Digital Igloo (Eric Klein, YGG)

Was watching an H90 video, and uh... has this been talked about yet? Put it on the poster?
XHCmBz5.png
 
Stone said:
Any plans for Orion 1.0 ? (revamp of amps)
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These guys?
Yeky83 said:
Was watching an H90 video, and uh... has this been talked about yet? Put it on the poster?
XHCmBz5.png
Click to expand...
Nah, Eventide's cool. They have a massive legacy, their DSP is world class, and they're true innovators. My old boss retired and did some consulting work on one of their newer products (not the H90).

The three questions I always ask are:
  1. Had our product(s) not existed, could their product/UI/UX designer(s) have come up with the same particular solution organically?
  2. Do many alternative solutions exist that may be as good or better? Or at least usable and different enough to not be accused of ripping others off?
  3. If the answer to #1 is no and #2 is yes, do they inexplicably trumpet their UI/UX design acumen?
For example, although Line 6 put a big color screen on floor multieffects first, we have absolutely zero preciousness about it, as any other company would eventually have gotten there had Helix never existed. (By extension, us talking about touchscreens on the floor—and years later InMusic/Headrush actually doing it—is also incredibly obvious.) To a lesser extent, after adding color-coded switch LEDs to M13, it might've taken a bit longer for others to do it had M13/M9/M5/Helix not existed, but they would've gotten there eventually.

That particular poster was originally meant to be a playful and tongue-in-cheek meme, with the obvious exception of the company whose own ex-employees admitted to us that their box was an opportunistic cash grab. And I suspect their CEO has a personal vendetta against one of our co-founders.

But then a new box appeared and for better or worse the poster took on a completely different vibe...
 
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Digital Igloo said:
These guys?

Nah, Eventide's cool. They have a massive legacy, their DSP is world class, and they're true innovators. My old boss retired and did some consulting work on one of their newer products (not the H90).

The three questions I always ask are:
  1. Had our product(s) not existed, could their product/UI/UX designer(s) have come up with the same particular solution organically?
  2. Do many alternative solutions exist that may be as good or better? Or at least usable and different enough to not be accused of ripping others off?
  3. If the answer to #1 is no and #2 is yes, do they inexplicably trumpet their UI/UX design acumen?
For example, although Line 6 put a big color screen on floor multieffects first, we have absolutely zero preciousness about it, as any other company would eventually have gotten there had Helix never existed. (By extension, us talking about touchscreens on the floor—and years later InMusic/Headrush actually doing it—is also incredibly obvious.) To a lesser extent, after adding color-coded switch LEDs to M13, it might've taken a bit longer for others to do it had M13/M9/M5/Helix not existed, but they would've gotten there eventually.

That particular poster was originally meant to be a playful and tongue-in-cheek meme, with the obvious exception of the company whose own ex-employees admitted to us that their box was an opportunistic cash grab. And I suspect their CEO has a personal vendetta against one of our co-founders.

But then a new box appeared and for better or worse the poster took on a completely different vibe...
Click to expand...
BFD3 has a 'snapshots' feature which isn't the same as the Helix solution, but is inspired by it. We had the problem of cramming in over 1024 parameters, that are generated dynamically, onto only 4 macro knobs. So the solution I went for was more along the lines of assigning controls to a macro knob. From there, you can build as many snapshots as you want for the knob, and they are linearly positioned around the knob travel. You can get pretty deep with it, but it is super complex and most users don't touch it. It's more of an internal sound design tool and I'm not sure we should have exposed it in the end.

BFD4 may improve it. We'll have to see!
 
Have you considered raising the maximum Amp DSP limit slightly higher if you are going to refresh some of the amps?
Nobody complained about the Vitriol DSP consumption, that's valuable information. :p

PS.
Our SHARC may be getting older but it is still deadly.
www.bbc.com

400-year-old Greenland shark ‘longest-living vertebrate’

Scientists say they have found a Greenland shark that is about 400 years old - making it the longest-living vertebrate known.
www.bbc.com
 
James Freeman said:
Have you considered raising the maximum Amp DSP limit slightly higher if you are going to refresh some of the amps?
Nobody complained about the Vitriol DSP consumption, that's valuable information. :p
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Yeah, redoing some of the amps would definitely utilize more DSP. We don't really have a fixed "max amp DSP limit" as much as "crap, this one is getting really burly; how important are these DSP subcomponents really?" Sometimes if we were to remove subcomponents, the model would sound and behave better. But then it sounds and behaves less like the real thing.

One thing we can't do, however, is just swap out an existing model for a revamped one:
  • Old presets right on the cusp of 100% DSP would break
  • Old presets wouldn't sound the same
 
Digital Igloo said:
One thing we can't do, however, is just swap out an existing model for a revamped one:
  • Old presets right on the cusp of 100% DSP would break
  • Old presets wouldn't sound the same
Click to expand...

