Digital Igloo (Eric Klein, YGG)

[Sascha Franck]

I'm not against global blocks in the slightest and can totally see the advantage. Channels, however—whether global or not—aren't nearly as simple in Helix-land where there's a huge disparity in DSP usage within the same category.

I perfectly understand that. All I'm saying is that you could just skip the entire channel thing, implement global/group blocks and present it as an alternative way to skin the cat (or at least a pretty similar cat). And at the same time you'd be adding a lot of other (IMO fantastic) options.
The upside also being that you wouldn't have to tinker with wasting DSP juice in order to reserve it for whatever CPU munching block as all presets on their own would still function every bit as they are now, so people wouldn't even get close to whatever "I used to be able to do this but can't anymore" moments.

 

[the-trooper]

All I'm saying is that you could just skip the entire channel thing, implement global/group blocks

 

[HotRats]

This is what I think people think when they ask for channels. If it fits, it sits. If not, not. Want to add another amp to second channel of the block, add it, as long as there's enough DSP overall. Not reserving it for the heaviest amp. If not, what can't fit is greyed out. Pretty much the same as is now except in one block instead of two blocks.
I don't use such crazy chains that an additional block or two mean anything to me, but I guess some see the value there. Could also be useful to those that use preset spillover. DSP might still be there to add what they want, but the blocks are used up.

100% this

 

[ragingplatypi]

I'm not saying it's not an elegant solution—it absolutely is.

Bill Hader has verbalized our approach to how customer feedback informs our designs way better than I ever could: If someone says something doesn't work, they're almost always right. If someone suggests how to solve what doesn't work, they're almost always wrong.

Dag. That was some unexpected profundity.

 

[Sascha Franck]

View attachment 17560

I (obviously) have no idea whether it's going to happen (my bets would likely be on "no"), I was just trying to describe how much more there could be behind global blocks (or rather "global group" or whatever it might be working like) functionality than what most people usually think it would bring to the table.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

The transition from AMA thread to HX request thread, did it happen sooner or later than you expected?

Edit: reframed as question to stay on topic

 

[ragingplatypi]

I had a question/request for the Pod Go (let me know if there’s a better person or place to inquire). Is it possible in a future update to separate the headphone level from the main output level?

ps- I’ve had the PG for a couple weeks now and I’m loving the form factor. It’s definitely the Goldilocks size for me.

 

[Digital Igloo]

I had a question/request for the Pod Go (let me know if there’s a better person or place to inquire). Is it possible in a future update to separate the headphone level from the main output level?

ps- I’ve had the PG for a couple weeks now and I’m loving the form factor. It’s definitely the Goldilocks size for me.

Unfortunately, no. If it makes you feel any better, Helix LT and a lot of competitive gear are the same way.

 

[ragingplatypi]

Unfortunately, no. If it makes you feel any better, Helix LT and a lot of competitive gear are the same way.

It doesn’t make me feel any better or worse, but I’d imagine if I moved up the food chain to the LT I would have been frustrated. One of the great aspects of routing with the Stomp has been adding the house mix back into the pedal so I can add “more me” as needed in my IEMs.

 

[CakeEater]

Would it be possible to add scale/feedback correction to all Stereo Delays in the same way it's implemented in the Simple Delay? For example on the Simple Delay, if I set the scale to 5.0, the right channel delay trail will still be as long as the left channel, but I'll have a ping-pong effect. On the Transistor Tape however, the left channel's delay trail will end up twice as long as the right channel's delay trail. This gives the impression that the delay is always disappearing to one side. It's a shame because I like the stereo effect of the scale set to 75%, to get 1/4 and .1/8 on the Transistor Tape, but the feedback trail difference is distracting.

 

[mikah912]

Hey @Digital Igloo, I have a non-HX request question. Figured you could use the break.

I saw the new super sweet-looking Pacificas with the substantial price tags y'all dropped.

Any particular reason why there doesn't seem to be a "midrange" option? It's either fairly inexpensive Indonesian ones with comparatively bland looks (equivalent to Ibanez GIO/low-end RG) or pricey Japanese ones (equivalent to Ibanez Prestige in price/positioning).

I'm thinking of an Ibanez Premium equivalent that offers some burst finishes, the Reflectone pickups and maybe those oh-so-amazing pill inlays?

