Line 6 Helix Stadium Pre-Launch Discussion

[ian_dissonance]

the Game Boy demo is what I am really waiting for.

There’s gotta be enough juice in there for DOOM. Helix Stadium firmware v69.420 will allow you to load emulators off a Micro SD card for post-soundcheck pre-show jams.

 

[ispunk]

@Digital Igloo will the demos be presets when the Stadium is released?

 

[Gary_W]

Hey Gary - NAM (neural amp modeler) is a project that was started by Steve Atkinson around about 2019 or so..., but in the last 3 years it's become quite a big community which I've had the privilege of helping manage alongside Steve and since then independently of Steve's project, a few people myself included, started Tone3000 (formerly Tonehunt) which has become a website for uploading / sharing and more recently training NAM models in the cloud via remote GPUs. I help out across the board - so if you need any more information you are welcome to ask and there's a dedicated thread on this forum too where I'm sure anyone will be happy to help.

If you are on facebook, there's an official NAM community, and there is also a discord server for Tone3000.
Let me know if you'd like links to those.

As it's open source, lots of people are building out from both the training and the playback and processing perspective, so there are now almost countless products for windows, apple (mac and ipad), linux, and hardware.

Anyway, I'll leave it there, but in the context of this thread - I would love to see Line 6 Stadium offering some form of NAM support, be that natively or conversion to their Proxy format.

Thanks Dom - I really appreciate the reply. I’ve found the links to Tone3000 and downloaded. I’ll give this a go tonight as best I can - I posted in the water cooler here about breaking my finger badly enough to have had surgery. I had the wire out on Monday so am gently starting to move it and see if it’ll go where it’s told. It’s looking positive thankfully but I’ve got to take it steady. Having some new sounds and software to learn will be good for me. I tend to love sounds that are edge of breakup and I’ll look forward to exploring. You’ll likely find me with questions on the relevant thread :)

 

[Gary_W]

Consider also whether you want any of the software, etc. that would come "free" with the group buy. If so, you could always buy in, keep the software, and sell the ToneX.

But yeah, in strictly practical terms, the Stadium is going to have you covered.

Thank you - it’s really tempting as there’s so many toys contained in there. But really I need to be practical and wait a little, especially as I can’t play normally right now. I know they’ve got mixing stuff there too but I’m guilty of having too many plug-in choices for that already. With all the choices I have, I tend to go back to Fabfilter with a hint of Soundtoys and then bang Ozone on the result because I don’t understand how to master so I leave it to software to repair all of my cloth-eared mix mangling. I think for that side of things I’d end up with things that were different as opposed to better :)

 

[mbenigni]

Thanks Dom - I really appreciate the reply. I’ve found the links to Tone3000 and downloaded. I’ll give this a go tonight as best I can - I posted in the water cooler here about breaking my finger badly enough to have had surgery. I had the wire out on Monday so am gently starting to move it and see if it’ll go where it’s told. It’s looking positive thankfully but I’ve got to take it steady. Having some new sounds and software to learn will be good for me. I tend to love sounds that are edge of breakup and I’ll look forward to exploring. You’ll likely find me with questions on the relevant thread :)

Good luck with your recovery!

 

[mbenigni]

I love how he calls it a very simple exercise a few times.

In the interview with Beato, after they run through about 10 minutes of theory I didn't understand, he says, "If an ape like me can do it, anybody can."

Uh, yeah, possibly no...

 

[Chocol8]

I guess most of us are worse guitarists than apes?

 

[Digital Igloo]

Some important info for those of you planning on updating to Helix Stadium/XL from Helix/HX boxes:

• Make sure your Helix/HX has been updated to 3.50 or newer firmware BEFORE you export any of your stuff.
• Helix Stadium will NOT be able to import full-state BACKUPS from Helix/HX. Instead, you'll want to export SETLISTS or export (or drag and drop) individual PRESETS. If you’ve already performed a full-state backup and sold your Helix/HX hardware in anticipation of Stadium, you'll need to find someone with Helix/HX hardware to get your setlists/presets, IRs, and favorites out. Don't worry, I'm sure someone 'round these parts can help and if needed, YGG Customer Service has offered to convert full-state backups to individual folders of setlists/presets, IRs, and favorites so you can then import them into Stadium. CS can be reached at https://line6.com/support/tickets/.
• If you still have your Helix/HX hardware (or Helix Native), presets, IRs, and even favorites can be dragged out of HX Edit/Helix Native to your desktop or any finder window and then dragged back into Stadium via the Helix Stadium app.
• We’ve mentioned this before, but note that the older Hybrid cab engine is NOT in Helix Stadium—only the new cab engine that came with 3.50 and later builds. Any presets with Hybrid cabs will automatically load an equivalent new cab, which will sound different.
• Also note that, at least at launch, Stadium won't be able to automap your IR library to existing presets, due to its all new, much more powerful file system. Unfortunately, you'll need to write down which IR(s) each preset uses. We're hoping that automapping might work in a future FW rev (depending on how annoying it is), but there's no promise—much less timeframe—implied.
• There are a few other minor caveats (select HX EQ models appearing as our new 7-band Parametric, EQ bandwidth and slope improvements, parallel vs. serial levels, single vs. dual cab levels, pan laws, etc.) but we're currently working on a document (and accompanying video perhaps?) called something like "Getting Ready For Helix Stadium” which will provide more details.

So while transferring presets from Helix/HX to Stadium may not be perfectly seamless, Helix/HX presets are actually sounding a bit better in Stadium, which can be apparent in reverb tails, noise level, headroom, etc.

 

[EOengineer]

I’m not sure why I’m interpreting this post as meaning we are getting ready to land soon.

 

[mikah912]

I’m not sure why I’m interpreting this post as meaning we are getting ready to land soon.

They're in final manufacturing testing right now (according to Line 6's official FB), so we are getting close.

 

[Fireproof]

 

[Fireproof]

 

[banned]

Well, it looks gawgeous! I guess good genes.

 

[banned]

I’m not sure why I’m interpreting this post as meaning we are getting ready to land soon.

That's how I'm interpreting it too.

 

[timbuck3]

View attachment 53374

Wow they do look great… love all the knobs below the screen

 

[EOengineer]

My Agoura wish list beyond what’s been announced:

Fender:

1. Brown Princeton
2. Brown Deluxe
3. Tweed Deluxe
4. Tweed Twin
5. Super Reverb
6. Vibroverb
7. Vibrolux
8. BF Champ

Marshall:

1. JTM45
2. 2204
3. Jub
4. Club & Country
5. JMP-1

Mesa:

1. Mark I
2. Mark IIB
3. Mark IIC+
4. Rectifier Rev A-G
5. Blue Angel
6. Studio Preamp
7. Triaxis Preamp
8. Simul 2:90 Power Amp w/modes

Orange:

1. Tiny Terror
2. AD30HTC
3. Rockerverb III

Deizel:

1. Herbert
2. VH-4

Friedman:

1. BE-100 Deluxe

Misc:

1. Neve 1073 or 1084
2. API 512
3. Pultec EQ
4. 1176
5. SSL EQ

You know…just a couple things.
Edit(…And a trainwreck - thanks Tim)

 

[timbuck3]

My Agoura wish list beyond what’s been announced:

Fender:

1. Brown Princeton
2. Brown Deluxe
3. Tweed Deluxe
4. Tweed Twin
5. Super Reverb
6. Vibroverb
7. Vibrolux
8. BF Champ

Marshall:

1. JTM45
2. 2204
3. Jub
4. Club & Country
5. JMP-1

Mesa:

1. Mark I
2. Mark IIB
3. Mark IIC+
4. Rectifier Rev A-G
5. Blue Angel
6. Studio Preamp
7. Triaxis Preamp
8. Simul 2:90 Power Amp w/modes

Orange:

1. Tiny Terror
2. AD30HTC
3. Rockerverb III

Deizel:

1. Herbert
2. VH-4

Misc:

1. Neve 1073 or 1084
2. API 512
3. Pultec EQ
4. 1176
5. SSL EQ

You know…just a couple things.

Forgot the trainwreck

 

[Fireproof]

Forgot the trainwreck

Agreed!

 

[laxu]

@Digital Igloo Have you considered any way to upgrade existing Helix presets to Agoura models? E.g if you have a compatible Agoura model of a Helix amp, importing a Helix preset would give you the option to upgrade the amp model to the Agoura model with e.g the same base Gain/Master/Treble/Middle/Bass/Presence/Resonance settings to start?

Otherwise you need to slap the Agoura model in your preset and A/B until you get to where you want.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Otherwise you need to slap the Agoura model in your preset and A/B until you get to where you want.

It'd be cool if parameters stayed the same when switching from a legacy to an Agoura model (and also when switching between amp and amp&cab blocks, that's possibly overdue since 2015 already...).