H9000 Gen2 DSP Upgrade

Perhaps this will enable running more than 4 algorithms on one fx chain?

I’m watching this one from afar. The H9000 as it is has yet to reach its full potential. I’d like to see what development is for these new chips before I shell out a grand. Let see what it does first.

Hi,

Same question here.

”The H9000 is getting a major hardware upgrade. Powered by the new Gen2 DSP platform, the H9000 is now faster and more powerful than ever while keeping the same features, workflow, and I/O you rely on.”

This sounds very interesting. I would probably order the upgrade kit right away, if the features I’ve been waiting for were added.

However, the announcement says ”..while keeping the same features.”

So, still no 2 algorithms per core? Still no ability to connect between DSPs? No sends between algos and a more comprehensive mixer / router built in the unit?

The current firmware doesn’t even make full use of the DSPs, so I too am wondering what we’d really gain from upgrading if no new features are added.

https://www.eventideaudio.com/forums/topic/emote-inter-connecting-fx-chains/#post-153302

https://www.eventideaudio.com/forums/topic/h9000-emote-wishlist-undoredo-copypaste-etc/#post-116102

Questions I have…

Is it still ARM, just newer ARM, or a different type of DSP?

Will you be able to combine DSPs?

Will you be able to run more than 4 algos on one chain? Or two separate paths in one chain, like others have said?

I don’t care about the same functions, just microseconds faster. It’s already plenty fast for my needs. As others have said, the old DSP barely gets flexed out as it is, it’s just currently a lot of bottlenecking in the programming (ie. can’t combine cores). If the bottlenecking is cause by lack of power then I look forward to actual improvements.

An interesting development though, I wonder how it will affect things in the long run.

Agree with all these comments. Following with interest, but will need a pretty convincing reason to upgrade, and much as I applaud them making it upgradable in the first place (really admire this, and one of the reasons I decided to shell out), new algorithms, easier atmos or multichannel support and an analog option card with mic pres and headphone out built in would have been much higher on my priority list.

Still, very interested to see what they do with it.

Do H9000s being sold now have Gen 2 DSP in them? Or will they at some point? Or will they be clearly labeled as Gen 2 once the rollout happens?

It’s probably as simple as, the old chips have been end-of-lined (the H9000 is 8 years old next month) and the new chips are their replacement, which is why new buyers get them with no price increase.

It would be nice to hear that the Eventide team have been hard at work making game-changing new algorithms for their flagship, as their own FAQ promised*, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. That’s not how the past 8 years have gone. It took 7 years just to be able to run legacy algorithms at 96KHz and we’re lucky to get some hand-me-downs from their guitar pedals, albeit without the crucial dual patch presets.

I really don’t understand why the H9000 has been so neglected, but as the saying goes, the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.

*(From the FAQ) – Are there any new algorithms on the H9000?
“New FUTURE algorithms is the main reason we created the H9000. The decision to migrate from fixed point DSP to ARM was, in large part, driven by our conclusion that creating new ways to effect sound will be more efficient using the tools available for general purpose processors. The ARM platform also makes porting our plug-ins to the H9000 more efficient.”

Re: Chaining more than 4 algorithms

Nov 2019 – “In the nearer term, we are planning to add the ability to connect between DSPs in the next release, so you’ll be able to connect up to 16 effects without tying up analog IO and patchbay connections. This is supported natively in the system, but we don’t have a UI for it just yet.”

Oct 2020 – “I think that ideally, we’d figure out a way to extend the current model so you could have 8 algorithms in an FX chain instead of 4, without restrictions on how they are laid out.”

March 2021 – “Sorry but this won’t be something that will make it to the next H9k firmware release. It is still something that is being discussed and a feature that we’d like to include in a future release. Thanks for your patience.”

gustebeast wrote:

Perhaps this will enable running more than 4 algorithms on one fx chain?

yes, +1 to this.

there are 16 slots in emote per chain – imagine being able to open 16 (freely routable..) algorithms per effects chain?!

as it is, i’ve maxed it out and have got around the ‘fx chain 1 can’t output to fx 2’ by using dante to route things in and out.

very curious about how this develops…

Having >4 algorithms per chain would be a great way to pipe more instruments through a single H9000, but it will be held back by the complete FX chain mute that occurs when an algorithm is changed. You could have 4 vocalists going through a single fx chain, each with the ability to set their own 4 effects, but if one of them stops singing to replace their reverb effect it’ll mute the other 3 vocalists. If Eventide could increase the algorithm limit and also find a way to localize the muting to the modified algorithm it would be very powerful.

