Line 6 Helix Stadium Pre-Launch Discussion

[MirrorProfiles]

Is there any likelihood of Line 6 showing an A/B of Agoura vs previous gen modelling?

I understand why they might not want to get involved, but inevitably users are going to do this and I’d rather Line 6 demonstrate it in a way that makes sure it’s as fair as possible. Would be awesome if they’re able to include real world amps and Proxy too whenever the time is right.

Would also be cool to see a web based demo where you can play around with the cab engine in real time. I think that might allow users to hear things however they’re familiar with while showing off the ecosystem and tech a bit. Part of me wonders if there’s any surprises with the cab engine as we haven’t seen a great deal of it yet.

 

[Lysander]

Is there any likelihood of Line 6 showing an A/B of Agoura vs previous gen modelling?

I think we'll have 27 YouTube videos on that topic just 5 minutes after launch.

 

[EOengineer]

Is there any likelihood of Line 6 showing an A/B of Agoura vs previous gen modelling?

Can’t say whether L6 will beat the influencer stampede but YouTube is going to be absolutely LOADED with these types of comparisons. It’s going to be wild. For sure the quality of those comparisons will be maddening.

Part of me wonders if there’s any surprises with the cab engine as we haven’t seen a great deal of it yet.

They show the cab block fairly extensively on the Mark Littieri video. Aside from the UI differences it seemed like all the same parameters as the latest HX engine. My understanding was that cab engine was lifted from the new platform but I could be mistaken.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Came here to make the same joke.

You could still ask DI whether that's kinda like the appropriate casket to bury the OG POD in...

 

[molul]

ChatGPT - L6 Helix Sound Designer

Helps users craft detailed signal chains using Line 6 Helix models.

chatgpt.com

If it's the one I tried long ago, the resulting file wouldn't load on Helix.

 

[molul]

@Digital Igloo - when the stem separation thing comes for Showcase….

Will we be able to slow the backing track down and maintain pitch? This would be fantastic for practice. And for me in general as my fingers often disappoint me :)

If we will be able to do this, will it be a sliding scale / percentage of original speed? Or a simpler 1/4 - 1/2 - 3/4 - full thing?

I would add also being able to increase/decrease pitch (up to +/-3 maybe) keeping the tempo. Useful for having backing tracks of songs in sightly different tunings.

 

[DanRad]

If it's the one I tried long ago, the resulting file wouldn't load on Helix.

I just tried, and it will create a file, but you get an error message if you try to import it. Helpfully, when I told it about the error message, it replied,

"Ah — good catch. That –8103 “Target is incompatible” message isn’t you doing anything wrong; it’s HX Edit rejecting the file because Line 6 encrypts/validates .hlx presets rather than treating them as plain JSON. So even though the structure I showed you matches the internal layout, the Helix won’t actually import it unless it’s been encoded by HX Edit itself."

So why even let it output a file?

That said, I'll try building the patch from scratch and see how good it does. (Working on "Lawyers, Guns and Money")

 

[Fireproof]

@Digital Igloo - when the stem separation thing comes for Showcase….

Will we be able to slow the backing track down and maintain pitch? This would be fantastic for practice. And for me in general as my fingers often disappoint me :)

If we will be able to do this, will it be a sliding scale / percentage of original speed? Or a simpler 1/4 - 1/2 - 3/4 - full thing?

If not, you can do that externally with an audio editor. Then import the slowed track.

That’s what I was planning on doing for a few fast solos I’m working on. But it never occurred to me that Stadium might be able to. That would be cool.

 

[Fireproof]

I would add also being able to increase/decrease pitch (up to +/-3 maybe) keeping the tempo. Useful for having banking tracks of songs in sightly different tunings.

That’s a cool request too. It would eliminate the need for a pitch block in the chain.

 

[Mooselake]

@Digital Igloo - when the stem separation thing comes for Showcase….

Will we be able to slow the backing track down and maintain pitch? This would be fantastic for practice. And for me in general as my fingers often disappoint me :)

If we will be able to do this, will it be a sliding scale / percentage of original speed? Or a simpler 1/4 - 1/2 - 3/4 - full thing?

