Line 6 Helix

What's Hot
15681011425

Comments

  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    Drew_fx said:
    Spillover? Preset Lag/Dropout? Scenes for preset within preset changes? Crossfade between signal paths? A/B signal paths?

    Not at launch. Still optimizing. Not at launch. Yes. Yes.
    At least not at launch is not a no. I get the feeling sales won't be quite as strong until the "not at launch" bits are sorted. 
    I am SO not interested paying to be beta-testing another piece of guitar processing equipment.

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    octatonic said:
    Drew_fx said:
    Spillover? Preset Lag/Dropout? Scenes for preset within preset changes? Crossfade between signal paths? A/B signal paths?

    Not at launch. Still optimizing. Not at launch. Yes. Yes.
    At least not at launch is not a no. I get the feeling sales won't be quite as strong until the "not at launch" bits are sorted. 
    I am SO not interested paying to be beta-testing another piece of guitar processing equipment.

    What Axe Firmware are you on at the moment Jim? ;)
    2reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    Drew_fx said:
    octatonic said:
    Drew_fx said:
    Spillover? Preset Lag/Dropout? Scenes for preset within preset changes? Crossfade between signal paths? A/B signal paths?

    Not at launch. Still optimizing. Not at launch. Yes. Yes.
    At least not at launch is not a no. I get the feeling sales won't be quite as strong until the "not at launch" bits are sorted. 
    I am SO not interested paying to be beta-testing another piece of guitar processing equipment.

    What Axe Firmware are you on at the moment Jim? ;)
    V13 still.

    This is what I mean though.
    I've had years of it with the Axe and ended up staying on a stable build for the last year.
    I AM about to update it this week, to the last stable build (NOT a beta).

    The Axe is pretty mature now though- I don't feel like I am beta-testing an unfinished product, but that was certainly the case back when I had the Ultra.

    Never again.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • grammargrammar Frets: 27

    Coming from the Axe-FX I'm not sure the lack of spillover right now is a dealbreaker. On the Axe the general wisdom is to use scenes to change values within a single preset.

    The Line 6 HD series can apparently switch multiple fx with a single stomp so between that and being able to run 4 amps at once you should be able to get through a song without changing preset. Hopefully anyway!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 2reaction image Wisdom
  • GrumpyrockerGrumpyrocker Frets: 4118
    edited June 2015
    Yes on the Hd500 you can set as many effects blocks as you like to a single footswitch. And you can set some effects off and some on, so the a single footswitch can turn some off and some on with a single press. This includes amp blocks, so within one preset you could change amps, cabs and effects with a single press.

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    The douche patrol on the Fractal forum are all raging about price points and competition. It's quite humorous to see.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    LOL- I checked that thread yesterday and it was fairly normal.
    They have kinda lost the plot now.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26451
    Drew_fx said:
    The douche patrol on the Fractal forum are all raging about price points and competition. It's quite humorous to see.
    Didn't take that thread long to turn to dickery, pretty much as expected. If you've just blown a month's wages on an AxeFX II, the last thing you want to see is a realistic competitor turn up at a lower price.

    Quite amusing to see them trying to convince themselves it won't have the DSP power available. Errrr...guys...if it can run four amp models simultaneously, I'm pretty sure it's easily got the horsepower to run pretty much any dual-amp rig you could possibly want.

    Mind you, if it don't do trails, it ain't going in my rig. Scenes I can handle, I guess, but it'll really depend on the ergonomics of that; ideally, you'd be able to swap the functions so that the front row is for scenes and the back row is for presets. If not...I'm waiting for the trails.
    <space for hire>
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    Drew_fx said:
    The douche patrol on the Fractal forum are all raging about price points and competition. It's quite humorous to see.
    Didn't take that thread long to turn to dickery, pretty much as expected. If you've just blown a month's wages on an AxeFX II, the last thing you want to see is a realistic competitor turn up at a lower price.

    Quite amusing to see them trying to convince themselves it won't have the DSP power available. Errrr...guys...if it can run four amp models simultaneously, I'm pretty sure it's easily got the horsepower to run pretty much any dual-amp rig you could possibly want.
    Oh but no... y'see... that's coz the amp modelling just isn't as high quality as the Axe FX... that's why it can run 4 of them at once!!