EDIT: I now see the, err.......interestingly named PACS+12 models. Super close! Could use a bit more finish variety, but that's just nitpicking. The Ash Pink with maple fingerboard looks cool. I'll be keeping my eye out for when one drops.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Would it be possible to add scale/feedback correction to all Stereo Delays in the same way it's implemented in the Simple Delay? For example on the Simple Delay, if I set the scale to 5.0, the right channel delay trail will still be as long as the left channel, but I'll have a ping-pong effect. On the Transistor Tape however, the left channel's delay trail will end up twice as long as the right channel's delay trail. This gives the impression that the delay is always disappearing to one side. It's a shame because I like the stereo effect of the scale set to 75%, to get 1/4 and .1/8 on the Transistor Tape, but the feedback trail difference is distracting.

Not sure if we'd be able to add a Scale parameter to all existing delays. If they don't hit the DSP at all, yes, that's something we might be able to do. If they impact the DSP hit even a tiny bit, there's always a chance they could break presets right at the cusp.

I saw the new super sweet-looking Pacificas with the substantial price tags y'all dropped.

Any particular reason why there doesn't seem to be a "midrange" option? It's either fairly inexpensive Indonesian ones with comparatively bland looks (equivalent to Ibanez GIO/low-end RG) or pricey Japanese ones (equivalent to Ibanez Prestige in price/positioning).

I'm thinking of an Ibanez Premium equivalent that offers some burst finishes, the Reflectone pickups and maybe those oh-so-amazing pill inlays?

Oh man, I wish I had any visibility whatsoever with Yamaha-branded products. Most of the time I find out the same time y'all do. Japan isn't keeping any secrets from us, necessarily; I've just been too busy to ask the right people the right questions. The only question I've asked of Japan lately is "Hey, where's that thing I designed the UI for years ago? Is it ever coming out?" Except, y'know, politely.

Do you think profiling/capturing is table stakes yet, or not?

Hope you don't mind me moving this here.

Do I think or does YGG think? We very well may have different perspectives.

Personally, I suspect that companies are playing "oh dang we're all pulling a Kemper now?" catch-up (perhaps because their amp design and component modeling is lacking? No, not TwoNotes, they're cool) but we're already starting to see public excitement for machine learning-based capture wane a bit. It kinda feels like how sampling died in keyboard workstations back in the day, although it could always bounce back like... sampling in keyboard workstations.

Thankfully, our product and feature roadmap is not completely tied to what I think. We have a great team of people.

 

[mikah912]

Oh man, I wish I had any visibility whatsoever with Yamaha-branded products. Most of the time I find out the same time y'all do. Japan isn't keeping it secret, necessarily; I've just been too busy to ask the right people the right questions. The only question I've asked of Japan lately is "Hey, where's that thing I designed the UI for years ago? Is it ever coming out?" Except, y'know, politely.

My dad-rock dream is a PACS+12, but in the Desert Burst finish. Not sure y'all will ever make one, and I don't see myself dropping $2200 for the Japanese-made PACP 12 version.

....yet.

But hey, kudos on the price restoration for HX stuff. That's fantastic. I don't talk about it as much as I have the other big product update lately, but that latest Helix firmware update was just amazing and has really reinvigorated me using it exclusively on my studio projects as of late.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Personally, I suspect that companies are playing "oh dang we're all pulling a Kemper now?" catch-up (perhaps because their amp design and component modeling is lacking? No, not TwoNotes, they're cool) but we're already starting to see public excitement for machine learning-based capture wane a bit.

Personally, I think at one point in time you sort of have to support some kind of profiling or profile playback. Similar to how you likely have to support IR loading.
There's gonna be a time when things such as NAM will be so advanced that they'll capture pretty much anything you throw at them super accurately (obviously within the boundaries of what the technology itself is able to do). So you might be able to create some wicked nested amps, combined with dirt pedals and what not, perhaps splitted amp scenarios (cleaner amp for low registers, more gain in the higher ones, you name it...) - stuff that you likely couldn't recreate easily or take with you onstage, so you would just capture it and load the capture into whatever your modeler might be.

But while it might become much more of a standardized thing, I don't necessarily think you have to be on the forefront of that trend. By now, there's so many great amps to be had in the HX platform so there's not much you couldn't do. And it case future updates come along like 3.7, great amp sounds will become even less of a thing worth discussing - they're simply there.

Personally, I'd rather like to see people working on quite different things, such as usability and kinda oddball/experimental things. But you will know that already.

 

[Orvillain]

Personally, I suspect that companies are playing "oh dang we're all pulling a Kemper now?" catch-up (perhaps because their amp design and component modeling is lacking? No, not TwoNotes, they're cool) but we're already starting to see public excitement for machine learning-based capture wane a bit. It kinda feels like how sampling died in keyboard workstations back in the day, although it could always bounce back like... sampling in keyboard workstations.

It seems like the big thing people are discussing now - in the communities at least - is how to make it more competitive with proper algorithm modelling of amps; ie correct volume roll of behaviour, correct EQ behaviour, gain pots and all the rest of it.

