Nixie support

Strymon Nixie is a software preset editor and librarian that is designed to make it easy for you to adjust the settings of your presets and organize them on your computer.  The program consists of:

• A Device Editor with an on-screen GUI (graphical user interface) providing visuals of your Strymon pedal(s) and all the effect parameters for you to adjust and manipulate.
• A Preset Collections window on the left listing your own custom collections or groups of presets.
  • Use Ctrl/Cmd+1 to toggle the Preset Collections window on/off.
• A Device Details window on the right with information on your connected pedal(s) including a Preset Table listing the presets in the memory banks of your pedal, and a Device History window that can be used to revert to previous changes you made in the software.
  • Use Ctrl/Cmd+2 to toggle the Device Details window on/off.

To start the Strymon Nixie application:

• On Mac®, go to your Applications >> Nixie
• On Windows®, go to the Start/Windows button menu >> Programs/All Apps >> Nixie

Once you launch the program, Nixie will show its splash screen above, then, will automatically detect any Strymon pedals connected via MIDI and fetch it’s presets to show in the Device Details window in the application.

• BigSky 1v44 – release notes
• Mobius 1v34 – release notes
• TimeLine 1v84 – release notes

Nixie will automatically prompt you to update the firmware on your attached TimeLine, BigSky, or Mobius to the latest firmware version if the program detects that your pedal requires an update.

To connect your Strymon pedal to the Nixie software, you need a MIDI interface to connect from the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports of your pedal to your computer, typically through USB.  There are many type of MIDI interfaces out there, but we recommend a robust MIDI interface that uses dedicated drivers to operate reliably with your computers specific operating system.  We do not recommend getting a plug-and-play MIDI interface as we have seen many of those have trouble with handling the data transferred between the pedal and your computer.  Two MIDI interfaces that we recommend are the Roland UM-ONE and the Yamaha UX-16.

***NOTE: The MIDI ports will transmit data back and forth between your computer and your Strymon pedal, however, they do not send audio.  Please use the audio INPUT and OUTPUT connections to audition the changes you make on your Strymon pedals.***

To connect your pedal to your computer with a MIDI interface:

• First, make sure to connect your MIDI interface to your computer and and ensure any required drivers are installed on the system to operate correctly.
• Connect the MIDI OUT port of your MIDI interface to the MIDI IN port of your Strymon pedal
• Connect the MIDI IN port of your MIDI interface to the MIDI OUT port of your Strymon pedal.
  • Please keep in mind that some MIDI interfaces have cable ends that tell you where to connect them to such as the Roland UM-ONE.  For these interfaces, ‘TO MIDI IN’ connects to the MIDI IN port of your pedal, and ‘TO MIDI OUT’ connects to the MIDI OUT port of your pedal.
• Set MIDI PA and MIDI CT in the GLOBLS menu of your pedal(s) to ON.
• Set MIDI TH to MERGE.
  • For pedals with older firmware, set MIDI TH to ON.
• Set MIDI ST in the GLOBLS menu of your pedal to OFF.
• If you are connecting more than 1 Strymon pedal to Nixie at once, make sure to set each pedal to its own MIDI Channel (MIDI CH in GLOBLS).
• Launch the Nixie application and your connected pedal(s) will be automatically detected.

Please check out the following FAQ for information on linking more than 1 Strymon pedal to the Nixie software:

Can I connect multiple Strymon pedals to Nixie?

You can connect 2 or more Strymon pedals to the Nixie software at once by chaining the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports of the pedals together.

For example, to connect 2 Strymon pedals to Nixie:

• Start by connecting the MIDI OUT of your MIDI interface to the MIDI IN port of the first pedal in the chain.
• Connect a loose MIDI cable from the MIDI OUT port of the of the first pedal to the MIDI IN port of the second pedal.
• Finally, connect the MIDI IN of your MIDI interface to the MIDI OUT port of the second pedal in the chain.

***When connecting more than 1 Strymon pedal to the Nixie software using the same MIDI device/port, make sure that the following settings are made within the GLOBLS menu of each pedal in the chain.  Press and hold down the VALUE encoder button on each pedal to access the GLOBLS menu.

• MIDI CH (MIDI Channel) must be set to a different channel number for each pedal. For example:
  • TimeLine set to MIDI Channel 1
  • BigSky set to MIDI Channel 2, etc…
• MIDI TH (MIDI Through) must be set to MERGE.
• MIDI CT (MIDI Continuous Controller) and MIDI PA both must be set to ON.
• MIDI ST (MIDI State) must be set to OFF.

