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LINE 6 VARIAX WORKBENCH (editor/librarian software)


Anderton

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Variax Workbench – Prologue

 

Yeah, I’m a Variax fan. I know some people don’t like the concept (“Okay, it may sound like a Tele, but y'know, it doesn’t feel like a Tele”). But for me, it fills a huge space in my guitar collection – namely, everything I don’t have! Drop a Variax model in on a track, and few (if any) people can tell the difference between the Variax and “the real thing.” And I also love the fact that you can sit right in front of a monitor and power amp, with dimmers on, and nothing comes through the pickups.

 

But this isn’t about the Variax, it’s about an accessory that lets you customize the sound and save presets of customized guitars. Want to move the pickups, create alternate tunings, swap out body styles, and more? Well, this is your “virtual soldering iron” and workbench. And it also brings home a telling point about the Variax concept: The guitar is real, but what makes the sound is virtual, and therefore highly malleable.

 

This review is intended to answer two questions:

 

1. If I have a Variax, is this a worthwhile accessory?

2. How well does Variax Workbench deliver on its promise?

 

So, let’s rip open the packaging and get started.

 

To go to the Line 6 web site for specs, features, movies, etc., click here

To jump to a photo gallery of shots of the unit and screen shots, click here

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This is packaged as your basic impulse item – a blister pack with bright graphics that contains:

 

 A program CD

 Mysterious-looking Variax-to-USB adapter in a small, cool-looking translucent plastic box

 Variax cable for plugging into the adapter

 USB cable to connect the adapter to the computer

 

In short, everything you need. The package is compatible with all electric guitar Variax models (but not with the acoustic or bass models) and lists for $139.99.

 

The program’s minimum system requirements are Mac G4 running OS X 10.3, or 500Mhz PIII with Windows XP or 2K. However, also note that the USB box draws power from the USB port, so if you’re using a hub, it needs to have its own power supply. I decided to load the program into my dual Athlon computer designed by Pete Leoni, running Windows XP.

 

Upon inserting the computer, a big “BEFORE CONNECTING YOUR HARDWARE” showed up on the screen (click on the Attachment to see this). This sure beats having a ReadMe stuck somewhere on the CD-ROM. So I followed the directions, and started installation. The installed files take up about 20MB on your hard drive, and include the Workbench program itself, Java Runtime Environment, and a flash firmware updater (the Line 6 “Monkey”).

 

I do suggest that Line 6 fire whoever wrote the installer immediately. Why? Because it’s the clearest installer I’ve used in some time, and the person/people who wrote it should immediately become freelancers and write installers for other companies in this industry. ’Nuff said. Most of the time with installers, there’s some part that’s unclear, a restart or other weirdness that’s not explained, or some other issue. Not so this time around. So far, so good.

 

All right, let's start messing with the Variax and see what happens.

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Well, it turned out there was more to getting things up and running than installation. I booted up the program, whereupon a screen said “Looks Like You Need to Get Set Up.” Apparently it could tell that a Variax was not connected, and there was a clear diagram showing how to hook everything up. Click on the attachment to see the diagram. Okay, cool.

 

But that’s when I ran into my first big problem: You need an internet connection to set up and do any updates. But my music computer doesn’t have an internet connection, and there was no information on how to pull off the update using a different computer. What to do?

 

Well, I just got DSL, and the DSL modem has USB, and my computer has USB, so…

 

I hooked up USB, ran the DSL installer so my computer would recognize the DSL modem, clicked on “Run Line 6 Monkey,” and wow – the computer connected to the net (albeit without a firewall or virus checker, ooops). I set up a Line 6 user account, and shortly thereafter, downloaded the Monkey updater and ran it, then downloaded the Variax Workbench update itself and did the update. This again required connecting to the internet; given that all the updates ended up being over 30MB, I think broadband is pretty much essential.

 

Finally…ready to go! Or…not. I set up everything as specified, loaded Variax Workbench, and was given a warning that the firmware wasn’t up to date. Hmmm…thought I just did that. Anyway, time for another trip to the web and another firmware update. This time it “took,” but the Workbench software itself didn’t appear to be updated. So I downloaded and installed one more time.

 

All in all, getting up and running was both a drag and a piece of cake. A drag because I had to do a lot of updating and do a little headscratching, but also a piece of cake because you really are guided along every step of the somewhat circuitous way. Eventually the Flash Memory upgrade was complete (it takes a while), the stars were in alignment, the Monkey said everything was good to go, and as it turned out – it was indeed. I was now ready to check out the totally up-to-date Workbench. For the record, that meant 3.05 Firmware and Variax Workbench V1.1.

