Helix Floor/LT/HX/Stomp/PodGo/Stadium/XL owners' Club - Tips, Ideas & Patches

[Naigewron]

10 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

IME it makes no difference to the global settings whether I do a wipe and restore or not. Neither way has reinstated them for me. All it appears to do is add another 30 minutes onto what is already and overlong process, and the last time I did a complete wipe and restore on my Helix, it insisted on rebuilding all my Presets for a third time when I next powered up the device.

Always worked for me, not sure why it wouldn't for you. That's the intended design, at least

[LukeFRC]

Goodness knows how they picked the prices with the tarriff uncertainty and what that will mean for the U.K. prices

[NoirBass]

Ah - Oops! I’ll bring some PG!

[MrDinsdale]

Definitely has some cool features, will be interesting to see what the new amp modelling sounds like. I find it funny how excited people are about the bass-centric Anagram despite the fact it ship with so little, the Stadium is clearly guitar focused but still ships with double the number of bass amps. The anagram amps dont even model saturation!

 

The stuff about captures was all very ambiguous but the cloud training was cool.

 

The search functionality was welcome, I’d love to have the option to toggle visibility of effects so you could hide all the stuff you're not interested in too. 

 

Some very cool stuff in there id never use like on-device stem splitting of uploaded mp3s so you can cut out the bass etc. Would be really handy for practicing.

 

I'm very excited to see what the Stomp equivalent looks like in a few years. 

 

God its an ugly design though, inside and out. 

[simisker]

22 minutes ago, MrDinsdale said:

[...] will be interesting to see what the new amp modelling sounds like. [...]

Oh, I can tell you that now: the new amp modelling will be indistinguishable from the HX's amp modelling in a blind AB test.

 

[BigRedX]

There will probably be trickle down to smaller/cheaper devices in the same way there was from the original Helix.

 

The teasers have left me felling rather underwhelmed. I don't need pretty pictures of the amps and cabs they add nothing to my user experience. Also a lot of touch screens don't always work for me, so unless all the those functions can be easily replicated from the other device controls that will be a major disadvantage. It appears also to be aiming more towards (more realistic?) modelling. That doesn't interest me in the slightest. Firstly because I don't know what most of the devices they are modelling are supposed to sound like and secondly because all I want are things that make my guitar and bass sound like how I want. How the device gets there is of no importance.

 

On the other hand if Line6 have decided to include MIDI-triggered full ADSR filters and gates (as well as keeping everything from the current V3.8 Helix), then I'll be first in line for one!

[BigRedX]

As I said on the other thread:

 

There will probably be trickle down to smaller/cheaper devices in the same way there was from the original Helix.

 

The teasers have left me felling rather underwhelmed. I don't need pretty pictures of the amps and cabs they add nothing to my user experience. Also a lot of touch screens don't always work for me, so unless all the those functions can be easily replicated from the other device controls that will be a major disadvantage. It appears also to be aiming more towards (more realistic?) modelling. That doesn't interest me in the slightest. Firstly because I don't know what most of the devices they are modelling are supposed to sound like and secondly because all I want are things that make my guitar and bass sound like how I want. How the device gets there is of no importance.

 

On the other hand if Line6 have decided to include MIDI-triggered full ADSR filters and gates (as well as keeping everything from the current V3.8 Helix), then I'll be first in line for one!

 

Additionally: For me the amp and can models are the least interesting thing about the current Helix. I currently use two, both of which are guitar amp/combo models, on a handful of Presets where they are used either for the drive sounds or because the EQ frequencies work in the context of the overall band mix. For the vast majority of my Presets I simply don't bother because generally adding an amp and/or cab sim makes my bass sound worse.

[Naigewron]

I'm just sitting here hoping this will tank the used price of the HX line. I'm GASing for a Stomp XL as a backup/grab&go unit.

