HX Effects 7 Cable Method (7CM)

[glorioso]

Ok, it’s been a month of struggling to make this work properly. This thread isn’t helping. 

I simply get “bleeding” into the other amp. If Fx loop 1 in on, or even if I only have one loop in the signal chain, I still hear the other amp. 
 

How come I can’t get it to work? I’ve tried Fx stereo blocks with a pan on my exp, still hear the other amp. Just one Fx loop and still hear the other amp. separate send and receive blocks, same results. I’ve tried splitting the chain too. A/B and Y…nope 
 

Customtone has no 7CM HX Effects patches. 
 

im thinking of ditching the whole experiment. It’s been a struggle. 
 

Any ideas? Preferably with pictures or a patch that works. 

[datacommando]

On 8/9/2023 at 5:26 PM, glorioso said:

Preferably with pictures or a patch that works.

Hi,

 

If you require a picture, then you should check out the HX Effects Owner’s Manual > Page 10 which features a diagram that you can follow for both 4 & 7 Cable Method.

 

https://line6.com/data/6/0a020a411710a6112a67116f0b/application/pdf/HX Effects 3.0 Owner's Manual - Rev C - English .pdf

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[glorioso]

On 8/9/2023 at 10:30 AM, datacommando said:

Hi,

 

If you require a picture, then you should check out the HX Effects Owner’s Manual > Page 10 which features a diagram that you can follow for both 4 & 7 Cable Method.

 

https://line6.com/data/6/0a020a411710a6112a67116f0b/application/pdf/HX Effects 3.0 Owner's Manual - Rev C - English .pdf

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

I’m set up exactly that way. Just tried again for another hour fiddling with blocks and splits and pans but still hearing the 2nd amp when the only loop I have available is the 1st amp. 
 

Can’t figure it out. 
 

I appreciate your help. I have seen everything on line and tried everything. 
 

I can’t believe no one knows how to do this properly or that there’s no patch available. 

[datacommando]

On 8/10/2023 at 12:13 AM, glorioso said:

I can’t believe no one knows how to do this properly or that there’s no patch available. 

Hi,

 

That’s a rather odd statement to make, as the diagram provided for the way to hook everything up is from the official handbook written by Digital Igloo (Eric Klein - Chief Product Design Architect at Yamaha Guitar Group, Inc. / Line 6 / Ampeg).

I believe that he knows how to do this properly, and as the same technique is used by other Helix devices, it is also included in other relevant Owner’s Manuals. There are many others out in the world using the 7CM with no problems whatsoever. Connections remain the same no matter what.

 

As for a 7CM preset not being available on CustomTone, maybe you could attach the preset which you have being trying to use. Do that, and possibly other folks here could look at it for any weirdness in how you have it set up and may have overlooked. Simply saying that the cables are in the correct slot is not enough - there is more going on in the signal path through your HXFX which we are unaware of. 
 

It may seem obvious, but in your first post you included a link to a thread discussing how to use HXFX in 7CM, which you say didn’t work for you, then you say using the instructions supplied in the manual also didn’t work for you. Well, it looks to me that the only other option is “user error”. My guess is you need to pan amp A fully right and amp B fully left.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

[datacommando]

On 8/10/2023 at 12:13 AM, glorioso said:

or that there’s no patch available. 

 

Follow on from previous post:- Re no patch available.

 

I don't own a HXFX, but I have owned a Helix floor from way back in 2015 and use it almost daily. I got into the studio about an hour ago and powered it up, and went straight to the Templates section of the the setlists - Well, waddayano, there is both a 4 Cable and 7 Cable template provided by Line 6 that is in the Factory Presets. Don't know if these are included in the HXFX factory stuff but It might be worth checking.

 

Anyhow, I decided that for the sake of 5 minutes in HX Edit, I would knock out a 7CM patch for you to load up and check out.

 

See how far you can get with this.

 

7-CM HXFX-TEST.hlx

 

Hope  this helps/makes sense.

 

[glorioso]

On 8/9/2023 at 4:54 PM, MGW-Alberta said:

I think more important than us explaining to you what needs to be done I think it is far more prudent for you to explain to us what you have actually done.  You said you followed the 7CM connections to the letter but I think I would prefer to see (by way of pictures) what those connections actually are, just as confirmation.  Sometimes in the past there have been misunderstandings and miscommunications and pictures help to eliminate that from happening.  The next thing would be for you to upload your preset here to this thread because if you have in fact correctly connected everything then the problem could very well be in the configuration of the preset.

