Leaderboard

Line6 Catalyst What’s NOT in the Pilot’s Guide Part 2 – The Footswitch and overall Control Not all footswitches are created equal where the Catalyst is concerned. I started with a generic momentary footswitch. To describe all the weirdness that resulted would be pointless. Suffice it to say that if you have one and want to try it go ahead. Maybe it will work. I quickly purchased the L6 LFS2. Twice the price and not a perfect solution, but at least predictable. The problem is the way Channel Switching works in relation to the FS2 button. Catalyst does not employ true channel switching as it’s done in the analog world. Each Bank has two Channels. Each Channel is actually a Preset. That’s why they can be totally different from each other. Catalyst provides for three methods of switching channels. Panel Switches;Footswitch;MIDI In my examples I will assume that BOOST has been assigned to FS2, but what I describe applies also to FX. Assume that Bank 1 Channel A is saved with BOOST OFF, and Channel B with BOOST ON. Using the Panel Switches or MIDI with or without the LFS2 connected works as expected (A=BOOST OFF;B=BOOST ON). With the LFS2 connected and FS2 OFF, using the Panel Switches or MIDI the BOOST reacts as expected (A=BOOST OFF;B=BOOST ON). If you turn ON FS2 on ChA (saved status OFF), switching channels with the Panel switches results in A=BOOST ON;B=BOOST ON). Always. If you then turn OFF FS2 on ChB switching channels with the Panel switches results in A=BOOST ON;B=BOOST OFF. Always. In either case, switching channels via MIDI ALWAYS returns to the SAVED preset/channel configuration (A=BOOST OFF;B=BOOST ON)! Furthermore, switching channels using the LFS2 ALWAYS applies the FS2 setting regardless of the saved configuration! Finally, using MIDI to control the BOOST works in ALL circumstances. However, the LEDs might not reflect what’s happening when using Snapshots. CONCLUSION: If you want FULL CONTROL over the Catalyst, using a combination of methods is the way to go. There’s no simple, one-size-fits-all solution.

I found the following midi pedals designed for the HX-Stomp. KG MIDI Controllers – Custom handmade MIDI Controllers You should have a look at his stuff. He builds custom pedals as well and arduino programming to your liking is possible as well. For example: I liked to have nothing else than three CCs for three switches. And this is my favorite (without LEDs):

Hi @DunedinDragon, Thanks for this, well I am a programming guy... so this works for me... ;-) For the nerds, it is a base64, compressed file. This is what I wrote in Python to read it. Once you get this, I assume you can modify whatever values you want. The setlist.hls is an export of the setlist, it's not the backupfile. import base64 import zlib import json f = open("setlist.hls", "r") helix_json = json.load(f) helix_ascii = helix_json["encoded_data"].encode("ascii") helix_decoded = base64.b64decode(helix_ascii) helix_decompressed = zlib.decompress(helix_decoded) helix_readable = helix_decompressed.decode("ascii)") print(helix_readable)

Thanks for the quick reply. I think I ran all the stuff on that thread and I'm still in the same boat. I'll try a support ticket.

There is one way to do it, which I've used occasionally, but it requires some programming in JSON. I keep all my presets stored individually on my hard drive, but it wouldn't matter if it was an individual preset or a setlist or a backup. It's all in stored in JSON structures, so you can programmatically cycle through them as files and make bulk changes. Don't ask me any of the technical details because it was years ago and I've slept since then....LOL

For original Variax guitar and JTV pre 2.0, no it will not never did. It will use and control the guitar correctly but will not work for Workbench. For original Variax a HD500 will work for Workbench but not the HD500X. You will need the USB interface. Sold as "Variax Workbench". The software is free but the USB interface thing is not. Comes in around $100.