"Letter" to Line 6 about Helix Stadium and Acoustic Guitar

[paisleywookiee]

Usually I'd agree, but in this case I think it'd be cool to have them combined (with an option to have things as separate blocks as well - just as what's possible with amp, cab and amp&cab blocks).

Normally I’d agree with you, but I’m enjoying being contrarian.

 

[Lysander]

off topic, but yeah this is getting so annoying. And in music gear too: I recently asked a certain guitar pedal company a quick question about a pedal of theirs, and they emailed me back an obvious AI answer which referenced a wiki and reddit opinions, complete with a "Bottom Line:" summary at the end. Very off-putting (and didn't answer my question).

What grinds my gears is people getting annoyed when i refuse to read their AI slop.

Dude, if you put zero effort into writing something, don't expect me to put any effort reading it.

 

[paisleywookiee]

What grinds my gears is people getting annoyed when i refuse to read their AI slop.

Dude, if you put zero effort into writing something, don't expect me to put any effort reading it.

My dear fellow, what truly vexes my spirit is the indignation of those who take offense when I decline to indulge in their mechanized drivel.

If one cannot be troubled to summon even the faintest spark of genuine thought or craft in one’s prose, one ought not presume that others will squander their time and attention upon such soulless contrivances.

 

[synthpenguin]

What grinds my gears is people getting annoyed when i refuse to read their AI slop.

Dude, if you put zero effort into writing something, don't expect me to put any effort reading it.

Yeah, absolutely. ESPECIALLY when it's such a clear copy-and-paste. At least edit out the weird headers and stuff like that lol

And in the case of that "support" I received, it was especially annoying because they did that instead of answering what were two simple yes / no questions, and them typing in the prompt, copying the (incorrect and unrelated) answer, and pasting it into the email probably took just as long or longer than just answering them. It didn't even seem to be automated since it came a full day later.

 

[sashimi]

Allow me to expound upon the grievous consternation that besets my intellectual faculties when confronted with the egregious temerity of certain individuals who manifest palpable vexation upon my resolute refusal to immerse myself in the perfunctory, algorithmically regurgitated pablum they so cavalierly proffer as discourse.

My esteemed compatriot, should you elect to expend a lamentably negligible quantum of cognitive endeavor in the fabrication of your textual offerings, pray, by what divine mandate or logical imperative am I, a paragon of discerning erudition, obliged to squander my precious intellectual resources in the arduous endeavor of deciphering such lamentably insipid and uninspired concatenations of verbiage?

 

[paisleywookiee]

Man, we’re gonna really piss off Lysander

 

[Digital Igloo]

I just wonder how many people have skipped over my emails—y'know, because I use a lot of m-dashes.

 

[Lysander]

Man, we’re gonna really piss off Lysander

Pissed? I've been laughing my ass off, thank you

 

[Ryan123]

I just wonder how many people have skipped over my emails—y'know, because I use a lot of m-dashes.

Not me — I read 'em!

 

[paisleywookiee]

Pissed? I've been laughing my ass off, thank you

Oh okay, that’s good. Everyone has their Victorian limits.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

Too verbose, overuse of em dashes, filler idioms ("and maybe enough by itself", "let's face it") and the itemized structure;

Exactly what rang the bell for me also.

 

[fr8_trane]

For me, a good acoustic sound (assuming a piezo equipped guitar) can be had with an IR, an EQ perhaps, and a compressor.

Modeling an acoustic guitar amp has always seemed silly, since the goal with acoustic amps was to be as transparent and “mini PA-like” as possible.

I have found that any of the pre-made acoustic IR's are pretty bad. Very phasey sounding IMO. The next level and maybe the final level is making your own IR's from your actual guitar. This yields the best results I've heard as far as getting a "mic'd" sound out of an acoustic with a pickup. There is some hardware that allows you to do this like the Tonedexter preamp but they are pricey. Its much cheaper to DIY:

 

[AminorZmajor]

When playing live I want my electric to sound like a very nicely mic’d acoustic that has the functionality to be inserted into a patch as a scene, snapshot etc… and be switched with no gap. For me it’s that simple but so far I have not found the perfect solution. Workable….. (Fractal FM9) but not optimal. One can wish…..

 

[ragingplatypi]

When playing live I want my electric to sound like a very nicely mic’d acoustic that has the functionality to be inserted into a patch as a scene, snapshot etc… and be switched with no gap. For me it’s that simple but so far I have not found the perfect solution. Workable….. (Fractal FM9) but not optimal. One can wish…..

I actually am doing almost that with my Helix. Mostly I’m using a strat style guitar with a piezo bridge, which I know is not exactly what you’re talking about. That patch has both electric and acoustic paths, and sounds better than my acoustics plugged in direct.
However I also have the same patch using the acoustic simulator with an acoustic IR after it for my non-piezo guitars. It’s much more finicky about how I play, but with the right technique it sounds decent, and definitely good enough for bar gigs.

 

[JCW308]

Thanks for that, whatever it was. Line 6 has always supported acoustics, and the Stadium is no exception. It has been DEAD SIMPLE to set up great acoustic patches on Line 6 products for literally like a decade or more. Not sure what the point of all this is.

 

[ragingplatypi]

Personally the point of this thread for me is to scream at you all that acoustic IRs are underrated.

But maybe the real message to Line 6 is get Paul Hindmarsh on YouTube shredding an acoustic guitar on an HX Stomp to remind people of what that box can do. And if they want to sell a few more boxes, put together some acoustic focused enhancer/eq effects (effects name must include words like “notch” and “aural”) to go with that marketing campaign.

 

[mbenigni]

AI: Usually (not always) factual, never quite right. There's always this vague sense that it doesn't understand the context in which it's carrying on, nor its audience. Whatever "personality" it tries to adopt, if any, feels canned and is reliably off-putting.

It's no help that AI is usually sent off on a suicide mission by people who are using it because they're lazy. That intent inevitably shines through. I know immediately when I'm dealing with an AI chatbot, and immediately start trying to circumvent it. Soon, most companies will have no such means of circumvention... because actual intelligent, insightful human beings are too expensive (and don't easily scale to volume after n mergers.)

(The last time I had to deal with a known human who, by rights, owed me money, I got an obvious AI wall of text email back. My wife happened to speak to someone else in the same position we were in, and that person had gotten the exact same email - except the sender had neglected to delete the ChatGPT prompt before sending. )

The only thing worse than all of these complaints about AI, is the inescapable hellscape we'll have entered when it's gotten good enough to correct for them.

 

[mbenigni]

Personally the point of this thread for me is to scream at you all that acoustic IRs are underrated.

Also underrated: position 4 on a Strat. :)

 

[JiveTurkey]

Also underrated: position 4 on a Strat. :)

Robbie Blunt clean tone is generally >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>acoustic tones I would go hunting for to do the same thing.

 

[mbenigni]

Robbie Blunt clean tone is generally >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>acoustic tones I would go hunting for to do the same thing.

Love those tones; was not aware that they were position 4. Position 4 is just what I've arrived at through trial and error when I'm too lazy to bring an acoustic (or mic'ing one is otherwise impractical.)

Personally, I think pos. 4 sounds better than a piezo bridge pickup, too (unless the latter is processed beyond recognition.) I don't know how people have managed to equate that with an "acoustic guitar" sound over the years.