You could always do the legacy trick. Would however start to look quite funny (and likely confusing, too) once there's more than one sound-update to any given model. The old Logic trick comes to mind; you can still load all old songs fine (reaching back to version 5 or so, at least as long as you still have an "inbetween" install of LP9) but instanciating the old plugins in a new version is only possible via some special key combination.
Anyhow, I'd only go for it in case the outcome is significantly worth it and then maybe just call the improved model MkII. Out of curiosity: is it really more than a handful of amp models people really want to see updated?
 
Digital Igloo said:
Yeah, redoing some of the amps would definitely utilize more DSP. We don't really have a fixed "max amp DSP limit" as much as "crap, this one is getting really burly; how important are these DSP subcomponents really?" Sometimes if we were to remove subcomponents, the model would sound and behave better. But then it sounds and behaves less like the real thing.

One thing we can't do, however, is just swap out an existing model for a revamped one:
  • Old presets right on the cusp of 100% DSP would break
  • Old presets wouldn't sound the same
Click to expand...
Hmmm time for the Next Gen Platform (notice i did not name it anything) :D
:rollsafe
 
On another note Eric, as you may know I'm a total Yamaha Hoe have a Helix and 2 Powercabs, I'm possibly looking to be a complete Hoe and purchase a JT Variax HD
is there an Advantage to having a Variax Input on the Helix ?
and also some that ive seen that i like i think are discontinued
Like this one in Candy apple red or Orange metallic, now seems seems that particular model is now only available in a blue color

DSC_8713_97d806f1-c21d-4074-b48b-3a4975e30f4d_543x800.jpg


Also seems hard to find up here in Quebec Canada
and No Long and Mcwait are very anti Yamaha so i dont deal with those Morons :)

Cheers
 
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Fwiw, I'd really love Roland, YGG and Fishman (and perhaps Godin, which are experienced regarding the "oh, this needs to go into a guitar" aspect) to team up at least once and create a decent aftermarket, not-*THAT*-much-proprietary Guitar-to-MIDI-and-guitar-modeling/synth system.
They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but there's no one-size-fits-all solution for both the front- and backend.
What we'd need would be a pickup that a) could be installed as easy as any normal pickup, b) wouldn't make your guitar look and feel like @$$, c) offered an at least sort of standardized connection protocol. The latter would be able to communicate with any further devices, regardless whether they're coming from Line 6, Boss or Fishman, so there'd still be room for individual companies to make profit.
Would possibly be a good idea to get some company specialized in software (especially plugins and such) on board, so interfacing with your recoding environment would be as troublefree as possible (for instance, guitar-to-MIDI needs mulittimbral MIDI devices to work properly - try to set that up under the current status quo...).
 
Stone said:
is there an Advantage to having a Variax Input on the Helix?
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Oh jeez, how much time you got?
  • Helix powers Variax, meaning you don't need a battery and the instrument is lighter
  • Helix automatically syncs all your guitar models, string tunings, string volumes, volume knob, and tone knob settings when saving and recalling the current Helix preset
  • Helix's snapshots can be used to change Variax models, per-string tuning, and per-string volume. Want to go from a Strat in standard tuning to a Les Paul in Drop B with the top three strings at 60% volume instantly? Done
  • Variax's Volume and Tone knobs can be used like two additional expression pedals to control any block parameters (up to 64 total)
  • Variax's Volume and Tone knobs can be mapped to MIDI CCs or CV to control pedals, synths, vocal processors, etc.
  • Variax modeled and magnetic pickup signals can be routed through completely separate paths, amps, effects, and outputs
  • Instant B bender without your guitar going out of tune
  • Playing in double drop D without massive (or flabby) strings
  • Lower latency because no D/A/D conversion is necessary
There are bands that claim it's impossible to recreate their album live without Variax and Helix.
 
Digital Igloo said:
Oh jeez, how much time you got?
  • Helix powers Variax, meaning you don't need a battery and the instrument is lighter
  • Helix automatically syncs all your guitar models, string tunings, string volumes, volume knob, and tone knob settings when saving and recalling the current Helix preset
  • Helix's snapshots can be used to change Variax models, per-string tuning, and per-string volume. Want to go from a Strat in standard tuning to a Les Paul in Drop B with the top three strings at 60% volume instantly? Done
  • Variax's Volume and Tone knobs can be used like two additional expression pedals to control any block parameters (up to 64 total)
  • Variax's Volume and Tone knobs can be mapped to MIDI CCs or CV to control pedals, synths, vocal processors, etc.
  • Variax modeled and magnetic pickup signals can be routed through completely separate paths, amps, effects, and outputs
  • Instant B bender without your guitar going out of tune
  • Playing in double drop D without massive (or flabby) strings
  • Lower latency because no D/A/D conversion is necessary
There are bands that claim it's impossible to recreate their album live without Variax and Helix.
Click to expand...
Wow lots of advantages for sure going to add that to my GAS list for sure
First though is my Revstar then Variax then can say ill be a total Yamaha W*ore :LOL:
Issue i might run into is Finding one here in Quebec Canada
 
zib said:
Is a talkbox / vocoder conceivable or feasible ?
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A talkbox needs some extra equipment (a mini speaker feeding a tube) and with that you could already use it with the Helix.
A vocoder is working quite differently, would need some synth-alike functions built into the Helix (such as modulating one signal with another).
 
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