How To Use Your Line 6 HD500X as a MIDI Controller
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- čas přidán 1. 09. 2020
- Did you know that you can use your Line 6 POD HD500X as a MIDI Controller? I've spent a while learning how to program my HD500X to send midi messages to Bias FX2 so I'm able to change sounds within Bias FX2 by pressing on the footswitches on my POD HD500X.
In this video, you'll learn how to set up your Line 6 POD HD500X to send midi control change messages. You'll also learn how to set up the expression pedal on the POD.
In the next video, I'll show you how I use this within Bias FX2.
Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. If you have a question, let me know and I'll try and answer it.
Thanks for watching. - Hudba
Ive had my hd500x since this video has been out and have struggled finding a way to 1-starr/stop loops in ableton/garageband
2-initiate prerecored sequences
3-control my ElevenRack.
Thank you SO MUCH. With hd500x getting as low as $200 used, people could buy one as a midi controller and even if only ONE effect is something they like, it's paid for itself. Oh, and its an interface for direct recording to boot. What an incredible deal. If people only knew
I LOVE my pod! Bought it a few months ago cause i needed something compact for gigs and im absolutely blown away by the price point and the amount of stuff this workhorse can do. If I'm on the road, i can use all of my presets loaded onto the thing, and if im recording at home with my premium amp sims i can use it as a foot controller (even has expression!). You can't really go wrong with it, love this thing!
brilliant video!!! quite easy to understand how to setup the pod as midi controller.
Great breakdown 🌴
great thanks!
Hello, Thank's for your video ,I would like to know on your HD500X in SYSTEM CONFIG your midi-channel is 2 and your midi out is it out/thru
Hi Alan, thanks so much for this video. I just sat down this weekend to set up my HD500X as a midi controller for bias on my iPad and before diving in myself I looked up YT and found your 2 videos. Quite a few parallels in my situation. I use my HD500X in church and other live situations, I also have a FCB1010 and I have recently got Bias for recording and I want to try it out as a live option.
A question which you may or may not be able to answer is that I have tried the HD500X in the patch+plus stomp mode and it allows me to switch the patches via midi on the bottom row and the bank pedals and to switch in effects in the top row just like the HD500X does natively. However for some reason when I call up a patch on the iPad by stomping on FS5-8 it calls up the patch but turns on all the fx in the chain. If I click on it a second time it switches off the pedals that are in standby in the Bias Patch and works fine but I can’t work out why to begin with it switches everything on.
The only way I’ve been able to get round this is to switch the HD500X to stompbox mode as you seem to be doing in your video and mapping a different midi controller to FS5-8 which I map to the Live Mode patches A-D on the iPad. This is okay but it becomes a bit more clunky when you want to go up or down a bank.
Have you experienced what I am describing and do you happen to know if there is a fix, as I find the the patch plus stomp functionality really useful? No worries if not.
Thanks Murray.
Hey Murray. Great question and I've been thinking about it this past week. I unfortunately don't have an answer. It's strange that it would turn on all the effects because you'd think they'd have to be individually mapped. Try changing the CC settings on those pedals and see if you can get it to work. One thing I discovered this week is it is difficult sometimes to program via the HD Edit program as it wasn't saving the midi messages properly. I ended up doing it on the POD instead.
One thing to consider (and I"ve started doing this) is to use the scenes function. This allows you to turn on and off multiple effects with one footswitch. I've found for some of my usage, it's a simpler way to achieve the sounds I'm looking for.
@@strictlyguitar Hi Alan thanks for your response. Sorry I thought I’d replied last week but clearly I didn’t. The scenes function is good in the PC but unless I am wrong I don’t think it’s enabled on the iPad. I’ll try mapping the CC settings on the pod itself to see if that stops all the effects being turned out. Thanks again!
@@thefunkfactory You're probably right about the iPad version. Noob question - how are you connecting your guitar to the iPad?
hey , what do u recommend FCB1010 or line6 pod hd500 as a midi foot controller . i already have a line6 hd but i am thinking about getting FCB 1010. what do u recommend/? thanks.
