Rewolf48

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There aren't many here that will be able to help with this, but I might be able help with some aspects or trigger an idea or two by describing what I do. I play a JTV-69 (VDI) and (second) keyboards in our Prog Rock band, and my keyboard sound is routed through my HD500 so we have some similarities, but there are also differences which will limit how much advice I can give: 1) I don't have a DT25 - instead I use the XLR outs to either 1 or 2 FBT Maxx2a FRFR powered speakers that can be backline or monitors with XLR daisy chained to PA if the gig is big enough. So I can't help with the DT25 specifically 2) I don't have a Mac or MainStage - instead I have an ASUS laptop (touchscreen) running windows 8 and I use Bloxpander as a VST host. So I can't help with any specifics on the software side. For keyboard heavy songs (Watcher of the Skies) I have a dedicated Keyboard patch, for songs which are guitar only (Aqualung) I have a dedicated Guitar patch that gives me the 3rd fret virtual capo on the acoustic patch. For other songs however such as Echoes I play part Keyboard and part Guitar using a single patch. My keyboard is an old Korg N364 which I primarily use just as a controller, but also have patches on it where I haven't yet got a VST equivalent so it is part primary instrument and part backup should the laptop fail. I take MIDI Out from the N364 into the MIDI In on the HD500 and then set the HD500 to MIDI Through - so it merges incoming MIDI with internally produced MIDI and sends it all out of the HD500 Midi Out/Through which is connected to the MIDI In of the Laptop (USB Midi adaptor). The Laptop MIDI Out is connect to the N364 MIDI In, but generally nothing is sent down this. The N364 doesn't pass MIDI In through to MIDI Out so there is no loop. Audio signals go as follows: JTV into HD500 using VDI, N364 in stereo via two 1/4" Jacks to HD500 FX Loop Returns. HD500 XLR outs to FRFR speakers. What about the Laptop sounds? well that is USB - ASIO drivers on the laptop send the sound directly to the HD500 Audio Outs - however if this doesn't work Plan B is 1/8" headphone out on Laptop split to 2 x 1/4" into the FX Return and Plan C is 1/8" into HD500 MP3 input. So how do I control Keyboard Volume? There are two methods depending on which audio feed I have: a) If it is the N364 feed I have the option of controlling the FX Return level with the Expression Pedal (or can preset it on the patch), you could add a volume pedal after the FX Loop, but the FX Return is just as easily controlled as the Volume pedal, (method b also works here just as well) b) if it is the USB Audio feed I have no control within the HD environment as the USB Audio is fed in after the HD Audio processing (only the Master volume knob works), but I simply control the volume by setting the expression pedal on the HD500 to transmit MIDI cc07 data (volume). This is on channel 16 against which the master volume of the VST host is linked - the individual sounds are on channel 1, so basically Ch 1 is used to control the Instruments including sometimes cc07 to crossfade between sounds, while Ch 16 is used to control the Host. I use Ch 16 Note messages to change sub-scenes in the VST Host and at the moment only have a single Patch (Scene) but control which of the VSTi receive which aspects of the MIDI on Ch 1 by switching between predefined configurations in the Host. This sounds complex, but basically the VSTi are all active all of the time, I just switch the MIDI routing around them to define what VSTi gets sent the Note On messages at any time - they all receive Note Off messages all of the time which is important if you want to avoid the hanging note problem. The Note messages to change Keyboard sounds could just as easily be Patch Change or Continuous Controller messages and they are sent by adding MIDI messages to the foot switches on the HD500 - I set the Host to ignore the HD500 generated Patch changes because I don't want the keyboard patches to change as I change guitar patches, I use the top row of switches on the HD500 to switch on and off Guitar effects, the bottom row to switch keyboard patches and have the HD500 in pedalboard mode so I have to hit the up/down switches to change patches. I also have a second Expression Pedal connected which acts as the main volume control with the Expression 1 controlling effects. The latter can mean that when I need a big keyboard fade in or cross fading between sounds, that I have both expression pedals controlling Keyboard volume - but one controls the master volume of the VST Host (my main level) while the other controls the volume of the individual VSTi instruments. Back to your questions: Recommended amp for the keyboard? I usually default to the Blackface Twin, but I'm not quite sure it's the sound I want. I know I can't use NO amp model if I'm outputting thru the DT25. I honestly don't know - I do sometimes put the N364 through an Amp model, but that is mainly a clean Hammond sound into a Marshall in order to get that authentic Deep Purple distorted Hammond sound. Pick the cleanest and flattest that you can - you could try the Hiwatt which might not have been an obvious choice, but was intended to be very clean when it was first produced. It may be that the FX loop trick placed after the Amp model (so the Amp model has nothing going into it) will work quite well as this avoids any Pre-amp modifications to the Keyboard sound. Will I get interference issues when playing guitar if I turn down the keyboard volume, and vice versa? You shouldn't - the inputs into the HD500 are isolated from each other and you can select which inputs are active at any time on a patch by patch basis. Is there another "best" way to do this? Maybe plugging the keyboard into the DT25 directly will give a better sound, although it would stop the volume pedal from working? Using MIDI will allow you to control the volume this way, other than that I wouldn't say that there is a "best" way, just a whole load of options that you might try to see what works best for you.

