The HD500 is one of the most complex amp modeler/multi-effects devices I've ever owned. It offers slots for up to 512 presets across 12 setlists, and an insane number of effects based on classic pedals and effects including even synthesizers (monophonic of course). You can edit it via MIDI or USB using the Line6 HDEdit software, as well as edit patches manually as well using all the controls on the front. It has a black & white backlit graphics display which also can display your signal chain, and it has a wah-type expression pedal, effects loop (also configurable in the chain of devices you can configure using the editor/functionality).

The first thing to notice are the controls around the screen. On the left you have a Save Button, a Navigation Encoder - this is also a button - that can be used for finding the setlist you want to load. Beneath that is the Home button which can also cycle through various views for your various effects. To the right of the screen is the On/Off button that turns effects on and off, a D-pad like a game system would have (for menu navigation), and then beneath that is the "enter" button. beneath the screen also, is a row of 4 encoders, which change function depending on what you are doing, and Line6 had the foresight to put a little metal bar there to keep you from hitting them with your foot.

To the right of the screen/control cluster, is a row of controls that should be far more familiar to most guitarists: Gain, Low, Mid, High, Presense, Volume - these are all Encoders that tweak the current preset's amp model in an intuitive fashion. And then set just a little further right of the "Volume" knob is the "Master" knob, which is the master volume for the whole HD500, and this is a regular analog pot.

Next to that are two little micro-slide switches that have various things to do with the expression pedal, and then on the far right, the big chrome thing, that's the expression pedal, used for Wah, Volume, fading in effects, and whatnot. It's fully programmable, so there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with this besides indulging in your inner Kirk Hammett.

A quick rundown of the organization here is this. There are 12 setlists on the device, each setlist consists of 64 patches, distributed in groups of 4 across 16 banks, for a total of 768 patches on this device. That's a LOT.

There is a custom made editor for Linux aimed at the HD500X but it's a bit unstable when using the HD500, and the interface is irritating, and I like the darker interface of the original Line6 Software. I had problems with it crashing when I trying to talk to my HD500 when editing patches, particularly if I'm doing a lot of editing.

The solution I have? Well, let's just say it's a good thing I kept my Windows XP license, because that's precisely the MINIMUM this software works with, and that's precisely how I do it. I built a Virtual Machine in VirtualBox for Windows XP x86 SP3....here's a rundown...

1. First I created a VM in VirtualBox for Windows XP, 1024MB of RAM, default dynamic HDD Size, and then put my Windows XP SP3 x86 ISO in the virtual CD-ROM Drive in Virtualbox.
2. Next I installed Windows XP by following the instructions on screen. Some people may have to resort to darn-near-piracy methods to get it to activate, I have a volume license version that does not requite activation, so I installed that instead.
3. After installing Windows XP, I needed to grand permissions to the user in Linux to allow them to control USB and VirtualBox. That means I had to add myself to the group "vboxusers" to allow full access to the USB Ports on my PC while running VirtualBox. Basically, in Linux, you NEVER run as Root (aka Administrator) for security reasons, instead, you create yourself a user account, and then grant SPECIFIC perimissions for access to that specific account. This is one reason Linux has better security than Windows. But it also makes it HARDER to use for people starting out.
4. Now, I had to install the VirtualBox Client Extentions for Windows XP, this allows for things such as making local drives in Linux "shares" for Windows XP to move files from Linux to the XP Virtual Machine.
5. While I let that install and reboot (had to click "OK" A few times for some unsigned stuff - even in Linux Microsoft does not fail to remind me why I switched), I got into Mozilla Firefox on Linux Mint, went to Line6's site, download the drivers, and the Line6 Editor software - I needed my device's serial# for the latter - and then installed it on the virtual machine.
6. Then I plugged in the POD HD500 to my Linux machine, clicked on Devices->USB->HD500 - and installed the device, however, it came up in Device Manager with a *BANG* next to it.
7. So what I did was uninstalled the HD500, keeping hte drivers, then did a search for Devices in Device Manager, and found it again, followed the driver dialogue to seek out the proper drivers for hte device, and then once it did, they loaded, and the HD500 came up.
8. The rest is as usual for Line6 Editor as you would in Windows. I used a 2x magnification on my iMac to make it more visible.

The other mode allows it to act as a series of "pedalboards" that you can turn various effects on and off with - ie - much like a Digitech product with the 2 footswitches, it shifts up and down in sequence now, and then you are given eight total footswitches to turn each effect on and off with. This is a good scheme to make it more palletable to musicians who don't want to change their process for changing effects away from the old "Stompbox" format that most of us are very used to - and it makes for a very intuitive interface for people used to this type of strategy.

