hoppmyers1

Yes, he does have a good selection of videos. I didn't recognize the name Will Doggett, but I have seen several of his StudiotoStage videos in the past few days, including the one you have linked to. He helped me to figure part of it out. Just not the Helix side of the settings. It's definitely a pain to learn all this stuff, but I'm picking up bits and pieces. Thanks again for your help. Take care.

Solved.........Well, kind of..................I did want to add one thing since my last post. I've basically figured out how to do what I had in mind by tweaking some more buttons, although it's somewhat of a Mickey Mouse setup. For someone who has massively complicated Helix patches and uses most of the playing field with effects and such, this would be a moot point, but someone such as myself who doesn't have complicated patches, this worked fine for me. I went to Ableton preferences and clicked on/configured the outputs number 3/4. In the clip track, I put "no input". On the click track output setting, I sent it to channel 3. In the master block of Ableton, I listed the cue out the same channel 3. The master block is still set to 1/2. On Helix, I made a 3rd separate path. I threw an unused block (bypassed) on the third path to keep it on the Helix screen. On that 3rd path, I placed an input block of USB 3/4 (to match the click track send) and an output block going to spdif. With this set up, I'm able to plug my headphones into the Helix headphone jack and hear both the click track as well as all the other music tracks in the headphones. Music and no click track are coming out of the frfr's as I was looking for.

Thank you for your detailed response. I wish I had your 4 years of experience. It's been a challenging journey having to learn many of the various ways to control all the hardware. I had gotten through learning midi cc and using hotkey functions; just enough to keep me out of trouble. I thought I had learned enough to make a decent go of things. But that was before I decided to use a backing track. In my searches on the click track, I came across several articles and videos on generating midi clips in Ableton to control Helix and decided that would be one of my next projects. I do understand that in most cases, the drum beat of the backing track is fine to use to follow along with the music, but unfortunately, the first backing track I uploaded into Ableton was a song called Breathe by Michael W Smith. The song starts with a synth pad lead in, then a spacey sounding classical guitar piece, followed by a short section of violin, before leading into the first verse which is mainly a piano piece. There's roughly 45 seconds of ambience and no drums. Immediately after that, the piano beat starts (still without drums). I have the same problem when I start the drum machine on the second verse. The song goes into a bridge, the key shifts up and finally, the drum kicks in. That section where the violin ends and piano begins is a big challenge to hit the note right where it's supposed to begin. I watch the computer screen and try to time myself by jumping in when the cursor hits the clip to start the piano in Ableton, but I always seem to be off by a millisecond. Having the ability to hear the click in times such as this would be great, but it appears my thought process on how it might work is not valid. Since everything I do is volunteer and on my own dime, I figured a way to help me out on this particular song without too much extra noise. I set up the click track to go out the left frfr only. I reduced the volume to where the click can barely be heard. I chose a 4 beat section of the click track and then deactivated the rest of the clip, so I get a short, quiet 4 count that leads into the piano part and I hit the timing perfectly. So, basically, I get 3 seconds or so of a quiet click in the speaker and then it's gone. In a sense, it also helps the audience to know when to sing, as the singing starts right with the piano. I'm playing the spacey classical guitar piece on snapshot 1, my snapshot 2 turns off the guitar and some effects and then I play a violin piece played through a Boss GM-800 and then on snapshot 3, I play the piano also with the GM-800 and finally snapshot 4, I kick in the drum machine and change back to a guitar, until the very end, when the piano again becomes the main instrument. Thanks again for your input. Nice job on the song; very clear and crisp with a nice beat.

