Thanks @Tinken. The Pulse was my 9th 3D printer, and have owned it for well over a year. I've spent hours on the forums looking for how to do simple tasks; to assume this is appropriate for a printer sold as a reliable machine makes no sense, and to then suggest I need to pay for a subscription to get basic functionality I though I already paid for kinda misses the plot, doesn't it?

Dragging and dropping gcode files does not work-- Nothing happens. Loading the gcode to an SD card doesn't work. I select a gcode file at the printer-- nothing happens (and yes, I export the file as explained on this form to do so). Slicing files takes 3-5 minutes, vs 5 seconds with Simplify or Cura. @LarsBrubaker The Empty Bed issue: See Here and Here. A part appears on the plate, but when I try to slice or click print, it gives an error: empty bed. Updated to the latest version and trying the suggestions in those threads made no difference. I'm not sure what 'workspace' vs 'printer bed tab' means, but if it were an intuitive UI, should I have to?

I don't have these issues with my other workflows, so I'm going to take your suggestion and use another slicer. Maybe I'll try MC again in the future when it's been decluttered and streamlined.

I'm not sure how to best express my disappointment with the Pulse XE and the MatterHackers Control software. Here's what I'm dealing with:

1. Layer shifts. They're constant. What's worse, I can't get the printer to operate in standalone and print directly from the the SD card, so I can't even troubleshoot if it's a COM port issue, firmware, or mechanical. How can I not do such a simple task?

2. Empty bed issue. Others have reported this. There's a part loaded, but the software somehow is unable to detect it.

3. I Can't import or load previously exported g-code. Incredible.

4. After spending $1500, I still have a advertisement tab that won't go away asking me for more money that I can't get rid of. Absolute insult to injury.

5. Can't hide the bloat 3D design stuff. I use solidworks; I don't need to 3D print cones and blocks.

6. Where can I find documentation on settings for different bed/material combinations? I have the yellow/orange bed, which I've seen referred to as layerloc and garolite; how do I use this bed with different materials? There's nothing that I've found on this in any documentation.

I've let the printer sit in the corner for a year because it's so frustrating. How do I address these issues?