As some of you know I've been singing praises over my Yamaha all in one THR10c.
It's a practice amp with amazingly accurate amp simulations, it's a portable stereo amplifier for mp3 players, It's an external sound card for computers and it's got some great firmware to access features one can't get from the physical panel.
I'm starting to believe it was a collaboration project from Yamaha and Line6. I only just recently found out about Yamaha aquiring line6. I'm guessing a few jobs will be lost in the process. While most of the time I have less then favorable opinions of aquisitions and mergers this may be a really good thing for Yamaha.
Yamaha makes some amazing mixers for TV, Movie, radio and houses of worship. The problem has been. They are rather quirky pieces of machinery that are hard to get used to working with. They have been losing ground to presounus and other companies with easier to manage ui's and greater versatility. Having something like the Line6 StageScape technology could be a real feather in Yamaha's pocket and return some of ground they have been losing in the mixer realm.
I really really hope they have a hands on approach to the Variax. Even though the Tylers have faster processors then previous verions Line6 hasn't broadened the number of guitar sims through the years. Yamaha not really been seen as a leader in the guitar world could really use Variaz to beef up it's under appreciated electric guitar field. As well Guitarists who prefer all in one guitars really need an all in one guitar that embodies more then the current fair which line6 provides. Would it be so bad if variax had a few ibanez, bc rich, parker, prs or other notable guitars taht have made their mark on the industry post 1980.