Getting Started

Install

The Download page has the right file for every OS, with instructions: a drag-to-Applications app for macOS, zips for Windows, archives and AUR packages for Linux. stompchain is the CLI, stompchain-gui is the editor.

Or build from source, which also installs desktop integration:

git clone https://github.com/crmne/stompchain
cd stompchain
./install.sh

That builds everything, puts stompchain on your PATH, and installs the editor: a double-clickable app on macOS, a desktop entry with an icon on Linux. ./install.sh --cli-only skips the GUI, and --uninstall removes it all again.

Building needs Rust. On Linux the GUI additionally needs the X11/Wayland development packages any egui application does. On Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev libgl1-mesa-dev

USB access on Linux

A normal user cannot open a USB device on Linux without being granted access. install.sh installs a udev rule for Line 6 devices and asks for sudo once; without it, every connection fails with a permission error that looks like a bug in this program. Replug the device after installing. To do it by hand:

echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0e41", MODE="0666", TAG+="uaccess"' \
  | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/70-line6-hx.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

Model names and pictures

Names, parameter ranges, value formatting, and artwork come from HX Edit’s own data files, which are Line 6’s and are not redistributed here. The installer finds an installed HX Edit automatically. Without one, point the extractor at the installer you download from line6.com/software:

tools/hxresources/extract.sh HX_Edit_3.82.dmg   # or the .exe

Everything degrades gracefully without this: the device still works, you just see model numbers instead of names and no pictures.

Connect

Quit HX Edit first. It claims the vendor USB interface exclusively, and so does stompchain; only one editor can talk to the device at a time.

Plug in the pedal and start the editor:

stompchain-gui

It connects on launch. The signal chain runs across the top, presets down the left, and the selected block’s knobs fill the middle, with the model browser on the right.

A few things worth knowing on day one:

  • Edits are live but not saved. The device edits a scratch copy: a changed parameter is audible immediately but vanishes on reload unless you press Save. The amber dot next to Save tells you when there is something to save.
  • Add a block by clicking any gap in the wire, then picking a pedal. Type to search; the picker opens ready for it.
  • Make a parallel branch by dragging a block onto the dashed branch below the line, or by clicking the + on it.
  • Move the fork and merge by dragging their dots along the line.
  • Undo, redo, save are Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Shift+Z, and Ctrl+S (Cmd on macOS).

Handle with care

These devices can lock up hard enough to need their 9V adapter pulled; a USB replug is not enough, because the unit is externally powered and keeps its session across re-enumeration. Every lock-up during development traced back to the client, not the hardware, and each cause is now understood, avoided, and pinned by a regression test. The full post-mortem is in PROTOCOL.md.