I've exhausted all my button tweaking, all web searches and dozens of Youtube videos to no avail and am now here once again at your mercy. :) I'm looking for someone familiar with Ableton Live and Helix floor. I'm just a one-horse show at a small church, using the Helix Floor for my guitar, to control some Midi and hot key commands in Ableton as well as using Helix midi to control a synth pedal, drum machine and a looper. I'm also using the Helix as the audio interface into Ableton. I'm using Ableton to play some backing tracks. The backing tracks have a pre-recorded click track in each song. Everything is working as it's supposed to. I'm trying to figure out if I can send the single click track out of Ableton into the Helix and listen to the click track on wired headphones through one of Helix rear panel input/outputs, including the headphone jack and still get the backtrack songs to play out both left and right channels as they do presently, without the clicking. I'm able to get sounds and midi commands to go through from Helix to everything connected. My problem is that I don't quite understand the process of setting an output configuration in Ableton or how it applies to the input side of Helix. For example, in the Ableton preferences under the audio tab, the Helix Asio driver is present. If you click on the input or output config buttons, it lists a total of 8 inputs or outputs that can be turned off or on. I'm presently only using 1 & 2. I have no clue what to do in Helix after I've activated any of the remaining output channels (3-8) in Ableton. If this is doable, can you tell me what I would do on the Helix after configuring any of the remaining number 3 to 8 outputs in Abletons preferences? For example, if I choose output 4 under the click track and output 4 in the cue section of Abletons master volume (which I believe is what needs to be done to fix this) is there anything (settings/move cables, etc..) I can do in the Helix to be able to plug in a headphone and listen to track 4 while the music (and not the click) play out the 2 existing frfr's? Running Windows 11 Ableton Live 11 version Helix Firmware 3.70 Helix to computer is connected via a usb cable. Helix is set to: Midi over usb = on. Midi pc receive = midi and usb Midi pc send is also midi and usb. Usb in 1/2 set to multi, Headphones monitor= multi Each of my 1/4" outs are each going to an frfr (left/right). I'm not using and of the spdif or xlr jacks. Returns 1 & 3 on the Helix are being used to bring the drum and synth pedals into the mix. Music from the Helix and Ableton are both going out the 2 frfr's. I do not have a mixer board, stage monitors or direct boxes. Thanks in advance!

Normally, I wouldn't bore you with all the details of what I've done to figure out the issue, but I figure that you'll run into another poor sap like me twirling and swirling in frustration for days on end and you'll try to help them. I figure, the more you know, the easier it will be to help him/her. So here goes. I did a complete reset on the Helix, including global settings. When I went back into global settings and turned on the "midi clock send", the midiox screen was going crazy as it had when I had hit the snapshot button twice, but it was saying something like, "time" something. I turned the clock send off (or to midi alone) and it stopped issuing data on the midiox screen. I was running my helix midi send settings over midi/usb. My helix is connected to my computer via the usb port. Once I set the midi clock out to "midi" only, the midiox screen stopped generating data. So apparently, when using the midiox app, the midi clock send from the Helix needs to be turned off or make sure that it's not running on usb (or same type of port if using a 5 pin midi to usb cable), otherwise the midiox program will go nuts. The good news; I'm now not getting any midi data sent (on midiox screen) when pressing snapshots twice, but both loopers start when I hit snapshots twice as it has been doing all along. So, I've learned how to use the midiox app sufficiently to see that the helix sends a command properly when I've made one and sends nothing on a double press of a blank snapshot pedal. So, it looked like it was a Boss RC-5 and a Boss RC-500 issue. I did a factory reset on both loopers and the problem stopped, however when I set the looper up to accept a midi command from Helix, it started with the problem again of starting after 2 pushes of a snapshot pedal. I thought I had previously tried all combinations of settings on the loopers, but eventually came across a setting called "sync start" in them and turned it off. That solved the problem! I don't quite understand how that could have caused the problem when reading what the setting does in the Boss manuals, but nevertheless, it does. Thank you SO much for taking your time to help me.

I am running Windows 11. Here is the link to the Sweetwater tutorial. I was going to do a factory reset next and see what happens. I'll let you know if it makes a difference. How do I install and use MIDI-OX for Windows? | Sweetwater

