Helix 3.8 when?

[spawnofthesith]

Did the update…. So I think I’m getting closer than ever with Panama red trying to dial in some direct high gain patches… im still not there really but feeling optimistic that maybe with some EQ blocks i can dial out whatevers been bugging me…

 

[holoholo]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Line6Helix/s/MOkMYQS877

Anyone care to speculate on the meaning of “The Missing Link Update” as the title of the 3.80 update?

Is this the “last link” before a big 4.0 update?

From Igor:

I can answer that l, actually - it was us plugging holes in the amp list that have been complained about for a long time. We’ve been getting requests for EVH, Ecstasy, and Super Reverb basically since launch.

 

[Vic Winters]

I can't wait to put the bass wah through its paces this weekend. Thank you DI and the rest of the Line 6 team.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Yeah I'll probably dive in later this week. Too tired tonight to even give it a go. I'm looking forward to pairing up the stomp xl and VP4 though.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

5150 III, Ecstacy, Super Reverb… Line 6 definitely made a lot of people very happy today.

 

[holoholo]

Never thought I'd see Worship Tutorials playing Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love lol

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

So how soon will York have a Super Reverb IR?

 

[BenIfin]

Hmm no mention of the engine updates but I know DI mentioned we get them in 3.8. Would be interesting to see who can hear it.

Don't know about others but with my recently acquired Stomp - I hear zero / no audio engine changes compared to 3.71.

Purely as an observation .. compared to my FM3 with FW 9, the Stomp running 3.70 and 3.8 sounds and feels stiffer with less note definition and less "bounce" - mid-range is more congested.

Not saying its better or worse, just how I hear and feel it compared to the FM3 with its latest FW

 

[BenIfin]

I thought this might be the amp modeling engine update release....

If (?) is is / has been done, it is so subtle as to not at all be audible or "felt" - to me at least

 

[BenIfin]

I'm guessing but i.m.h.o 3.9 will be similar to 3.8, but that 4.0 should (?) see some major changes (?)

 

[Lele]

with less note definition and less "bounce" - mid-range is more congested.

I don't rule out that we can feel and hear things differently. But I always suggest these adjustments:
Ripple=0
Hum=0
Master= about 3 or 4 (but it depends on the amp and on the drive level: less gain -> higher master level, even 10 with almost clean sounds and more vintage circuits)
Bias=about 8
Bias X=about 1
Sag=this is difficult and depends on personal preference; I often tend to adjust it about 3 (or a little higher with "clean-ish" tones)

 

[Foxmeister]

I'm guessing but i.m.h.o 3.9 will be similar to 3.8, but that 4.0 should (?) see some major changes (?)

They updated the manuals for 3.80 - normally they don't update the manuals for anything less than a major version number increment.

What does this tell us? Absolutely nothing of course, but I speculate that perhaps there are no more *major* changes coming down the line for the current Helix platform.

 

[holoholo]

They updated the manuals for 3.80 - normally they don't update the manuals for anything less than a major version number increment.

What does this tell us? Absolutely nothing of course, but I speculate that perhaps there are no more *major* changes coming down the line for the current Helix platform.

 

[dronerstone]

They updated the manuals for 3.80 - normally they don't update the manuals for anything less than a major version number increment.

What does this tell us? Absolutely nothing of course, but I speculate that perhaps there are no more *major* changes coming down the line for the current Helix platform.

What's a "manual"?

 

[Sascha Franck]

What does this tell us? Absolutely nothing of course, but I speculate that perhaps there are no more *major* changes coming down the line for the current Helix platform.

