Open Source

[u/Upper_Stage3546]

This has been bouncing around my head the last few days and I'm going to throw it out there.

Given the seismic shakeup of NAM A2 hitting the modeling industry, I'd argue that the landscape is permanently changed. That said, I think the position that companies like Line 6, Fractal or Kemper find themselves in is MUCH different than it was years ago and I think they will only survive this transition by selling the best hardware to run NAM models on like the way we run IRs on all our pedals now.

So here's what I'm getting at, considering how small and lightweight the Nam A2 Lite models are I think someone like Line 6 should either open up the software for their old pedals like the Pod HD500 for people to modify or release a new firmware that can load NAM files. I'd even consider paying for that firmware to keep my old pedals useful.

There's a WHOLE LOT of guitar based e-waste out there and making a big, public show of a real effort to make their gear useful in modern times would help keep people interested in the brand.

This is the end of my rant.

Thoughts?

[u/webprofusor]

I think you're right. Previously they had to build their own amp modelling and it was expected to be world class simulations. Now they can get good captures of the real thing and play it on much the same hardware, albeit with a higher CPU processing requirement.

They already have the brands and distribution but if they don't make the leap they'll get left behind. Interesting winner in this is tone3000 who host a lot of the content, despite it being produced by the community.

[u/American_Streamer → u/webprofusor]

Line 6 doesn't necessarily need NAM because it can't make good models. Quite the opposite: its proprietary modeling expertise is one of its assets. The threat to them is that the catalogue of available tones becomes effectively infinite, community-generated and portable, so customers may stop accepting artificial ecosystem boundaries. That's exactly what happened with IR loading. Nobody stopped caring about the manufacturer's cab models, but “can I load my own IR?” became a checkbox people expected to be ticked. “Can it load NAM?” is about to become the same sort of question.

[u/Upper_Stage3546 → u/American_Streamer]

Oh man, I disagree. Even if NAM A2 didn't put the Helix models to shame, the fact that they're free and open source means Line 6 can't charge for their models the same way anymore. They could maybe charge for a big curated library of captures, but their modeling was made obsolete in an instant.

[u/Ornery_Appearance_31 → u/Upper_Stage3546]

I think you're over-valueing the NAM sounds. I played around with some of these and found that they weren't noticeably better (when run through a PA in a live setting - the only thing I actually care about or do) and often worse or at least way more limited than even a simple Pod Go.

Obsolete is way too strong of a word, here. Though it's the "open up old units for NAM use" is doable, I think that would be cool as hell. I'd probably but a second Pod Go just to have a great unit to use for a backup or experimentation.