Line 6 Helix Stadium

[laxu]

It would be a dream if they could just release their modeling toolset so you could virtually create your own amps. Something like sticking together your own schematic. Real world modeling stuff is probably way to complicated and needs a lot more digital know how than your usual DIY throw some tube amp parts together and tweak until it sound good. But a virtual tube amp construcion kit, that would be fun for some people. On the other side... option paralysis, rabbit hole, less play time.

That's the kind of stuff that 0.01% of users will actually use. Line6 released a programmable ToneCore pedal back in the day with a development kit and I don't think that got anywhere.

Even if a "build your own amp model" thing was a much more simplified thing...very few would be willing to cobble together models from schematics.

 

[mikah912]

Also am I crazy or did Di say 22 amp models
16 guitar 5 bass did another one get added or was I remembering wrong

No, same as always. 16 guitar and 6 bass amps. Some of those are multichannel, and the number of total channels is currently 39. The Ampeg 50th anniversary bass amp alone has 5 confirmed channels switchable within the model. So that goes from 22 to 26.

There are 13 more channels to be accounted for. Feels like we're trying to find the final five Cylons or something with this sleuthing.....

 

[EOengineer]

Best Metallica song imo

That riff is so hard to nail like he used to. Dudes right hand is going in the rnr hof.

"My picking hand was left wanting"

This is the real truth. I grew up playing so much Metallica that my friends would make fun of me because anything fast just sounded like Metallica (but shitty). I still have moments where I’m like - yeah…don’t gallop there.

 

[EOengineer]

I think it mainly makes sense for amps that have those "some component changes over revisions" type stuff. Dual Rectifiers, Mark II, Mark III, various Friedman BE models, Orange Rockerverbs etc.

Oh for sure. I bet they could grey out parameters that don’t belong, or just split them accordingly (so 2 recto models rather than 20). Dual’s and Triples from C-G would be pretty rad.

A lot of multichannel amps are kind of trying to offer what modellers offer and I don’t think I’d care too much about some amps clean channels. Friedman BE, Uberschall, a lot of Peavey’s are just kind of functional basic circuits to fill a need rather than the core of what the amp is about. Not sure I’ve ever used the clean on an Uber, BE100, or Peavey XXX for more than about a minute. There’s definitely a couple of exceptions, but it’ll be interesting if L6 take a completionist route now.

Yup, I think we’re in agreement.

Man this would be an amazing feature. Imagine being a teenager just starting to learn about gear and then being able to just load up the Mesa Mark III model to play through a red, purple, blue, or green stripe to determine whether you prefer one over the other vs hours and hours of internet research and YouTube clips.

Would be an absolute killer feature.

 

[Mikael Dez]

That riff is so hard to nail like he used to. Dudes right hand is going in the rnr hof.

I always cheat and alternate pick his riffs, or else it just sounds like shit lol

 

[Sascha Franck]

It would be a dream if they could just release their modeling toolset so you could virtually create your own amps.

I don't think that'll ever happen. If you want that much detail, FAS possibly is the better choice.
I also think it'd confuse some L6 customers as they're rather familiar with ease-of-use interfaces. Which I could perfectly understand.
I was only calling it "playground amp" because most of the things (minus separate pre- and power amps) are the thing's I'm using in many, many patches (I think it's similar for many other folks as well, at least when it comes to pre-dirt and post-EQ) - and I simply wish they were more accessible in one single amp block.

 

[Mikael Dez]

...and now I'm on a AJFA kick, can't be stopped now

 

[EOengineer]

I always cheat and alternate pick his riffs, or else it just sounds like shit lol

Yeah there are definitely riffs where I’m like “oh I’m nailing it!” and then you realize he’s downpicking the whole thing.

 

[ChordInversion]

I said I could do it all day, then I stepped away and focused on music for a while. :)

History suggests not really, generally speaking once captures are added its pretty set and forget. Kemper took how long to bring out some updates? ToneX had one update a couple months after launch and its been 2 years since. I dont think QC has had any upgrades in captures. I don't think captures really warrant that much upgrading once its in there. If it's on par with NAM its already in the acceptable range for most people that could last a generation of that device.

Plausible. But you have to admit that those vendors are not necessarily indicative of what everyone will do with profile/capture. Neural has all kinds of issues, Christoph seems to think there were never improvements to be made, and IK seems half-interested much of the time.

There are certainly improvements that can be made - the vendors just rarely chose to make them. Liquid Profiling was one example. If we say "aliasing" three times, you know we'll summon people who can speak to the need for improvements in profiling and captures. And Line6 has never been one to just lie back and let something languish at good enough in the first place.

If anything, I'm actually giving Line6 credit for the idea that they will resource an offering on an ongoing basis to iterate and improve it. It's kind of diminishing of their track record (and the operating expense investment in Proxy - see below) to assert otherwise.

If anything being able to run captures across the helix stadium range just sells more units.... and that money goes back into... you guessed it, the helix ecosystem aka more models.