It’s set up as prescribed. Both sends into front of each amp properly. Amp sends into the hxfx returns and both outs (L and R) into the amp returns. 

[glorioso]

On 8/10/2023 at 6:25 AM, datacommando said:

 

Follow on from previous post:- Re no patch available.

 

I don't own a HXFX, but I have owned a Helix floor from way back in 2015 and use it almost daily. I got into the studio about an hour ago and powered it up, and went straight to the Templates section of the the setlists - Well, waddayano, there is both a 4 Cable and & Cable template provided by Line 6 that is in the Factory Presets. Don't know if theses included in the HXFX factory stuff but It might be worth checking.

 

Anyhow, I decided that for the sake of 5 minutes in HX Edit, I would knock out a 7CM patch for you to load up and check out.

 

See how far you can get with this.

 

7-CM HXFX-TEST.hlx 24.25 kB · 1 download

 

Hope  this helps/makes sense.

 

The patch won’t load, too big I assume. I really appreciate your help and all that took time to reply. 
 

it’s a simple patch per the post I attached. Just loop 1 and 2 assigned to the same switch. One is on while the other is off. 
 

I’ve also tried splitting them and using the A/B split panned one way or the other and the same with the merge. And I’ve tried the stereo loop as well with a pan. 

[glorioso]

[datacommando]

On 8/10/2023 at 5:31 PM, glorioso said:

The patch won’t load, too big I assume.

Hi,

 

Nope, not that much in it, but because I used HX Edit connected to my Helix, it seems that it includes the second DSP path even though there is nothing on it. I considered doing the preset using Helix Native, but that cannot handle the physical Send/Return options. Oh, hum!

 

Anyhow, it is extremely simple- see attached pic below. The guitar in is split into Path 1A and Path 1B, and these are panned 100% Left and Right. Each patch contains identical blocks - wah, distortion, FX Loop, delay and reverb. each path is sent to the 1/4” jack outputs, again panned Left and Right. If this doesn’t work, I’m not sure what to suggest, other than to check that you can get a signal path, split Left and right to pass through the HXFX and out of the L/R 1/4” jacks, with absolutely nothing in the HX paths. Then add various blocks, one by one, until you figure out where it fails.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

 

EDIT:

I tried downloading the files you had attached, but they are empty.php files. When they are uploaded correctly, they should show the file name of the preset with the .hlx extension.

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by datacommando
Added Edit

[glorioso]

On 8/10/2023 at 2:42 PM, datacommando said:

Hi,

 

Nope, not that much in it, but because I used HX Edit connected to my Helix, it seems that it includes the second DSP path even though there is nothing on it. I considered doing the preset using Helix Native, but that cannot handle the physical Send/Return options. Oh, hum!

 

Anyhow, it is extremely simple- see attached pic below. The guitar in is split into Path 1A and Path 1B, and these are panned 100% Left and Right. Each patch contains identical blocks - wah, distortion, FX Loop, delay and reverb. each path is sent to the 1/4” jack outputs, again panned Left and Right. If this doesn’t work, I’m not sure what to suggest, other than to check that you can get a signal path, split Left and right to pass through the HXFX and out of the L/R 1/4” jacks, with absolutely nothing in the HX paths. Then add various blocks, one by one, until you figure out where it fails.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

 

EDIT:

I tried downloading the files you had attached, but they are empty.php files. When they are uploaded correctly, they should show the file name of the preset with the .hlx extension.

 

I think the issue is the HXFX can't have 2 separate paths? At least as far as I can tell. Not enough DSP?

 

I can only Split or Merge paths.

[datacommando]

On 8/11/2023 at 2:29 AM, glorioso said:

I think the issue is the HXFX can't have 2 separate paths? At least as far as I can tell. Not enough DSP?

 

I can only Split or Merge paths.

 

EDITED

Hi,

 

I think you misunderstand - what is shown in my screenshot is a single path split into path 1A and 1B right at the start, and panned A 100% Left and B 100% Right. Then both paths are identical to the point where they exit the unit on 1/4” Output Left and Right. You can ignore the other path, don’t  be distracted by that - It maybe that I have added too many blocks, I forgot that you are limited to 9 blocks, this had 12 - Doh!.
 

