PILOTS GUIDE PDF (Version 2.01)
Welcome to the Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide. Please remember to check back at the Line 6 Vyzex support forum (http://line6.com/community/community/support/pod_support/vyzex) for news and updates.
What are the minimum requirements for the program?
PC Windows XP and Vista. The program can also be adapted to run on Windows 2000 (see the accompanying Troubleshooting PDF or the programs README.TXT) but this is not an officially supported platform and any modifications to their Windows 2000 installation are exclusively the users responsibility. P4 equivalent Processor and up, 32-bit color graphics and 1024x800 or larger display. NOTE: If your PCs main display resolution is near the minimum requirement, you may need to set your task bar to auto-hide in order to avoid clipping of the editor GUI by the Windows Operating System. MAC OSX 10.4 and OSX 10.5, Power PC G4, G5 and all Intel Processors. 1024x800 or larger display.
How do I install and configure the program?
First you should run the installer program, then you should connect your Floor POD Plus to your computer through any approved USB MIDI Interface, ensuring that your MIDI interface is correctly installed and functional.
Now you should quit any MIDI port using music software you have running before you launch the program for the first time This will avoid any possible conflicts between Vyzex and your other MIDI software on the programs maiden voyage. NOTE: Youll still need to hook up the Audio Output(s) of Floor POD Plus to powered speakers or plug in headphones if you want to listen to your guitar while you edit. Theres no magical audio over midi going on here! Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 1
Auto-sensing, auto-sensing, 1, 2, 3 By default, Vyzex Floor POD Plus will open every MIDI In and MIDI Out port on your computer and conduct a thorough search for your Floor POD Plus: When Floor POD Plus has been found, Vyzex will set the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports it needs in order to communicate with Floor POD Plus automatically. By default, Vyzex Floor POD Plus will automatically GET (upload) your Floor POD Pluss user bank and current editing buffer every time you launch the program:
This step ensures that the editor has a copy of every channel bank memory aboard your Floor POD Plus loaded up for editing at the start of each session.
Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide
Once the transfer is complete you will be able to click on the BANK mode button and see the entire channel bank from your Floor POD Plus within the editors Graphical User Interface (GUI):
At this moment, the editor and your Floor POD Plus are completely synchronized. This means both the software and the hardware have identical data loaded and any edits you make in the editor will be automatically transmitted to your Floor POD Plus, including any changes to the Channel Bank ordering. Backing Up Your Tone Data To back up your tone data to hard disk, choose FILE->Save Set from the applications menu. Youre now backed up, provided you dont save any changes to this file. If youre worried about that happening, you can also choose the FILE->Save Set As menu command to change the file name you are working with before you move on.
What if I got an error message saying the editor couldnt find my Floor POD Plus?
If the editor software is unable to find your Floor POD Plus and synchronize itself, you have a connection problem Assuming youve followed the MIDI connection diagram on page 1, this issue is likely Windows driver related. Please check out the Vyzex Floor POD Plus Troubleshooting PDF file, available for instant access from the programs Manuals menu. Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 3
Ok, I backed up my set file for safety. So how do I edit a Floor POD Plus Channel?
Simply twist the knobs and click on the pop-up controls in the Vyzex editor GUI and youll hear the changes instantly reflected in Floor POD Plus: These changes will be temporary unless you then press the STORE button in the editor GUI. Heres a quick tour through some editing with Vyzex Floor POD Plus: TONE EDIT Press the TONE button to put the editor GUI into Tone Edit mode. Edit the parameters by twisting knobs and clicking on text controls in the editor GUI (See NOTE below). When you get a sound you want to keep, press the STORE button to overwrite the original tone at the bank location indicated right next to the channel NAME in the editor GUI. In normal operating mode, the editor will also update the matching channel memory aboard your Floor POD Plus whenever you press the STORE button in the editor GUI. Now lets click on the EDITOR MODE BANK button to switch from TONE edit mode to BANK edit mode. The knobs operate as rotary-drag controls: You can change them to operate as linear drag controls in the Options->Preferences dialog. A full explanation of the program preferences and an overview of how all the control types operate (including keyboard shortcuts and alternate click modes) can be found in the Preferences Guide PDF, available from the applications Manuals menu.

