Then import said main live preset to Native and tweak it from there to fit the track. For me THIS is a gamechanger.
100%. I wanted Helix Native to be $99 for registered Helix/HX owners from the beginning but it took a while to convince everyone it was the right move.
What do you feel is a right lifetime for a modeler?
Not sure there's a good answer for this. It really depends on the company, their hardware roadmap, their sustaining firmware roadmap, their business model, etc. If all Line 6 made were Helix Floor, Rack, and LT, replacements would've dropped years ago. If all a company does is copy someone else with a veritable army of low-wage developers who don't have to worry about SoCal rent/mortgages, their development schedule can be
radically condensed. How long can Line 6 compete with that? Not sure, honestly. The sheer number of sycophants who blindly defend B£#®!n&£® to the death, believing that "clones" of smaller companies' existing products is somehow A) beneficial to the industry and B) a "charitable gift" to lower-income musicians at the expense of "greedy MI companies who charge too much" is sick and wrong.
But I digress. No one'll catch me arguing that 10 years is totally normal. Or even fine. Line 6 absolutely should've had a new flagship a while ago, but we've been too busy building and expanding the platform. Speaking of which, what's Kemper been cooking? Maybe it's another pivot to a whole different technology outside of the guitar realm, much like how Kemper was a radical departure from Access (which made Virus, one of the best synth lines of all time, R.I.P.). Christoph's a genius, so I'm sure it'll blow people's minds.
On the other hand, if you boot up a
brand new Alesis SR-16 drum machine out of the box, the screen reads "©
1990 Alesis." So...
Are you thinking of a proprietary speaker or a classic? I think real speakers go a long way for amp modeling, and for all the options and amp variety out there, it's hard to go wrong with one creamback or two greenbacks. They tend to work well with Fender types, Vox types, and Marshall types alike. For what it's worth, what I think the Fender Tone Master amps nailed was the lack of user interface. Maybe one knob to cycle through a couple of amps, but no screens or menus.
Yeah, ToneMaster amps are exactly what they need to be; great move on Fender's part. Line 6 clearly has no legendary tube amps from which to do anything similar.
Also, black tolex and black grille cloth is so boring these days. If you just look at the average Vox, Benson, or Supro, they all manage to look tasteful and boutique with just good choices in tolex and grillcloth.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of players who would actively avoid an amp that looks like a Vox, Benson, or Supro. (All fantastic amps, but aesthetically, they're not really my vibe either.) I like how IK supports swappable grille cloths for their new full-range speaker. And how you can even get customized grilles for select Positive Grid amps. That's something we'd talked about forever.
Same reason why Fender made an EVH version of their FR12—metal players may not want a Fender-esque box behind them on stage.
Unfortunately, if you're only making one amp with one grille cloth designed to appeal to as many guitarist types as possible, you kinda have to make it innocuous and unoffensive, not unlike how everyone flipping houses embraces black and white modern farmhouse exteriors with an ultra-boring millennium gray in every room. It sucks, but the masses are finicky.
EDIT: I've been promoted to Shredder now? Wholly inaccurate, but cool!
), which was Line 6's MO at the time. But because Helix/HX has been so successful, we continue to squeeze an incredible amount of growth out of the family. Sometimes I imagine where we'd be had we designed Helix to support 10+ years of updates, and... <sigh...>