That is behaviour by design - Each Set List is a "Bank" in the MIDI world which is an independent set of MIDI Patches to cope with devices having more Patches than the MIDI standard allows. Within each Set List the HD POD sends Patch Change = 000 for Preset 1A, 001 for 1B, etc. You can send Bank Change messages to move between Set-Lists. According to the PDF manual the Fender has: The presets are organized into 3 banks: C00-C84 - FENDER CUSTOM SHOP: 85 Premium amp and effects combinations stored in permanent memory. P00-P84 - PLAYER’S LOUNGE: 85 rewritable presets for your original Amp designs. FENDER CUSTOM SHOP presets are saved in these locations as place holders until you want to change them. These presets can be reset to factory default in the UTILITY Mode. A00-A34 - YOUR AMP COLLECTION: 35 of the greatest amp circuits of all time, the way they left the factory, stock-equipped. So it has 3 "Banks" two of 84 Patches (presets) and one of 35. FENDER CUSTOM SHOP Bank #01: C00 – C84 PLAYER’S LOUNGE Bank #02: P00 – P84 YOUR AMP COLLECTION Bank #03: A00 – A34 It also says: Any MIDI program changes contained in bank #00 can be mapped to any preset on the Cyber-Twin. Two of the FX knobs are used to select the values in this menu. The FX LEVEL knob selects MIDI program change numbers 0 - 127 and FX VAL2 selects the target preset for control. Only MIDI program changes in bank #00 will access the MIDI Preset map. So it doesn't have a Bank #0, but maps MIDI Bank zero to any Present in any of the internal Banks. What this means is that the default midi sent by the POD for the same Preset change (in different Set Lists) will always go to the same Patch on the Cybertwin. I don't know about the FBV programming, but the HD500 can be set so that any footswitch can send any Patch Change message you want, Personally I would restrict my HD Patches to a single Set List - 64 different virtual Rigs is enough for a single gig isn't it? You might clone that set-list to create for example Full Amp version in one and Pre Amp only version in another, or Full volume EQ'd and Quiet volumes and do the mapping on the Amp as required. I actually only have 8 patches that I use regularly anyway but with pedals that get switched in or out, and use of the guitar volume control and pickups to vary the sounds

Hi Dave, I really don't think it comes up that much - at least it has never happened to me using the cardboard to support the trem in the floating position. And I suspect that is the key to this - my trem and that of most other JTV69 users will be in or close to the original floating position, but you have "tightened the spring claw to keep the tremolo block & bridge against the top of the guitar in normal use, as I am not a tremolo user". So you have the trem in the fully pulled up position all the time, and in this position it must be firmly touching the body wood in one of two places - either the tail end of the plate is against the top of the guitar or the inside of the block is touching the body wood next to the spring cavity. It is just possible that it is both evenly, but in practice it is probably one or the other. Against the top body the position is stable when the strings are removed (relatively), but the edge of the trem plate where it makes contact with the posts is at an angle that is right at the extreme of where it is intended to be (not at 90 deg), and it is probably close to slipping. Against the inside body position is not stable. The springs are pulling the bottom of the block towards the neck and the lever point is inside the body meaning that the trem plate is being pulled away from the posts when the strings are taken off, and because the angle is already outside of the intended position it will pull off every time. The problem is that the "tighten the springs" method of disabling the trem is fine for the old strat trem where the screws go through the front edge of the trem plate, but it doesn't really work for the floating against posts trem design as found on the JTV unless you lower the posts so that the plate is completely flat to the body, and you can't generally do that because it lowers the action - probably to the point where the strings are flat on the neck. This might be adjusted for by changing the neck relief by putting some card between the neck and body, but that is just taking things further and further from the intended set-up. What I think you should do is to use the "block" method to disable the trem - that is find some wood that will fill in the gap between the body and trem block on both sides so that is is wedged in the correct position with the trem plate parallel to the body. Something like this: http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/24952-help-tremolo-problem-new-strat.html#post148969