Device Focus

When multiple pedals are connected to Nixie, the pedal currently being edited will have Device Focus. This is indicated in the Device Editor pane by a dark horizontal bar above the pedal that is in focus. The pedal with Device Focus will also appear in the Device Details window.

Verify Device Focus

To be certain you are actually editing the pedal that you think you are editing, you can click the pedal icon in the Device Details window, and the display on your pedal (as well as its representation in the Device Editor window) will flash.

Changing Device View and Device Focus

In addition to simply clicking on the desired device in the Device Editor window to select Device Focus, you can use keyboard shortcuts to select the device that has focus, as well as change the view.

• 1 key: Maximum.  In-focus device is maximized.  Press 1 again to shift focus to another device and maximize.
• 2 key: Arrange Horizontally.  All devices are arranged horizontally at the top of the Device Editor Pane.  Press 2 again to shift focus to another device.
  
• 3 key: Cycle Arrangement.  In-focus device is maximized and other devices are arranged horizontally above.  Press 3 again to shift focus to another device and maximize.

Changing Window Arrangement

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to determine what is visible on the screen:

• Ctrl+1: Device Editor for 1 pedal is maximized.  Other connected pedals are behind the current pedal.
  
• Ctrl+2: Device Editor for each pedal is arranged at the top of the screen.
• Ctrl+3: Switch Device Focus between the connected pedals.

Troubleshooting Connections

If you are having trouble with your pedals being recognized by Nixie, please see the following FAQ:

Why doesn’t Nixie see my connected pedal?

If you do not have a Strymon pedal, or if you simply want to explore Strymon pedals that are not currently connected to Nixie, you can use Offline Devices create and edit new presets or preset collections.  

NOTE: An Offline Device allows you to explore the presets and settings of Strymon pedals that are not connected to the software, however, they DO NOT generate audio.  To audition the sound you dial in with Nixie, you must have a Strymon pedal connected and use the audio INPUTS and OUTPUTS as you normally would to hear the changes you make to the pedals.

To create an offline Mobius, TimeLine, or BigSky:

• Go to Device >> Offline Devices, and select Offline TimeLine, Offline Mobius, or Offline BigSky.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts for creating offline devices in Nixie:

• Ctrl/Cmd+B – Offline Bigsky
• Ctrl/Cmd+M – Offline Mobius
• Ctrl/Cmd+T – Offline TimeLine

When you create an Offline device, this will be noted in the Device Details window in the Nixie software.  Also, as there is no Strymon hardware when using an Offline device, there is no WRITE button to save the settings to hardware.

You can use the SAVE button to save the presets of this Offline device as a new Preset Collection on the left side of the software.

You can also save individual presets to a collection by dragging them from the Preset Table on the right to the Preset Collections window on the left.

When the Nixie software first detects a pedal that requires a firmware update for compatibility with Nixie, you will be prompted to update the firmware.  Download Nixie here.

To check for available firmware updates at any time for a pedal connected to Nixie, select Firmware Update from the Device menu.  If multiple pedals are connected to Nixie, this will be the pedal with device focus.

NOTE: Clicking Firmware Update will erase all items from the History Pane for all currently connected pedals. An Auto Save for each pedal will be automatically created in the Preset Collections window. The Auto Save includes all changes that have not yet been written to the device, but will not include the undo history.

The Preset Table is located in the Device Details window on the right side of the Nixie software and lists the presets within the memory banks of your Strymon pedal.  

• The WRITE button is used for saving the changes made in Nixie to your pedal’s memory.
• The READ button is used to load the presets from your pedal’s memory, clearing out any changes made in the software.

Think of the Preset Table as a workspace or staging area. Nothing is ever actually written to the pedal until you click the WRITE button. You have endless Undo via the History pane, and no matter what, the backup that was automatically made when Nixie detected your pedal (and any backups you made since then) will remain untouched.

Preset Table Indicators

• The preset currently being edited will be highlighted in RED.
• The names of any presets that have been changed from the saved state of the pedal will appear in italics.
• Presets that have been changed or modified in any way and not yet written to the device’s memory will appear highlighted in green when the focus is not on this preset.
• Hover over a preset to see its Effect Type displayed next to the cursor as well as in the lower left of the Nixie window.

Rename Individual Presets

• To rename a single preset, double-click the preset in the Preset Table, type in the new name, and press the Enter key.

