stompchain 0.2.0

The release that welcomes you. On first launch, stompchain now walks you through the one-time setup itself.

First launch, explained by the app

Without HX Edit's data files there are no model names, no knob ranges, and no artwork, so a welcome window now handles the whole thing:

• If HX Edit is already installed on the machine, stompchain copies its data automatically. No steps at all.
• Otherwise it points you at the HX Edit download, then takes the installer by file picker, a Downloads folder check, or drag and drop. Either installer works: the Mac .dmg or the Windows .exe, on any OS.
• The moment extraction finishes, names, knobs, and pictures appear in place. No restart.

The extractor now unwraps the whole Mac installer chain (dmg, pkg, gzip, cpio) with 7-Zip on Linux and Windows, and with hdiutil and pkgutil natively on macOS.

Dependencies

• Linux / Windows: reading an HX Edit installer in-app needs 7-Zip (p7zip on most Linux distros; the AUR package suggests it). Not needed if HX Edit is installed on the same machine.
• macOS: nothing extra.

Fixed

• Every file dialog on Linux (Browse, Export, Import) crashed the app due to an async runtime mismatch in the dialog library. All of them work now.

Install

Grab your platform's build below, or see the download page for per-OS instructions, Homebrew, and the AUR.

Line 6 and HX are trademarks of Yamaha Guitar Group; this project is not affiliated with them.

v0.1.2

Full Changelog: v0.1.1...v0.1.2

v0.1.1

Full Changelog: v0.1.0...v0.1.1

stompchain 0.1.0

The first release of stompchain: an open-source editor for Line 6 HX-family devices. A cross-platform GUI, a scriptable CLI, and the reverse-engineered protocol documentation behind both. Built and verified operation by operation against an HX Stomp on firmware 3.80.

Why it exists

HX Edit is macOS/Windows only, and its protocol was undocumented. stompchain runs on Linux too, edits the same scratch buffer HX Edit edits, and ships with PROTOCOL.md: the whole wire protocol written up, so this editor is not the only thing that can ever be built on it.

What it does

• The signal chain, drawn as it is wired. The main line never bends; a parallel branch hangs below it between a draggable fork and merge. Drag a block onto the offered branch to run it in parallel, drag the fork and merge to move where the path divides, and choose how the split divides: Y, A/B, crossover, or dynamic.
• Editing. Swap models from a searchable thumbnail browser with HX Edit's own artwork, turn knobs with values formatted exactly as HX Edit formats them, drag to reorder, undo/redo with the keyboard.
• Presets travel byte for byte. Copy, paste, import, export, and setlist backup carry the device's own document verbatim, so nothing is lost in translation.
• Snapshots, setlists, tempo, IRs, device settings. The rest of what HX Edit does on an HX Stomp, each verified against the hardware.

Install

Linux / macOS: download the archive for your platform below, unpack, and run the binaries. Or clone and run ./install.sh, which also sets up the udev rule (Linux), desktop entry, and app bundle (macOS).

Windows: unpack the zip and run stompchain-gui.exe.

Model names, ranges, and artwork come from HX Edit's own data files: run tools/hxresources/extract.sh /path/to/HX_Edit.dmg (or .exe) with an installer downloaded from line6.com. Without it everything still works, just with numbers where names would be.

Quit HX Edit before connecting. It holds the device exclusively.

Honest limits

This is a 0.1: it works, and it wants testing. The tested device is an HX Stomp on firmware 3.80. Helix and LT parse and render (two DSP paths, four lanes) but have not met real hardware yet. If something misbehaves, an issue with the stompchain chain output and what you expected is gold.

Nothing here is derived from Line 6 source code; the protocol was reconstructed by observing USB traffic. Line 6 and HX are trademarks of Yamaha Guitar Group; this project is not affiliated with them.