Line 6 Variax Workbench HD Software + USB Interface (Macintosh and Windows)

Got a Line 6 Variax guitar? Customize your tone with body style and pickups in this software, then load it into your Variax with the included USB interface.

CREATE CUSTOM INSTRUMENTS WITH VARIAX WORKBENCH HD

Keep track of your custom guitars, store them on your hard drive, email them to friends or just make a backup so you can load your guitars into any James Tyler Variax, Variax Standard or Shuriken Variax. You can create and save as many guitars as you want using Variax Workbench HD.

Variax Workbench HD gives you a wide range of body styles including solid, semi-hollow, hollow, acoustic, resonator and more. The pickup options are equally diverse, allowing you to mix and match components and create combinations you'd never find in real lifelike a semi-hollow guitar with lipstick, P90 and humbucking pickups tuned down a whole octave.

You can also select any Variax pickup model and use it with the natural tone and response of your physical James Tyler Variax, Variax Standard or Shuriken Variax guitar or blend the Variax HD signal with the magnetic pickup sound to create hybrid instruments.

With Variax Workbench HD, you can keep it simple or delve into details including pickup phase, and individual string volume, pitch and muting.

Fill each slot on the "Model" knob with your custom guitar collection up to 60 of your favorite instruments are always within reach.

Includes custom RJ-45 cable, USB hardware interface, and software download.
WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.p65Warnings.ca.gov.

Dimensions and Weight in Packaging
Version 1.5
Shipping Weight: 0.25 lbs
Shipping Dimensions: 5 x 3 x 3 in
Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 99-065-0005

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 818-575-3600

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. (38 ratings)
Submitted August 25, 2011 by a customer from wentzelwerks.com

"Performs as advertised for tweaking Variax sounds."

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Overall, it performs exactly as I had hoped it would.

Sound
Sound quality isn't particularly applicable to this product, but I must say that the Variax 700 comes awful darned close to recreating some of the truly great classic guitar sounds, and having 50 of them at your fingertips at all times is nothing short of addicting! Having the ability to tweak them through Workbench is an incremental benefit that allows you to replace the few sounds that you don't really care for with ones that you do.

Features
Pretty much off-the-shelf parts make up the hardware. The software UI within Workbench is adequate if not elegant. It gets the job done for me.

Ease of Use
Not the most intuitive, but the Help screens give you the basics to do what you need to do. Once you're up and running it is very easy to modify, save and upload new sounds to the Variax.

Quality
One word of caution -- the first time I plugged the RJ45 cable into the Variax it wouldn't come out again. Fortunately someone else out there had had the same problem and posted a solution -- open the Neutrix housing in which the RJ45 plug lives and snap off the plastic tab that is designed to hold the plug in place. It's not needed, since the Neutrix housing has a separate tab/release mechanism that secures it to the jack. And the little plastic tab apparently gets stuck inside and won't release its hold on the read more jack when you try to pull it out. Really annoying! (Not to mention an obvious Quality Control failure on Line 6's part.) Perform this little operation BEFORE PLUGGING IT IN THE FIRST TIME to avoid an hour or two of frustration.

Value
Seems overpriced for what you get -- my guess is that you could put the hardware pieces together yourself at a fraction of the price. But since Line 6 has a monopoly on this technology you don't have much choice. Still, it's worth it if you need to tweak the sounds.

Manufacturer Support
Line 6 support has proven to be very spotty -- I know because I own a lot of their products. Fortunately there is a fairly substantial user group out there who post solutions pretty actively, so you can usually find out what you need to know.

The Wow Factor
Not sexy, but if you want to tweak the onboard sounds in your Variax, it is essential.

Musical Background:
Active Musician/Composer

Musical Style:
Rock/Bluegrass/Songwriter
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Boxed, Version 1.5

$99.99
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