Are the specs published for the old and new processors? How big of a jump is it?
can we expect better boot times now?

Do the new chips run hotter or cooler than the old ones? Any impact on the internal fan speed, ie can you still run it slow?

joeydego wrote:

Are the specs published for the old and new processors? How big of a jump is it? can we expect better boot times now?

I just logged in to ask about the boot time with the new chips as well.

AMEN TO ALL!

Look, as awesome as a GEN1 H9000 is, and its untapped potential, why would I want to plunk down another $1,000 on top of the already purchased $8,000 H9000 for the GEN2 DSP’s? Bigger? Faster? Stronger? REALLY??!

Sell me on some basic stuff at least!! How about faster boot-up time! How about faster switching between scenes and algorithms! How about faster screens and interaction with EMOTE software!

SO FAR, we’re taking the BACK SEAT here. Eventide invents this stuff, and “FASTER, BETTER, STRONGER” is the best sales pitch you got? How about making a side by side comparison video of a GEN1 and GEN2 H9000 and putting it on YouTube for owners to see the differences!

Steve-O Rock-O wrote:

How about faster boot-up time! How about faster switching between scenes and algorithms! How about faster screens and interaction with EMOTE software!

How about being able to tag algorithms as Favorites?! Still blows my mind that it can’t do that 8 years after launch.

If this feature ever gets added, does that now mean that Gen 1 users will have to pay $1000 to get it since, per tbskoglund, “new and improved features will be exclusively available for the Gen2 platform” ?

I will probably buy this upgrade but like others here I really want to see some more detailed information.

Guess it’s on its way.

I also want to express my thanks to Eventide for giving us the opportunity to upgrade. Not just releasing this upgrade in a brand new H10K, leaving the H9000 owners in the dust. A lot of other companies would have done that without much hesitation. Well done Eventide.

I’m no AI expert, but I’m finding lots of our questions on the new Gen 2 are mostly or at least partially answered by typing them into Google as a question and somehow, A1 comes back with pretty confident, convincing, and extremely detailed answers. Amazing and scary at the same time. Those answers convinced me to buy the upgrade now rather than wait.

Does the new chip impact boot time?

I would also love to know if the new chips impact boot time.

To my fellow H9000 owners,

Firstly, I am happy to see that Eventide is offering an upgrade path to the H9000 gen 1…… count me in as a buyer for the upgrade kit. Unlike some in this thread, I am both a satisfied H9000 owner and feel no sense of entitlement regarding my purchase. It does everything Eventide said it would when I bought it,  and I have been a happy recipient of various software and Algorithm updates over my years as an owner. I did not buy it for what I imagined it could be, but rather what it did do on the day I purchased the unit. I added the Madi card to expand my I/O and it did what Eventide said it would do.

Regarding cost, we can all do our own cost benefit calculation regarding the Gen 2 utility, but let us be polite and civil. If it is unclear to you as an individual that you will get a benefit then just let to offer pass, or reconsider at a later date.

Regarding boot time, my advice is simple. Just wait……it’s only a minute or two……the world will not turn to ashes in the meantime. And regarding future capabilities my trust lies with Eventide, they have been good to their word so far, and the product is stellar right now.

My thanks To Eventide

peterpriddle wrote:

I did not buy it for what I imagined it could be, but rather what it did do on the day I purchased the unit. I added the Madi card to expand my I/O and it did what Eventide said it would do.

Fair enough, and I understand the current feature set is already more than enough for many users. Personally, I bought the H9000 with a very specific use case in mind, and also for features mentioned by Eventide staff here on the forums — not for something I merely imagined, but for things that sounded like they would arrive via firmware updates.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m also happy to see the DSP upgrade kit, since it gives hope for UI improvements too. But I won’t spend another $1000 on features that may or may not appear until after Gen3 processors, and then require yet another upgrade to work. As Virtuoso put it: “the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.” The updates that are important to me still haven’t been implemented, so before investing more, I need concrete information and usable updates that take advantage of the Gen2 processors. If Eventide delivers, I’ll happily upgrade — and in the meantime I’ll stay tuned.

Best of luck to the Eventide developers, and thanks in advance for any and all updates!

bsfreq wrote:

peterpriddle wrote:

I did not buy it for what I imagined it could be, but rather what it did do on the day I purchased the unit. I added the Madi card to expand my I/O and it did what Eventide said it would do.

