Line 6 Helix Stadium

[BenIfin]

You're not wrong about NDSP over-promising, but I still love my QCs too much to really get behind any of this.

As for the robust (IEC, presumably) power supply, that will be one primary reason for keeping a QC on hand: easy deployment on a battery-powered pedalboard.

Fair call. I know I don't do it often but maybe there was a bit of hyperbole in there

 

[Lysander]

I wish they would have gone with local web-based editing so no software install was needed. Like the Headrush Prime series.

NGL, that's a great feature, and completely eliminates the need for native editor software.

 

[mbenigni]

Fair call. I know I don't do it often but maybe there was a bit of hyperbole in there

Plenty of anti-NDSP rhetoric at TGP; easy to ride the wave. (And NDSP makes their own bed half the time.)

 

[BenIfin]

Plenty of anti-NDSP rhetoric at TGP; easy to ride the wave. (And NDSP makes their own bed half the time.)

In fairness, the QC is a great unit - no doubts ... its all their other "corporate / marketing" stuff that grates and makes me cringe.

 

[HotRats]

I've got a kind of boomer question.

Stadium allow to playback tracks, make stems out of them, and link a song to a preset making studying or simply playing a home really fast and easy.

Now the question. In a world where we all basically stream music from a stream service or YouTube where do you get the audiofile of your songs?

 

[Mongillo19]

I've got a kind of boomer question.

Stadium allow to playback tracks, make stems out of them, and link a song to s preset making studying or simply playing a home really fast and easy.

Now the question. In a world where we all basically stream music from a stream service or YouTube where do you get the audiofile of your songs?

I'm sure somehow has more tech answers but if I really want to stem a song I buy it on iTunes and use their software to convert to mp3

 

[The Colonel]

For me it was simply from a laptop browser tab > youtube > share > copy link > paste link.

That plain link wasn't working here.

But, if I then rename the same link in hypertext, with the insert link option - it works.

Thanks. I'll take a look.

 

[HotRats]

I'm sure somehow has more tech answers but if I really want to stem a song I buy it on iTunes and use their software to convert to mp3

Aren't those DRM protected?

 

[Mongillo19]

Aren't those DRM protected?

Not sure? If by that you mean the MP3 conversion being possible, you can do that on the iTunes software.

I then drag and drop the MP3 into moises AI (personally)

 

[Enchilada Jones]

32gig storage card on board, ‘stems’, mixer, etc….
Tell me about the looper!!! It seems a logical assumption is the looper will be robust, foot operated 8 track DAW style robust!

 

[HotRats]

32gig storage card on board, ‘stems’, mixer, etc….
Tell me about the looper!!!

I'm sure digital igloo is working on an epic looper.

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

I've got a kind of boomer question.

Stadium allow to playback tracks, make stems out of them, and link a song to a preset making studying or simply playing a home really fast and easy.

Now the question. In a world where we all basically stream music from a stream service or YouTube where do you get the audiofile of your songs?

If I really have no other option, like a legitimate paid download, I use Reaper and just record whatever audio directly into it.
Then you can export/render that to any format you need it to be in and done.

 

[mbenigni]

I want more devices that make it easier and more fun to play guitar, not necessarily devices that you can make sound the best.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Qobuz is the place to buy your music, IMO. 2025 deserves lossless music as standard. mp3's are for Napster.

 

[Jarick]

Yeah music streaming software has DRM that prevents it from downloading. There are web tools that will pull mp3 audio out of YouTube videos fast and free. That's what I use to load into Anytune which I use to loop and slow down songs to learn them.

What will be interesting is they have AI tools that can create stems from a stereo file. So you could potentially drag an mp3 of "Enter Sandman" into the AI software and it will spit out stereo stems, and then drag that into your Helix Stadium, either mute the original guitars or mix them low, and then play along with the track using the Helix modeling. Plus the Stadium will automate snapshots to the song so you can just set up each tone and then hit play.

 

[HotRats]

If I really have no other option, like a legitimate paid download, I use Reaper and just record whatever audio directly into it.
Then you can export/render that to any format you need it to be in and done.