I wouldn't be surprised if people eventually realise the emperor might have some clothes... but they're weird BDSM clothes that you wouldn't want them to wear to a funeral.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Personally, I think at one point in time you sort of have to support some kind of profiling or profile playback. Similar to how you likely have to support IR loading.
There's gonna be a time when things such as NAM will be so advanced that they'll capture pretty much anything you throw at them super accurately (obviously within the boundaries of what the technology itself is able to do). So you might be able to create some wicked nested amps, combined with dirt pedals and what not, perhaps splitted amp scenarios (cleaner amp for low registers, more gain in the higher ones, you name it...) - stuff that you likely couldn't recreate easily or take with you onstage, so you would just capture it and load the capture into whatever your modeler might be.

But while it might become much more of a standardized thing, I don't necessarily think you have to be on the forefront of that trend. By now, there's so many great amps to be had in the HX platform so there's not much you couldn't do. And it case future updates come along like 3.7, great amp sounds will become even less of a thing worth discussing - they're simply there.

Personally, I'd rather like to see people working on quite different things, such as usability and kinda oddball/experimental things. But you will know that already.

Yep.

From my perspective, there are only two customer problems that ML amps and IR cabs solve:

1. "I don't know how perfectly recreate the sound of my personal tube amps and cabs so I don't have to lug them around."
2. "I don't have enough variety of real-world tube amp and cab sounds."

It appears as though Kemper was originally focused on the first problem. The toaster granted artists and studio engineers the ability to recreate their own library of amps and take them on tour or to other studios. Later, it sorta morphed into #2: "Look at me! I have every amp ever made. It takes me an hour to find the perfect one, but it's here somewhere."

Making cool and original guitar sounds should be fun and fast; it shouldn't require file management. To me, ML and IRs almost... sorta... kinda feel like browsing a million LEGO sets (mostly based on film franchises from the 60s-80s) on Amazon, except all the sets are fully completed and superglued together. What if I'm more interested in building things no one's seen/heard before?

 

[mikah912]

Yep.

From my perspective, there are only two customer problems that ML amps and IR cabs solve:

1. "I don't know how perfectly recreate the sound of my personal tube amps and cabs so I don't have to lug them around."
2. "I don't have enough variety of real-world tube amp and cab sounds."

It appears as though Kemper was originally focused on the first problem. The toaster granted artists and studio engineers the ability to recreate their own library of amps and take them on tour or to other studios. Later, it sorta morphed into #2: "Look at me! I have every amp ever made. It takes me an hour to find the perfect one, but it's here somewhere."

Making cool and original guitar sounds should be fun and fast; it shouldn't require file management. To me, ML and IRs almost... sorta... kinda feel like browsing a million LEGO sets (mostly based on film franchises from the 60s-80s) on Amazon, except all the sets are fully completed and superglued together. What if I'm more interested in building things no one's seen/heard before?

I'm curious if you think this will translate into way more configurable amp models for the HX family? I know the latest firmware has the original amps with cool parameters and built-in boosts, which is a good start. You think Line 6 is moving toward making the non-original amps as configurable?

 

[Sascha Franck]

Making cool and original guitar sounds should be fun and fast;

Amen. So give us that set of cool new filters and modulators already!

Seriously, I must've said this a thousand times already, but I've never been into recreating whatever iconic sounds or whatsoever. Not even when playing sort of cover gigs (And guess what? Nobody ever complained, not even once.). I do absolutely get the "validity" of tried and trusted designs. They really just work for certain things. The new HX 2203 is a prime example for that. But I'm afraid I hardly ever create any kind of sound that you'd heard on a record, at least not deliberately. I like using it because of the "just works" aspect and go from there to kind of adapt it so it fits my personal needs/wants. And fwiw, it could as well be sort of any other more or less comparable amp. The new Voltage would do the job every bit as well (I may even prefer it here and there). Just give me any amp that's in the ballpark and I'm fine.

 

[yeky83]

I'm curious if you think this will translate into way more configurable amp models for the HX family? I know the latest firmware has the original amps with cool parameters and built-in boosts, which is a good start. You think Line 6 is moving toward making the non-original amps as configurable?

CAB IMPEDANCE PARAMETERS PLS

 

[Sascha Franck]

I know the latest firmware has the original amps with cool parameters and built-in boosts, which is a good start. You think Line 6 is moving toward making the non-original amps as configurable?

Fwiw, apart from the boost, the latest original additions have less parameters than most other amps - possibly because they're taken from the Catalyst series. No Master, Hum is an on/off affair, no Ripple.