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History of the Helix


awrigh10
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We all know that we can do simple searches for pictures of the real amps/fx that were modeled.  We also know that we can find update histories.

 

However, I would like to know more about the Helix's history.

WHY was it created like it was?

Was this the vision they had in the beginning?

What were the goals of this unit?

What idea were scrapped in the making?

I saw it was 6+ years in the making, but what all actually happened behind the scenes?

 

How did L6 go about acquiring all of the amps/fx that they modeled?

Frank and the guys are always keeping us up to date on what's new, but I would love to have more information on What/when/why/where/how?

What was the first major breakthrough in the creation of the product.

 

Any ideas?

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I've seen that a thousand times.  But I have never seen the full history of what went into making the Helix.

Obviously it is the next step and flagship product, but in between the creation of the Firehawk (or whatever was before the Helix) and the Helix.... what was the process and ideas, etc.

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The only tidbit I can contribute is that I know it was intended to be a platform, not just a "produce it and move on to the next thing" type of product. What with the updates, creating a marketplace for presets, the ability to load IRs, etc., I'd say they stayed true to that direction.

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I imagine your answers would go something like this:

 

WHY was it created like it was?

 

To offer an intuitive and accessible way not offered by the competition to create amp and fx modeling.

 

Was this the vision they had in the beginning?

 

Nope.  Went through several iterations and ended up like this because iteration rejection.

 

What were the goals of this unit?

 

See first response.

 

What idea were scrapped in the making?

 

See second response.

 

How did L6 go about acquiring all of the amps/fx that they modeled?

 

They bought some pedals, amps, and stuff, then worked on replicating them.

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I'll take a stab at it...

 

 

9 hours ago, awrigh10 said:

WHY was it created like it was?

 

Like every product in a free market, to target a particular demographic and make money. Also, Mercury was in retrograde, so... you know.

 

Was this the vision they had in the beginning?

 

Ye$... well, almost. There were also lots of little dancing pancakes, but DON'T ask...sometimes visions get weird. And in this case, more than a bit personal.

 

But mostly it was the ca$h...

 

What were the goals of this unit?

 

Getting customers to part with their hard-earned "vi$ion" (minus the pancakes...seriously, the average pancake breakfast is like a week's worth of carbs. It's no surprise we're all becoming enormous flesh farms).

 

What idea were scrapped in the making?

 

Anything that they thought might  result in less accumulated vi$ion.

 

I saw it was 6+ years in the making, but what all actually happened behind the scenes?

 

Nothing out of the ordinary. In the name of diversity, workplaces are all pretty much the same now. Ironic, but I digress...

 

Anyway, there was work, office politics, more work, the employees-only Christmas party... oops, Holiday party...(one time they tried inviting "+1's", and it was a mess), the mandatory sexual harassment seminar, and the occasional "F*ck you, Bob! We're not doing that."... just like every other office in America. (Just to clarify, Bob wanted Helix Floor to have a sidecar instead of the expression pedal...poor Bob wasn't well, and doesn't work there anymore.)

 

6) How did Line 6 go about acquiring all the amps/fx that they modeled?

 

Same way we all acquire stuff... with money. Gotta spend "vi$ion" to make "vi$ion".

 

;)

 

 

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4 hours ago, craiganderton said:

The only tidbit I can contribute is that I know it was intended to be a platform, not just a "produce it and move on to the next thing" type of product. What with the updates, creating a marketplace for presets, the ability to load IRs, etc., I'd say they stayed true to that direction.

 

I didn't know this, but my understanding of the History Of Helix is that it came after the HD500X and was, like, better  :-) But it's encouraging news and, as the boffins say, consistent with observations :-)

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On 7/6/2019 at 11:03 AM, awrigh10 said:

I've seen that a thousand times.  But I have never seen the full history of what went into making the Helix.

 

 

Well, first the earth cooled... Then came the pod. Then the Pod Pro. Then the different combos. Then came the "Flagship" Vetta, and Vetta 2 combo (which I still have) and head... The Variax is in here somewhere- Then the HD series floor and rack with Dream rig technology with the DT series amps. Then all the renditions of Helix boxes where L6-Link was downgraded but I'm not supposed to say that- oops... ; ) 

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2 hours ago, spikey said:

 

 

Well, first the earth cooled... Then came the pod. Then the Pod Pro. Then the different combos. Then came the "Flagship" Vetta, and Vetta 2 combo (which I still have) and head... The Variax is in here somewhere- Then the HD series floor and rack with Dream rig technology with the DT series amps. Then all the renditions of Helix boxes where L6-Link was downgraded but I'm not supposed to say that- oops... ; ) 

 

Pretty thorough but ... you left out the controversial tuner history!

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Made a History of Helix keynote presentation for launch day (June 11, 2015). Still have the video but alas, lost the keynote file. If Joe and the executive staff say it's okay, I might share some early designs if and when appropriate.

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7 minutes ago, Digital_Igloo said:

Made a History of Helix keynote presentation for launch day (June 11, 2015). Still have the video but alas, lost the keynote file. If Joe and the executive staff say it's okay, I might share some early designs if and when appropriate.

 

I have to say that would be pretty awesome.

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On 7/7/2019 at 4:34 PM, Kilrahi said:

 

Pretty thorough but ... you left out the controversial tuner history!

 

They actually "did" put a tuner in the Firehawk 1500 editor! NEEENERRR NEEENERRRR ; )

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As I recall (I think DI can confirm this) one of the goals was to start from scratch, take all of the feature requests they've gotten and go from there to create something that had as much of what people were wanting. That was one starting point.

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On ‎7‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 3:59 PM, Digital_Igloo said:

Made a History of Helix keynote presentation for launch day (June 11, 2015). Still have the video but alas, lost the keynote file. If Joe and the executive staff say it's okay, I might share some early designs if and when appropriate.

Yes, please!

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