    ... yeah... that'll be the logic they end up trotting out. Meanwhile in the real world...
    1reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26451
    Drew_fx said:
    Oh but no... y'see... that's coz the amp modelling just isn't as high quality as the Axe FX... that's why it can run 4 of them at once!!


    ... yeah... that'll be the logic they end up trotting out. Meanwhile in the real world...
    They do come out with some corkers, though. Apparently Line6 stuff all has "pixellated" sound.

    Erm...?
    <space for hire>
    3reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    Having seen the Helix the AX8 looks quite last generation by comparison. 

    Yamaha/L6 have huge economies of scale behind them compared to Fractal. If it's going to be the heart of a new generation of products for the next ten years they could well have designed their own custom silicon which is going to give them a significant advantage.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 4reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    Having seen the Helix the AX8 looks quite last generation by comparison. 

    Yamaha/L6 have huge economies of scale behind them compared to Fractal. If it's going to be the heart of a new generation of products for the next ten years they could well have designed their own custom silicon which is going to give them a significant advantage.
    Nah, the Helix has SHARC chips in it, it's not a propietary chip.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    From Digital Igloo (Line 6 product manager):

    Preset footswitch mode can show presets on the top row, bottom row, or both rows. When set to top or bottom row, Stomp mode is visible on the other row.
    0reaction image LOL 1reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26451
    Excellent, ta.

    To be honest, it's pretty easy to see why L6 released the AMPLIFi with X3-generation modelling now; they couldn't really spend any more money on developing it 'cos they had this waiting in the wings.
    <space for hire>
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    edited June 2015
    Perhaps. I pinged Digital_Igloo on the Line 6 forums. I think he's gonna pop on over here and answer some questions.

    (This has totally killed my FX8 gas!)
    0reaction image LOL 2reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    RE: Switching... he says this on the L6 forum:

    It's been addressed several times; I should probably add it to the FAQ. We don't know, as optimizing preset switching time is one of the last things to do. There's no such thing as perfectly seamless preset switching, unless we used four DSPs and charged waaaaay more. We're including templates for simple switching from within a single preset. The Split blocks can act as Ys, A/Bs, or Crossovers, and switching between the paths can be either instant (via footswitch) or dynamic (controlled via expression pedal, Variax knob, or MIDI CC).

    I realise at this point I'm probably answering stuff for him, haha! But I've not been this amped up for a bit of gear in a long time.
    0reaction image LOL 1reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Dude only said he'd been working on it for 4 years - he didn't say he'd been working on it for 4 years while working for Line6 ;)
    The first conversations on what would become Helix took place in October of 2008. My first Illustrator mockup of what would become Helix was in November of 2011, and back then it had a touchscreen. In retrospect, that was a dumb idea, as touch footswitches are so much faster and easier.
    Chief Product Design Architect, Yamaha Guitar Group | Line 6 | Ampeg
    0reaction image LOL 1reaction image Wow! 2reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    edited June 2015
    Strikes me as well that this does some cool stuff with external gear - ie.... have your amp in one of the loops... have some pedals in the other three loops... control the signal flow from the Helix itself... so like...

    Preset 1 - Guitar > Helix > Compressor > Sig X amp (loop 1) > reverb pedal (loop 2)
    Preset 2 - Guitar > Helix > reverb pedal (loop 2) > Sig X amp (Loop 1)

    Effectively doing the pedal-ordering swap with real pedals, not just the built in effects on the unit. I can already see interfacing my Eventide H9 pedal via midi, and throwing it into one of the loops.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • I do wonder what sort of options you have with the signal chain compared with the outputs - for example, could you take an output before the cab model (or impulse) for your on-stage amp, and then one at the end of the signal chain for direct-to-PA?
    Yes.
    Chief Product Design Architect, Yamaha Guitar Group | Line 6 | Ampeg
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    Dude only said he'd been working on it for 4 years - he didn't say he'd been working on it for 4 years while working for Line6 ;)
    The first conversations on what would become Helix took place in October of 2008. My first Illustrator mockup of what would become Helix was in November of 2011, and back then it had a touchscreen. In retrospect, that was a dumb idea, as touch footswitches are so much faster and easier.
    Hello, glad you made it! :)
    1reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.