Line 6 is now pricing itself near fractal territory, will be interesting to see what they bring to the table?

At risk of doing an about face and over-emphasizing the importance of a touchscreen… First, obviously, the touchscreen is a sort of “first domino to fall”, making so many other UI elements possible, as demonstrated in the Stadium’s design.

But, while I wouldn’t use the word “game-changing”, I do think that the touchscreen on the QC was a substantial, if incremental, improvement. I get that NDSP borrowed heavily from Helix and never properly acknowledged as much - and that you are justifiably pissed off about that. But for all the professional generosity you’ve extended to other competitors over the years, I’ve never seen you acknowledge the actual improvements in UX that the QC brought to the table. (The global setup view alone deserves honorable mention IMO.)

NOT that you owe NDSP anything, but it is what it is. I would have saved a lot of coin if I didn’t like the QC, so this can’t all be in my head.
The QC was small/sleek, had a touch screen, rotary encoders, profiling + modelling
IMO it was pretty gamechanging compared to the competition at the time. Heck even right now no other modeller has (good) profiling + modelling. I know we dunk on the timeline rollout but as someone who happens to own a bunch of their plugins, being able to use those on the unit is also unique... credit where credit is due on the QC, it isn't just a [insert modeller] clone.
 
I wonder if anybody at line 6, who plays a fractal dials things in and says wow that sound or that effect just kicks our butt because for some reason I think if it was the other way around, I don’t think Cliff would have that same idea or notion or opinion

I think everyone at Line 6 and Fractal sit down with each other’s gear, and think “damn, I wonder what will actually make Timbuck stop posting weird unrelated videos in threads, and actually buy a modeler?”
 
The QC was small/sleek, had a touch screen, rotary encoders, profiling + modelling
IMO it was pretty gamechanging compared to the competition at the time. Heck even right now no other modeller has (good) profiling + modelling. I know we dunk on the timeline rollout but as someone who happens to own a bunch of their plugins, being able to use those on the unit is also unique... credit where credit is due on the QC, it isn't just a [insert modeller] clone.
Taken as a whole, I agree. It was certainly a game-changer for me (to whatever extent I was even in the game LOL.)

My comments above were solely to do with the (on-screen) UI, which - particularly in the edit grid and performance views - are conspicuously similar to Helix. Of course, I’ve also argued in the past that once you’ve seen/used Helix, a lot of those design decisions become inevitable simply because they make sense. (Especially considering how similar the hardware is in many regards.) Some of those ideas have precedents pre-Helix as well, but that’s a whole discussion unto itself.
 
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I think everyone at Line 6 and Fractal sit down with each other’s gear, and think “damn, I wonder what will actually make Timbuck stop posting weird unrelated videos in threads, and actually buy a modeler?”
I hear from and inside source that the this is the theme for NAMM this year , everyone is competing for Timbucks $$$$
 
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