Thanks Datacommando. Looking at the link for Windows that you gave me, it does appear that I did everything properly. The only question (or additional step) that the link you gave doesn't show is... the Sweetwater tutorial mentions "make sure the "R" at the bottom right of the page is highlighted". I don't get any readout unless it is and as soon as I highlight the "R", the page scrolls a million miles an hour, non-stop without me pressing anything. This is what it shows now on a blank preset. Seems to be sending a control change on channel 2 and an all notes off on channel 16, if I'm reading it right. TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT 0000CA4B 1 -- BF 7B 00 16 --- CC: All Notes Off 0000CA4C 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 0000CA4D 1 -- BF 7B 00 16 --- CC: All Notes Off 0000CA4E 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 0000CA4F 1 -- BF 7B 00 16 --- CC: All Notes Off 0000CA50 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change This is what it shows on a preset with assignments. Once again, as soon as I highlight the "R: at the bottom right of the page, it immediately starts scrolling without me pressing any buttons. TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT 0004BB41 1 -- B4 00 00 5 --- CC: Bank MSB 0004BB42 1 -- B0 73 01 1 --- Control Change 0004BB43 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 0004BB44 1 -- B4 00 00 5 --- CC: Bank MSB 0004BB45 1 -- B0 73 01 1 --- Control Change That one shows constant changing on channels 1,2 & 5. Just for the heck of it, I tried using a channel not listed in any of the Midiox readouts (channel 15) on one of the loopers and I still have the problem.

Thanks for your response, rd2rk. You seem to bail me out each time I have an issue. I have never used a midi test program, so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I did find a "how to" that Sweetwater put out, so I think I did. I can't even get to the point where I can double press a snapshot button. After connecting the Helix to the computer, as soon as (and as long as) I have the "REC" button at the bottom right highlighted, the data on the monitor just keeps scrolling. I have no clue at what I'm looking at, but this is what it scrolls, page after page. It doesn't matter if I'm on an active or empty preset. TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT 00002376 1 -- BF 79 00 16 --- CC: Reset Cntrl 00002377 1 -- BF 79 00 16 --- CC: Reset Cntrl 00002378 1 -- BF 79 00 16 --- CC: Reset Cntrl 00002379 1 -- BF 79 00 16 --- CC: Reset Cntrl 0000237A 1 -- BF 79 00 16 --- CC: Reset Cntrl 0000237B 1 -- BF 79 00 16 --- CC: Reset Cntrl 0000237C 1 -- BF 79 00 16 --- CC: Reset Cntrl 0000237D 1 -- BF 79 00 16 --- CC: Reset Cntrl This is what I got with a blank preset hitting a snapshot button. TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT 00011B5D 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B5E 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B5F 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B60 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B61 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B62 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B63 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B64 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B65 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B66 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B67 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B68 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B69 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B6A 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B6B 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B6C 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B6D 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B6E 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B6F 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B70 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B71 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B72 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B73 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 00011B74 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 2F5 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 000122F6 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change 000122F7 1 -- B1 03 00 2 --- Control Change

I'm not too familiar with this website, so I apologize for posting this elsewhere, before putting here. Instead of having to read my "War and Peace" sized post..... In a nutshell, I'm having a problem with Snapshot pedals sending a start command to my external loopers if I press the footpedal more than once, such as in a toggle command. This applies to all pedals that are in snapshot mode, regardless if they have assigned commands or are completely empty. I also want to mention that the problem occurs on a totally blank preset as well. Pressing any of the 8 (empty) snapshot buttons twice sends a midi command to my loopers to play. Hello, I'm running a small pedalboard along with my Helix Floor Unit. I'm trying to midi control a BeatBuddy, a Boss GM-800 synth and 2 loopers; the Helix is going direct into one looper via 1/4" cables. The other looper is attached to the GM-800. I'm not tied into any send/receive blocks. The pedalboard and Helix Floor unit are running separately, except for the midi cable. I thought I had everything figured out. Everything seemed to be talking to each other and everything was functioning as it was supposed to be. I can send commands to the BeatBuddy and it works properly. I can send commands to the GM-800 and it works properly and I have been able to send commands and control either or both of the loopers with midi commands. Then, the next time I went to use it, I realized when using snapshots, if I click on any "snapshot" footpedal a second time, my loopers play. This is without any commands in the command center being sent on either of the midi channels tied to either of the loopers. My snapshots are the usual block switching off and on, plus a BeatBuddy stop and start command. I have no commands being sent to either of the loopers presently. Each pedal has it's own separate midi channel. The problem only happens if I hit the snapshot assigned pedal a second time, as in a toggle state. If I'm not in snapshot mode, the loopers do not react when I hit any pedals. I thought it may have been a midi setting in either the BeatBuddy or GM-800, so I disconnected all pedals, except a midi cable from the Helix to one of the loopers and I'm still having the problem when pressing a "snapshot" pedal more than once. And it doesn't matter if there are any assignments to the snapshot assigned pedal. Even empty ones with no assigns start the loopers if I press a Helix snapshot pedal more than once. I've tried changing about every single midi setting on the Helix as well as the other pedals and nothing seems to cure the solution. I'm thinking this is a Helix issue. Has anyone else come across this problem? Present Helix global midi settings: Note, I've tried a ton of different variations, but this is where it sits presently. version 3.60-e171dae Midi Base channel 5 Midi thru: on midi over usb: on midi pc receive: midi and usb midi pc send: midi and usb duplicate pc send: off duplicate snapshot cc send: off Boss looper settings: Also tried a ton of alternate settings. This is where it sits now. rx ctl channel 3 omni: off rx note chg: 3 tx ch: rx ctl pc out: off midi thru: midi/usb usb thru: midi/usb Thanks in advance.

