Line 6 Helix Stadium

[ChordInversion]

Kinda looks like he’s taking a cucumber up the ol’ tailpipe to me.

No chance. How would we be able to hear him talking out his ass?

 

[molul]

Since I can’t edit unless it’s within a minute of posting, I have to add this. I’m wondering if the stadium is a leap frog type product between the current helix and the next generation that’s still coming

That would make no sense. It would somehow if you asked it in the Kemper thread

Now, I would say it's more of less safe to think that they could start working in next generation in 2030. Not that it guarantees a new Helix flagship would be out in 2035, but it would be a reasonable estimation.

Not to mention that some features from the next flagship device might be currently being designed or are even already designed for the most part, like the Showcase one.

Other than that, the Stadium is a true next-gen product. I would just enjoy it without thinking that something will inevitably come in the future.

 

[timbuck3]

I get this but I think the legacy amps are nice for the giggers who need consistency and access to the the back catalogue for established shows and recordings. If I were in that category, I’d appreciate it. Having them on a different list or differentiated might help in your case @timbuck3

Yeah, I guess I understand that it’s still called a helix after all
I also wonder if down the line if you can just throw out all the old helix stuff once they create all the new agora amps and effects and just purge the old stuff and replace it

 

[Mooselake]

I would rather just release it with all agora amps and effects only. Reminds me of boss and the x amps. When I had the gt1000 I loved the dynamics of the x amps but there were too few and I also wondered why they didn’t just have all x amps.

I think that would be a lousy decision. There's a lot of really good stuff in OG Helix and it makes no sense to force people invested in the Helix ecosystem to abandon everything as part of the price of going with the new Stadium platform.

Regarding your follow up, IMO Line 6 has made it pretty clear they designed the platform for growth and development well into the future. Maybe Agoura or Proxy as technologies will evolve enough to be renamed, but if they did a good job in creating a modular design with an eye towards future growth, the Stadium platform won't be obsolete should those things happen.

 

[Chocol8]

Yeah, I guess I understand that it’s still called a helix after all
I also wonder if down the line if you can just throw out all the old helix stuff once they create all the new agora amps and effects and just purge the old stuff and replace it

I see no upside to that. Data storage is cheap, and the old models are not going to take up tons of it. I am sure there are plenty of Helix users who have a patch for that one song they don't use very often. If the old amps and effects stay, they can still use that old patch sounding just as good as always. If you strip them out, they will need to make a new patch which could be more effort than it is worth. I would MUCH prefer the old amps stay if I had a bunch of existing presets.

 

[timbuck3]

I’m honestly not trying to be combative I’m just wondering like if the new engine is sounding better than the old helix how is that gonna work in the one unit want people prefer the agora amps if they sound better? I just remember when I had the GT 1000 that I was blown away by the camps And the other apps did nothing for me so in the end I got rid of it because there wasn’t enough variety of xamps , which was their new type. I just wish it had been released with all xamps.
I guess it’s just a lot of unanswered questions which as time comes down to it will be answered so of course this is a good direction and the evolve touchscreen is very nice

 

[laxu]

Yeah, I guess I understand that it’s still called a helix after all
I also wonder if down the line if you can just throw out all the old helix stuff once they create all the new agora amps and effects and just purge the old stuff and replace it

There's really no need to do this, unless they start really needing whatever storage space is needed for them, or want to get rid of the code that runs them. Helix modeling is already good, so it's not like we are talking about going from Agoura back to POD 2.0 or something.

Look at e.g the Fractal Axe-Fx. Released in 2006, and a lot of the functionality created then still exists in some form on the Axe-Fx 3. It's all just been reworked and upgraded over time.

There's no point to reinventing the wheel for a lot of stuff. You just turn the wooden wheel into a metal one, then you invent tires etc.

 

[ian_dissonance]

I think if you’re coming to it from outside Helix you probably don’t care about Legacy amps, people on a direct upgrade path will probably want their stuff in there.

 

[KingsXJJ]

I just remember when I had the GT 1000 that I was blown away by the camps And the other apps did nothing for me so in the end…

Camps and apps of both generations should be welcome IMO.

 

[AlbertA]

In regards to previous models, I see it much like a games console. The PS5 and Xbox Series X both support playing previous generation games. Yeah previous games don't have the latest graphics, latest physics, etc - but still fun to load and play. I imagine existing Helix amps will be much like that ("Hey remember that sound I used to get with so and so amp").

And maybe they can do things like, "Old modeling now runs at higher oversampling rate than before", similar to the gaming space, where "previous generation games now get rendered at higher resolution, and/or higher FPS, and/or have auto HDR applied, etc".