BANK EDIT With the BANK Edit mode activated, you can see every user channel in the CHANNEL BANK. If you click on any entry in the CHANNEL BANK area youll see that it is automatically loaded for tone editing. Youll also hear that the new tone is also being auditioned on your Floor POD Plus. You can drag and drop entries within the channel bank to swap them around. You can also copy single or multiple consecutive channel entries to the clipboard and then paste them into a different location, provided the destination is the same size as the source.
Drag and drop operations in the CHANNEL BANK editor work as follows: If you drag any preset in the bank to another location, the source and destination presets will trade places. This is a Swap Operation. If you hold down the CTRL (Option on Mac) key while dragging and dropping, the source will be copied over the destination. This is a Copy Operation. If you hold down the SHIFT key while dragging and dropping, the source will be moved into the destinations location and the bank entries between the two will be shifted back 1 place in order to fill the hole left behind by the source. This is an Insert operation.
Every change you make to the channel bank through the editor GUI will be automatically transmitted to your Floor POD Plus, so remember to reopen your original saved user set file and SYNC it to your Floor POD Plus when you are done playing with the editor. Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 5
RENAME A TONE Simply click on the current tones name to change it
.And click the OK button to accept the new name.
THE STORE IN BUTTON The tone is renamed, and we decide wed like to store the change but not within the 1A slot within the editors channel bank. For the sake of argument, lets say we want the Hell Hole tone to be stored in Channel Bank Memory 6C instead of 1A. Rather than click the STORE button, well click on the STORE IN button, instead.
THE STORE IN DIALOG The STORE IN dialog allows you to choose any location in the channel bank as a destination. Lets choose 6C as the destination. We then click on the Store to Destination button.
This will close the dialog and store the preset to the selected location.

STEP 6: If you look in the CHANNEL BANK area of the editor, youll see that channel memory 6C now contains the tone we named Hell Hole. At this point, the channel memory 6C on your Floor POD Plus will also now contain the Hell Hole tone. Youll note that the original Back in Black tone in the 1A channel memory has not been changed. In the upper part of the GUI, youll see that 6C is now displayed as the Channel Bank location of the Hell Hole tone that is currently loaded for editing: If you were to press the STORE button now, the tone would be stored in the 6C destination.
Nice demo. Now, lets restore my original data to my Floor POD Plus Im gigging tonight!
If you have followed along and experimented with the STORE button or performed any kind of bank reorganizing operations, you should be aware that every change you just made in the editor has also been automatically applied to the memory locations aboard your Floor POD Plus. To restore the onboard memory of your Floor POD Plus to its original state, follow these steps: 1. Select File->Open from the program menu and select the *.SQS (set) file that you originally saved. 2. If a dialog asks Do you want to save the changes? click on the No button. 3. When the Synchronize This Set? dialog opens, click on the SYNC the Set TO Floor POD Plus button. This procedure will load your saved Set file into the editor and synchronize its contents to your Floor POD Plus.
Having the editor automatically overwrite my Floor POD Plus bank whenever I open a set file makes me nervous I keep my gig tones stored on my Floor POD Plus! Isnt there a safer way to work?
Absolutely: There are times when you dont want to synchronize an opened set file into your Floor POD plus, such as when you only want to browse a set file for interesting tones. In cases like these, it makes more sense for the editor to transfer each tone you select into the temporary edit buffer aboard your Floor POD Plus, avoiding the Floor POD Plus Channel Bank altogether. The result is your Floor POD Plus plays whatever tones you select while its onboard Channel Bank remains unchanged by the editor. To enter this alternate operational mode, open a set file from disk and click the Do Not SYNC This Set File button when you the Synchronize This Set? dialog opens:
This safer way of working is called Virtual Editing: Instead of the editors Channel Bank operating as a fully synchronized copy of the actual Channel Bank on your Floor POD Plus, the editor Channel Bank operates as a virtual bank without actually touching the Channel Bank in the Floor POD Plus. To explain the difference between Direct and Virtual editing, here is a graphical representation of the three levels that interact when you are using the Vyzex Floor POD Plus editor:

Check out the red box entitled FLOOR POD PLUS on the left: See the 124 green squares inside the red box? These represent the 124 channel tones that live in the CHANNEL BANK onboard your Floor POD Plus. Now look at the black box entitled EDITOR in the middle of this illustration: Another set of 124 green squares, right? These represent the 124 tones you are changing whenever you edit within the bank editor. Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 10
In the preceding illustration it should be clear that the tones in both channel banks usually start out as copies of each other (such as immediately after youve uploaded a SET to the editor from Floor POD Plus, or immediately after youve synchronized a SET file opened in the editor to Floor POD Plus). When both the editor and Floor POD Plus have matching data like this, they are fully synchronized and the editor operates in Direct Bank mode. In Direct mode, the software automatically transfers any changes you make in the editors channel bank directly to the channel bank in your Floor POD Plus. This is the normal operating mode of the editor which is both easy to understand and simple to use. On the other hand, whenever you open a set file from disk into the editor and do not to synchronize its data to your Floor POD Plus, you are telling the software that the Channel Bank in your Floor POD Plus should not be overwritten to match the Channel Bank in the editor. The editor software follows this rule by shifting to Virtual Bank mode. In Virtual Bank mode, the software simulates direct bank editing without actually involving the Channel Bank on the Floor POD Plus. Whenever you select a new preset in the editors channel bank, this is what happens: 1. The editor sends a program change to your Floor POD Plus to update the bank number display on the front panel, 2. The editor updates the Floor POD Plus editing buffer with the selected tone data from the editor. As a result, you may be fooled into thinking the editors bank is actually the bank onboard Floor POD Plus, but its only a convincing simulation (or a sneaky trick if you prefer) on the editors part, which is why we call this technique virtual bank editing. In Virtual Bank mode you can navigate through the Channel Bank in the editor and perform all kinds of reorganization within the bank entries while dragging new tones in and out of the Collection (more on the Collection shortly) and your Floor POD Plus will faithfully audition each selected sound as if these tones were part of the onboard Floor POD Plus bank The important thing to remember is, unless you specifically command the editor to transfer its Channel Bank into the one on Floor POD Plus (with a manual SET SYNC operation), the actual bank aboard your Floor POD Plus is completely protected. This means your allimportant gig sounds are safe from erasure unless you really want to replace them. When the Vyzex Floor POD Plus editor is in Virtual Bank mode, youll see that an extra button labelled SYNC appears directly below the USER CHANNELS navigation buttons in the editor GUI:

Additionally, a flashing red V (for Virtual, not Vendetta) icon also appears between the STORE and STORE IN buttons when Virtual Bank mode is engaged: Its one more clue something strange is going on! The STORE and STORE IN buttons also behave differently when the V is flashing: In virtual mode, these buttons only write to the editors Channel Bank and leave your Floor POD Plus bank alone. This safeguards the Channel Bank aboard your Floor POD Plus as part of the Virtual Bank operational rules.
The SYNC button provides a way to command the editor to restore synchronization between your Floor POD Plus onboard channel bank and the channel bank in the editor. It also provides the option to SYNC the current tone being edited into the Floor POD Plus Channel Bank from within Virtual Bank mode. Clicking on the SYNC button launches the following dialog:
This dialog lets you choose from four different operations. From left to right they are: 1. SYNC Set TO FPP: This transfers the entire set in the editor to Floor POD Plus, overwriting the Channel Bank onboard the device and resuming direct mode editing. 2. SYNC Set FROM FPP: This transfers the entire Channel Bank from your Floor POD Plus into the current set file and resumes direct mode editing. 3. SYNC Channel to FPP: This writes the currently edited tone in the editor to the displayed bank location in both the editors Channel Bank and your Floor POD Plus Channel Bank. Virtual Bank editing will continue. 4. Cancel: This (quite obviously) cancels the dialog without any changes. Virtual Bank editing will continue. When Virtual Bank mode is active, youll also notice two new buttons appearing in the Bank editor whenever you make a selection: GET SELECTED and SYNC SELECTED.
These two buttons command the editor to either GET the corresponding channel location from your Floor POD Plus and load it in the editors Channel Bank or to SYNC the selected entry into the corresponding channel location on Floor POD Plus. These two buttons are not available outside of Virtual Bank mode since they are unnecessary when the editors channel bank and the Floor POD Plus channel bank are automatically synchronized. Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 12
There is also a situation in which Virtual bank mode will automatically engage, which is whenever you cancel a set from being fully received from Floor POD Plus. Recall how the editor automatically gets the current channel and channel bank from your Floor POD Plus whenever you launch the program? Heres that transfer screen again:

If you press either the Cancel All or Cancel button (shown here) before the program has had a chance to completely load the whole channel bank from Floor POD Plus, the editor will be forced into virtual bank mode since the software will not be completely synchronized with your Floor POD Plus: Only the first part of the editor bank will reflect the channel bank aboard your Floor POD Plus The rest of the editor bank will be empty. These empty slots in the editors Channel Bank will not be auditioned when you click on them. Instead, the editor will call up the corresponding channel from your Floor POD Plus (with a program change) so you can hear the sound that is missing from the editor bank. You can get out of this situation by either pressing the SYNC button, selecting all the blank tones in the bank and pressing the GET SELECTED button, or opening a saved.SQS file from disk: The choice is yours. Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 13
So far youve only covered Set (SQS) files - What about L6T files from CustomTone.com?
While SQS files are the format used by the Vyzex editor to store the contents of an entire Floor POD Plus in one place, the program also works with single channel Line 6 Tone (L6T) files available for download at http://www.customtone.com. L6T files come in many different varieties: A Vetta II L6T file will not be compatible with Floor POD Plus hardware, nor will a Pocket POD L6T file be compatible with HD147 hardware for example. Only Floor POD Plus, PocketPOD and POD 2.0 L6T files can be opened by the Vyzex Floor POD Plus editor software - All other L6T file types are incompatible! As mentioned above, Vyzex Pocket POD can import PocketPOD and POD 2.0 L6T files. Youll have to bear in mind that these devices are close but not identical to Floor POD Plus in structure and that the imported file may not sound 100% like it did on the original device when loaded on your Floor POD Plus.
When you open an L6T file, the tone is loaded for editing as the current selected tone: You can hear it, but unless you STORE it to a Channel Bank location it will not become a relatively permanent part of the set file.
Can I also drag and drop L6T files to import them?
Yes: You can drag and drop L6T files from any open folder on your computer into the Vyzex Floor POD Plus editor window: If you drop the file over the TONE editing area of the GUI it will be imported into the current CHANNEL editing buffer (as shown in the illustration above), If you drop the file over the BANK editing area of the GUI it will be imported into the specific CHANNEL BANK entry you drop into. If you drop the file over the Collection view (explained on the next page), it will be imported into the collection and sorted alphabetically by name.

What about multiple L6T files: Can I import a selection of these in one shot?
Yes: You can batch import any number of L6T files into the Vyzex Floor POD Plus editor, but you will need to open the editors Collection view first. Opening The Collection View The Collection View can be opened by checking the Collection View item in the Options menu:
The collection acts as a global listing of your favorite tones that remains available no matter which set file you have currently opened. This property makes the Collection View as equally useful as both a transfer clipboard and a master library of individual set components. To import any number of L6T files into the collection, simply select the L6T files in an open folder window and then drag and drop the selection into the Collection pane of the editor window. The next time you open the Collection View you will see these tones have been sorted alphabetically into the collection list. Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 15
To transfer any bank entry to the Collection, simply drag it from the Bank window into the Collection. Likewise, to transfer a collection entry to the editor, simply drag it back into the editor. If you want to copy the currently edited tone to the Collection, hold down the ALT key and click down the mouse on any area in the editor where there isnt a control (such as the Line 6 logo) and ALT-drag the tone to the Collection. Unlike the bank view (which automatically loads any selection you make for editing), the collection allows you to audition your selection without directly loading it into the editor GUI. This means you can hear each tone in the collection by single clicking on them in turn, but your current edits will not be disturbed. If you actually want to replace the currently edited tone with one from the collection, simply double click on the tone you want to load. You dont have to drag a collection item into the editor if you only want to audition it: When you click on the item Vyzex will automatically load it into Floor POD Pluss editing buffer for instant auditioning. If you decide you also want to edit any collection item in the editor GUI, simply double-click on it and it will load for editing and also be auditioned at the same time.

