thecrooner Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 Hello. I just got the HX Effects there days ago and am just immersing myself in the unit. I saw a cool video on YT by Disaster Area Designs shown how they use their DPC-8EZ Gen3 MIDI/Switcher to allow the addition of 8 loops to the HX FX for external pedals. Has anyone used this or any other switcher in conjunction with the HX FX? Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberttheprole Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 I have all my mono guitar signal pedals plugged into the DPC-8EZ, and it's plugged into the 4the fx loop in the helix. Also have midi plugged into everything, so controlling it all from the helix is mostly in the bag minus a few kinks I pray will be worked out in the next firmware update. Anyway the thing is simply fantastic, and worth every penny. Not an expert on it, but always happy to be another head to bounce ideas off... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrooner Posted September 22, 2018 Author Share Posted September 22, 2018 Hi Robert. Thanks for the info. Out of curiosity, what kinks are you experiencing? What I'm concerned about is how easy it is to assign loops from the DPC-8EZ Gen3 to blocks in HX FX. The video by Disaster Area is a bit unclear about how to do this from patch to patch. I'm wondering if a unit like the Boss ES-8 might be easier to integrate. I've written to Disaster Area twice about this and received no reply which concerns me over the level of support I can count on. If I were to populate the 8 loops on the DPC-8EZ Gen3, how do I assign any given loops in the HX FX? If you could describe the process I'd be very grateful! Thanks! Crooner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberttheprole Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 Ok I'll give it a shot... Whammy pedal plugged into the DPC-8, DPC plugged into fx loop 1, and midi cable going from helix output to DPC input. Let's say you want the whammy automatically engage on when you load a certain preset. So first thing is to open a block for fx loop 1, now go to the command center and in the first instant command slot select cc comand set the channel to 16 (DPC factory set channel is 16). Set the cc to 50, and value to 127. Now save. As a far as kinks main example is you can only control one external device through midi using footswitches in snapshots. You can set up several different pedals in instant commands, but when I set more than one pedal on the footswitches glitches out. Other than that it seems to work. Just in general find it a challenge to make all the midi programming work with snapshots, seems pretty straight forward on paper, but reality is another thing... but it is possible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrooner Posted September 30, 2018 Author Share Posted September 30, 2018 Thanks Robert! I really appreciate the info. I'm still getting used to the HX FX and awaiting my new board so I haven't yet ordered the DPC-8EZ. I'm wondering if something like the Boss ES-8 might be more user friendly as a partner to the HX FX, or if it might be too much. Any thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberttheprole Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 I haven't worked would the boss, but it seems like a great machine too, both will do the job. You like Porsches or Ferraris? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrooner Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 8 hours ago, Roberttheprole said: I haven't worked would the boss, but it seems like a great machine too, both will do the job. You like Porsches or Ferraris? LOL. Not really, but I do love '50's Corvettes. If it wasn't over-doing it, I'd love to get a GigRig G2, but if I could go that route, I'd likely go with the "Big Three"Strymon pedals, but I don't have the $$$. Someday, but for now the HX FX will suffice. When using the DPC-8EZ, do you have to go through the MIDI setup to select which loop you want in every individual Patch? For example, as in the Disaster Area video, is all that setup a one time thing or must it be done in every instance of setting up a a new patch? How exactly do you choose each loop on the DPC-8EZ from the HX? Sorry to bother you with so many questions... I do very much appreciate your help. There aren't too many folks going this route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberttheprole Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Yeah I was seriously considering the G2 before helix was announced. You have a few options as far as as how you approach it. However, yes you will have to program every preset, and snapshot that has a specific requirement. First decide weather you want to turn an individual loop on off, or select a preset in the DPC8. (Programming presets on the DPC8 is very easy). Now choose between sending a message to DPC with instant command, or a footswitch, just depends on the scenario. Above I explained how to select a given DPC loop from helix so read that again, more than happy to help, but describing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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