 

[Mooselake]

I’m honestly not trying to be combative I’m just wondering like if the new engine is sounding better than the old helix how is that gonna work in the one unit want people prefer the agora amps if they sound better? I just remember when I had the GT 1000 that I was blown away by the camps And the other apps did nothing for me so in the end I got rid of it because there wasn’t enough variety of xamps , which was their new type. I just wish it had been released with all xamps.
I guess it’s just a lot of unanswered questions which as time comes down to it will be answered so of course this is a good direction and the evolve touchscreen is very nice

I think a fair expectation with Stadium from Line 6 is that over time, Agoura versions of most, if not all, of the OG legacy amps will be added, but that might take months or years to work through the list. I've not heard anything to suggest L6 intends to include the OG models so they don't have to bother developing Agoura models. I think most of the first batch of Agoura's will be amps that exist in the OG modeling. I get that if over time the list of Agoura amps stays relatively paltry, it'll be a problem. But if it grows consistent with L6's Helix track record, I don't see where keeping the OG models on hand becomes a problem. It's not a matter of either/or, it's a both/and situation.

Thinking about it myself, one thing I like about keeping the OG models available on Stadium is that if I have a busy preset and want an additional amp in the preset but don't have DSP for another Agoura amp, it might be possible to slide an OG model in to color the sound. I typically don't make busy complex presets, but I like having options.

A question I have is whether/how much Agoura will impact OG line 6 original amps. Will they develop a way to re-spin them with Agoura? Does it make sense to develop L6 original amp models with Agoura? I've been leaning on the originals more and more as time goes by.

 

[laxu]

A question I have is whether/how much Agoura will impact OG line 6 original amps. Will they develop a way to re-spin them with Agoura? Does it make sense to develop L6 original amp models with Agoura? I've been leaning on the originals more and more as time goes by.

My guess is that they will rework the Line6 originals to Agoura, probably will have a few of those right at release.

The originals are afaik already amps where Line6 didn't have to model stuff like noise that might be part of an original amp's sound.

 

[molul]

94 guitar and 17 bass HX amps.

Several of them are kinda duplicates, one per channel (52 guitar, 7 bass), 15 guitar amps are Line6 originals, some Agoura amps are actually the two channels combined, and they also said the modeling process is easier now, so I don't think it will take many years for them to update all or almost all the current HX amps. I would say around 3-4 years.

 

[GTR37]

94 guitar and 17 bass HX amps.

Several of them are kinda duplicates, one per channel (52 guitar, 7 bass), 15 guitar amps are Line6 originals, some Agoura amps are actually the two channels combined, and they also said the modeling process is easier now, so I don't think it will take many years for them to update all or almost all the current HX amps. I would say around 3-4 years.

I don’t even think it will 3 or 4 years , I suspect the amp models coming in the next HX 3.9 update will be Agoura for stadium
And I think you will get a bunch of Agoura replacements in the first year
At launch there is actually 39 models if they counted each channel like they do now
I could be wrong but I don’t think they will have many Line6 originals at launch maybe the Cartographer as that’s Bens real amp

 

[molul]

Not sure if it's realistic to expect many more amps for Helix. Some more might still arrive, but I could understand if Line6 have way more priority to Stadium updates.

 

[LCW]

Not sure if it's realistic to expect many more amps for Helix. Some more might still arrive, but I could understand if Line6 have way more priority to Stadium updates.

Exactly the reason I won’t buy an OG Helix despite the discounted prices.

 

[timbuck3]

Exactly the reason I won’t buy an OG Helix despite the discounted prices.

I think a lot of people may think like this. When agora amps are out they will sound better then standard helix amps so why not prefer better modeled amps?

 

[molul]

Exactly the reason I won’t buy an OG Helix despite the discounted prices.

I mean, OG Helix has had 10 years of updates and it's a pretty solid product for the price. One could say it's a "finished" product.

They're not abandoning it, but it's not fair to expect Line6 to keep the update frequency now that they have a new flagship to feed.

If you need a product that's going to get many updates in the future, then yes, OG Helix is not for you.

 

[Mooselake]

... I could be wrong but I don’t think they will have many Line6 originals at launch maybe the Cartographer as that’s Bens real amp

I'm not sure they'll have any Agoura originals in the initial release, but unless I've been misunderstanding I think they'll have all the OG originals. I don't even know if it makes sense to use Agoura to make originals since they'll have the hype parameter which I think accomplishes a lot of what the originals were accomplishing--taking the rough edges off of real amps and making them a little more idealized.

 

[laxu]

Exactly the reason I won’t buy an OG Helix despite the discounted prices.

I mean...will you be really disappointed if you have only 94 guitar amp models, or I think 46 unique amps?

I've never felt the number of models was that relevant. I've liked modelers with as few as 3-4 amp models.

To me the reason to pick any latest gen version is almost always about usability. Helix in its current form is still pretty user friendly, but I definitely want the Stadium for the modern UI first and foremost.