Line 6 Helix Stadium Pre-Launch Discussion

Sascha Franck said:
That'll be an incredible step forward, but once you use any hardware device, the struggle is still real again.

This is where I see Proxy to have an incredible advance over anything else. Load things straight to your DAW, fool around in Stadium Native, drag the finished tones straight to the hardware, do some switch assignments, done.
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If there’s a stadium vst that will play proxy captures back then that will really be the best of all worlds.

The tone3000 plugin will still be incredible for anyone to have access to all those tones in a daw for basically free (not sure if they’ll charge for the plugin, more than likely free but not sure)
 
[Nathan] said:
If there’s a stadium vst that will play proxy captures back then that will really be the best of all worlds.
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I'm absolutely sure there will be (at least at one point in time) as for many folks one of *the* big deals with the HX ecosystem would be the plugin-hardware compatibility. I'm not even using that functionality too often, but it's still more than worth the asking price just because of it.
All they should possibly add is an integrated online file browser (both for entire patches and the Proxy files), so you don't need to deal with logging into their website. Ideally, as with the QC, that'd be available straight on the hardware as well.
Personally, I likely wouldn't use the "shop" functionality much (just as I never use premade patches), but I'd take a bet that a whole lot of people would just love it.
 
ian_dissonance said:
I am enjoying that me joking around is getting calls of “tribalism” while someone else is near a coronary because captures are stupid.
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You're assuming that I was talking about you...

Tribalism is what makes sports fans crazy when you trash talk "their" team. It's something embedded in our DNA, and sometimes it manifests itself in strange ways.
 
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Fwiw, re: compatibility between the hardware and native versions, there should be a better way to synchronize loaded IRs (and Proxy captures). Ideally, those would be automatically copied with the patch, possibly along with some dialog that would pop up in case the required files already exist on the target (and another one in case the storage memory is maxed out).

IR/Proxy management should be improved anyway. In case there's a missing file, there should be an option to a) identify which file is missing ("missing IR loaded into slot 5" is completely meaningless, all it's telling you is that the patch won't work anymore) and b) to search your computer for the missing file, just as each and every software sampler even remotely worth its salt is doing in 2025.
 
Sascha Franck said:
With the inflationary amount of NAM files (and we're likely only at the beginning), this will possibly become the same as it's been with IRs, namely an endless rabbit hole. Which possibly is the positive aspect of proprietary formats a la QC and KPA - you do at least need the hardware, so not every single hack on earth can upload and share their captures of whatever it might be on Tonezone3000.
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That has not stopped anybody. Kemper, QC and Tonex are littered with enough bad content each. It's not surprising "trusted vendors" (free or paid) are a thing on all of them.

With IRs it's the same, many people rely on e.g York Audio mixes as shortcuts to having to figure it all out.

Captures have a major content management problem on all platforms where metadata is not sufficient to really find what you want, which makes it a chore to go through packs of files on any platform too. Doesn't matter if it's dumping files into a folder for NAM or loading them on device via some cloud service or computer app.

Captures have very low value just like individual mic IR files. It's hard to get excited about captures you didn't make yourself because they are basically "I like this / I don't like this" and then you move onto the next file. That's different from having an amp or fx model that truly works like the amp or pedal - allowing you to refer to e.g videos of that amp to figure out how to work with it instead of going through someone else's work and hoping it works for you.

I'm interested to see if Line6 manages to do something different in this nook of guitardom with Proxy. But with no more information than "it's captures for Line6" it's the new feature I'm least interested in.
 
laxu said:
That has not stopped anybody. Kemper, QC and Tonex are littered with enough bad content each. It's not surprising "trusted vendors" (free or paid) are a thing on all of them.
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Sure, but that's still a rather "controlled" environment. Kemper and QC require you to own dedicated hardware and creating a ToneX patch defenitely isn't even remotely as easy as dealing with two files (input and output) on Tone3000. Heck, even my 10y old son could create dozens of NAM files in case I showed him how to.

laxu said:
Captures have a major content management problem on all platforms where metadata is not sufficient to really find what you want, which makes it a chore to go through packs of files on any platform too. Doesn't matter if it's dumping files into a folder for NAM or loading them on device via some cloud service or computer app.
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Of course.

But the currently available NAM plugins are one of the main culprits, too. None of them offers proper file management. Use any of them, then delete (or hide) the NAM file, reload the project and ALL of them will miserably fail. No way to get things back. Any proper tool loading whatever external files should as well come with an option to save "container" patches (or patch plus external file), just as software samplers do. And if you're still missing a capture file, they should offer a search function. It's the year 2025, ffs.
Btw, it's the same with all of those "glorious" free IR loaders. Switch computers, reorganize your data management in Finder/Explorer = lose all total recall instantly. It's why I'm using Logic's Space Designer most of the time. As long as the required IR file is on your computer, it'll find it. And you can have it to automatically save it along with the project.
I think the NAM folks said that something like that would be added around a year ago or so already. Yet, nothing happened. Same with Two Notes Genome. They said they'd defenitely look into it, yet nothing happend. And again the same with the current HX line. Miss an IR and your patch is doomed. At least Line 6 never said they'd look into it. They still should.
 
AZG said:
Updated list based on feedback from @Digital Igloo

Stadium will have at launch:
  1. Agoura amp models (around 16 models with about 42 channels)
  2. Focus view
  3. Hype control
  4. Showcase features
  5. Preset audition
  6. More headroom than regular Helix
  7. Stadium includes most things from the 1st generation Helix like effects, amps, and preset compatibility. However the following things have been removed. Older Hybrid cab engine, Dedicated VDI and L6 LINK jacks (Expand D10 is coming next year), CV Out jack (No one used it)
  8. Excellent touch screen
  9. Usability improvements including search, etc.
  10. More processing power
  11. Improved signal chain options
  12. Basic librarian software
Stadium won’t have at launch:
  1. Proxy (captures)
  2. New effects
  3. New synth sounds
  4. New and improved looper (only minor changes at launch)
  5. Pedal Edit Mode (They're talking about something different)
  6. Preset Spillover (They're talking about something different),
  7. Helix Stadium editing software
Click to expand...
Thank you very much! So, of the cabs, only the old legacy ones were eliminated, but the current ones are still there, right?
 
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