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I thought I’d check out the help options, and I was pretty impressed – the Help screens are dense and informative.

 

But the first “really cool discovery” was the String Volume window. Yes, one of the main complaints about the Variax – string to string variations – is a thing of the past. Once you have this optimized, you can save the settings to flash memory and this will affect all guitar models. And it’s a lot easier than adjusting pole pieces.

 

Click on the attachment to see the String Volume window. Note the easy to adjust sliders, and notes about what the adjustments mean. Frankly, the string-to-string variations never bothered me that much; but being able to fine-tune the string levels is indeed a significant enhancement.

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The Workbench software is actually pretty deep, as there are four main pages.

 

The first page, and the Variax Workbench command center, is the “Tone Locker” page. In the real world, this would be called a “Librarian.” This is where you open up bundles of programs, transfer programs to a “scratch pad” where you can make edits without disturbing what’s in your Variax, move edited files into a Variax bundle, open the editor for advanced tweaking, “sync” what’s in the Tone Locker to what’s in the Variax, and more. This is a more utilitarian part of the program; it’s not exactly exciting, but it makes it easy to manage sounds and create libraries.

 

Click on the Attachment to see the Tone Locker page. The original factory presets are listed in the right window; modified patches are shown on the left. It’s easy to transfer patches from one window to the other. (The center window gives information about the patch.)

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This page is the simplest of the three parameter editing pages, as it has only two parameters: Body type (choose from 28 possibilities) and Volume, which is helpful for balancing levels among patches. I generally start the editing process by choosing the body type, then move along to the other editing pages.

 

Click on the Attachment to see the Body Type page, with a “Rick 360” type body being selected.

 

Well, that’s as far as the review is going today. I’ve just started playing with the Pickups and Control pages, and I must say, they’re really happening…to me they’re the reason (along with the alternate tunings) why some Variax owners will flip over this package. More tomorrow…

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Originally posted by Anderton

For the record, that meant 3.05 Firmware and Variax Workbench V1.1.

Hey Craig, is that the Variax guitar fimware you are referring to?

 

I have had my Variax of over a year and I have wondered if they had upgraded the firmware on the guitar.

 

Thanks for the review and I am looking foward to the rest of it.

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And here’s where it gets really interesting. There are two pickups, which you can enable, disable, move anywhere along the neck track, or rotate to change their angle in relationship to the strings. You can stick the pickups in the neck (hey, why not?), or on top of the bridge. Or on top of each other. I was at first disappointed that the Angle and Position fields for the pickups had numericals where you had to type in numbers – until I realized you could just drag and rotate the pickups where you wanted them. After all those years spent with a soldering iron and screwdriver…

 

For each pickup you can choose the type (from 32 options), level, a default setting, angle, and position. You can also wire the pickups out-of-phase or in-phase, and in series or parallel. As far as I’m concerned, this is the most important patch editing page of the Workbench software: It’s possible to create a wide variety of tonalities. I remember the first time I started messing with the Roland VG-8 and heard what happened when you put pickups in the “wrong” positions – same thing here. There are some sounds that would be very hard to imitate with conventional EQ or other processing.

 

Click on the Attachment to see the Pickups page. Note where the pickups are placed – that’s right, in the neck itself – and one is about to be rotated. The pickups are also out of phase, and the resulting sound has a thin, midrangy character that sounds absolutely incredible if you put it through some overdrive-style distortion.

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The differences here aren’t as dramatic as with the pickups page, but you can change the tone control resistance and its associated capacitor, as well as the volume control resistance and its taper (linear or audio). This seems to make a bigger difference with some pickups and body types than others. And again – no solder fumes!

 

Click on the Attachment to see the Controls page. A different capacitance value is about to be selected for the tone control.

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I’ve never really been into alternate tunings that much; it’s just too much hassle to tune and then retune, and I always thought it was kind of excessive to keep extra guitars around for specific tunings.

 

So in this case, Variax Workbench turned me on to something which I’d never really explored before, and I’m glad that it did. There are a bunch of useful presets, but you can adjust tunings however you want. This includes simple capo type effects (it’s pretty cool dropping the whole guitar by a semitone), or very specific tunings. With 12-string models, it’s even possible to adjust the mix of the string pairs, and the amount of detuning between them.

 

Where this really comes into its own is slide guitar. I had a ball setting the tuning to all tonic/octave/fifths, no majors and no minors. I probably should have raised the strings a bit, but hey, it was fun anyway.

 

This is really a very cool feature, and a great addition to the Workbench concept. Click on the Attachment to see an Alternate Tuning preset being selected.

 

Friday it's time for conclusions.

