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While waiting for the “Second Spring” to arrive...


datacommando
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While we are all sitting around waiting for the arrival of the “second spring”, has anyone else been looking at what else is already available out in the big wide world, and Summer NAMM is almost here.

 

I though that the TH-U FULL from Overloud look like an interesting offering for the software and recording crew. Swap and Variac the valves, shimmer reverb, up to four mics on cabs, either in front or behind, something that seems to be profiling for entire rigs and heaps more. Reasonable cost.

 

I know that a few guys on here are fans of S-Gear from Scuffham so I may also take a look at that with the 15 day free trial and a good price if I decide to buy.

 

Anyone else come across anything out there with interesting/usable feature and options that they think could or should be in the Helix family?

 

I have always liked the idea of multi-mics on cabs and hope Line 6 may add the option in future - you can do that with AmpliTube!

 

My Helix Floor needs to go in for repair and the new version of Native is still “under construction”, so I just thought I may spark something to discuss.

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Detailed GUI in HX Edit for all amps and effects, like VST amp sims, being able to load more than 2 IRs, up to 8 at the same time ideally, multiple mics on a cab without loading another cab block, input gain control, basic reverbs like Room and Plate, which seem to have been left out as legacy FX, with no mono or stereo options..

 

I prefer Helix tones to plugin tones for recording, but I really miss being able to change amp & IR parameters on the go without having to reamp every track, it made things a lot easier.

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47 minutes ago, datacommando said:

While we are all sitting around waiting for the arrival of the “second spring”

 

I guess we are musical hobbits I.E. "second breakfast", "second spring" ; ). As far as something new (other than the tuner editor lol) Id like to see Line-6 develop something like Two notes have in the Torpedo Remote/Wall of Sound GUI, for the studio. Or even what the UAD OX has in a GUI. Both are excellent in that you can pick the room, two room mics, two cab mics, multiple cabs, multiple effects (UAD excels here) and the torpedo software even allows picking the power amp.

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1 hour ago, datacommando said:

While we are all sitting around waiting for the arrival of the “second spring”, has anyone else been looking at what else is already available out in the big wide world, and Summer NAMM is almost here.

Oh yes. Beetronics dropped The Swarm and it’s making my heart palpatate just thinking about it...

 

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54 minutes ago, spikey said:

 

I guess we are musical hobbits I.E. "second breakfast", "second spring" ; ). As far as something new (other than the tuner editor lol) Id like to see Line-6 develop something like Two notes have in the Torpedo Remote/Wall of Sound GUI, for the studio. Or even what the UAD OX has in a GUI. Both are excellent in that you can pick the room, two room mics, two cab mics, multiple cabs, multiple effects (UAD excels here) and the torpedo software even allows picking the power amp.

 

Two Notes GUI, very slick and the UAD OX = MONSTER!

 

8 minutes ago, Verne-Bunsen said:

Oh yes. Beetronics dropped The Swarm and it’s making my heart palpatate just thinking about it...

 

WTF! That thing is ridiculous!

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Plugin Reliance just went subscription and they have some of the very best SSL and other plugins around.  They also released a VH4 plugin that looks interesting for anyone out there who is still waiting for Line 6 to get off there duff on this amp manufacture.  

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2 hours ago, rucmas said:

Plugin Reliance just went subscription and they have some of the very best SSL and other plugins around.  They also released a VH4 plugin that looks interesting for anyone out there who is still waiting for Line 6 to get off there duff on this amp manufacture.  

 

I got that email about the  MEGA subscription too. Mmm. I dunno yet.

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The subscription model for this kind of product is more than a little off-putting to me. If you have a truly great product, then by all means charge a premium for it... but aside from various utilities/services that have become modern "necessities", I honestly can't think of a single thing on this earth so good, that I'd be willing to pay for it forever. Maybe it's me...

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6 hours ago, vstrattomusic said:

Detailed GUI in HX Edit for all amps and effects, like VST amp sims, being able to load more than 2 IRs, up to 8 at the same time ideally, multiple mics on a cab without loading another cab block, input gain control, basic reverbs like Room and Plate, which seem to have been left out as legacy FX, with no mono or stereo options..

 

I prefer Helix tones to plugin tones for recording, but I really miss being able to change amp & IR parameters on the go without having to reamp every track, it made things a lot easier. 