When you first install Vyzex Floor POD Plus, the Collection will be empty. Then as you add items to it from the editor, the Collection will sort them alphabetically, which means the newer entries will always be located closer to the bottom of the collections listing: This allows you to archive multiple versions of the same item and youll always know which one is the most recent (hint: It will have the largest number at the end!).
The entire collection is stored as a single file on your hard drive called Default.SQC: If you ever want to archive the collection, this is the file to back up. The Default.SQC file is located in the \Psicraft\Vyzex Floor POD Plus\Line 6 Floor POD Plus subfolder of your user documents folder (on both Windows and Mac).
You can also ALT-Drag the currently loaded preset tone into the editors currently loaded User Bank: Just remember that this user bank will need to be saved as an appropriately named SET file for you to be able to retrieve the preset tones youve just stored later on.
This concludes the Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide PDF Manual It was pretty quick, wasnt it? Since this document is only an introduction, its a good idea for you to also read the companion PDF manuals like the Vyzex Floor POD Plus Preference Guide and the Vyzex Floor POD Plus Troubleshooting Guide for a more complete view of how the editor operates. Just as with this PDF, these PDFs are also accessible from the programs Manuals pull down menu.
APPENDIX 1 : Manually Configuring Vyzex Floor POD Plus
As was mentioned in part one of this pilots guide, Vyzex Floor POD Plus automatically configures itself to use the correct MIDI ports and then uploads Floor POD Pluss user bank and channel buffer every time you launch the program. While this is the default setup for the program, you are free to reconfigure the program manually which may be more to your liking once youve mastered how it operates. There are four basic options that are turned on in the program as defaults: Auto Load Sets: When checked, Vyzex loads a Set from Floor POD Plus each time the program is started. AutoSense on Program Execution: When checked, Vyzex automatically attempts to determine the MIDI ports and SysX communication channel that it uses every time the program is started. If this option is not checked then you must manually configure the settings using the Settings dialog. AutoLoad Temporary Elements when Create New Set: When checked, Vyzex loads a set from Floor POD Plus whenever a new file is created. Auto Save and Reload Session: When checked, Vyzex automatically saves the set on program exit and reloads this set the next time the program is run. NOTE: If the Auto Load Sets option is also checked, the session reload will not take place A new set will be loaded from Floor POD Plus instead. Rather than just showing you what to uncheck, were going to explain the background details, starting with Geek Facts 1 and 2 from The Midiot's Guide to the Studio:

