Digitech’s Software and Firmware Troubles with the RP360 Continue; We Recommend the RP500 Instead
It’s been about 2 years since Digitech released the RP360 and RP360XP, two great-sounding devices. Unfortunately, in that time Digitech hasn’t seen fit to address the terrifically daunting software issues they’ve laid on unsuspecting RP360 owners. Those issues begin with a firmware update that consistently fails, leaving RP360 owners with a device that won’t work and forcing them to repeat the update procedure, over and over, until it decides to take. The Nexus application, which is the ONLY software support for backing up and reloading an RP360, apparently won’t run under Windows 10 (at least if our customers are to believed), and even when it works it doesn’t work as well as the Xedit application that supports every other RP from the 150 to the 1000.
In short, Digitech has more or less completely dropped the ball on software support for the RP360/360XP. At Huntersounds, we are sick of seeing messsages from our RP360 patchset customers telling us how much time and effort they have to put into getting these basics to work. I mean, for God’s sake, Digitech can’t make a f—ing firmware update work? That’s Comp Sci 101. Who the hell writes the code at Digitech, and why don’t they know how to make their own gear work?
At this point, we can no longer recommend to RP buyers that they go with the RP360 or 360XP. Fortunately, there’s an excellent alternative available. RP500s are still widely available new and used, and they now sell at the same price point as the RP360XP ($200 new, around $150 used in good to great condition). The RP500 is larger and heavier than the 360XP, but it sounds almost exactly the same, and the Xedit application that supports it is a perfectly viable piece of software that does its job without messing with your head. (In some ways the increased size and weight of the 500 are advantages, because they’re the result of a greatly expanded set of real-time performance features.)
In short, until Digitech fixes the software issues that should never have been present in the first place, and which they have failed to address for 2 years, we strongly recommend that anyone considering an RP360 or 360XP pick up an RP500 instead. Better is better, and at this point in time, taking all factors into account, the RP500 is simply better value for money. And if you’re planning to pick up one of our patchsets to go with your RP, rest assured that the patches we’ve created for the RP500 are the best we’ve done for ANY Digitech device, mainly because they take advantage of every single one of the footswitches in the 500’s expanded footswitch array.
We’re not happy about this announcement, but our first loyalty is to the people who use our patchsets in their RPs, and those people deserve a hell of a lot better than the crap software Digitech has pushed on them for the last two years with the RP360. We put a lot of time and effort into our patchset for the RP360/360XP, and we look forward eagerly to the day we can announce that Digitech has fixed these issues. In the meantime, buyer beware the RP360/360XP.
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Hi, thank you for sharing these digitech RP360 defect, I wanted to ask you if today 10/08/2018 there has been some update of digitech that solves the problems that you describe in this article because if so, I would like to add a digitech RP360xp. Thanks
Hello very valuable information you share about the digitech RP360, I wanted to ask you if today 10/08/2018 there has been some update of digitech that solutions the problems you describe in this article because if so, I would like to add a digitech RP360xp. Thanks
Hi Lamparo, Digitech has updated Nexus to v1.0.2, and it now handles windows 10, so my guess is they’ve dealt with some other issues too. The RP360 does work.
Hello, I just bought a used RP360 and updated it right away to firmware V1.3.0.0 with no problems. Took about 10-15 minutes. But using Windows 7.
How is the software of the RP360 in terms of bugs and editing today? Still much more effort and time consuming than the RP500?
It’s a little better. The good news is that editing the RP360 (I recommend the XP version) from the front panel is pretty easy. You can do your editing there, save the edits to the RP, then use the software to back it up, which works well. The main thing missing from the RP500/Xedit combination is the ability to drag and drop patches from one location on the RP to another, but of course there are workarounds for that.
Thank you very much, Richard.
Hello Mr. Hunter, thx for being part of this, so, if I were to go out and purchase a 360XP, would I immmediately have to do a update, or should it be automatic when its connected on line, thx for your time.
Hi Dean, so far as I know you’d have to do an update online, and it’s not automatic. It’s unclear to me whether Digitech is still in business; their website shows that almost everything they make is discontinued. It’s not clear whether the RP360 and XP are discontinued. They’re listed on the Discontinued Products page, but the word “discontinued” doesn’t appear in their listings, unlike anything else on the page. So I can’t say for sure whether you’ll be able to update the RP360. May I suggest that an RP500 will cost you about the same as a used RP360XP, and it’s a better machine for performance? Alternatively, consider buying a used RP360XP from an owner who can say they updated the firmware. Used RPs are a good deal as a rule. They’re built to withstand a lot of use.