They're also standing up cloud infrastructure to process everyone's captures for no charge. It has baked in operating expense if they never put a single resource into improving or honing or feature enhancing the capture side. It could balance out in favor of generating more resources for general development. It's a huge and honestly weird stretch to assert confidently that will be the case.

I'll likely never use the showcase features but its cool they're there if the need arises, i'll just rationally ignore it when im not using it.

I'd prefer to just be able to hide captures in the UI (although if I can be confident I'd never even see it unless I go looking, that's close enough). I won't continue to bring it up unprompted, but I'll reiterate by way of responding to people until the heat death if the universe if need be.

 

[timbuck3]

Preorders are officially live on SW

Same on gc

 

[Elf]

Rare modern amp model request for Agora - Fryette Aether. It's totally one of a kind and can really showcase the touch-sensitive/dynamics capabilities of Agora modeling (if Agora is up to the task of course!)

$5K USD!

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

Yeah but hear me out. People who still use legacy cabs aren’t people.

 

[StarF666]

That's the kind of stuff that 0.01% of users will actually use. Line6 released a programmable ToneCore pedal back in the day with a development kit and I don't think that got anywhere.

Even if a "build your own amp model" thing was a much more simplified thing...very few would be willing to cobble together models from schematics.

I know. That's why I said "dream". I absolutely 100% agree that this would not be used by many. But it could be a chance for 3rd party market though that is pretty much covered by profiling I guess.

I don't think that'll ever happen. If you want that much detail, FAS possibly is the better choice.
I also think it'd confuse some L6 customers as they're rather familiar with ease-of-use interfaces. Which I could perfectly understand.
I was only calling it "playground amp" because most of the things (minus separate pre- and power amps) are the thing's I'm using in many, many patches (I think it's similar for many other folks as well, at least when it comes to pre-dirt and post-EQ) - and I simply wish they were more accessible in one single amp block.

It's nothing that I need in any way. I'm commited to the Helix ecosystem with a Floor and Native and hopefully a Stadium soon and a Stomp soon after. But as a part time DIYer it's something I could imagine.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

Line6 released a programmable ToneCore pedal back in the day with a development kit and I don't think that got anywhere.

I've often thought they released that to shut up loudmouth forum dwellers who publicly mused they could do better. Turns out programming these algorithms is pretty freakin hard.

 

[ChordInversion]

It would be a dream if they could just release their modeling toolset so you could virtually create your own amps. Something like sticking together your own schematic. Real world modeling stuff is probably way to complicated and needs a lot more digital know how than your usual DIY throw some tube amp parts together and tweak until it sound good. But a virtual tube amp construcion kit, that would be fun for some people. On the other side... option paralysis, rabbit hole, less play time.

That would be pretty cool, I agree. I don't expect them to do it, but it would be cool.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Another idea/small request that will probably satisfy about 3 people besides me.

With less constraints on the cab engine, I’d love to see the current ones expanded more.

Capturing all 4 available speakers in each cab, and capturing the full horizontal width. I don’t tend to move mics up or down on a cab so IMO every possible position is redundant. But each speaker sounds a bit different, and different positions in the cab vary a bit too. And they can all be worthwhile depending on the use, and everyone has their preference on what sounds good.

I’d love to hear the other speakers and positions in Line 6’s Uberkab as well as their Mesa. I hate their BV V30 speaker in Helix atm but I wonder if the other 3 speakers in that cab sound like that?

Also loads of engineers famously put mics on different speakers, check photos of how all the Vancouver trained guys do it - GGGarth Richardson, Bob Rock, Mike Plotnikoff, Staub, Mike Fraser etc. Obviously TONS of other guys do similar too. Being constrained to only a small portion of one speaker from a cab is quite limiting

Amplitube has gone pretty far on this stuff and their VIR library is pretty cool now.

 

[GTR37]

No, same as always. 16 guitar and 6 bass amps. Some of those are multichannel, and the number of total channels is currently 39. The Ampeg 50th anniversary bass amp alone has 5 confirmed channels switchable within the model. So that goes from 22 to 26.

There are 13 more channels to be accounted for. Feels like we're trying to find the final five Cylons or something with this sleuthing.....

lol well we know they won’t be the Line6 originals so scratch those from the list

 

[banned]

This would be amazing but IMO you quickly start to encounter problematic edge cases. If I want to toggle through revision a-g rectifiers, probably not a huge issue. More significant changes, such as the move to 3 channel models, likely becomes its own model or something.

Not saying it can’t be done or isn’t valuable, as I think it would be an AMAZING feature, but may get hairy.

I think revisions is where they should sell packs for folks that want them. 90% of the sounds between the revisions are similar - just different knob setting. I'd put them behind a paywall for folks that really want them. Let the core team work on core sounds.

 

[mikah912]

lol well we know they won’t be the Line6 originals so scratch those from the list

Revv and Bogner Ecstasy each have an additional channel, so it's more like there are 11 yet to be revealed.

 

[banned]

I'm so glad the Line6 team is now thinking in terms of amps and not channels - I hope we don't shift the conversation to channels - it is so much nicer to just think of a digital twin of an amp versus thinking in terms of channels.