Community: Message List

Re: What every POD HD 500 owner REALLY needs to know!

support@line6.com — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:02:49 GMT

phil_m wrote:

This makes sense to me, and I appreciate all the work you put into it. I also like your wiring diagrams! The only thing that gives me slight pause is that the idea that the input signal is attenuated before being input into a mono effect actually contradicts what's actually in the Advanced Guide. On 6.2 it says this:
Note that when utilizing both Inputs 1 & 2 (or when using “SAME” for either of these Input options) the two Input signals are combined to allow them to be fed into any Amp or mono FX Model within the Pre position, which can result in a hot signal level. Reduce your instruments’ volume as needed to avoid overloading your Pre-positioned Models.
In this and in other places, the Advanced Guide seems to say that using only one input is the way to preserve a true mono input signal. So either you're right and the Advanced Guide is wrong, or there's some other sort of signal processing going on.

Hi Phil,

Interesting discussion here. I don't see that Advanced Guide satement to be "incorrect" though. I think we're just getting beyond that concept into a deeper understanding and different ways to refine the signal chain here. I do recall there being a prevalent problem early on with POD HDs where guys with hot pickups were complaining that they were getting input clipping. I think a lot of that problem was a result of them using the default input routing (where both inputs received the Guitar signal) and then placing a mono amp/effect in the Pre section. So the Guide's statement does serve as a good caution for people running into that problem. I didn't read that statement to be a hard rule to "never use both inputs" since obviously you need to do that (when there is no mono block in the Pre section) to feed your guitar to both paths. I bet that if Line 6 instead made the default that Guitar was only set for Input 1, then a LOT of guys would not figure out how to get their guitar routed to both paths for a lot of presets. So I can see where they probably had to set this to be the default (as well as to have Variax and Line In active by default - so in most cases, most things "just work" when you start using the POD!)

Re: some issues with the POD HD 500

support@line6.com — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:51:58 GMT

I've experienced the #1 issue a few times too, where pressing a footswitch will not work the first time or two, but then seems to be fine the rest of the time I work with the POD for the day. I've attributed that to probably being a partly faulty or dirty footswitch contact, since it is usually the same FS5 switch that has the problem. If I just click it a few times on first power up, I am fine though.

As far as I know, it is normal that the rotary model does not follow the Tap Tempo. But you can assign the Rotary's Speed to be controlled by your EXP pedal, and that allows you to change the speed any time, which is nice since it does not require you change your Tap Tempo which other fx might be following. Cool too that when you change between fast and slow that the speed ramps up/down gradually like a Leslie does.

For the AC Flanger, actually this model doesn't have a "mix" control. Maybe you are adjusting the "manual" control? That is not a mix. None of the AC Flanger controls work as a wet - dry mix, just like the MXR flanger it is modeled after did not have that either. I assume Line 6 is trying to stay true to the original MXR pedal. I kinda wish Line 6 actually did add a mix knob though for more flexibility, even if not on the original. One workaround would be to put the AC Flanger in the A or B path and blend the paths' outputs to get the desired wet and dry.

Re: Well the update for Mountain Lion doesn't seem to work....Pod 500HD

support@line6.com — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:38:56 GMT

I am using the 7.1.9 driver on Mtn Lion and all is working great for me with my POD HD500 and my old UX2. No crackles or pops at all even on long recordings. I am using Logic 9 Pro mostly, but also tried in GrageBand and the latest Reaper 64bit version.

Re: Got a Pod Manual in Kindle Format?

support@line6.com — Sun, 27 May 2012 22:02:19 GMT

I have a few of the manuals just as PDF files on my Kindle and they look fine to me that way - I was just viewing the POD HD500 Advanced Guide on there and it looks pretty much the same on the kindle screen as on my computer. I don't think some of the hyperlinks work on kindle though. Do the PDFs not look right for you?

Re: HD500 USB is interfering with SPDIF! Is this normal behavior?

support@line6.com — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:02:31 GMT

That does not sound normal, and I don't get that problem here. Have you checked to see if maybe you have the "Hardware Monitor Level" slider turned down? This is in the Inputs & Recording tab of the Line 6 audio - MIDI Settings panel. If this slider were turned all the way left, then it would ALWAYS mute your monitor output (regardless if you are USB connected or not), but maybe you are hearing the USB Record Send signal when you are connected to your computer's USB (such as if you have a DAW app open and the track is set to monitor your POD HD Input into the track). Make sense?

Re: HD500 usb interface volume control issues

support@line6.com — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:30:48 GMT

I think what you are after is the Hardware Monitor slider - on your Mac, go to System Prefs > Line 6 Audio - MIDI Devices and look in the "Inputs & Recording" page of this window. The slider is at the bottom.

Re: POD HD Desktop: Recording "Dry" signal and "Wet" signal simultaneously

support@line6.com — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:19:20 GMT

Interesting - I have not tried this with SPDIF and USB signals at the same time, but I suspect the problem is with the Mac Aggregate device feature. I think I read before that Apple states that this will not always clock sync the multiple digital sources. I would expect that since the signals are both coming from the same digital device (the POD HD) that they would be in sync, but apparently that is not the case

Re: which is the correct list of all the fx in the hd 300!!!!

support@line6.com — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:27:08 GMT

Well, the FX list on the Line 6 site where it compares the different POD HDs is definitely incorrect for HD300 (or maybe the list is out of date??) I have the 1.31 firmware installed in mine, and I definitely have Low Rez Delay and Ring Modulator, but not the Tri-Chorus. The lists that are in the POD HD300-400 Advanced manual look like they are correct for ver 1.31.

I don't think there is a "spill over" function for delay and verb tails to keep going when witching presets.

For the HD300, the onboard pedal can only be set to the Wah, Volume or the Pitch Glide (whammy-type) FX. For the HD500 I think it can be assigned to just about any FX settings.

Re: HD500 MIDI assigns

support@line6.com — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:54:21 GMT

Interesting bojackey - I have not played with the MIDI features on my HD500 for a bit so I went and tried some of this stuff. What I see...

I also see that the Program Change message is sent along with the Bank Change. I don;t recall that causing any problems for me when using HD500 to send Bank Changes to another device, but I am not sure why it needs to do that.

Regarding this point:

Page B-3 says "*Note that the A, B, C & D footswitches will only transmit MIDI Program Change messages when their Setup option is set to the ABCD “Presets Mode”" Fortunately that's not correct, the device sends program changes in both footswitch modes.

I think what the manual means here is that, when the Presets Mode is set to ABCD, that these 4 switches do not send out the MIDI data that you configured in the MIDI Assign screen. When in ABCD mode, they send the full Program Change data (including the Bank & CC data) for the specifc preset that you are recalling on the HD500 device, regardless what you may have set for that Footswitch in the MIDI Assign screen. The wording is kinda confusing though.

And regarding this:

And one last thing, page B-6 states that "The EXP TOE SWITCH can be assigned to send two separate MIDI CC Toggle commands, which allows it to alternately toggle between two functions on your target device". It isn't true, but it sure would be nice if it did.

If I recall correctly, I think it used to offer different features for the Toe Switch, so that might have been true in earlier flash versions. I know that one of the recent flash versions just made the Toe Switch the same as any other footswitches, as far as the options offered for MIDI Assign.

Re: Pod HD 500 not syncing to firewire solo for spdif

support@line6.com — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:25:38 GMT

Hmm, maybe you need to see if M-Audio offers a newer driver for Windows 7 specifically - especially if you are now on Win 7 x64. I think the Line 6 Windows driver is the same for all Windows versions, but you might want to make sure you have the latest one there too.