Thanks man!! How can i edit to send only 1 cc messaje. I use togle mode with my rc500 looper and i need to push twice, because i think it send 127 value and then 0 value. Help please!
Hi, a quick question: how would you set up the Pod HD500X to change presets in Bias FX 2? Do you have to use bank/program or is it all done with CC settings?
Yo this may be kool
Great tutorial..Can i use a pod go to do the same as well?
I don't think so. I believe the POD Go can receive midi messages to change patches, but doesn't send midi messages which is what you'd need if you want to control something on your computer.
Will it work for the petrucci plug in
Great vid. My question is: Was POD used as an audio interface as well?
Thanks for the comment. No, I don't use it as an interface, I have a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 that I use instead. I've always had a separate interface because in my early home recording days I had a condenser mic that needed phantom power so it's always been easier to use a standalone interface.
@@strictlyguitar is it possible to use it as interface and use the midi control capabilities as well?
@@fnkymnk_ Yes, I believe you can.
hey @@fnkymnk_ just an FYI, I don't think this will work. The POD doesn't send the MIDI messages via USB, unfortunately. That's why it worked for Alan, because he's using the Focusrite as the interface, and it has MIDI input ports, so the POD is sending MIDI signals via MIDI cable to the Focusrite, and then via that path it is getting sent to the plugin on the computer. Is that correct Alan?
Can you show how to use with John petrucci vst neural dsp
It will. I have the Cory Wong plugin so same concept will apply. Set up your midi commands on the POD. Then with Neural open, right-click on a button or knob, select the midi learn option and click on your POD button to send the message. I'll do a video on the Cory Wong plugin soon.
@strictlyguitartv Thank you for the video. Would you be so kind to tell me:
1. how can I use the HD500X as a standard midi controller (I have a separate one now that with one click changes the presets on both my amplifier and my multi effects processor) without using the presets that are stored in the HD500X? What I mean is, I want to click on say FS1 - which will change the presets on my other equipment - without also hearing the effect that's assigned to FS1 on the HD500X. Do I, in that case, simply have to empty the preset that's assigned to FS1 and when I do want to use a preset on the HD500X, use a FS that has a preset sound on the HD500X and then make sure that my other equipment is set to "no effects" / bypass?
2. if I can assign more than 8 foot switches on the HD500x to send midi data? You say in the video that you can't assign midi data to the bank switches, but going up one bank to FS9 to FS19, wouldn't that make it possible to assign midi data to these "new row" of switches?
I'm sorry if these are noob questions...
Great questions
1. You're correct - just use a blank preset and set up the buttons to send midi messages. You'll need to know what type of messages your amp and effect processor receive but once you figure that out you can program your HD500X to send the correct messages. And if you also want to use your HD500X for it's processing of your guitar sounds, just set up other patches for that.
2. That's the same conclusion that I came to. In my case, I ended up with two patches - one to control Overloud TH-U on my PC and the second to control Ableton Live with stop / start / record messages. You can really set up a stack of individual patches that do different things.
I've just graduated to a Helix so I'm on a steep learning curve again, but I still have the HD500X and intend to keep using it for the midi capabilities.
Thanks for the questions.
@@strictlyguitar Thank you very much for having taken the time to reply! I've been able to connect the HD500X to my other gear and the POD presets sound amazing through my Hughes & Kettner tube amp! However, the presets in my old gear (through the HD500X) are less loud and have less body than when I plug my guitar straight into the Sansamp pre-amp. So, somehow, even though I'm using blank presets (just midi to control the presets on the Sansamp and Intellifex), the HD500X changes the output sound from my guitar. I've already set the output to "line" and the master volume of the HD500X to max and still the volume is not the same level as the direct connection method. I hope I can somehow find a fix for this, because when this works, I'd have the best of both worlds!
@@strictlyguitar Hey Alan, I believe I'm encountering the same question that @rigte056 is describing in (1). I'm using a blank preset on my HD500, I've configured all the MIDI settings as per your (excellent) video, and FS1, FS2, FS3, FS4, Tap and the Expression pedal are working perfectly, but... how do I suppress the other buttons, namely FS5 (Preset A), FS6 (Preset B), FS7 (Preset C), FS8 (Preset D), and Looper from behaving like they do in their normal state (that is, not as MIDI controllers)?
