You now no longer need a Helix Stadium amp modeller to apply use of Line 6’s flagship Augora modelling technology to your electric guitar tone, because the digital guitar amp and effects specialist has just unveiled a guitar plugin to bring all this tone-shaping power to your DAW.
Technically, there are two plugins, and one of them is free. Choose the Helix Stadium Intro plugin and you get five Agoura-modelled amps, with 11 channels in total, plus five matching speaker cabinet models and 16 “studio-quality” effects models.
You also get support for cab IR loading and Line 6’s Proxy clones – meaning you can upload digital “clones” of hardware gear that have been created on a Stadium Helix processor.
This “Intro” version could be your entry point into the Line 6 Stadium Helix tone universe. As Line 6 says, the Helix Stadium Native Intro license provides a curated set of amps and effects at no cost and with no expiration”.
Or you could have a 15-day trial of the full version, whereupon your tone options expand considerably, with 27 amps modelled by Augora (a total of 55 channels), plus 111 HX amps, 46 speaker cabs, and 274 effects.
Again, you get Proxy clone support, with up to four clones per preset, and you can upload IRs. With the full version, presets are compatible with Helix Stadium hardware, and there are a range of discounts for those who already own Line 6 hardware.
Prices start from $99 for those with Helix Stadium processors or the Helix Native plugin, and there is a fairly hefty $399 price tag for those without a qualifying discount, i.e. owners of Line 6 hardware.
Perhaps what Line 6 is counting on is that a free trial of the Stadium Helix Native will make more converts to its hardware.
Or that when you consider everything that is in the plugin – which is a lot – that it adds up to a lot of tones and in-the-box solutions for recording guitars. Quite possibly everything most players would need and then some.
This is very much the Helix Stadium model, only it is not inside a piece of hardware, it is inside your DAW. And again, with Proxy capture support, it is expandable, too. MusicRadar was certainly blown away by the Helix Stadium XL, not only was the Augora amp modelling first class, but that user interface was super intuitive.
"Even in the comfort of the testing room, the Helix Stadium XL is still the most usable modeller I’ve gotten my hands on to date," wrote Matt Owen. 'It’s a ‘best of all worlds’-style approach that has been refined into Line 6’s own style."
The Line 6 Helix Stadium Native plugin is out now. Check it out over at Line 6.