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So, is Variax Workbench a useful accessory to your Variax? That depends. I would answer a resounding “yes,” but then again, I’m a tweaker who has spent a lot of hours doing non-virtual pickup and control rewirings on “real” guitars. The bottom line is that because of Variax Workbench, I’ve been able to create interesting and musically useful Variax variations that are definitely not your standard guitar sounds.

 

The String Volume window is a simple addition, but vital for those who mix and match string gauges. The ability to do alternate tunings opens up a rich, and at least to me, relatively unknown world – especially because you can violate the laws of physics in Line 6’s virtual world, and do things like tune your 6th string up an octave. Try that with a real guitar…better yet, don’t.

 

But is this for everyone? I’m not sure. I’ve never heard anyone complain that the Variax didn’t have enough sound options. I’m sure they’re out there, of course (“Why doesn’t it have a model for Mosrite guitars? I play surf music!”) but let’s face it, the Variax is an extremely versatile instrument, with or without Workbench.

 

Also, Workbench is not for neophytes. First, you need to have decent computer savvy and a broadband connection for best results. Second, learning your way around the software will take a few hours. I’m certainly a veteran of editor/librarian software, but I had to familiarize myself with the rules of the road – for example, there’s an easy way to compare presets, but it took me a while to figure it out.

 

And does it deliver on its promise of being a “virtual workbench”? Obviously, there are some things you can’t do that you can do in the real world – like go “into” the humbucking pickups and mess with the wiring of their individual coils, or add a third pickup. On the other hand, the ease with which you can move pickup placement and angles, change body types, and “rewire” controls is something that can exist only in the virtual world. There are some options that aren’t allowed, like accessing the pickups page with an acoustic model (not too surprising a limitation, really). But limitations are the exception rather than the rule.

 

I don’t think anyone absolutely needs Variax Workbench to be a happy Variax owner – which, come to think of it, is a testimony to the original Variax design. Despite all the hours I’ve logged playing one, I never once thought “Gee, I sure wish I could place the virtual pickups right on top of each other and throw them in series.”

 

But now that I have that capability, I must say it’s intoxicating. For example, I’ve always found the 12-string models to be the weakest of the lot. But with Workbench, I’ve been able to tweak the sounds to end up with something that’s more convincing to my ears. And, I’ve found some “hybrid” guitar sounds that go against the original idea of modeling specific guitars, but to me, this is a totally valid Variax application.

 

If you treat the Variax as a pretty much “plug and play” way to get a bunch of different sounds and are happy with that, then Workbench might be of limited use to your way of working. But if you’re a Variax fan, you’re going to really like the flexibility that Variax Workbench brings to the party. It “opens up” the guitar to possibilities that are, quite simply, achievable in no other way, and with no other instrument. The package is well designed, aesthetically pleasing, and didn’t crash once; for under $100 street price, I think it’s going to make a lot of Variax owners even happier campers.

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Do you know if there has been a firmware revision for the Variax since it's initial release?

 

 

Actually, I don't know if there has been...and I wonder if the Line 6 update did something to the Variax too, not just the USB adapter. Anyone out there from Line 6? Can you answer?

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Originally posted by Jotown

Do you know if there has been a firmware revision for the Variax since it's initial release?

 

 

Jotown,

 

We revised Variax firmware to be compatible with the Workbench system. If you own a Workbench, the included Line 6 Monkey utility will identify the version of firmware your guitar has and take you through the steps (as Craig outlined) to download the Workbench compatible version. If you don't have a Workbench, you don't need to have the latest version, since it's main purpose is to allow Workbench to function with the guitar.

 

Rich

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Originally posted by Rich at L6



Jotown,


We revised Variax firmware to be compatible with the Workbench system. If you own a Workbench, the included Line 6 Monkey utility will identify the version of firmware your guitar has and take you through the steps (as Craig outlined) to download the Workbench compatible version. If you don't have a Workbench, you don't need to have the latest version, since it's main purpose is to allow Workbench to function with the guitar.


Rich

 

 

I downloaded the freeware version of workbench. It never installed. It was because my variax firmware was not compatible.

How do I update the variax fimware? Can I do it thru the POD XTL? I want to use this but I can't. BTW, I have a Variax 300.

 

Also, I emailed this question several times to Line6 Tech support but got no reply.......

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Criag, I was able to download the L6 Monkey program and all the firmware updates for my POD XT on my Internet machine and then just burn them to a CD-R for transportation to my studio DAW program - which is too far away for me to connect to the router via a USB cable. :)

 

You can find the Line 6 download site here.

 

Great review. Sounds like a must have for Variax tone tweakers and experimenters. :cool:

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Craig wrote:

 

"you can violate the laws of physics in Line 6’s virtual world, and do things like tune your 6th string up an octave."

