Thanks for your response. I was beginning to think I’d lost my ability to effectively communicate. I agree, the sounds are superb. And I might buy the Barn3. And I have no doubt that the minute I do, they’ll patch the H9. That’s how my life works. 

I feel your pain mikeystrat, I went through the same thing when I started trying to use the box live. I ended up buying the Barn3, but it was an added cost, and it also increases the formfactor size of the unit significantly. Where I disagree is that I think the sounds in this box are really superb, and better then a lot of the alternatives. Plus, the programming flexibility is fantastic. Now, tbh, I DON’T need either of those aspects for gigging – I can get adequate results with cheaper and simpler solutions, and often do. However, as a gearhead, I love the design implementation and quality of this unit. I think, if you can accept it’s limitations, it is a great addition to a gigging pedalboard. I find it best to use it in conjunction with the Barn3, have it preprogramed for 5 or 6 sounds that I will use, and cycle through those. The reverbs, delays and mods are really spectacular, and so are the newer drives (although I am not using those for live). I am also a Strymon guy, and I think these are at least on par with those sounds.

I totally get where you are coming from, having dropped a ton of $$ and finding that you can’t use the product exactly as you envisioned, but you might find you can still adapt it to be a very useful and rewarding tool in you kit. I kind of agree though, Eventide should have seen this angle, and if not implemented the ability to autoload in forward AND reverse in the unit, and been unwilling to produce an Eventide brand accessory FS to address the issue, they should have at least highlighted the limitation and actively worked with a partner such as Barn3 and marketed in such a way as customers would not be surprised with this significant limitation after purchase. Without the Barn3 the H9 is unuseable to me for other then recording, except as a standalone single effect, which defeats the entire purpose of the thing, practically speaking.

Thought I explained it pretty well. I’m talking H9, on the floor at a gig. To cycle through three presets I have to make six manuevers with my foot to accomplish what should be a simple task. Having to spend another 80 bucks for a workaround bothers me. You say people use this in all sorts of ways but not the way I want to use it. Which I believe is the most common way a guitarist using stomp boxes would use it. I think this thread backs me up. This pedal should have been able to do this from the start. I’ve read all the responses to these concerns and not one of them is an acceptable arugment. I’m really blown away by the response that essentially, our friends at Barn3 have made a gizmo that makes our pedal not suck for live performance. The fact that a company has put this much into R&D to create this product exclusively for the H9 should be embarrassing. 

As an anology, you’ve sold me a car that has an extra clutch. To engage a gear, I have to depress the clutch to shift and then push the other clutch to engage the gear. And I have to do this evertime I shift. You say, yes, but it prevents you from engaging the wrong gear without thinking about it first, and you can purchase a device for only 20% of the price of the car that allows you to drive normally. That make sense. 

So now I have to ask myself. Do I spend the 80 bucks? Are the sounds in this box that much better than what I already have? For my job, no. Not really. So what I’ll likely do is put the box on a shelf and check back periodically to see if Eventide has come to it’s senses.