HD500X Premium model updates?

[jay_hate]

I recently picked up an HD500x and I bought the HD Metal pack while it was on sale and it got me thinking. I saw somewhere that the model packs were something requested often in the forum and users said they were willing to pay, so they were developed as a premium update instead of letting the product go into legacy.

 

My question is this, how much more information do the Helix amp models take up vs the HD Pod amp models? The thought process goes like this: the HD500x is a new beefier version of the HD500 where the Helix is an entirely new product, but to my understanding they work basically the same way.

 

Let's just throw some imaginary numbers out to illustrate the point I'm getting at. Let's pretend the HD500x has 1 gig of ram and each module within a patch takes up 200mb's of ram, therefore in that scenario you could only run 5 modules at once. I would imagine the modules for the Helix in comparison would be dramatically larger obviously. But should they not be pretty much the same thing just larger? The point I'm trying to get at is would it be possible to wrap up the Helix amp models into premium HD500x upgrades? Obviously they would take up dramatically more ram, but if I could run a single Helix amp model just for tracking I'd be willing to pay for that.  I understand that the A/D/A conversion is better on the Helix and the patches wouldn't sound as good as on the Helix hardware, but they'd sound better than the Pod HD models wouldn't they?

 

I dunno, just a thought.  Anyone else wanna chime in?

[pianoguyy]

your thought process is flawed from the very beginning. The HD500 and HD500x are the same unit. There was a supply issue with the processor, so they started using a different one. There is nothing new and exciting about the X. In fact, we still consider it a 7 year old product --- which is when the 500 came out.

 

 

 

What you are trying to do, because the Hx and HD units are so different, would be the equivalent of taking a computer program designed to run on OS X Snow Leopard and expecting it to work on Windows 95. 

[cruisinon2]

You can forget all about whether or not it's possible to stuff Helix models into the POD (which it isn't), because it is 100% irrelevant anyway. Why on earth would L6 do that? They'd be voluntarily choosing to kill the entire platform by suddenly offering a much cheaper way to upgrade. They'd never sell another Helix. It's financial suicide.

 

If you want Helix modeling, you'll have to fork over the cash, same as everybody else.

[duncann]

Even if it were possible for the HD to encompass Helix models, I doubt it would eat any sales of Helix because Helix is about more than just the models.

 

However, If I remember correctly, there are some models in the pay-for expansion packs (at least the panama and bass amps come to mind) that were modeled using the HX modeling process and then ported to the HD. So in a sense, there does exist a form of Helix models in the HD.