What I mean is FS5, FS6, FS7 and FS8, despite being configured to send MIDI messages, they still continue to change or select Presets in the Bank, thereby moving away from my "blank" preset I've just configured and ignoring the MIDI messages I've told those buttons to send?
Or another example: Looper button will toggle on the setting I've configured in my plugin, but because it's moved into "Looper" mode, all those footswitches become controllers for the looper and my MIDI settings are ignored. I have to turn looper off for the MIDI signals to send correctly again.
I'm probably not explaining myself very well... but do you get what I mean? (I might be missing something really simple here)
@@joe99173122 Thanks for your comment. Take a look at the HD500X Advanced Guide (not the basic one) on the Line 6 website. The appendix has a section around midi. I think pages B5 onwards show how to set it up to send midi messages. It looks like part of your question relates to using FS5 and up - checkout the box on page B5 of the guide where it talks about using Pedalboard Mode. It talks about the looper on page B8 and it seems the looper can only send fixed values. I think there's a compromise here by Line 6 - the HD500X is an effects unit first and a midi controller as a far second so some parts don't work as well as they should. I still think it's a great unit to control midi without the need to buy something else. I did have a Behringer FCB1010 and tried using that but found the HD to be easier. Saying that, I now have a Helix floor unit and need to sit down and program a patch to send midi to Ableton.
Hi Allan, thnx for your video. Do you know if the HD500X sends midi through USB as well ?
Unfortunately, it doesn't (as far as I know). You'd think this would be a natural feature as you hook it up via USB to your computer to use the HD500x edit program. But I remember checking this out because I couldn't get it to send or receive MIDI over USB and that's when I realised you had to use the ports. I see that as a design flaw, but I doubt they'll ever change.
Here’s a question: can you use the sounds of the Pod AND access the Bias FX 2 presets at the same time via MIDI on the Pod? Or, is it a case where it’s “either or?”
Yes, you can use FX presets along with the MIDI sends. Configure FX like you normally would and assign a MIDI channel like Alan explains in the vid and then when you hit the footswitch it will send the MIDI command to your software (Bias FX2 in the video), as well as enable that FX sound on the pedal.
@@tweakrr99 One more question if you don’t mind: my interface had MIDI ports on it, so I obviously have to connect the POD to the interface via MIDI cables, correct?
@@tweakrr99 One more question if you don’t mind: my interface has MIDI ports on it, so I obviously have to connect the POD to the interface via MIDI cables, correct?
@@jimmy5196 Yes, run a 5 pin MIDI cable from the HD500X MIDI OUT/THRU port to your interface MIDI IN and then it will show up in the software as the interface MIDI.
@@tweakrr99 Ok, I wasn’t sure if the HD500X transmitted MIDI through USB. Thanks so much for your help!
Can I use the Pod HD300 as a midi controller?
No, I don't think you can.
@@strictlyguitar Thanks
So I assign the midi the way I want but then when I hit the switches the change my bank
Is your midi controller sending CC or PC messages? I'm not sure if you're using Bias FX or something else, but I believe to change patches, Bias looks for Program Change messages, so it could be possible that your controller is sending PC, not CC to Bias. This article explains a bit more, but they're still pretty sketchy around how it works - help.positivegrid.com/hc/en-us/articles/360027975151-MIDI-Assignment-in-BIAS-FX-2-Standalone
Is the midi assign also possible without the software using only the pedal?
Yes it is.Hold the 'Move' button down and it brings up the controller mapping screen.
@@strictlyguitar from which menu?
@@boimesa8190 No menu initially. Just have it set up to play a patch and hold the move button down to get into the menu. Here's a link to the manual - it's section B5 that explains how to do it. line6.com/data/6/0a06434c6fb051e03e8ab63dc/application/pdf/POD%20HD500X%20Advanced%20Guide%20-%20English%20(%20Rev%20A%20).pdf
i thought soundcards died out before 2010, unless you mean audio interface