scheater5

@SiCantwell That's not how midi works. Midi pickups individually pick up each guitar string, allowing them to be processed separately. Something extremely similar occurs in the Variax. Midi controllers are another beast altogether - that's using midi signals to trigger events, such as changing a patch on an effects unit. It's even theoretically possible to use the HD500 to control a rackmount synth and have the switches act as keys through midi signals. BUT, there is no midi signal coming from your guitar without a midi pickup, therefore the HD500 cannot possibly "turn your guitar into a midi controller."

I'm glad to see calm discussion (and semi-calm disgruntlement) going on now that the worst of the anger of the release of the 500X is over. There are some disappointments in the new unit. For me, they're mostly software. A little DSP increase for the same price is welcome. However, it doesn't fix a single one of my problems with the unit. I could get CONSIDERABLY more DSP "bang for my buck" out of the original 500 if things like comb filtering were fixed instead of me wasting blocks to compensate. If there was an option to automatically (or not) compensate for comb filtering, and the EQs were in decibels and frequencies instead of "percent," I'd be satisfied. Go further and allow me to separate the amp block from the cab block and I'll be ecstatic. I know comparisons of other modelers are always controversial, but this is the bottom line for me - fix the software and I'll buy two to alleviate my DSP problems. Until then, I'm planning on buying one of the "other guys." And for what it's worth, I'm still here, keeping an eye on the board, hoping for some sign that a fix is coming, because I'd honestly rather stay with Line 6.

@Melissiah That mostly comes down to personal taste. But for what it's worth, I use the fassel model.

I 100% agree with @Rewolf48. Inside a real wah pedal is a potentiometer (pot) that translates a turning motion into information the electronics can use (there's a technical explanation, but someone else can do that better than me). This is one of the most hacked electronics in all guitar-dom. You can fool the pedal into thinking that the expression pedal has more range than it actually does. Hendrix supposedly turned his so that physically "toe up" was not quite all the way up on the pot - giving him a more bass-y sound. Jazz players are known to do the opposite - "heel down" is not all the way down. The Pod emulates this by having the pedal normally swing from one extreme of the pot to the other - giving you a wah that has more range than physically possible on a real wah. You should limit the pedal sweep as Rewolf suggested - this is merely an elaboration as to WHY. Except about "too much distortion." No such thing. :p

@vcuomo - there's one more very good reason to get the 500X "over the 500." The 500 is out of production. Sweetwater is out of stock; you can expect other retailers to follow soon. The purpose of the 500X is not so much a new version as an incremental replacement.

In the looper mode there is a footswitch to change the looper from pre to post - this will change whether or not the looped signal is passed through the signal chain, or a recording of the signal after having already gone through the chain. Sounds like you want it set to post - pre is mostly useful for AB'ing effects (though it has other uses). That means the buttons should say pre, because that means if you press it, it will be change to pre. Slightly confusing at first, but useful live. From your description, that's your problem. If that doesn't do it let us know.

@thisisblueboy That's probably not going to happen in this generation. There's been talk of a tablet app for a while, but that doesn't appear to be something that would be trivial to implement. Since this thread is about "obvious things," perhaps not quite fitting. Now, that'd be awesome, and you should definitely tell Line6 you'd like to see that in a future product. I would. What I can't figure out is why they still haven't implemented the suggestions made by meambobbo. The dude did half the work for you, Line 6. I mean, this took me a two second google search to find. line6.com/support/thread/71651/ Yet the Hd500x still apparently doesn't fix the comb filtering...So my patches suck up at least two spots for EQ and generally two more to fix the delay...Extra DSP does me no good when I am burning up slots that I shouldn't have to be. Fix that, and maybe I'll look at the 500X again. PLEASE, Line 6, tell me there is a firmware coming that addresses these things, and PLEASE be forthcoming about it and don't leave us in the dark.

Several of my major problems with the unit don't appear to be addressed (we'll see, once an official announcement is made). There are some technical issues that Line 6 seems to refuse to acknowledge (see: anything Meambobbo has ever written on here) that bug the crap out of me. I'm keeping my HD500 and considering non-Line-6 upgrade paths....I know that's a controversial topic, and I don't wanna get into it, I'm just saying that I'd rather stay Line 6, if only they fixed some glaring problems.

The HD500 has a stereo path. Emphasis on "a." One. I'm not sure you're going to be able to do what you want if you are dead set on the piezo sound ever going through the HD500. I believe a bit of lateral thinking is necessary to achieve what you want - tell me, what exactly is the end result you want? What instrument will be going through what speakers, for example. Perhaps if you think about the end result we can construct a signal path to achieve it.

I use the pitch shift to simulate a whammy bar scoop, but since it's easier to control your foot moving forward than putting your heel down, I reverse the controls. Pitch shift set: heel down = 0, toe down = -2 When I'm playing a melody I can slam my toe down right before a note, just like you would depress a tremolo bar. Release the bar by going back to heel down.

HA!! Wow, shows you how much I've used the new forum. Opps. *above post has been corrected*

Should be pretty simple from HD Edit - "hurghanico" has it right. To put it another way - realize that "multi" means several effects are linked to one switch. Go to the "FX" window in HD Edit, and press the switch a few times. See which effects are toggling on and off. Then go to "Controllers" and chose the effects you DON'T want controlled from the first drop down menu - under "FS Assign" change it to "none." Leave the one that you DO want that switch to control alone. Now instead of "Multi" it should just say the one effect you want.

All I want are some periodic updates. "Hey guys, we're working on it - today we had a Tele in the studio working on the modeling for it. Stay tuned." That's all I need. I don't really need an ETA that puts undue pressure on them - I don't really need it to come out ANY faster. Just take a PR guy like Sean, put him in front of a camera, and reassure us. The silence on a POD update is even more frustrating - especially considering all the work forum members have done in pointing out upgrades that could conceivably be done in software (notably meambobbo). I dunno, maybe that's just me - just some carefully worded PR communication would alleviate quite a bit of stress 'round these parts. Playful "the wait is killing me!" threads have much less animosity than "I wonder what's going on? Did they forget about us" threads. At least that's my two cents worth.