1. Main Presets - basically my main guitar sounds I use all the time
2. FX Heavy - I use this to experiment with FX heavy presets, I've hit the DSP limit on this processor a ton
3. Songs/Style - This is a default set of presets aimed at specific songs/styles of music
4. Dual Tones - This is a default set of presets aimed at having 2 amps or a combo guitar/synth tones
5. Synths - Synthesizer patches, this is where I create them
6. Old Stuff - Basically, remakes of my old sounds from way back (ie Lithium/M.J./Ancient Tongues/etc)
7. Expriments - Experimental sounds and sounds creating making YouTube videos
8. Celebrities - Famous Presets designed to sound like famous guitar players

Patches & Banks - Each "Setlist" consists of 16 banks of 4 patches each for a total of 64 patches per setlist, with a total of 512 Patches across 8 setlists (64x8=512). That's a lot of space. I'm still figuring out some of my organization at this time because there's just so much space to work with on my Line6 HD500.

Patch Table - Example: Main Presets

So when I set out to design a preset on this device, it's very different than a lot of other devices I've used before. Unlike my older boards like the Digitechs, BOSS ME-6, Korg AX30G, Behringer V-Amp Pro, etc...I can change the ORDER in which my effects are placed in the signal chain, and this ORDER can make or break the sound of your guitar on these settings.

What Line6 was going for here, was an ability for a guitarist to INTUITIVELY design their signal chain from scratch on the HD500 without having to suffer the limitations of things like, not being able to put a chorus before a distortion, or not being able to have 2 simulatanious amp sims in stereo. Most older systems had a very myopic point of view - ie one signal chain, one guitar, everything placed in the "industry standard" layout (tuner, noise gate, compressors, pitch, gain/fuzz/dist, filters/wah, amp, cab sim, mic placement, modulation, echo/delay effects. As we know, prior to digital amp modeling and digital effects, not every guitarist used this layout. Kurt Cobain, for example, put his DS-1 AFTER his Small Clone - a big "nono" for today's guitarists, but that's a part of his sound, and the only way to get that, was to put your chorus BEFORE your distortion pedal. But nobody's processor would let you do that for the longest time.

Another part of it, however, is not just effects placement, but a lot of the "big" guitar sounds you hear on major records are actually OVERDUBBED using multple amplifers and even, at times, multiple guitars. Using Nirvana as an example again (I know their productions with Endino/Vig/etc. well) - when they made Nevermind, Kurt used a Twin Reverb, a Bassman, and a Vox AC30, just to name a few, and these were overdubbed on that record MASSIVELY. To a point that a lot of the tones you heard on Nevermind in the studio were unattainable live due to the fact that Kurt might have recorded a Strat, a Mustang, and a Univox on three different tracks with three different amps - might be the reason why you can't ever sound like that. While this device cannot change your playing up slightly through the three signal chains to make it sound like a studio recording, it CAN however, split your guitar off to multiple chains to get CLOSE to that sort of thing as one guitarist.

So what this pedal does, is allows you to use not one, but TWO amplifiers, pan them, mix them, and balance their output, to produce different guitar tones than you can achieve by using just one amplifier in a modeling setup.

Usually I'll start off choosing my amplifier(s) when I edit patches -to get a base-level tone set. IE, what I would sound like DRY playing into aforementioned amplifier. I'll EQ everything, set my microphone type, experiment with speaker cabinets, until I have my sound like I want it. This is what I call my "base" tone - basically, the sound that I'll likely copy and reuse on everything else for consistancy reasons.

Then I will start off by adding the effects I won't want to change out. In my case, this usually means a reverb effect, and a chorus effect. THose get their footswitches unassigned and are set to an "always on" state.

Then I may pick 1-4 "accent" effects of sorts, for me this could be anything from a small boost for solos to a pitch shifter, to a monosynth. These are assigned to the footswitches on the top row, and set to "off" when the patch is turned on.

Patch/Bank - In patch bank, there are sixteen banks of 4 patches each for a total of 64 total patches per setlist. Each of these patches are setup in such a way to allow you to start in a pre-determined state with certain effects on and certain effects off. So say, I switch from my clean sound, to my distortion. This comes at the cost of the 4 lower buttons in between the bank buttons and the sampler buttons to change between the 4 patches in the current bank. So typically, when I program these myself, I choose only FOUR effects that I can turn on/off via footswitch from the upper row while I'm playing.

Manual Mode - Manual mode allows you to go up and down the setlist patches incrementally one by one using the up and down buttons, while having all eight footswitches available to turn effects on and of, sort of like having multiple pedalboards. The idea is that you don't need to change your pedal settings anymore, you just scroll up and down to change to the pedalboard you intend to use night after night on your setlist. I've just started exploring this so I can start using my Bugera Live with a smaller pedalboard (ie just the HD500) and have all the sounds I want to have - possibly in stereo if I feel like it.