It's of course depending what people might consider "major", but I tend to agree.
I've said so elsewhere already, the market for the HX family members seems to be quite saturated (as in "everone who might ever been interested in a Line 6 modeling unit will by now have one"). I'm sure their POD Expresses are still doing rather well, but that's a sort of different thing.
What I'm saying is that, as far as the HX family is concerned, there's likely very little ROI, hence working on a bigger FW update simply won't pay off anymore. It's also not that you would still be able to redefine the game with 10y old hardware (the only exception being Kemper...), so all of a sudden everybody would start selling their other modelers and get a Helix instead.
In the end, Line 6 simply will have to come up with new modeling hardware (in case they want to stay in that business, which I would assume they do). And once that point is near, it's inevitable that the old hardware has run its course.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

It's of course depending what people might consider "major", but I tend to agree.
I've said so elsewhere already, the market for the HX family members seems to be quite saturated (as in "everone who might ever been interested in a Line 6 modeling unit will by now have one"). I'm sure their POD Expresses are still doing rather well, but that's a sort of different thing.
What I'm saying is that, as far as the HX family is concerned, there's likely very little ROI, hence working on a bigger FW update simply won't pay off anymore. It's also not that you would still be able to redefine the game with 10y old hardware (the only exception being Kemper...), so all of a sudden everybody would start selling their other modelers and get a Helix instead.
In the end, Line 6 simply will have to come up with new modeling hardware (in case they want to stay in that business, which I would assume they do). And once that point is near, it's inevitable that the old hardware has run its course.

Good.

Something new to buy.

 

[sashimi]

I just bought a helix LT bad timing? Am I crazy for buying one right now? I don’t know, I got a sweet deal on it though. Will I be disappointed if a new helix comes out in January? Maybe, but I don’t think it’s going to be any less than twice what I paid for the LT anyway. I’m late to helix, just got my first stomp a year ago after demoing native for the first time. But obviously someone is still buying them, it can’t just be me.

First impressions of 3.8 are - the super reverb sounds every bit as awesome as I hoped it would. My new favorite fender model. The bogner blue is the model I never knew I needed, sounds excellent, no drive blocks needed. And the 1x12 open cast evm12l cab with the sm7 is still the best cab for me. I even like it with the bogner. I feel relieved that I don’t have to try different cabs or IRs anymore because this one is perfect, with pretty much every amp I use in helix. I own 5 York audio ir packs that I stopped using in favor of the open cast. But the new super reverb cab sounds pretty close to it to me.

 

[laxu]

I just bought a helix LT bad timing? Am I crazy for buying one right now? I don’t know, I got a sweet deal on it though. Will I be disappointed if a new helix comes out in January? Maybe, but I don’t think it’s going to be any less than twice what I paid for the LT anyway. I’m late to helix, just got my first stomp a year ago after demoing native for the first time. But obviously someone is still buying them, it can’t just be me.

I doubt you'll see a new equivalent product that soon. I'm sure Line6 is working on something but it will take time. That 3.8 took this long for what is a couple of amps and cabs (which of course do require a significant amount of work to make IRs, measure the amps etc) tells me that most of their developers are hard at work on Line6's next gen products. As they should be.

 

[DieSchmalle]

The Missing Link All Filler All Killer Update

 

[Sascha Franck]

I just bought a helix LT bad timing? Am I crazy for buying one right now?

Only you will be able to decide.

I mean, given you are ok with the overall functionality (which you seem to be, otherwise you wouldn't have bought it in the first place), what would be so bad if it never got any updates anymore? The thing is stuffed with good to excellent amp models, dirt pedals and FX. And while there might be some items "missing", you should be good for years of exploring new sounds and options.
There's over 60 drive pedals and around 100 amps (sure, that includes bass models and amp channels, but stili...). 60 x 100 ＝ 6,000 possible combinations. If you only spend one minute in average on each combination (which is pretty much just good enough to call it up and turn your guitar volume up), that's 100 hours already. And now add I don't know how much cabs and mics to the picture and start calculating already...

Alternatively, you might've been looking for that one particular sound (or a handful of them). In that case, you would as well already know that the LT would deliver.

In other words: You bought the thing for a reason. And that reason won't cease to exist just because there's no updates anymore or because there's a new L6 modeler.

For me personally, as a Mac user my worries would rather be that I couldn't run HX Native and HX Edit one day anymore. Apple is notoriously killing backwards compatibility pretty much all the time, so I might end up having to do all my Stomp editing on the device in just 3 years or so. But even then, there's virtual machines possibly helping me out in running ancient software (won't help with HXN, though).