[BigRedX]

3 hours ago, Naigewron said:

Always worked for me, not sure why it wouldn't for you. That's the intended design, at least

 

It has never worked for me on either the Intel based Mac I had when I first bought my Helix or the M-series that I use now. The release notes for 3.8 firmware do say that there is a problem with retaining the global settings on M-series Macs, and TBH I have never looked at them for previous updates, so I don't know if it was supposed to work before on Intel based Macs. All I know is that it has never worked for me, since I have been making changes to the factory default global settings.

[simisker]

16 minutes ago, Naigewron said:

I'm just sitting here hoping this will tank the used price of the HX line. I'm GASing for a Stomp XL as a backup/grab&go unit.

 

I wouldn't raise your hopes up. It looks like they're pitching the Stadiums [Stadia!] at a price level above their HX equivalents.

 

Rather than making the HXs undesirably obsolete, I think it'll just reinforce a market for something which offers 90% of the experience for 33-50% of the price.

 

I think we'll only see a real change once the Stadium Stomps come out, if those were to be aggressively priced for the larger market.

 

Note: this is my uninformed ad-hoc reckon. I am not John Maynard Keynes.

 

Edited yesterday at 07:59 by simisker

[Greg Edwards69]

1 hour ago, MrDinsdale said:

Definitely has some cool features, will be interesting to see what the new amp modelling sounds like. I find it funny how excited people are about the bass-centric Anagram despite the fact it ship with so little, the Stadium is clearly guitar focused but still ships with double the number of bass amps. The anagram amps dont even model saturation!

 

I'm very excited to see what the Stomp equivalent looks like in a few years. 

The reason I'm excited by the Anagram is that it does pretty much everything I do in my Helix LT in a Stomp sized package - saturation or not (although I'm sure it will come). The Stadium's are built upon a very mature platform, and are more powerful than I need (not to mention bigger). The Anagram is astonishing for a v1 product, and I'm sure it will only improve over time if Darkglass stick to their promises.

 

If anything, it shows Line 6 what people expect from a refreshed Stomp, if they make one.

Edited yesterday at 08:38 by Greg Edwards69

[krispn]

If you don’t need a modeller/floor unit that can sync/automation of sound/preset changes for songs then the existing units will be pretty useful. I think the ‘Stadium’ moniker alludes to the touring artists where preset changes etc are all triggered to specific album/recoded tones and to me at least suggests a pro touring musician who would benefit from a unit which can be set up for a tour and take the fuss out of changing presets while they focus on their choreography 😀

 

It got a lot going on! 

Edited yesterday at 08:47 by krispn

[Greg Edwards69]

40 minutes ago, simisker said:

 

I wouldn't raise your hopes up. It looks like they're pitching the Stadiums [Stadia!] at a price level above their HX equivalents.

 

Rather than making the HXs undesirably obsolete, I think it'll just reinforce a market for something which offers 90% of the experience for 33-50% of the price.

 

I think we'll only see a real change once the Stadium Stomps come out, if those were to be aggressively priced for the larger market.

 

Note: this is my uninformed ad-hoc reckon. I am not John Maynard Keynes.

 

Line 6 stated in the live stream that the price of the Helix Floor, Rack and LT are going to be heavily reduced by a couple of hundred dollars. I would assume this will affect the used market price.

[simisker]

1 minute ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Line 6 stated in the live stream that the price of the Helix Floor, Rack and LT are going to be heavily reduced by a couple of hundred dollars. I would assume this will affect the used market price.

 

Ah, right. That'll help, then  

[Dood]

Gosh, what a horrible time to be a top quality bass gear reviewer! Neural DSP, Darkglass and now Line 6 all bringing out new toys! Mwah ha ha ha!!

[BigRedX]

7 minutes ago, krispn said:

If you don’t need a modeller/floor unit that can sync/automation of sound/preset changes for songs then the existing units will be pretty useful. I think the ‘Stadium’ moniker alludes to the touring artists where preset changes etc are all triggered to specific album/recoded tones and to me at least suggests a pro touring musician who would benefit from a unit which can be set up for a tour and take the fuss out of changing presets while they focus on their choreography 😀

 

It got a lot going on! 