 

With Helix Native, you'd be able to do pretty much all of this. With the upcoming 1.8 release of Native, there will be the option to remove the "DSP limit" from Native presets, so none of the hardware block limitations will apply. As far as the graphics thing, I don't suspect Line 6 will go down the skeuomorphism road again. @Digital_Igloo has some pretty strong feelings about it... :-) But, really, all the detailed graphics do is make the installation files bloated and use system resources. Native also has adjustable input gain control.  I'm not sure what you're saying about the Room and Plate verbs... They are in the Legacy folder, yes, and there aren't mono versions of them - but they're still very much useable.

 

 As far as TH-U, I have the Slate version that comes with the Everything Bundle, and I don't really like it all. It's one of those plug-ins where the GUI gets in its own way. It very awkward to move around the signal chain, and you have to zoom in and out onto different items... It was so annoying that I only ever really used it once. I figured I'm happy with other stuff, and I don't need to use something just because I can.

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22 minutes ago, cruisinon2 said:

The subscription model for this kind of product is more than a little off-putting to me. If you have a truly great product, then by all means charge a premium for it... but aside from various utilities (cell phones and such) that have almost become "necessities" of a sort, I honestly can't think of a single thing on this earth that's so good, that I'd be willing to pay for it forever. Maybe it's me...

I get ya on that. 

I use to be a slate everything bundle guy,  and I do love some of those plug ins.  Everything was fine until I decided I didn't want to pay monthly anymore.   All those sessions are dekcuf now.   It takes a considerable amount of time to reach the "I finally paid the same as if I would buy it straight out".   It also seems like a pretty good trend with these companies now. 

If your in business and doing this for a living i guess the yearly write offs on tax might be ok.... thats the only plus I see, and that may be a stretch. 

 

  

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20 minutes ago, rucmas said:

If your in business and doing this for a living i guess the yearly write offs on tax might be ok.... thats the only plus I see, and that may be a stretch. 

 

  

 

That's the only way it would make sense for the user. You don't need a business degree to understand why the companies like it...they're laughing all the way to the bank. But for anybody who's not running a studio as a business...and let's face it, most of us don't...it's a complete waste.

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54 minutes ago, cruisinon2 said:

 

That's the only way it would make sense for the user. You don't need a business degree to understand why the companies like it...they're laughing all the way to the bank. But for anybody who's not running a studio as a business...and let's face it, most of us don't...it's a complete waste.

Agreed, companies like the baseline this may provide for a more stable forecast for R&D for future upgrades etc. 

 

Subsription services---- that is why some of my sessions are screwed (and not the great kind of screwed). I don't so this for a living and when push comes to shove for budgeting, slate lost out, and so did I.  I prefer to own the devices and programs I use now.  

 

The other thing to consider is the young kids who have to have it all even if they don't ever use it.  There is a larger share of the pie there,  all those millennial kids making banger dance songs on their macbook pros!!! Making Bank and counting snacks  i mean stacks or something like that. 

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8 hours ago, vstrattomusic said:

basic reverbs like Room and Plate, which seem to have been left out as legacy FX, with no mono or stereo options..

 

Only just spotted your comment about legacy reverbs.

 

Well, if memory serves, those are the reverbs that lived in the old Line 6 “M” units and I think most work in stereo.  

 

It’s worth bearing in mind that if you need a stereo ‘verb to be mono just add a mono FX block behind it and it collapses the signal to mono. Use some thing that’s not using any processor power, like a mono gain block.

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That Beetronics thing was like bees in my brain ... I'm still trying to get them out. I've tried a lot of plug-in amp/cab sw emulations. My faves to date are the newer amps from Kazrog and S-Gear. Maybe Mecuriall if heavier stuff is your thing. I love the clean, crunch and lead tones in S-Gear, and their included effects (reverb, chorus, flanger, etc). Try demos. I think Scuffham will be coming out with an update this summer, and its free if you bought S-Gear within 1-year of the release. S-Gears on sale now for $99. I can find dial in usable tones on S-Gear quicker than Native because their are fewer options, which is often a very good thing indeed. when you're working on tracks. Another bonus is that the presets are excellent as starting points.

 

Re bass guitar, I've also looked far and wide and the best amp/cab emulations for bass I've found (which surprised me) are the UAD plug-ins. I settled on the B15-N.

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1 hour ago, soundog said:

Re bass guitar, I've also looked far and wide and the best amp/cab emulations for bass I've found (which surprised me) are the UAD plug-ins. I settled on the B15-N.

Cerberus bass amp from Kaussa is fantastic. 

 

I would dearly love to have S-Gear amp models in Helix. 