It’s very simple - the 7 cable method is the same as 4CM but with a duplicate path B. Use only Mono FX Loop 1 (to Marshall) in one path and Mono FX Loop 2 (to Rectifier) on the other. All the other blocks in my example can be substituted for what ever effects you want to use - just note that drives and distortion are ideally placed before the send, and any time based effects after the return. The only other thing I did in the example was assign foot switches to turn the effects on and off and named them in the scribble strips.

 

Now, hook up your HXFX to your computer, open HX Edit and recreate the FX LOOPS and split exactly as shown in my example screenshot. It should take less than 5 minutes and you should be good to go. Don’t overthink this! Then when you know it communicate with your amps, add whatever FX you like to the blocks you have left.

 

If it doesn’t work after creating this patch, then I have nothing left to offer, it is beyond human assistance. You may need an exorcism to clear the demons out of your device.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

 

Oh, damn it, try this - it only contains the split, FX loops and outputs - cannot make it anymore simple.

 

7-CM HXFX-v2.hlx

Edited August 11, 2023 by datacommando
Reworked Preset

[glorioso]

On 8/11/2023 at 3:08 AM, datacommando said:

EDITED

Hi,

 

I think you misunderstand - what is shown in my screenshot is a single path split into path 1A and 1B right at the start, and panned A 100% Left and B 100% Right. Then both paths are identical to the point where they exit the unit on 1/4” Output Left and Right. You can ignore the other path, don’t  be distracted by that - It maybe that I have added too many blocks, I forgot that you are limited to 9 blocks, this had 12 - Doh!.
 

It’s very simple - the 7 cable method is the same as 4CM but with a duplicate path B. Use only Mono FX Loop 1 (to Marshall) in one path and Mono FX Loop 2 (to Rectifier) on the other. All the other blocks in my example can be substituted for what ever effects you want to use - just note that drives and distortion are ideally placed before the send, and any time based effects after the return. The only other thing I did in the example was assign foot switches to turn the effects on and off and named them in the scribble strips.

 

Now, hook up your HXFX to your computer, open HX Edit and recreate the FX LOOPS and split exactly as shown in my example screenshot. It should take less than 5 minutes and you should be good to go. Don’t overthink this! Then when you know it communicate with your amps, add whatever FX you like to the blocks you have left.

 

If it doesn’t work after creating this patch, then I have nothing left to offer, it is beyond human assistance. You may need an exorcism to clear the demons out of your device.

 

Hope this helps/makes sense.

 

Oh, damn it, try this - it only contains the split, FX loops and outputs - cannot make it anymore simple.

 

7-CM HXFX-v2.hlx 9.5 kB · 1 download

How did you get 2 paths to the output? All I see is a merge block.

 

This should be the answer and I can't thank you enough for your time and consideration.

 

nd

[datacommando]

On 8/11/2023 at 3:39 PM, glorioso said:

How did you get 2 paths to the output? All I see is a merge block.

 

This should be the answer and I can't thank you enough for your time and consideration.

 

It’s a Kinda Magic!

 

Simply highlight the merge block and drag it down to path 1B then assign the output as required.

[glorioso]

On 8/11/2023 at 11:12 AM, datacommando said:

It’s a Kinda Magic!

 

Simply highlight the merge block and drag it down to path 1B then assign the output as required.

Why is this so easy for you and difficult for me :)

 

It wont let me do that? Any idea why?

 

[datacommando]

On 8/11/2023 at 7:56 PM, glorioso said:

Why is this so easy for you and difficult for me :)

 

It wont let me do that? Any idea why?

 

 

Ahh!
 

Here ya go!
 

I don’t have a HXFX, so I have consulted the Owner’s Manual for that unit. On pages 37 and 38 > “Setting Path B’s Output” it explains that you cannot do it the way I did it, (there must be good reasons for this!).

Your only option is to highlight the mixer block, which you can then assign the output to the Send 1/2 sockets, which is no good for you because the sends are already in use. It does allow you to select the mix block and then pan Path 1A & 1B hard left and right.

 

If you have configured the FX Loops correctly then one path will carry the Marshall return signal and the other should contain only the Rectifier audio.

 

If this doesn’t happen, then I am at a loss for any other suggestions.