Maybe this is just one of those things that is just common sense to some and a mysterious trick of the trade to others.... With a floating trem when changing more than one string I simply shove a bit of cardboard or two between the back of the trem plate and the body to hold it as close as possible to the normal floating position. One or two Beer Mats are perfect for this. The trem springs then compress the cardboard rather than tension the strings and it all stays in place unless you really try to move it. The other benefit and a main reason for doing this is so that there is relatively little slack on each string to be taken up by the locking tuners - for maximum tuning stability the string when fully tensioned should not go around the post more than about 3/4 of a turn.

The HD500 can act as a MIDI controller - for example doing Patch/Bank Changes on a Keyboard/Sound Module/VST Host, can send Continuous Controller data from the Expression Pedals and send Note On/Off from the Foot Switches. It doesn't do Guitar to MIDI conversion, not even with a JTV which theoretically could support it..

Variax Mags is the sound from the Magnetic Pickups on the JTV passed digitally over the VDI connection to the HD500. So if you want to use the Magnetic sounds of the JTV while using VDI you can can without running the 1/4 instrument cable as well. This how many JTV users play most of the time - using the magnetics by default and only switching into models when they want a specific effect or alternative tuning. The magnetic inputs is also the only one that really works with an E-Bow - it is just not the same using the Models as you don't get the interaction with the pickups. But you can do more interesting things - for example you can have Variax Mags on input 1 going into an Amp for a Crunchy electric sound and Variax with an Acoustic Model on input 2 with a little compression and reverb for an acoustic sound, and then have the Expression pedal control a cross fade between the two sounds. This can be varied to have Strat into Blackface + Les Paul into Plexi combinations or whatever you want to try. You can also have both Mags and Model with a similar sound but with a Virtual Capo on the Models for a simple polyphonic harmony.