Yeah, yeah of course there are several ways. Some legal, some less.

My question was more a consideration: there's a feature made to make players life easier but that to be used puts in front of you a new problem you need to solve.

 

[Mikael Dez]

They really should have called it the Double Helix

Hey chuckleberry, there's a whole lot of gear to play & research besides digital guitar modelers, you know like real analog tube amps, not to mention improving music & song writing/creation/performance abilities.

I'd rather not be stuck in the minutia, blow-by-blow of one specific product release, besides I won't be making a decision about *new* direct recording gear for at least 6 months...

But hey, you do you mate

View attachment 46417

what is a Chuckleberry? I don’t speak boomer bruh

 

[dean701]

Hats off to @Digital Igloo
These new units look amazing
Thanks for always keeping in check with your customer base

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Yeah, yeah of course there are several ways. Some legal, some less.

My question was more a consideration: there's a feature made to make players life easier but that to be used puts in front of you a new problem you need to solve.

ok, well I'm not sure what you are asking but I gave a solution.

Another way would be just record it directly into the Stadium onto a new track.

 

[laxu]

@laxu
Btw… any fine anecdotes regarding this new things U.I? Thoughts? Feelings? To early? Surely there’s something you can say

Plenty!

Hardware:

• I'd prefer more compact, but I'm totally fine with it considering what you get in return.
  • It's much smaller than the Helix and the non-XL is a lot more desk friendly.
• Dedicated shortcuts to volumes and quick access to mixer for ins/outs is awesome!
• Dedicated controls for I think either backing tracks or looper controls on the left too. Great!
• Knob for choosing models surrounded by what I assume are page buttons?
  • Not too keen on that, might result in another "oops I bumped the knob and lost all my block settings" issue. It does seem like it might require a few more clicks to activate so maybe it's not a real problem.
• Dedicated Amp block button like Helix. Good!
• 8 encoders. Excellent!
• Capacitive footswitches were always awesome and with this amount will make moving between block editing very easy.

Software:

General:

• Global EQ for each output type is great.
  • I hope they allow for some presets to share between these for e.g headphone correction for different headphones. Atm it seems like you need to copy/paste to move them around.
• All the backing track management stuff seems great.
  • Pairing control functions with this is a great idea.
  • This will result in either being a super great feature, or one that is too complex for many guitarists.

Organization:

• Search with metadata that knows about e.g real amp names is great, so you don't have to think "which one was the Vox again?"
• Quick access to factory vs user default version of a block's settings is great.
• Preset descriptions = great.
• Preset clips = great.
• List and grid views for models is nice. Some prefer finding by name, others like a visual.
• IR and preset folders is nice, but nothing special.

Block editing:

• Concerns about parameter order and lack of grouping. I already talked more about this in the wishlist thread.
• Focus view is a really good idea.
  • Being user configurable is excellent!
  • If you can attach controllers to adjust the cursor position, it would immediately become the best morphing system you can get.
• Integrated manual is great.
• Undo/Redo buttons up top, fantastic!
  • I'd love to see an A/B button too like Helix Native has for easy comparisons.
• Based on a few sections of the Line6 promo video, encoders seem to have a good acceleration curve where params adjust in a natural way as you turn the knob. This was previously an issue with Helix and I never got to try it when they altered the behavior as I had sold mine before.
• I don't mind the 3D pics of amps and fx. Those are basically just wallpaper to give people something plugin-ish for the Focus view, and to give some idea about what they are based on.
• Cabs.
  • Not sure yet. Looks good but how it works with two cabs/mics remains to be seen.
  • Not seeing both mics at once might be a problem.
  • It seems you can do both Cab and IR in the same block at once if you want which is nice.
• Amps.
  • Finally amp models where the channels are in the same model instead of separate ones! I hope they do this for old Helix models too.
  • Hype knob is a good idea. Sometimes absolute realism is not desirable.
  • In case you didn't notice, it says which real amp it's based on in the corner of the Focus view. That's nice!

Overall, super impressed. Way more going on here than I ever expected.