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7 hours ago, rucmas said:

Agreed, companies like the baseline this may provide for a more stable forecast for R&D for future upgrades etc. 

 

Subsription services---- that is why some of my sessions are screwed (and not the great kind of screwed). I don't so this for a living and when push comes to shove for budgeting, slate lost out, and so did I.  I prefer to own the devices and programs I use now.  

 

The other thing to consider is the young kids who have to have it all even if they don't ever use it.  There is a larger share of the pie there,  all those millennial kids making banger dance songs on their macbook pros!!! Making Bank and counting snacks  i mean stacks or something like that. 

 

I only use one subscription route for plugins, and that is the East West Cloud Composer X, and only for the instruments/generators not the FX. I am locked into a year, but it is only $20 a month. 

 

Now, I won't run into much of the problems that you are talking about if I don't renew it after a year, as I will render to dry track consolidation of each part (in each song) so it all gets replaced by the dry wav files, that I can process later. Other than East West Cloud Composer X, I tend to feel the same way as you do. I own everything else.  The thing is when I researched EW, all of their instruments go through a downloader/installer of their own, (all same one) and all use the same "Play" plugin to operate. Which actually makes this subscription model a great offer from them in particular. 

 

But I understand the reservations, all other software that I use I own, I don't subscribe. 

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2 hours ago, amsdenj said:

Cerberus bass amp from Kaussa is fantastic.  

 

I would dearly love to have S-Gear amp models in Helix. 

 

Cerberus is my second favorite bass emulation, behind the UAD. Its also very affordable, and will take 3rd party IRs.

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3 hours ago, spikey said:

 

 

Luv this thing-!!!- best OD pedal I've ever owned and Ive owned a bunch of um!

 

I like that pedal as well. I had mine on my HX Effects board for awhile, but eventually I concluded that I can get close enough to matching it with the HX overdrives that I don't really need it... I haven't sold yet, but it's off my board, waiting in pedal limbo.

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How about this from EHX
Shame the guy doing the demo mentions Roy Buchanan and the famous swell effect - but the thing is, he plays the Stevie Wonder tune "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" in the style of Jeff Beck from the Blow By Blow Album.
Good for some Hendrix in a box or even Beatles, Baba O’Reilly and banjo in a box - could be fun?

 

 

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20 hours ago, phil_m said:

I like that pedal as well. I had mine on my HX Effects board for awhile, but eventually I concluded that I can get close enough to matching it with the HX overdrives that I don't really need it... I haven't sold yet, but it's off my board, waiting in pedal limbo.

 

Don't have an HX yet, so what are you using (with the HX) for an amp Phil that gets you close?

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On 7/16/2019 at 7:25 PM, datacommando said:

How about this from EHX
Good for some Hendrix in a box or even Beatles, Baba O’Reilly and banjo in a box - could be fun?

 

 

That is fun! The Attack Decay arrived yesterday - and I can't stop playing with it. What an awesome toy!

I much appreciate your tip! Thumbs up. :-)

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On 7/16/2019 at 1:25 PM, datacommando said:

How about this from EHX
Shame the guy doing the demo mentions Roy Buchanan and the famous swell effect - but the thing is, he plays the Stevie Wonder tune "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" in the style of Jeff Beck from the Blow By Blow Album.
Good for some Hendrix in a box or even Beatles, Baba O’Reilly and banjo in a box - could be fun?

 

 

 

Man that thing sounds awesome! Ideascale?  That would make one fine addition to the Helix.

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On 7/16/2019 at 7:04 AM, spikey said:

 

 

Luv this thing-!!!- best OD pedal I've ever owned and Ive owned a bunch of um!

 

I emailed him a question about a problem with a Boss pedal I was trying to repair many years ago that he kindly took the time to answer in fairly decent detail. This was when his pedals were first starting to get some traction and I believe he was still custom making all of them himself.  I always appreciated that he had bothered to help me out.

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On 7/15/2019 at 3:40 AM, Verne-Bunsen said:

Oh yes. Beetronics dropped The Swarm and it’s making my heart palpatate just thinking about it...

 

 

On 7/15/2019 at 3:55 AM, datacommando said:

 

WTF! That thing is ridiculous!

 

On 7/15/2019 at 12:52 PM, soundog said:

That Beetronics thing was like bees in my brain ... I'm still trying to get them out.

For whatever it’s worth, I succumbed to the GAS Attack and bought one. Gonna stock up on epi pens and I’ll report back...

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