Line 6 Helix Stadium Hype Check

[cardinal]

sorry but
1) is this thing out yet and 2) does it have the profiling tech or is that coming only at some point after launch?

I'm interested but not until it can profile.

 

[Simon Dorn]

Oh do tell!!! Honestly I think Jon Symons vid was solid. I won’t watch Jason Sadites or a few others because I just don’t like them as people and I’m fine not giving them a click.

I’m certainly looking forward to getting mine in. I’ll definitely be making some 1:1 comparisons of the amp and cab models and sharing those. You may also not like the sounds I get but it is what it is.

They just sound digital, static and boring. No matter the Reviewer, no matter the Device.

 

[Chronic Narnia]

They just sound digital, static and boring. No matter the Reviewer, no matter the Device.

The clips in that video are too dark...it's either the EQ or Cabs they were using. But I don't think it sounds any worse than anything already out there and if the feel is better than that's a win even if the sound is only 10% better. Plus this thing looks like it be a core part of your setup than just providing your guitar tones.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I made a computer rig a couple of years ago, and it worked out so well that I made a second one using a refurbished Dell Latitude Rugged Extreme Tablet with a touchscreen, KMI SoftStep2 and Arturia miniFuse:1 audio interface. Small and compact.

I have and use several guitar plug-ins, and to manage them I use Blue Cat Audio's PatchWork. I organize sets of PW patches into MIDI maps for my KMI SoftStep2. Load a MIDI map into the SoftStep2, gives me up to 10 patches, or I can use fewer patches and dedicate switches to MIDI parameter changes. I have around 6 MIDI maps IIRC.

I have a thread where I'm making a computer centered guitar pedalboard. I'm using Gig Performer, but you are using patchwork, why did you pick that over Gig Performer? I don't know too much about it, but Blue Cat was an early pioneer and a great coder!

 

[rsm]

I have a thread where I'm making a computer centered guitar pedalboard. I'm using Gig Performer, but you are using patchwork, why did you pick that over Gig Performer? I don't know too much about it, but Blue Cat was an early pioneer and a great coder!

I'm not playing live anymore and already had PatchWork that allows me to create virtual parallel racks and signal chains, e.g., I've been using it for 8 parallel Valhalla modulated delay plugin instances like the old MagicStomp used by Holdsworth...along with other guitar plugins. I also use it for keyboard software instruments, racks and parallel signal chains.

Using PatchWork utilities lets me easily add a gain control or add a noise gate utility to patches, to manage them easier, without having to go into each plugin. I load those PatchWork patches into a MIDI map set for the KMI SoftStep2, which has 10 pressure sensitive 4-way switches, each "way" can be mapped to MIDI control parameters, including continuous control, and SoftStep2 is small, light and rugged.

 

[glpg80]

We announced Helix Rack and Helix Control at the same time as Helix Floor. It shipped several months after Floor, however.

Please consider designing an updated monster SS helix head ala the Vetta II series.

 

[Jccobb2]

Man I had a vetta II combo back in the day. Nostalgia!

 

[Kordoba]

I still use the same Pod 2.0 Bean I bought 20+ years ago lmao, I still love it

Scribble strips are for kids.

 

[pipelineaudio]

My Helix Stadium number came up at Sweetwater on Friday and they called to ask if I wanted it, I said, no put it to the next guy on the list, I'll wait for the kinks and such and then the gaslighting began

Holy wow, not quite as bad as their "MOTU 2408 cannot convert ADAT to TDIF", but close!

Still hoping I'm going to get one, but right now, it seems to be zero DSP upgrade for the stuff I need over the Helix Floor I have

 

[Monkey Man]

Holy wow, not quite as bad as their "MOTU 2408 cannot convert ADAT to TDIF", but close!

Unless they updated the models the 2408 line was 1990s wasn't it?

For the time they were groundbreaking. More I/O in different formats than anything else IIRC.

 

[Jccobb2]

My Helix Stadium number came up at Sweetwater on Friday and they called to ask if I wanted it, I said, no put it to the next guy on the list, I'll wait for the kinks and such and then the gaslighting began

Holy wow, not quite as bad as their "MOTU 2408 cannot convert ADAT to TDIF", but close!

Still hoping I'm going to get one, but right now, it seems to be zero DSP upgrade for the stuff I need over the Helix Floor I have

A few experiments have shown it to have about 2.5x the DSP over the original helix floor. Not groundbreaking, but a definite improvement. This is the only modeler I have now, and it’s sufficient for about anything I could imagine. Some use cases could use more power I guess.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Unless they updated the models the 2408 line was 1990s wasn't it?

For the time they were groundbreaking. More I/O in different formats than anything else IIRC.

Not just for their time. I have a 2408mkii running in one of the rooms at the school right now. Current drivers still and still some of the lowest round trip latency available on any device at any price. Too bad MoTU couldn’t have kept that up!

 

[pipelineaudio]

A few experiments have shown it to have about 2.5x the DSP over the original helix floor. Not groundbreaking, but a definite improvement. This is the only modeler I have now, and it’s sufficient for about anything I could imagine. Some use cases could use more power I guess.

Even if it was 100 times the power, they have limited what that power could be used for. In my case I gain absolutely nothing in terms of the fx blocks I want to use in the stadium vs the OG floor. It’s possible they will change this though. They have a good record of adding efficiency and maybe they’ll unlock it a bit more. The other question is, for all the Playback Engineer functions that make the stadium so potentially amazing, will those use the same dsp that the guitar processing uses? If so, it could even be a step down from the OG helix in what you could run.

 

[metalmm785]

Can you guys confirm that the effects remain the same as the prior Helix generation? I used to own a Helix, and now have an HX Stomp, which works really well with my pedalboard, and while the effects are pretty good (especially the delays and reverbs), the modulations and drives are just okay. From the little I have read, it seems they haven't improved the quality of the effects, unless I missed something?

 

[Jccobb2]

They’re the same. The hardware is supposedly better which improved the sound quality (converters, headroom, etc).

I didn’t have the prior gen so I can’t comment on that.