Line6 Helix Stadium

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brendanmakesmusic said:
I don't care how easy the UI is to navigate to build presets, I have a computer to do that, and that's part of my job I do before I show up to play. I hope AxeEdit gets better and more user friendly, and I know a lot of people like the Helix line, but there's a lot of aspects of these units that continue to scream "hobbyist".

Also, I'm sick to death hearing about "capture" technology. I have some really nice tube amps. I'd still rather have an expert do an authentic amp model for me to use. I have yet to meet another working musician who gives a damn about amp capture tech being available to us at home.
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Crazy.....wonder how many other pieces of gear out there you would bypass the UI and use a computer first ???

Maybe that Slash/Laptop guy meme is legit.

As far as working musicians/non hobbyist goes last time I checked they had a pretty impressive resume.
 
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yek said:
That backpack seems to be very expensive ...
When I bought a Ciari guitar recently, they included a very high quality multi-purpose backpack, for free.

Anyway, kudos to Line 6. Being a convinced Fractal user doesn't mean I can't appreciate steps made by other brands. Even if nobody has hands on the product yet. Line 6 has always produced interesting stuff. Plus, Eric Klein is a nice guy.

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I appreciate you so much for saying this.

Re the backpack - I do a lot of motocamping, and that price seems around what I would expect a good quality backpack to cost. That said, it would be nice if they'd bundle it in for a good discount.
 
brendanmakesmusic said:
Also, I'm sick to death hearing about "capture" technology.
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Capture technology is nothing to get worked-up about. It's a train that left the station a long while ago, but nobody's forcing you to jump on it. I, too, would far prefer FAS provide their highest of quality modeling to my favorite amps and pedals....but they all happen to be bass amps and pedals, which are sorely underrepresented in Fractal land, so that's my selfish concern.

I'm not fan of L6, but they've just provided every frustrated KPA & QC owner a reason to jump ship to the Stadium platform, sooner or later.
 
That built in backing track player is looking so tempting. My FM9 setup+backing track manager+backing track DI+vocal preamp mandates a pedalboard at least 36 if not 42 inches for expression pedals. It's not fun carrying that all around. The backing track player runs all my lights and midi and preset switching. It's pretty important.

I don't expect the modelling to be on par with Fractal but man that is just INCREDIBLY appealing to downsize everything and simplified to one unit, no floorboard, no patch cables, one warranty. Plus it's closer to 1k dollars to add all that to your rig. An FM9 just became an Ax3 in price, and an Ax3+FC12 just became about twice the price of a stadium.
 
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I like Line 6 gear in general, I still use a G90 wireless, I’ve had it since it came out, zero issues. I have a G50 on my B-Rig pedalboard, they both use the same transmitter and the sound quality is superb.

That new Helix will most likely sound good and be loaded with a boatload of useful features.

What it will never have is the support and relentless pursuit of tonal nirvana that FAS offers… I cannot believe the drive (pun intended) that Cliff and the team have to not only constantly improve their product, but they do it for free too!
 
jimfist said:
Capture technology is nothing to get worked-up about. It's a train that left the station a long while ago, but nobody's forcing you to jump on it. I, too, would far prefer FAS provide their highest of quality modeling to my favorite amps and pedals....but they all happen to be bass amps and pedals, which are sorely underrepresented in Fractal land, so that's my selfish concern.

I'm not fan of L6, but they've just provided every frustrated KPA & QC owner a reason to jump ship to the Stadium platform, sooner or later.
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I remember the argument “well the captures only are for that eq setting and the knobs don’t match the real amp blah blah” then liquid profiling came out...


Saying this the III is now my main guitar rig and the Helix rack for guitar synth.
QC and Kemper will probably get sold just wanting to downsize.


I loathe the UI on the III but having a cymatic player to do all patch changes etc for a small set of patches is a good enough compromise for me.


Hopefully prior to the IV some serious thought is put into the UI. The tones are there already on the III.
 
All I could think of is from Pat Metheny's commencement address to Berklee (highlight added):

"Because for as much as I can stand here and claim to be a successful player, with Grammy awards and winning polls and now honorary degrees and all that stuff; one very fundamental thing has not changed, and I realized that it will never change, and that is this—that the main thing in my life, even as I stand here right now, right this second, is that I really need to go home and practice."
 
We gear guys should be delighted about a company striving to improve their product line and come up with something new.
Doesn't mean I'm going to get it, but I'll eventually test drive it once the Guitar Centers of the world put it out on the demo floor.
If I thought it met my needs and sounded better than Fractal, then I'd get it. But I left the Helix world for the Fractal.

But no matter how nice my gear is, it doesn't matter if I don't practice more.
 
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Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia Laughing GIF
 
wifi/bluetooth preset control is really cool

oled screen is cool I guess

we'll see about their latency reports...

more cloning/capturing is great.....
but unless I see sub 1db null and phase tests or at least better than NAM capabilities.....

good for them that they include that tech in there!

otherwise i don't feel I'm missing out tone wise on the fractal
 
With NAM's quality, I view any attempt at a proprietary capture as a way of locking in an ecosystem for profit. Maybe I'm just stating the obvious. The Stadium does seem to have a nice combination of I/O and UI. I find it odd that they're not looking to phase out their older gear. A refresh to the HX Stomp would probably sell very well.
 
yek said:
As a Fractal user I don't care for anything sound-related in this new product, but some of the I/O and UI features are interesting.
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This.

If the trailer's music is done with the Hx Stadium, then I'm not impressed at all with the tones. BUUUUUT, I've watched the livestream and I admit I was really excited for a lot of the features proposed by L6 (kudos to them) and with all honesty, most of them would pretty welcome additions as a new-gen standard for all modeling gear out there.

I'm all in for whatever FAS has up their sleeves for the always hypothetical next generation, but if this Stadium product had the Fractal Audio brand & sound in it, then my jaw would be hammering the floor right now.

Good times ahead for modeling gear.
 
UI improvements are cool (ie the x/y coordinate touch plane thing to adjust between 4 stock sounds), but, I'm still constantly baffled by priority often expressed toward UI improvement vs tone/accuracy, and am further often baffled by what sounds like a horrific burden of having to click around some menus - I'll take tone / accuracy any day - if they want to throw in some UI goodies fine (but only if its actually faster than menu clicking which it isn't necessarily), but if it costs some tone / accuracy > keep the UI stuff. I don't play the UI, I do play the algos. Will be interesting to see / hear / feel what the new HX modelling is like.
 
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