 

I already do all of that with my Helix Floor. 

 

Preset and Snapshot changes are controlled via MIDI from the computer that runs the drums and second synth part. Selecting a song also selects the correct Preset on the Helix and then the Snapshots change in the correct place as the song plays. On some songs then Snapshots change every two bars in places which mean that if the computer wasn't doing it for me I'd pretty much be glued to my pedals for those. We have a song we're currently working on where some of the changes only last a beat or two!

[Greg Edwards69]

1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

 

I already do all of that with my Helix Floor. 

 

Preset and Snapshot changes are controlled via MIDI from the computer that runs the drums and second synth part. Selecting a song also selects the correct Preset on the Helix and then the Snapshots change in the correct place as the song plays. On some songs then Snapshots change every two bars in places which mean that if the computer wasn't doing it for me I'd pretty much be glued to my pedals for those. We have a song we're currently working on where some of the changes only last a beat or two!

But now you don't need the computer. It can all be done from within the HX Stadium, backing tracks, automation, even DMX lighting.  Heck, you could probably run the whole band through one device.

[BigRedX]

22 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

But now you don't need the computer. It can all be done from within the HX Stadium, backing tracks, automation, even DMX lighting.  Heck, you could probably run the whole band through one device.

 

Depending on how many separate channels of synchronised backing you can output along with the processed instrument that might be useful. However, just stereo isn't going to cut it for anything other than the most basic of gigs. 

 

Edit: will it also send MIDI program changes to other devices?

 

Edit 2: It will also depend how easy it is to get all that additional information loaded into the Helix Stadium from your DAW. 

Edited yesterday at 09:24 by BigRedX

[Skybone]

That means there will be lots of used Helixes coming onto the second hand market not long after these are released.

 

Wonder if they're going to update the Stomp, Stomp XL & POD Go too?

[BigRedX]

Only if the new version offers lots of new indispensable features. 

 

There's a couple of things that look interesting, but so far the teasers have short on actual information, and I don't think what I've seen so far is going to be worth the £2k+ outlay.

[Wombat]

They have 'history' with this sort of upgrade. When they went from HD to HX (albeit a big step forward, support for HD stopped pretty quickly.

[BigRedX]

14 minutes ago, Wombat said:

They have 'history' with this sort of upgrade. When they went from HD to HX (albeit a big step forward, support for HD stopped pretty quickly.

 

But the old devices don't stop working. I was using a Bass Pod XT until I bought my Helix, which was bought on the strength of the features it had at the time of purchase. The firmware upgrades since then have just been a pleasant bonus.

 

Unless/until the new Stadium version offers new features that I find indispensable, I'll be sticking with my Helix Floor

[Greg Edwards69]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Depending on how many separate channels of synchronised backing you can output along with the processed instrument that might be useful. However, just stereo isn't going to cut it for anything other than the most basic of gigs. 

 

Edit: will it also send MIDI program changes to other devices?

 

Edit 2: It will also depend how easy it is to get all that additional information loaded into the Helix Stadium from your DAW. 

From what I saw in the presentation, there's a DAW-like view for song stems that you can freely mix as you see fit. I think I saw a separate mixer feature as well for all the ins and outs. I assume you would be able to assign stem tracks to different outputs to make this feature truly useful.

[Wombat]

13 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

But the old devices don't stop working. I was using a Bass Pod XT until I bought my Helix, which was bought on the strength of the features it had at the time of purchase. The firmware upgrades since then have just been a pleasant bonus.

 

Unless/until the new Stadium version offers new features that I find indispensable, I'll be sticking with my Helix Floor

Aye, I'm only stating fact. I used HD ages after HX - only recently sold my 500x. And it can be annoying that they keep updating. I've got my sound 'exactly how I want it' a few times then been drawn in to change it after an update dropped.

[LukeFRC]

29 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

The Anagram is astonishing for a v1 product,

If you look at it one way, Isn’t it v2 of a MOD dwarf with added Darkglass?