I think of my HD500X as more of an art form than a simple "set it and forget it" tone generator. You definitely need to go in with a lot of patience and willingness to learn and make mistakes. In the end it will be worth it, and you will have a greater understanding of things such as gain staging, frequency response, ect. I can say for sure I've made a lot of really bad sounding patches, but I've also made that one patch that is MY tone.
Take your time with it, make mistakes, have fun.