We're apt to be in the minority, but this one would be huge for me as well. To give some idea of where I am, I've been working diligently since June 1st, virtually every day, trying to learn "On Your Way Sweet Soul" by Andy Timmons strictly by ear, and I 100% rely on being able to slow down the audio to do it. Even with that, in 5 months of daily work I've only made it just past the halfway point of the song and can keep up at 65-70% of the recorded tempo. So it's something I'd use daily well into the foreseeable future. My musical ear is just slow. I've been using Transcribe! for years, and suppose I can go back and forth between it and Stadium/Showcase, but it would be a huge workflow boost if I could make those tempo adjustments in real time on Stadium. That would probably make Showcase the new feature on Stadium I used most, rather than something I just use occasionally. But I would completely understand if Line 6 didn't think that was an optimal use of their resources/too far afield from their core mission, especially at this early stage.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Chatting with a friend who's waiting for his Stadium XL, we wonder if it would be possible, in the future, having a way to create presets with AI.

We know Proxy will use Line6 servers to process stuff sent from the devices, so an AI model trained with the Helix content could be able to receive a prompt, either from the device or your phone (editor app) or computer (editor or some website) and respond with a preset that has what the user asked (i.e. "I want a preset that sounds like Queens of the Stone Age "No one knows" guitar").

That would rock, not just for replicating certain guitar/bass tones, but for whatever crazy random stuff the AI could figure out.

Fuck AI. With a cactus.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I'VE GOT THE EASIEST TO USE MODELER IN THE WORLD. NOW DO AI.

 

[mikah912]

I'VE GOT THE EASIEST TO USE MODELER IN THE WORLD. NOW DO AI.

View attachment 54683

"ChatGPT, what would it sound like if I swiped to the Focus View zone in the upper right corner?"

 

[Sascha Franck]

If it's the one I tried long ago, the resulting file wouldn't load on Helix.

This one doesn't create a patch, it just lists parameters.

 

[JiveTurkey]

"ChatGPT, what would it sound like if I swiped to the Focus View zone in the upper right corner?"

 

[molul]

Fuck AI. With a cactus.

I bet you would have said the same about the internet 30 years ago

 

[molul]

This one doesn't create a patch, it just lists parameters.

Half useful for me then. I want to directly have the preset and then maybe tweaking it to my liking.

 

[molul]

That’s a cool request too. It would eliminate the need for a pitch block in the chain.

Yep. I find myself pitching 1 semitone up many Smashing Pumpkins songs (especially from 1995 to 2000) for playing along with them, as they were recorded in Eb.

 

[bucephalus]

Half useful for me then. I want to directly have the preset and then maybe tweaking it to my liking.

Build the preset from the given parameters then tweak it. It really doesn't take long.

 

[Gary_W]

We're apt to be in the minority, but this one would be huge for me as well. To give some idea of where I am, I've been working diligently since June 1st, virtually every day, trying to learn "On Your Way Sweet Soul" by Andy Timmons strictly by ear, and I 100% rely on being able to slow down the audio to do it. Even with that, in 5 months of daily work I've only made it just past the halfway point of the song and can keep up at 65-70% of the recorded tempo. So it's something I'd use daily well into the foreseeable future. My musical ear is just slow. I've been using Transcribe! for years, and suppose I can go back and forth between it and Stadium/Showcase, but it would be a huge workflow boost if I could make those tempo adjustments in real time on Stadium. That would probably make Showcase the new feature on Stadium I used most, rather than something I just use occasionally. But I would completely understand if Line 6 didn't think that was an optimal use of their resources/too far afield from their core mission, especially at this early stage.

I think, if we’re honest, that it wouldn’t be such a minority tool (if it can do it) va some of the other things I understand Showcase will eventually do….. the cool stuff with stage automation bits for lighting will be awesome for *some* people who get Stadium. Those are bits I won’t use - right now I’m home studio only so some of Showcase will be beyond my needs (but I’m glad it’s there for the guys that will benefit). If I do gig again, stage lighting will likely be much more low key where the control is someone turning the tripod with the cheap coloured lights on :)

But thinking about things that matter to a wider demographic where showcase could be beneficial to many? We all need to practice and I’m sure we’ve all got different approaches to that. Playing to backing tracks is something I enjoy doing and it’s beneficial to my ability - I really cannot wait for the stem splitting / ability to have backing tracks in this thing. It’s one of the (many) things that caused me to jump manufacturer. Something that (in the box) would allow me to slow down the bits that are too quick (which is usually most of it!!) would be a really cool learning tool. I think anyone who freely admits that playing guitar is hard and requires that you put the time in would, if they’re honest, find something like this feature pretty useful if it’s do-able at some point :)