Yes, you understood and your help is very much appreciated as well as your quick response. And...... your file works perfectly. I haven't spent much time on HX Edit and have done most of my tweaking on the floor unit itself. I realized after installing your file that the "moment/latching" option does not show on the floor unit (at least on the first page and I didn't realize there was a 2nd page) and so, my patch automatically assigned it as a toggle function, which made having to double and even triple press the button to get it to function properly. Once I used HX Edit and the options weren't hidden, I was able to easily program it. I guess I had better familiarize myself with HX Edit to save future grief. Thank you so much for your help!

Hello, I'm trying to figure out if Helix (I'm using the floor model) has the ability to send out a midi command to the BeatBuddy similar to the Singular Sound Midi Maestro Midi pedal when it comes to a press/release function. I'm thinking there isn't, but I'd like to cover all the bases in case I'm wrong. Paragraph 4 below shows what I'm trying to do. Hopefully, you'll understand my dribble. And I'll mention that I'm just a hobbyist who sometimes plays at church and this isn't a matter of life and death. It's just that I would like to be able to leave the Midi Maestro at home whenever possible. I would also like to use 1 pedal on the Helix for this control instead of having to use 4 or more individual pedals, plus having a workaround the problem would also be nice to know for future issues. And I've come up with other ways to get done partially what I need. So, if that's all I get, then I'm happy. For those who are familiar using Helix midi on BeatBuddy; since the device originally designed to program the Singular Sound BeatBuddy is the Midi Maestro and the phone app (screenshot photos below) that you use allows you to add multiple commands on the same page as well as having the ability to choose whether the command happens at the press or release of the pedal.................... and since I cannot see anything close to similar on the command center button options of the Helix, am I correct in my understanding that the Helix midi commands will not function in this manner? For those not familiar with the BeatBuddy/Midi Maestro app; if you care to read on. (4) Without any external midi controllers connected to it, out of the box, with the first press of the Beatbuddy footswitch, the drums start, a second press, you get a fill, another press you get part 2 of the drum set, another press you get another fill (and possibly more fills) hold the button down continuously and you get a transition fill and lastly, a quick double tap and the song stops. The CC Commands to duplicate all of those functions is their CC120 command (emulates main pedal). Please note: to see all three images, you need to click on the first and then use the arrows; otherwise you will only see two of them. When programming the Singular Sound Beatbuddy pedal with the Singular Sound Midi Maestro Midi Control Pedal, every single time you place a command (left image/press), you are required to put in the channel number, CC# and the value on one page and save. If the command has multiple commands, then you are required to fill out a second page and save (center image/release). Then on a totally different page (far right image) you are required to choose if the command happens at the press or release of the pedal and whether or not the command will be toggled. I've included 3 pictures of the pages out of the phone app used to program and send commands from the Midi Maestro to the BeatBuddy to show the info required to generate the CC120 command. My problem is that none of the Helix midi control types that I can see (pedals or snapshot flash in the contol center) offer the ability to set the command specifically on a press or depress and when I try using 1 of the 10 pedals on the Helix the only thing that I can do is a start/stop type of function; nothing that allows me to do multiple things as in the CC120 command and when I use the snapshot flash, the BeatBuddy will start, but to get it do anything else, I have to pick another snapshot, then go back to the original snapshot and when I do, it will go into a "continual non-stop" fill or a transition. If I try commands with a toggle, I'm having to double press or even triple press to get it to do anything. CC120 is not designed to function under a toggle switch. When I use the "toggle" command on one of the command center footswitches of the Helix unit to try and operate this function, I have to double press the button on everything that is a single press on the MM or BB and only some things function. To turn it off, I have to tap the pedal quickly 3 times. Thanks in advance.

