In many cases, the touchscreen is far too relied upon—so much tap-tap-open-tap-tap-close-swipe-swipe-tap-tapping that slows you down in the heat of a gig. Muscle memory and tactile feedback are extremely important for all but the most casual users. I was looking at snagging a Slate Raven controller, but everyone I spoke with ditched it after 6 months—not because it wasn't implemented well, but because mixing on a big TV screen beneath your fingers kinda sucks for any serious, repetitive work.
Of course I have to qualify my statement by reiterating that I have nothing against touchscreens. Touchscreens should simply augment your music making, not insist on being 95% of your workflow's engagement.
Well, no company'll be successful in 2022 with DX7 interfaces, that's for sure. Even if every multieffect was indistinguishable from the real amps and pedals, if all we had left to differentiate ourselves from one another were UI and form factors... excuse me, I need to go update my CV.
Apparently, the path to success for any MI company is to lift Helix's GUI layout, design language, use of color, signal flow, DSP allocation, snapshot implementation, and footswitch modes... and add a touchscreen. Because, y'know, even though there are hundreds of other elegant methods to accomplish all that stuff, it's gotta be so close to Helix that it makes some people think we licensed our UI out. Hell, we came up with at least a dozen other radically different layouts/design languages for Helix, all of which are an order of magnitude father away from where we landed than what others have "designed" and feigned credit for.
<ahem>
But I will say this: The same ol' Helix with a touchscreen—maybe a bit faster with some minor improvements—would be terribly disappointing. What sort of problems would that solve for musicians? You might get a few extra blocks, and moving blocks on the signal flow would be a bit faster, and naming stuff would be easier. But would you call your friends and say "Holy $#&@, did you see the new Line 6 box?" I sure wouldn't.
We're more interested in solving problems that musicians may not even know they have.
