Line 6 Helix Stadium

[HotRats]

We do some bizarre shit over here. Most prices are shown before including sales tax which can not only vary by state, but also by county or even city, so it’s hard to know what you will actually pay as a tourist, even an American one.

One big exception to that is fuel, where the advertised price includes taxes and the stations are generally not allowed to post prices without all taxes included. Don’t ask me to explain the logic behind that.

Anyway, where I live, we pay an 8% sales tax on top of the advertised price so an $1800 modeler will really cost $1944.

Here is a list of sales tax rates just for New York State in case you want to know what something will cost before you check out. Super simple right? There are only 80 different tax districts that may or may not have different rates which are never posted and not included in the price tags.

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/sales/pub718.pdf

Yeah, I've been in the US few times and every time the price thing makes me crazy.

Going out for dinner is even worst.

 

[HotRats]

This was an interesting post/ questions I read… anyone know the answers

I wonder if Agoura amp models will dispense with the need to have separate models for different channels of the same amp. For example, rather than having three separate models for Solo Lead (Clean, Crunch and OD) you would just have ONE Solo Lead model with the ability to change channels within the model, just like you would with the physical amp. That would make for more versatility and hopefully take up less DSP than running multiple amp models in the same preset.

Also, I've always wondered why so many of the existing multi-channel Helix amps don't have the clean channel modeled? I have a Bogner Shiva preset and use the German Mahadeva for the overdrive sound, but had to use a US Double Vib placed parallel in the chain for the clean sound. Why not also model the Shiva's clean channel? Or is it considered unnecessary because so many classic clean amps are already modeled and they just assume users will default to those for their clean sounds

Agoura models will have all the channels/inputs in one block with few exceptions.

If I understand that correctly, some complex amps (like the revv) are too big and will be splitted.

The reason why some helix amps don't have their clean channel I belive is historical, is the way Line6 used to do it.
At some point during the helix life they started modelling all the channels.

 

[Mooselake]

I think it's largely a matter of Stadium DSP horesepower versus OG, but that's basically my understanding as well--that whenever possible models will include multiple channels but that won't always be the case. Even in "1.0" there are a couple of single-channel models, but it sounds like when applicable the majority will contain all the amps channels.

One thing Line 6 hasn't said too much specifically about is the processing capacity in Stadium. They've said it's significantly more than OG. They've implied OG generally won't have the number crunching power to handle Agoura amp models. I don't know if the OG decision to limit amp models to one channel per model block was driven by a desire not to consume too much of a signal path with just an amp, reserving more for other blocks, or because a 2/3-channel OG model was just too much for the OG DSP. I expect they'll play that one close to the vest until the fist units start hitting the wild.

I don't have strong feelings about multichannel versus per-channel amp models. I never found the latter to be particularly inconvenient. But if they can achieve multiple channels in a more detailed modeling paradigm with plenty of leftover DSP for supporting blocks/effectsthen I'm pretty excited about the potential as the platform matures.

 

[molul]

I hope the Stadium DSP is powerful enough to handle heavy stuff like for instance poly pitch + 2agouramp+cab. It would be a bit deceiving having more horsepower only to have the same limitations with the new more DSP intensive amps than with OG Helix.

 

[ian_dissonance]

I like the all-channels-one-model idea for live channel switching. Hopefully if they’re all doing the same back half modeling it won’t be as difficult leveling two different gains or figure out which way to switch them so there’s no noise or volume changes.

 

[ian_dissonance]

I hope the Stadium DSP is powerful enough to handle heavy stuff like for instance poly pitch + 2agouramp+cab. It would be a bit deceiving having more horsepower only to have the same limitations with the new more DSP intensive amps than with OG Helix.

I do hope this isn’t a total computer upgrade situation where the fidelity is upped to max out the DSP as fast as the original. I don’t think too many people would be happy with that.

 

[mikah912]

Just to keep expectations in line, @Digital Igloo has said multiple times that:

• They're still optimizing DSP for 1.0, so until that gets established....they won't have answers for specific capacity questions
• They're reserving a chunk of DSP for some significant post 1.0 things on the docket.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I might not be getting a Stadium anyway (at least not any day soon, simply can't justify the expense), but if I ever am, I hope setting up a kitchen sink preset pretty much representing a hybrid loopswitcher based setup will be possible. Given almost all aspects regarding usability, these setups were by far the best I ever used.
As is, not one single all in-one modeler allows me to get there.

