about the next flagship? I suppose it was gonna happen sooner or later...  :)

Okay here we go:

I've mentioned it many times in the past, but Helix originally had a touchscreen. We tested it with a bunch of users and literally everyone disliked the idea. Capacitive-sensing switches ended up being the holy grail because they brought focus away from the signal flow (engineer brain) and down to your pedalboard (guitarist brain). Context switching between thinking like an engineer and being a musician is a big reason why people don't enjoy using modelers. Touch-switches also allow users to—once Global Settings are set—quite literally never have to navigate through various menus, because any assignment (any combination of up to eight block bypasses, parameter toggles, and/or commands) is a touch away.

To be honest, however, we've always sort of assumed Helix Mk II would have a touchscreen, because people would be used to the big color non-touch screen by then and the transition would be less jarring. I just really don't want people focusing or relying on a touchscreen, because again, that's an engineer's workflow, not a musician's workflow. That said, we have some ideas on how a touchscreen might not completely turn off professional users.

The problem with 4 DSPs is that the latency would be pretty bad. There's a delay when hopping from DSP to DSP; that's part of the reason we made Helix's DSPs serial (Path 1A/1B always into Path 2A/2B, never the other direction), because two hops would add more latency. This is also why Helix's latency is lower than other boxes that dedicate a DSP to amps—whenever you have both pre and post-amp blocks, you're making two DSP hops and incurring more latency. It's not a huge difference, but with 4 DSPs, it'd likely be noticeable.

More switches is tricky too, as there are notably more people who wish Helix were smaller and lighter than those who wish it had more switches (and therefore, was bigger and heavier). We have some left-field ideas that might alleviate the "too few switches" concern.

More DSPs and more switches would also automatically mean a higher price, too. What's the max you'd be prepared to pay for a super-powered, super-sized Helix Mk II?

Other than the hardware things you mentioned, everything else in your list could be added to Helix Floor/Rack/LT.

I'd be lying if I claimed to not have preliminary designs for a Helix Mk II. Not sure if I'll still be managing the family by then (read: years from now), but if so, the beast is going to generate a lot of "WHOA, LINE 6 IS BUG-NUTS" sentiment.

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I don't need any more switches, but I'd sure like to be able to utilize the ones I've got with a little more flexibility. 10-Stomps mode with 2 or 3 switches as Snapshots...

 

 

you can do this.

 

You set those 3 switches to send a midi command, and go MIDI out to MIDI in on Helix.

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you can do this.

 

You set those 3 switches to send a midi command, and go MIDI out to MIDI in on Helix.

I played with that workaround a good while back and ultimately didn't gel with it, might could be worth re-visiting it though. Thanks for the reminder!

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I'd be lying if I claimed to not have preliminary designs for a Helix Mk II. Not sure if I'll still be managing the family by then (read: years from now), but if so, the beast is going to generate a lot of "WHOA, LINE 6 IS BUG-NUTS" sentiment.

 

 

!!!

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If I could afford what a 'Double Helix" would cost, I'd rather have Helix AND an AX8, probably for the same price, for more tonal variety.

the unholy bonding of Helix and AX8 is capable of truly heavenly toneage.from my personal experience.

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More DSPs and more switches would also automatically mean a higher price, too. What's the max you'd be prepared to pay for a super-powered, super-sized Helix Mk II?

 

I'd be lying if I claimed to not have preliminary designs for a Helix Mk II. Not sure if I'll still be managing the family by then (read: years from now), but if so, the beast is going to generate a lot of "WHOA, LINE 6 IS BUG-NUTS" sentiment.

 

About the same price as an AxeFX II XL...$2400 or so... :)

 

Actually, I have everything I need with the HX Floor unit. Just waiting for some reverb updates in the future.  B)

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I don't see how there could be more footswitches crammed onto a Helix Floor without making it too bulky, but if you took the same basic chassis size and used it for Helix Control.....see where I'm going? And I think that would be great because I could have all my snapshot slots filled if I wanted and still have 4 preset buttons.

 

Just an idea......

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If I could afford what a 'Double Helix" would cost, I'd rather have Helix AND an AX8, probably for the same price, for more tonal variety.

Or, because it's a smaller form factor, the Amplifire pedal in one of the Helix's D.C. Loops.

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