 

and

 

"And, I’ve found some “hybrid” guitar sounds that go against the original idea of modeling specific guitars, but to me, this is a totally valid Variax application."

 

and also

 

"It “opens up” the guitar to possibilities that are, quite simply, achievable in no other way, and with no other instrument."

 

~~~~~~

 

The above are perhaps the absolute best reasons to invent something like this. Imitations of other guitars, etc. don't hold as much interest for me. But creating something that could not possibly exist but sounds cool, different, physically impossible...now to me that's interesting.

 

Cool thread.

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Originally posted by MoreGuitars



I downloaded the freeware version of workbench. It never installed. It was because my variax firmware was not compatible.

How do I update the variax fimware? Can I do it thru the POD XTL? I want to use this but I can't. BTW, I have a Variax 300.


Also, I emailed this question several times to Line6 Tech support but got no reply.......

 

 

You can use the POD xtL to connect the Variax to the Internet via your computer and update your firmware. I'm away from the office, but believe that your V300 will update to v3.07 firmware after you update. Plug a Variax digital interface cable into the Variax input on the xtL (the other end goes in the RJ45 output of the guitar of course). Connect the xtL to your computer via the USB output. It will now allow you to access the downloads on our site, in place of using the Workbench hardware.

 

Go to the Line 6 software download page by clicking on "Support" on our main page. Once there, download the Line 6 Monkey by selecting it from the Software drop-down menu. Click "Show" to access the right version for your system. Once installed, run the Monkey and you will see which version you have and can update your V300 to work with Workbench. Please note this caveat from the site that may apply to your PC setup:

IMPORTANT: There is an issue with Line 6 Monkey and systems that have an Athlon XP processor and the nVidia 2 chipset when updating a Variax 300 or through PODxt Live. As the problem is very hardware-specific, we ask that you seek out a different PC configuration for the update. We have experienced no issues running the Workbench 1.10 application with PODxt Live/Variax 300 on such systems once the update is complete.

 

Please check this out and let me know how it turns out. If you run into problems, let me know and I'll be sure to hae someone contact you Monday when we get back to the shop.

 

Rich at Line 6

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Originally posted by Rich at L6



You can use the POD xtL to connect the Variax to the Internet via your computer and update your firmware. I'm away from the office, but believe that your V300 will update to v3.07 firmware after you update. Plug a Variax digital interface cable into the Variax input on the xtL (the other end goes in the RJ45 output of the guitar of course). Connect the xtL to your computer via the USB output. It will now allow you to access the downloads on our site, in place of using the Workbench hardware.


Go to the Line 6 software download page by clicking on "Support" on our main page. Once there, download the Line 6 Monkey by selecting it from the Software drop-down menu. Click "Show" to access the right version for your system. Once installed, run the Monkey and you will see which version you have and can update your V300 to work with Workbench. Please note this caveat from the site that may apply to your PC setup:

IMPORTANT: There is an issue with Line 6 Monkey and systems that have an Athlon XP processor and the nVidia 2 chipset when updating a Variax 300 or through PODxt Live. As the problem is very hardware-specific, we ask that you seek out a different PC configuration for the update. We have experienced no issues running the Workbench 1.10 application with PODxt Live/Variax 300 on such systems once the update is complete.


Please check this out and let me know how it turns out. If you run into problems, let me know and I'll be sure to hae someone contact you Monday when we get back to the shop.


Rich at Line 6

 

 

I tried several times to update thru the XTL. am running a P4 and I am not running the nvidia chipsets. Any suggestions?

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Originally posted by MoreGuitars



I tried several times to update thru the XTL. am running a P4 and I am not running the nvidia chipsets. Any suggestions?

 

 

 

When you get the Line 6 Monkey window up, it should tell you what firmware version you have in the guitar and also what the latest version available is. Can you get this far? If so, what does it say the firmware version in your guitar is and also does it show v3.07 as the latest?

 

I'll be away from the computer until Monday. Please reply and I'll be certain that we get someone to help you get your V300 updated.

 

Rich at Line 6

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I just found this out from Marcus Ryle at Line 6:

 

"Variax Workbench software is available as a free download for guitarists that also own either a PODxt Live or a Vetta II. Both of these products can connect digitally to a Variax, and also to a computer (via USB on the PODxt Live, and via any USB-to-MIDI interface for the Vetta II). In the case of PODxt Live, you also get the benefit of having a digital audio connection to your computer via USB, so not only can you perform all of the Variax Workbench features, but you can record digitally into a recording application any sounds you create."

 

Well now that's pretty cool, I didn't know you could get the software for free without the hardware!

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