 

[Orvillain]

I might not be getting a Stadium anyway (at least not any day soon, simply can't justify the expense), but if I ever am, I hope setting up a kitchen sink preset pretty much representing a hybrid loopswitcher based setup will be possible. Given almost all aspects regarding usability, these setups were by far the best I ever used.
As is, not one single all in-one modeler allows me to get there.

You'll be saying that until the end of time, because your idea of a kitchen sink preset is equivalent to Godzilla wanting to destroy 50 Tokyo's at once.

 

[HotRats]

I might not be getting a Stadium anyway (at least not any day soon, simply can't justify the expense), but if I ever am, I hope setting up a kitchen sink preset pretty much representing a hybrid loopswitcher based setup will be possible. Given almost all aspects regarding usability, these setups were by far the best I ever used.
As is, not one single all in-one modeler allows me to get there.

I believe that giving users the tools to build the best possible kitchen sink preset should be the number one priority for all modellers builders.

 

[Sascha Franck]

You'll be saying that until the end of time, because your idea of a kitchen sink preset is equivalent to Godzilla wanting to destroy 50 Tokyo's at once.

Not even at all. It's much more a matter of organization, really.

Let me give you one very simple example: For a long while, I had an MS-50 in one of my loopswitcher's loops. I used it pretty much for whatever "special moments" only and activated 3-4 sounds on it which I could then cycle through. That very loop was always only active on one single patch.
Without using further devices, you can't do that with any modeler on the market, it's just impossible.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I believe that giving users the tools to build the best possible kitchen sink preset should be the number one priority for all modellers builders.

Fwiw, I could perhaps also get away with a proper implementation of global blocks. But for the time being, nobody does it properly, And even if they were, the example given in my last post would still be impossible.

In a nutshell: Something super trivial with even a pretty low-end-ish loopswitcher setup isn't even remotely possible with the most high end-ish modelers.

 

[laxu]

I might not be getting a Stadium anyway (at least not any day soon, simply can't justify the expense), but if I ever am, I hope setting up a kitchen sink preset pretty much representing a hybrid loopswitcher based setup will be possible. Given almost all aspects regarding usability, these setups were by far the best I ever used.
As is, not one single all in-one modeler allows me to get there.

What features would you need to get there?

 

[Sascha Franck]

What features would you need to get there?

See above. Ideally "sub-presets" that one could cycle through. And global blocks. The combination of those two would be perfect.

 

[Orvillain]

Not even at all. It's much more a matter of organization, really.

Let me give you one very simple example: For a long while, I had an MS-50 in one of my loopswitcher's loops. I used it pretty much for whatever "special moments" only and activated 3-4 sounds on it which I could then cycle through. That very loop was always only active on one single patch.
Without using further devices, you can't do that with any modeler on the market, it's just impossible.

When I want to create a special moment, I wait until I come off stage, and go and hug my wife.

 

[laxu]

See above. Ideally "sub-presets" that one could cycle through. And global blocks. The combination of those two would be perfect.

Aren't sub-presets basically like snapshots? You could also create a split path where you have your special fx set up and then toggle between paths to activate them, or a combination of this and snapshots.

Global blocks would be good and I hope Line6 figures out a solution for this.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Aren't sub-presets basically like snapshots?

No. See, with the scenario described above I need:

- One free patch or snapshot (depending on what way to work is more feasible)
- One switch to toggle between my "sub-presets".

Any other solution available today would need a whole lot more switches.

You could also create a split path where you have your special fx set up and then toggle between paths to activate them, or a combination of this and snapshots.

This is precisely how I did things on the Floor, but I needed one free switch for anything in that particular split.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Global blocks would be good and I hope Line6 figures out a solution for this.

Rule #1: DON'T do it the Boss way!

 

[HomespunEffects]

… Global blocks would be good and I hope Line6 figures out a solution for this.

What’s a global block? Like a fixed cabinet that gets added to every patch?

It would be useful to have a global section that allows you to split off one output for going into an effects return (physical power amp and cabinet) while the XLRs add the power amp and cab in the Helix Stadium. Having those available to every patch would be amazing.

 

[molul]

What’s a global block? Like a fixed cabinet that gets added to every patch?

It would be useful to have a global section that allows you to split off one output for going into an effects return (physical power amp and cabinet) while the XLRs add the power amp and cab in the Helix Stadium. Having those available to every patch would be amazing.

It's like a favorite, but if you update it, it gets updated on every preset where it's used.