Fair enough, and I understand the current feature set is already more than enough for many users. Personally, I bought the H9000 with a very specific use case in mind, and also for features mentioned by Eventide staff here on the forums — not for something I merely imagined, but for things that sounded like they would arrive via firmware updates. Don’t get me wrong. I’m also happy to see the DSP upgrade kit, since it gives hope for UI improvements too. But I won’t spend another $1000 on features that may or may not appear until after Gen3 processors, and then require yet another upgrade to work. As Virtuoso put it: “the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.” The updates that are important to me still haven’t been implemented, so before investing more, I need concrete information and usable updates that take advantage of the Gen2 processors. If Eventide delivers, I’ll happily upgrade — and in the meantime I’ll stay tuned. Best of luck to the Eventide developers, and thanks in advance for any and all updates!

basically my feelings as well. I’ll pay more for the upgrade later once I see it’s an actual upgrade. Still love my H9000 just the way it is and it’s great they didn’t decide to make an H10000 instead.

I’d rather you did more with the software instead of the hardware – 4 ARM CPU’s and still it can’t even do granular, what a joke in 2025.

It’s like you don’t bother messing around with the software for too long, that often also has bug after bug

It seems you are so lazy about programming, that you just pass it on to another producent, which as the owner of the expensive H9000, then have to pay extra several thousand dollars for, to use with H9000

That was just some tough advice about the developments in the year 2025 that you are about to lose, if you don’t bother to keep up with VST, VSTI.

Looking at the DSP card screenshot from the store, it looks like the new modules are based on the NXP i.MX8.

Can anyone at Eventide comment on which chips are in the gen1 cards, and what variant of the i.MX8 are in the new cards?

Does this mean that any future algos wont work on my gen1?

tbskoglund wrote:

No, that’s not what this means. We’ll continue to support both platforms and add new features and algorithms. There will be some algorithms that will only be supported on the Gen2 processors, but not all.

Great news! I’d prefer to use the gen1 DSP for some time longer since they still provide plenty of DSP power for my needs.

I know this isn’t likely but it would be super cool if there were a cheap shell we could wrap around the old gen1 dsp cards to squeeze more life from them before they hit the landfill. I’m imagining each gen1 card living in a rack box or pedal just doing one simple delay job for the rest of it’s life… a happy retirement of sorts 🙂

This is the original DSP Chip

The brand of the electronic component is NXP Semiconductors.
The identification is based on the logo and part number visible on the chip.
Logo: The logo on the chip, which consists of three horizontal lines with three smaller lines inside each, is the distinctive logo for NXP Semiconductors.
Part Number: The text “MCIMX6Q6AVT10AC” is a part number for a processor from the NXP i.MX 6 series.

Blimey, Eventide don’t offer card upgrades we’d complain, Eventide don’t upgrade the machine we’d complain, Eventide do offer an upgrade and say more algo’s coming and we still complain. Tough gig being Eventide it seems.

Dear Eventide crew, thanks very much, I’ll be upgrading shortly, I’d imagine this may help encourage new algo development.

Having >4 algorithms per chain would be a great way to pipe more instruments through a single H9000, but it will be held back by the complete FX chain mute that occurs when an algorithm is changed. You could have 4 vocalists going through a single fx chain, each with the ability to set their own 4 effects, but if one of them stops singing to replace their reverb effect it’ll mute the other 3 vocalists.

I’ve made a working prototype where I have my primary effects chain on FX1 and then use FX2 as a temporary duplicate to perform live algorithm swaps. I use a series of scripted MIDI commands to copy the current algs from 1 to 2, make the desired changes to 2, move my ins/outs to 2, then make the desired changes to 1 and move the ins/outs back. If we could put 12 or 16 algorithms on a single FX chain, I could compact my instruments into fewer chains and get an extra one freed up to use for this alg swap staging environment. It would be quite a complicated setup but it would allow for swapping algorithms live without muting other instruments.

I ordered my H9000R early September, and am told it is expected End October. Hopefully, mine will be a Gen 2.

I ordered the factory installed September 18, 2025. I’ve been waiting to hear about the process of sending my H9000 to Eventide. Today I received an email from Eventide, but it states that my ordered has shipped. I guess I will be receiving a new H9000? Damn cool!  (A degree of sarcasm intended.)

Update to the above. Eventide responded quickly to my email regarding the shipment. It’s the box packaging only.

I chose factory installation because this is a good opportunity to have the unit checked thoroughly.

Well my self-installed Gen2 upgrade hasn’t gone well today.  I followed the instructions/video which was very clear and good.  Grabbed the firmware and installed the two unzipped files on a clean/empty FAT32 USB Drive.  Proceeded with Recovery Mode and the unit kept looking for a Network Connection/would not launch from the USB drive?  Ok, so I removed the USB thumb drive and plugged the unit directly into my router and proceeded again with Recovery Mode!    The unit successfully connected to the Eventide server and I can see the updated software version 3.0.22 [79].

