Line 6 Helix Stadium

Just finished the vid, damn man, that thing is nuts!

That looks like a perfect response to every gripe and feature request I've heard in the last decade. Jumping up into Fractal territory with the depth of the modeling/tweakability while keeping it easily accessible, the description of parameters for the effects, that mixer is badass, that all seems very well thought out and implemented. Focus mode is pretty badass, like fingerpainting your tone! Very clever and I dig the way the controls follow the finger movement, kicking it up a notch to morph between those zones is awesome. I have some presets that just step up in Gain from the amp block rather than using Drive pedals, I could see myself certainly using that.

Then the whole Showcase side of things, fucking hell, man! I wish my uncle were going to keep gigging after he retires, that whole song splitter and the ability to plug a mic into it...he used to carry an 8-space rack with some outboard gear, rack casette player, power amp and a Mackie on top to do the one-man band acoustic act just to play along with the backing tracks he made himself. This would be right up his alley. Hell, this is right up MY alley and could potentially get me doing solo gigs.

Really badass, man. I can't wait to hear/see these things in action.

Yeah the Footprint and Hype options are interesting. The ability to kind of blend between a handful of your favorite device presets (which may or may not be similar) opens up some interesting discovery potential, especially with effects. And Hype kinda forces you to hear with your ears vs eyes etc.

These are the kinds of quirky discovery features you want from digital devices. Curious to see how useful those features wind up.
 
"Proxy is unique in that ... it is designed to expand...

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Brb, just going to capture a pickle for everyone!
 
That's what people said about the $1500 Helix charged at launch, and uh....don't think you have anything to be worried about on that front.

It's worth it if you're interested at all in the product.
Excitedly awaiting (The rush to $ell pre-Stadium Helix gear) to impact current for sale price$ the COVID stimmy kiddies are currently trying to get for units bought with free 💵 during 2020-2021 :rofl

Wakey, wakey 🥚& 🥓...

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This thing truly amazing and next-level, but unless it has some actual sonic benefits over my FM9, I'd never buy it. The touch screen is just a big waste of money for me. My interaction with a modeler at a rehearsal or show in 99% by foot. At home I interact with it using the computer and editing software in an ergonomic chair with correct posture. I don't WANT to hunch over a screen that is laying flat on the floor or a desk for more than a few seconds. I'd rather have a nice bright high resolution non-touch screen that I can clearly see in direct sunlight from 6 feet away safely protected behind a big thick sheet of plexiglass.

That said, the UI features would be fantastic in an iPad app. Also, the 'hype' knob seems like a brilliant idea. Assuming its implementation isn't just gimmick, I'd love to see Fractal steal that.

-Aaron
 
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I’m irrationally excited to play the Agoura amp models. It’s so much fun to sit down with new gen amp models and re-experiencing the amps, cabs, etc in better resolution and realism.

I know there are others here who’ve also had every L6 iteration going back to the original POD. It’s like Christmas morning every time.
 
Yeah the Footprint and Hype options are interesting. The ability to kind of blend between a handful of your favorite device presets (which may or may not be similar) opens up some interesting discovery potential, especially with effects. And Hype kinda forces you to hear with your ears vs eyes etc.

These are the kinds of quirky discovery features you want from digital devices. Curious to see how useful those features wind up.

Yeah, I'd love to see what that can do with effects!

I don’t absolutely need scribble strips, but I’d miss them after having them on the FM3.

The way I lay out some of my presets, I definitely find them useful, especially when I have a fair amount of presets for a particular situation. But I also gigged for like, 28 years without having scribble strips or even different colored LED's, so I definitely don't need them.

And I'm full on fantasizing about solo gigs right now as a result of that Showcase feature. What I would REALLY like to see with that feature, if it's not already a thing, is the ability to tap tempo whatever songs you have stored in it without it changing the audio quality. I'm down with all the automation stuff, but would really love to be able to change song tempos within a few BPM on the fly to match the energy in the room. If I can automate all the presets, I won't have to worry about scribble strips or LEDs!
 
I'm starting a slush fund stash to buy one of these as soon as they're available, and because I'm a hopeless gear Wh*re I know I should probably start a second fund to buy whatever the Fractal response to this is.

Dammit.
 
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