Rename Multiple Presets

To rename multiple presets simultaneously, you can right/control+click a group of selected presets to select Name Transforms for either adding a suffix to these presets or naming them with a sequential number after the name.

To assign the same name to multiple presets with a sequential number after the name (ex., LEAD0, LEAD1, LEAD2, LEAD3):

1. Select all the presets you want to rename in the Preset Table.
2. Right-click within the selection and hover over Name Transforms in the pop-up menu, and click Sequence Names.
3. Type in your desired base name, and click OK.

To assign a suffix to multiple preset names:

1. Select all the presets you want to rename in the Preset Table.
2. Right-click within the selection and hover over Name Transforms at the bottom of the pop-up menu, and click Suffix Names.
3. Type in the desired suffix, and click OK.

Paste a preset to a new location

To paste a preset to a new location in the Preset Table:

1. Right-click on the desired preset in the Preset Table and select Copy.
2. Right-click on the desired location, then either:
   • Select Paste Replace to replace the preset currently in the location with the copied preset you wish to paste, leaving all subsequently occurring presets in their same locations, or…
   • Select Paste Insert to paste your preset to the desired location while moving the preset previously at that location, as well as all subsequent presets, up one preset slot.

Paste a Preset to Multiple Locations

To past a preset to multiple locations in the Preset Table:

1. Right-click on a single preset in the Preset Table and select Copy.
2. Select all the locations you would like the preset to be copied to by clicking and dragging, shift-clicking, or ctrl+clicking.  The selected presets will be highlighted in RED.
3. Right-click on any selected (RED-highlighted) preset and select Paste Replace.

The Device Editor provides an on-screen GUI (graphical user interface) providing visuals of your Strymon pedal(s) and all the effect parameters for you to adjust and manipulate.  The controls in the Device Editor mimic nearly all functionality of the pedal that currently has device focus.  For example:

• Turn the REPEATS knob for a TimeLine in the editor and the REPEATS value updates on the pedal, or…
• Turn a knob on your Strymon pedal and its corresponding value updates in the Device Editor GUI in real time.

You can adjust any of the controls available in the software to dial in the sound you desire on your connected Strymon pedal.

Parameter Values

In the Device Editor, the Value Knob is actually a value view/hide button. Click the Value Knob to show or hide all the per-preset PARAMS.

Effect Parameters and Common Parameters

When the PARAMS values are shown (Device Editor is not collapsed to hide the parameters), you will see two tabs at the bottom of the Device Editor: an Effect tab and a Common tab.

• The Effect tab includes all parameters specific to the effect type (specific to the Reverb Machine, Modulation Machine, or Delay Machine) currently selected by the Type Knob.
• The Common tab includes the per-preset parameters common to all effect types, including EP (Expression Pedal) ON/OFF and EP SET.

***Note – In the current version of Nixie, moving your expression pedal will not update items such as the MIX knob position and the MOD knob position in the Device Editor.

Saving Changes to your Pedal

To save changes that you have made to your presets while connected to the Nixie Software to your pedal’s memory, just click the WRITE button.

To undo this action, click press CTRL/CMD+Z until you reach the desired place in the History pane (usually the Clean state before you clicked the WRITE button), or simply click the Clean state line item in the History pane. Then click the WRITE button.  Note that the green check mark in the History pane indicates the state that is currently saved in the device.

The preset currently being edited will be highlighted in RED in the preset table in the Device Details window on the right side of the application.  Double-click on the highlighted preset in the preset table, type in the new name, and press the Enter key.  To save these changes to the pedal’s memory, click the WRITE button in the Device Details window.

To save changes made to the pedal in the Nixie software, just click the WRITE button.

To undo this action, click press CTRL/CMD+Z until you reach the desired place in the History pane (usually the Clean state before you clicked the WRITE button), or simply click the Clean state line item in the History pane. Then click the WRITE button.  Note that the green check mark in the History pane indicates the state that is currently saved in the device.

The Preset Collections window is located on the left side of the Nixie software and can be used to group together your own custom collections of presets for your Strymon pedals.  Nixie has extensive drag and drop functionality, so you can drag individual presets or preset collections from any location on a hard drive, or even directly from a web page, into the Preset Collections window.

• Click the arrow to the right of any preset collection to show or hide its contents.
• Click twice on a preset collection to make its name editable (if you wish to rename it).

***NOTE: The current version of Nixie does not have History or Undo for the Preset Collections pane. Deleting preset collections from the Preset Collections pane is permanent. This will not, however, affect backups.