I confirmed Download&Install for 3.0.22 [79]l and the unit proceeds with downloading/installing and the final  message: “An Error Occurred!  An error occurred copying the update to flash.  Please download and install the update again.”  After multiple failed repeated attempts I gave up and just sent an email to Eventide Support for help.  What a bummer, the unit is unusable now.

Performed some additional troubleshooting and maybe 3.0.22 [79] has issues or bad Gen2 DSP chips?  I reverted back to Gen1 DSP chips and I’m able to successfully re-flash  2.2.11 [232] and the machine boots back to normal/operates fine.  I reset all settings/factory defaults….remove Gen1>Gen2 install to try again and still can’t get 3.0.22 to load and same issues in my previous post persist.

My experience:

I got it on Friday from Sweetwater, upgraded following instructions online. Created FAT32 flash drive, uploaded firmware. MY H9000R is connected via Ethernet and when I turned it on after sticks upgrade it was shown in Emote, but also was showing the first version of hardware as well above the upgraded one.

I did Recover, but I didn’t re-initialize (Factory Reset). I just uploaded one of the Sessions from my hard drive backup and immediately got all the Sessions, Chains and Algorithms on hardware available. I tried it on several test sessions already and it seems to be working fine. So, the question is – should I do Factory reset, anyway?

I still have a question about upgrade pricing – is $999 discounted price or this is the original price, for upgrade kit only?

For those who have upgraded…

– Are there any new algorithms in firmware 3?

– Are you able to run more than 4 effects in a single chain using the new DSP power?

– Is there any impact on boot time? (For comparison, my Gen1 boots in 2m12s)

virtuoso wrote:

For those who have upgraded… – Are there any new algorithms in firmware 3? – Are you able to run more than 4 effects in a single chain using the new DSP power? – Is there any impact on boot time? (For comparison, my Gen1 boots in 2m12s)

I think the 1st firmware is to replicate functionality of the old CPU’s, so no new algoeithms or extra effects slots yet.

Boot time seems about the same. I have a Gen2 boot at the end of my CPU upgrade video.

Eventide support responded to my issues above and I was able to resolve today.  Much appreciated for their help outside business hours/weekend support.     A few things for others:

1. Recovery Mode network install is not currently supported for the recent 3.0.22 [79] firmware update.

2. I was using a USB 3.0 Transcend 16GB thumb drive/formatted correctly with updater files ONLY and it would not load/work.

3. Using the original SanDisk 32GB thumb drive supplied with the H9000 and everything loaded perfectly.  Unit is now working w/proper FW/Gen2 DSPs installed.

4. Make sure to download the latest Emote v3.1.3 that’s not posted/topic in these forums and listed in the Support/Downloads page.

Now that I’m back up next steps are to proceed with re-configuring settings/sessions and further testings.  Hope the above helps others/saves some headaches!

I’d buy the upgrade immediately, but at checkout I realize that taxes are charged for shipment to Germany/EU though I order for my business and not as a private person.
Is that an automatically calculated Import VAT, or is it something else? The shop unfortunately doesn’t state anything about that.

Just installed mine, the only snag I ran into was loading the firmware update from a USB stick. I loaded the update on the stick, did the H9000 startup sequence, but it’d error out.

Turns out that when using the macOS Disk Utility to format the stick, you MUST use Format: “MS-DOS (FAT)” and Scheme: “Master Boot Record” options; no other options will work for this purpose. After I did that, it recognized the update on the stick and proceeded with the update as expected.

Successfully updated to the gen2 processor, went fairly smooth. Upgraded to the new firmware without issue. The package was missing a plastic spacer for one of the stand- off posts. I found a spacer from another project that I had done that was close enough. They really should throw in a couple extra, if anything. They are really small if you drop one easy to lose with a bad bounce. Now I guess will see what they do with the additional processing power.

My install of the upgrade went fine, and I notice some improvement in the speed of editing scenes, and I like being able to now name the scenes. My package did not come with any info on returning the gen 1 chips to Eventide. Should it have come with that info?

Great, thanks Tyler!

Installed my upgrade today and everything went smoothly. I didn’t see any info about shipping the gen1 modules back to eventide. Can I just put them in the same packaging/box that the gen2 modules came in and ship them to eventide? Curious if there is a reason to send them back vs recycling them locally.