Yes you can, but not directly - the HD500 can have its pedals defined as MIDI "event generators" - that is when you press the pedal it sends a defined MIDI message. This is limited to Program Change, Continuous Controller and Note messages. The expression pedal (and exp 2 if you have one) can also act as CC message sources. If you have some software on your mac that can be configured to activate loops for these messages then you can activate loops, or play notes. This simplest software for this might be a Sampler where each Note corresponds to a recording of a loop, so press the button on the HD and the loop plays. I have a slightly complex Guitar and Keyboard set-up and for one particular song I need to play a single note that is outside of the range of my physical keyboard. I know that I can transpose the keyboard, but as this note is only used for a specific effect I have defined F8 to send a Note on/off for that specific Note - press down on F8 and the Note starts, lift off and the Note stops. No computer involved in this. A sampler will have the option of whether is respects Note Off messages or plays the whole sample to the end (think Drum samples) so you can press the F button on the HD and get a sample to play. Yes you can, but for this you will need a MIDI sequencer, which is a standard feature of all Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software as well as existing as standalone products. All that MIDI is a set of Event messages - "Note #68 On at Velocity 123", "Note #68 Off", "Controller #7 Value 96". A MIDI Sequencer arranges these Events along a timeline and then sends out each Event when the appropriate time occurs - it can also normally record such Events as they come in from a source. The easy way to do this is to connect up the HD500 MIDI Out/Thru to the MIDI In on the Computer and record the required actions into the Sequencer by doing them in real time on the HD500. Things like Program Change (change patch) are automatically transmitted by the HD500, the Fn switches and expression pedal locations would have to be recorded after modifying the configuration to transmit what the POD expects to receive. Having recorded the required actions from the HD500 by connecting Computer MIDI out to HD500 MIDI in and playing back the recorded sequence the HD500 will respond as if you were pressing the same controls. It could be possible to do some interesting things that just couldn't be done in real-time with each such as cross fading both expression pedals while rapidly switching two or more of the foot switched to toggle say Amp On/Off. Note that the button press midi events will just change the Fn switch state on the HD500 and it is up to you to link it to the correct effects in the Patch. The MIDI implementation on the HD500 is not exactly comprehensive as it could potentially have allowed any parameter of any effect/amp to be controlled in real-time, but it doesn't it simply allows remote control of the Fn buttons and two expression controls (it doesn't even allow the extra JTV controllers to be used as additional sources via MIDI) The theory of MIDI and what you can do with it can be found by searching the internet - MIDI is not particularly complicated, but it does take some time and understanding, and lots of testing to ensure that it is all working properly and even then the odd glitch can happen such as a hung note (Note On where the Note Off is not received properly so the Note plays forever which is obvious as anything if it is loud and doesn't release automatically). The details of the MIDI implementation are in the Advanced Guide: http://line6.com/data/6/0a06434dc1a55085c5d6532bf/application/pdf/POD%20HD500%20Advanced%20Guide%20v2.10%20-%20English%20(%20Rev%20A%20).pdf As for suitable mac software I can't help - I use a PC and I have had some success with Reaper as a DAW (using the SWS extensions) or for just simple VST(i) hosting I use Bloxpander. I will leave you with one really useful tip though - you can have complex sequences of MIDI instruments all playing in real-time if you want, but it may be a lot easier (and safer) to just mix it all down into a simple backing track and play along to that.

To change patches on a POD HD you need to send a MIDI Program Change - this will change within a set-list. To change Set Lists you need to send a Bank Change. The easy method might be to get Cubase to record MIDI messages sent from the POD when you make the required changes using the direct controls. See Appendix C in the advanced guide: http://line6.com/data/6/0a06434dfe5c4f7b801d5336b/application/pdf/POD%20HD%20Pro%20Advanced%20Guide%20v2.0%20-%20English%20(%20Rev%20A%20).pdf

The HD500 power supply is designed to power both the HD500 and a JTV via the VDI connection. If you are not running a JTV with power from the HD500 then the lower rated supply is probably going to be fine. It is very easy to tell if it isn't because the most obvious sign that the power supply cannot provide the necessary current is that after a little time it makes a "pop" sound the equipment shuts down and there might be that nasty overheated electronics smell in the air. At this point it all depends on the power supply design as to whether it has overload protection on not - if it has then it just needs to be switched off and allowed to cool down before it can be used again (but not for this purpose because it will only trip out again), if it hasn't then put it in your local electrical recycling bin and look a bit harder for one with a higher rating. This will be the power supply not the HD500 - the worst that can happen to the HD500 is that you under power it while doing a firmware upgrade and have to do a factory reset before trying to do a firmware upgrade again. It should be safe with an overrated power supply in terms of current (e.g 9V 4A) as the HD500 will only draw the current it needs, and it will probably work for a small over voltage such as 12V... but the latter does have a serious risk that if it fails the components that go bang are on the HD500 main circuit board at which point it will be junk.

It is necessary to get rid of that "single path at the beginning" if you want to have the independent processing. The top path is "A" the bottom is "B"; Input 1 feeds A, Input 2 feeds B. Don't know why they have different names, but there you go it is what they are always called. To get Path A and Path B split from the start all you have to do is to Move the effect slots right of the split point (and up or down as you fancy) this should include the Amp slot as well if it is before the split. The graphic will still look as if they came from a single point, but as long as no slots are on the paths you have the correct split, and then just need the mutually reversed Volume pedals controlled by an expression pedal (or output level from an amp or effect if you want to save on a slot). You can also move all post Mixer effects slots forward of the Mixer which gives completely separate paths up until the final mix stage, and you can Pan one path left and the other right if you want completely separate outputs such as Acoustic sound to PA and Electric sound to Amp. Or you can leave common effects such as reverb post mixer.