Questions with Dual Extrusion - E3D Cyclops / Diamond Hotend experience question

So I'm about to install a E3D Cyclops with 2 "almost" direct drive E3D titan extruders on my CoreXY printer, and I've got a couple of questions for people who have experience with the E3D Cyclops or the Diamond Hotends since they would be similar.

I have everything I need to physically install the E3D Cyclops and the 2 E3D Titans to the machine, but I wanted to ask about how retractions should be handled before attempting to print and end up clogging.

If I want to extrude only 1 color at first, I understand I need to load 2 filaments either way so one doesn't go back into the un-used path. Do I need to do anything special with retraction? I remember reading at one point that when you have this 2 in 1 out type of hotend, you had to use firmware retraction or it was highly suggested to use firmware retraction so both filaments would be retracted at the same time. Is this still the case, or did I understand thing incorrectly, or am I remembering something slightly wrong?

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PDBeal
If I want to extrude only 1 color at first, I understand I need to load 2 filaments either way so one doesn't go back into the un-used path. Do I need to do anything special with retraction? I remember reading at one point that when you have this 2 in 1 out type of hotend, you had to use firmware retraction or it was highly suggested to use firmware retraction so both filaments would be retracted at the same time. Is this still the case, or did I understand thing incorrectly, or am I remembering something slightly wrong?

That's correct. There are several other things you need to get right too, for example it may be best not to leave any of the filaments completely unused but to include a small amount of them in the mix. The expert on this topic is forum user deckingman, who has a blog at [somei3deas.wordpress.com].

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].