Surprisingly, POD Farm is still a go-to plugin for a bunch of people. And it’s not just your cringey XweekendXwarriorX uncle using it either. Legit killers like Joel & Joey from URM still pull massive tones from POD Farm that are on par with any newer Axe-FX/Kemper/Bias tones on albums out now. But, I bet the ol’ “Big Bottom” patch is about to get a whole lot less use now that Line 6 have announced a plugin version of their Helix units.
“heelix? hellix?” – Bill Burr
For everyone (like me) that lost touch with Line 6 after the X3 bean, Helix is basically the latest line of PODs. Except PODs are considered super lame now so they had to re-brand it with a science-y name like “Helix” to show you that there’s some high-tech shit going on.  And they sound effing sick btw.
The plugin version is called ‘Helix Native’ and it features the exact same architecture, functionality and sounds as it’s hardware counterpart. Thus the patches are supposed to be seamlessly transferable between Helix hardware and Helix Native.
Line 6 plan to release the software sometime in Spring and have it available for about $399 USD. Though, it appears that current Helix rack and pedal owners are gonna be able to pick Helix Native up for about $99 USD. Which is a goddamn steal compared to other amp plugins in the same league.
This is gonna be in your computer soon. No more twisting dials like a friccin’ moron.
All I can say is, I am keen as fuuuh to have these tones as a VST.
All the tentative deets are over at the Line 6 site.
Log o' Prog / February 23, 2017 4:21 pm
Will this have the ability to automate patch changes? This could give Bias a run for their money since they STILL do not have that as a feature (unless you have an ipad which is a bit silly)…
/
Zeke / February 24, 2017 4:35 am
Good question. I haven’t seen any specific details on that so I ‘spose you’ll have to wait until it’s closer to launch to find out for sure.
But if the plugin is just a virtual version of the irl Helix, like they are saying, and you can automate patch changes with MIDI on those… you’d surely be able to do it in the software version, right? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
/
Brad / February 24, 2017 11:20 am
Well first off. Using GD in an article shows you aren’t very well spoken.
Second, musicians love knobs.
So, this tool for the pc will be a welcome addition.
But it will never replace the full hardware.
I will have both, but the helix native will be my practice device IF
The hardware is not with me.
And that’s how most real musicians will use this new software.
/
Zeke / March 2, 2017 5:23 am
GD… que?
/