Create a Preset Collection from all 300 presets in the Preset Table

1. Click on any preset in the Preset Table and then select them with all with CTRL/CMD+A.
   
2. Right-click anywhere in the Preset Table and select Create Collection from the pop-up menu, OR..
3. Click and hold anywhere in the Preset Table, then drag into the Preset Collections window.
   
4. Click twice on the new preset collection to make the name editable (if you wish to rename it).

Create a Preset Collection from one or more presets in the Preset Table

1. Select the presets you wish to include from the Preset Table.
   
2. Right-Click within the selection in the Preset Table and select Create Collection from the pop-up menu, OR..
3. Click and hold any of the selected presets, and then drag into the Preset Collections window.
   
4. Click twice on the new preset collection to make the name editable (if you wish to rename it).

To assign an expression pedal connected  to the EXP input of your Strymon pedal to control parameters:

• In the Common tab of the Device Editor for each preset, there are SET HEEL and SET TOE buttons that are used for assigning an expression pedal to control selected knobs on your Strymon pedal.
• Press ‘SET HEEL,’ then, turn the knobs you would like to control to the position you would like when the expression pedal is in the HEEL position.
• Then, press ‘SET TOE‘ and turn the same knobs you would like to control to the position you would like when the expression pedal is in the TOE position.
• When you are done making these assignments, save these changes to your preset by pressing the WRITE button in the Device Details window.

To assign the PARAM1 and PARAM2 knobs on your BigSky and Mobius in Nixie:

1. Click the Parameter Assign button (down arrow button under the PARAM1 and PARAM2 knobs) under the PARAM knob you wish to assign to a parameter in the EFFECTS tab at the bottom of the GUI.
2. The Parameter Assign button will illuminate to indicate that it is ready to be assigned.
3. In the EFFECTS tab below, adjust the parameter that you wish to control. This parameter will now be marked P1 or P2, depending on which PARAM knob is being assigned, and the Parameter Assign button will go dark to indicate that the PARAM knob has been assigned.

Currently, Global Parameters are adjusted within the pedal, and are not directly accessible within Nixie.  However, Global Parameter values are backed up, read from, and written to the device by Nixie.

If your Strymon pedal is NOT detected by Nixie, the Device Details window will provide you with options to help with getting your pedals connected to Nixie.

If you see this window, and your pedal is connected to your computer via MIDI:

1. Click the Detect Hardware button in the Device Details window (or select Detect Devices from the Device menu) to rescan your MIDI ports for any connected Strymon pedals.
2. If your connected pedal is still not recognized, click the View MIDI Adapter List button to show all of your computer’s available MIDI Input and MIDI Output ports.  If your MIDI interface does not appear,  make sure that it is connected to your computer and any necessary software drivers for the interface have been installed from the manufacturer’s website.
3. Make sure to check that your MIDI connections are correct.  For most MIDI interfaces, the MIDI IN port connects to MIDI OUT and the MIDI OUT port connects to MIDI IN.  For some MIDI interfaces (like the Roland UM-ONE), the cable ends tell you where to connect them.  For example, ‘To MIDI IN’ connects to MIDI IN and and ‘TO MIDI OUT’ connects to MIDI OUT.

***NOTE: Clicking Detect Devices or Detect Hardware will erase all items from the History window for all currently connected pedals.  An Auto Save for each pedal will be automatically created in the Preset Collections window. The Auto Save includes all changes that have not yet been written to the device, but will not include the undo history.

If Nixie recognizes your connected TimeLine, BigSky, or Mobius pedal, but fails to complete the firmware update, there may be older firmware on the pedal that is preventing the update to complete.  In this case, you can manually send the firmware to these pedals using 3rd party software to complete the update.

Below are links for downloading a zipped file that contains the firmware file along with instructions on how to perform the update on these pedals using 3rd party software.

BigSky Firmware 1v49

Mobius Firmware 1v39

TimeLine Firmware 1v88

As with any software release, you may experience a glitch here or there when using the Strymon Nixie program.  If you are having trouble with using Nixie, or would like to report any issues you may have run into when using the program, we are here to help.  Please send us an email that includes the following information:

• Your computer make and model.
• Your computer operating system version.
• Version of Nixie you are using (found in About Strymon Nixie).
• MIDI Interface make and model.
• All connected Strymon pedals.
• Details on how your pedals are connected to your computer.
• Details on what you experienced and any steps you take to reproduce the issue.

Thanks! 🙂

Strymon Support

[email protected]