I wanted to thank you again for the preset. I've learned a great deal from it, including never having added a preset or anything through Helix edit into the processor before. Reading the manual is not quite the same as something more visual as I'm sure you know. So, the preset was very helpful to me in a number of ways. Having the additional pathways is also helping me to understand better on how to set this part of the system up as well. Hoping your heatwave dissipates shortly. I'd hate to see your country lose all its greenery. My mother and sister were/are from Kings Lynn. I had the chance to visit the Isle a long time ago. A very beautiful place. If it makes you feel any better, the house I just bought is in Arkansas where the last three weeks has been mostly above 100 degrees, the humidity around 60% or more and it's only rained for about 20 minutes during all that time. My other house is in the mountains of Colorado where the highs have been in the low 80's and it's rained almost every afternoon; closer to your type of weather, so being here in Arkansas has been a challenge with the heat for me as well. Take care.

Sorry for all your woes, ... I have days like that as well. Hopefully, the rest of the week will be better for you. I've saved your file to the computer and will play around with it tomorrow. I've been building furniture and doing non-stop projects on a house I recently bought; one of the projects being a music room to spend a great deal of my retirement in. I'm trying to have some fun in the middle of it all by playing with the Helix. I was able to get the looper hooked up, added to my favorites and have threw it in a few presets to make sure it was working correctly by your previous posts, so your time has not been spent in vain. Thank you again. I do really appreciate it. I realize that the only way I'm going to learn the tricks is to spend lots of time tweaking knobs and watching Youtube.

Thanks again. I appreciate any type of comment that helps me learn and after re-reading your original comment and going to page 17, I was able to understand more or what you were telling me. I'll take some extra time to read the entire manual and try not to be too much of a pest. I do very much appreciate all the "free" time you've given. Looking forward to the preset!

"Easy enough to set up with a non bypassed stereo FX Loop block, usually near the end of the signal chain, although you can place it anywhere you wish. I then have 4 cables attached to Send 1/2 and Return 1/2, two are blue and two are red, and both are labelled to make cable management easier - red -> right, blue -> left, into and out of the RC 30. You can then customise the scribble strip to name it as you wish. " I do have a question on the last sentence you wrote above about "customise the scribble strip". Could you explain to me what that means and how I would go about doing it? I'm not sure if I understand or not, but it looks like you are saying that once I insert the send/return loops, I will somehow assign that particular block to a pedal?

Thank you SO much for your time and the priceless info. You saved me hours of grief and frustration!

I've recently pulled my Helix Floor processor out of the closet after a couple of years of not using it and am basically starting over on the learning process. My normal playing consists of making rhythm loops on an external looper and playing along with the loops that I make through an amplifier; now through the Helix into 2 separate powered speakers (left/right from the Helix ¼” Outs). I've got a Boss RC30 stereo Looper that I would like to hook up to the Helix, so I can record effect driven patches on to the looper and then play it through the powered speaker/ speakers depending if I want the loop playing to the right or left speaker or both. If there is some kind of global setting to make the looper available on all patches, it would be great. It’s not that I would use the looper every single time I played. It would just be nice if I didn’t have to set up a send/return block on every preset if possible. I can always bypass it if I’m not using it. Looking for some assistance on setting up cables on the back of the Helix to the looper as well as setting up and assigning the send/return blocks needed to get it to work. I'm running the Helix floor processer using firmware 3.15. I’ve tried hooking the send 1 from the Helix into the L/mono input jack on the back of the looper and the receive 1 on the Helix to the L/mono output of the looper and get sound when adding a send/return 1 block on the Helix, but can’t get the looper to record anything. Can someone give me suggestions on how to run the cables on the back of the Helix to the looper and how to set up the send/return blocks or if there is another way to do it all, some assistance would be highly appreciated.?