Geek Fact #1: One USB Cable equals many MIDI Cables. By connecting a USB cable between a MIDI Interface and your computer you are actually connecting two virtual MIDI cables: One from Floor POD Plus's output to the computer's input and another from the computer's MIDI output to Floor POD Plus's input in one shot. From your computer operating systems perspective, the virtual MIDI cable coming from your Floor POD Plus appears as a MIDI Input Port, and a MIDI Output Port. These ports will be available to any music software that supports MIDI, which includes sequencers, DAWS and of course the Vyzex Floor POD Plus editor program. Geek Fact #2: Computers often have 'hidden' MIDI Ports. It's true. Even if you don't have other USB MIDI devices connected, your computer may have 'virtual' MIDI ports that address things like your Sound Card's game port or that cheesy onboard synthesizer chip that bad websites love to fire up unexpectedly. These MIDI ports will always be visible to music software as possible selections in addition to the ports that Floor POD Plus presents to your computers operating system whenever the USB cable is plugged in, no matter your taste in web design. Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 17
Weve related these two geek facts to prepare you for the fact that before you can use your Floor POD Plus with any piece of music software, youll need to select one or more appropriate MIDI IN ports and MIDI Out ports within the softwares configuration dialogs. As was mentioned earlier, Vyzex Floor POD Plus is set by default to automatically do this chore for you when you first start using the editor, but after you become more proficient using your Floor POD Plus, youll likely want to do more sophisticated things with it, and thats when the information in this section of the Users Guide is essential for you to know. The Vyzex MIDI In Ports Dialog (MIDI->MIDI In Ports Menu)
THE MIDI IN PORTS DIALOG ON WINDOWS XP (WITH A CLASS COMPLIANT MIDI PORT SHOWN)
The MIDI In Ports dialog is where you select the MIDI port(s) that you wish the editor to connect to. By default, the Always Start with All MIDI Ports Open option is checked because this allows the AutoSense routine to check every MIDI port that is available to your computer. If you have disabled AutoSense in the Vyzex preferences menu, you should uncheck this option to avoid conflicts with other music software installed on your computer that you may want to run simultaneous to the Vyzex editor. Its important to understand that your computer operating system refers to these ports as MIDI IN ports purely from its own perspective, not from Floor POD Plus: This means that the MIDI IN Port called USB Audio Device is actually connected to the MIDI OUT port on Floor POD Plus, and the MIDI Out Port called USB Audio Device is actually connected to the MIDI IN port on Floor POD Plus. Dont worry This is not as confusing as it sounds. Just remember that from the computers perspective, these two ports are the input port that brings MIDI Data from Floor POD Plus and the output port that sends MIDI Data to Floor POD Plus. For basic editor operation, you only need to select each port used by Floor POD Plus. These will be labelled according to your particular MIDI interfaces name unless you are using Windows XP and your MIDI interface is class compliant (which means it uses the built-in Windows USB MIDI driver). Windows XP labels its class compliant MIDI ports as the somewhat unfriendly USB Audio Device as shown above. Remember: These instructions only apply if you are manually configuring the Vyzex software! Otherwise you can leave everything as it was installed and the software should automatically reconfigure the MIDI In and MIDI Out ports whenever you run the program. Vyzex Floor POD Plus Pilots Guide 18

On Windows Vista and Mac OS X, the MIDI Port names are always considerably friendlier than Windows XP: On these operating systems youll be able to tell your MIDI interfaces MIDI ports from others that your system may have available. Simply click on the port to selected it and click on the OK button: Just remember that if you want the program to recall these selections every time it runs youll also need to uncheck the Always Start with All MIDI Ports Open option as well. The Vyzex MIDI Out Ports Dialog (MIDI->MIDI Out Ports Menu)
THE MIDI OUT PORTS DIALOG ON MAC OSX
As explained previously, Windows XP refers to Floor POD Pluss MIDI In Port and MIDI Out Port as USB Audio Devices, which can get quite confusing, especially if you have more than one class-compliant USB MIDI device connected to your PC. In this situation the USB Audio Devices will be numbered, and (unfortunately) the ordering of each devices ports will differ from model to model, so be alert when you are trying to determine which one(s) to select. FOR WINDOWS XP Additionally the MIDI Out Ports numbering order on Windows XP is often different than the MIDI In port numbering, so please keep this in mind when configuring the MIDI ports manually.
Multi-Client Driver Support In the world of MIDI device drivers, multi-client operation is very desirable: Multi-client MIDI drivers can be opened and used by more than one software application at a time, allowing multiple programs to share attached MIDI devices. While Apples OS X class-compliant MIDI drivers are multi-client, the equivalent Microsoft class-compliant MIDI drivers on Windows XP & Vista not multi-client: This means that you wont be able to use Vyzex to edit your Floor POD Plus while another program is accessing it (such as your favorite DAW or sequencer program). If you have the Always Start with All MIDI Ports Open option checked for use with Vyzexs AutoSense features and you have other non-multi-client MIDI devices connected, this will cause conflicts with any other MIDI software you are running. In this situation, you should disable this option and configure Vyzex manually to work with your Floor POD Plus.

WINDOWS XP & VISTA

Disabling the Automatic MIDI Port Management (AutoSense) Feature If you need to disable the AutoSense feature, the relevant program options can be found in the Preferences dialog within the Studio tab:
PREFERENCES DIALOG STUDIO TAB (WINDOWS XP)

Simply uncheck the AutoSense option shown here and then uncheck the open the Always Start with All MIDI Ports Open option in both the MIDI IN Ports and MIDI Out Ports dialogs. After you have done this the Vyzex application will save any specific IN and OUT Port selection(s) youve made.