I just wanted to add to this; for anyone who owns or might own a Blackstar ID Core 100 amp and is considering the Helix... After spending way too many hours this past week trying to get a decent overdrive tone on two separate Blackstar amps I have, I was unsuccessful. Both of the Blackstar amps I have (both ID Core 100) I own gave me the same issues; poor quality, hollow tones or tones that were too distorted. I very much love the spacey delay and reverb sounds of the Blackstar, but playing through the Helix or directly through the Blackstar for that matter, I just couldn't find a nice clean overdrive/distortion. Hopefully you will have better luck... Today, I hooked up my Fender Cyber Deluxe amp. Something that I've had lying around the house for 2 decades and although I'm sure the speaker is as brittle as toast, I was still able to dial in a very nice overdriven tone in less than 15 minutes, just running one cable from the Helix into the effects send loop of the amp. I now have faith in the Helix and am no longer beating my head against the wall.

Once again, I thank you for your assistance. You were right on the mark. Unfortunately "simplicity" doesn't seem to be a word in my life vocabulary. While messing around with the Helix settings and trying it on my Blackstar, I found that the left/mono return on the back of the amp was faulty. I had mentioned that the amp was stereo in itself and had two effect loops returns. I don't know if the effect loops is supposed to work if you put it in the right effects return with the left/mono not plugged in, but it does, although the volume and clarity is nowhere near as clean as the amps on the Helix when the Blackstar pre-amp is bypassed. I also noticed a very high, almost inaudible squeal when I tweaked any button on the amp. I think it might be on its last leg and could be a lot of, if not all of my problems. I did try the second Blackstar that I have it it had a lot more volume, but I have to admit, other than putting out a decent rectifier sounding amp tone, my Blackstar sounds pretty bad using any of the overdrive or distortion in its presets. I again, played directly into both amps both themselves and I'm to the conclusion, that I'm kicking a couple of dead horses, so I think I will go ahead with the powered speaker route and hope for the best. Thanks again for your help. I may be back in another week, lol.....

Thank you on that. I did get control of the Blackstar amp and it's controls, but I have almost no volume on it. I have to max out channel volume, gain and master volume on the amp itself to get it to about 60 decibels or so, where as the volume on the helix amp would blow out my ears (and probably the amp speaker) if I didnt turn it down before switching from one to the other. I upped the send db and return db on the FX Loop block that I made thinking that might do something, but it didn't. Do you have a solution for that as well, maybe?

Hello All! I just wanted to share my recent experience trying to dial in some decent overdrive and distortion tones using a Blackstar ID Core 100 modeling amp; actually using two. I’m also wondering if anyone has used the Helix with a Blackstar modeling amp and had issues or if modeling amps pose a problem with Helix in general. First of all, let me say, for those of you who are able to dial in a great sound with the Helix in a matter of minutes, I both, envy and worship you; you are gods. I’m sure I’ve spent at least 40 hours or more over the past week trying to do just that to no avail. For the most part, the sound has been tinny and hollow; however, I can get some pretty decent clean tones. I’ll also say that I’m not a professional player, nor do I do any recording, so I do not have all of your experience with computer programming, DAW and music; just a hobbyist who plays at home and for the neighbors, even when they don’t care to hear me… I have been playing off and on for over 50 years (more off than on) and in more recent years, I’ve used the Boss GT8 & ME80, so I do have some experience in effect and modeling units, although I will mention that I had somewhat the same issue with them as I am having with the Helix: poor overdrive tone and yes, I am using the same amps; enough introduction. I have spent hours searching this forum and using every suggestion that I could find as well as search the web for settings and how to hook up the Helix to an amp before I came here on bended knee. I have tried hooking the Helix to the front of the amp as well as the effects loop. I have tried the 4 cable method and the 7 cable method using 2 amps in stereo. I have tried all the optional guitar impedance settings on the input noise gate of each and every preset on the Helix. I have tried every hi cut setting between 6khz & 12khz and low cut between 80 hz and 110hz. I have set the guitar pad to off and on (I have a fairly new LP Traditional that has some fairly hot pickups). I have set the input for the guitar to both “instrument” and “line”. I’ve read where it’s suggested to use a pre-amp on the Helix when going into the effects loop of the guitar amp. I have tried using pre-amps, amps with cabs, amps separately and amps adding separate cabs. The funny thing is, a pre-amp will sometimes work decent with some settings, but so does an amp with a separate cab as well as all the other options available at different times. As mentioned previously, I can get decent clean tones, but I can’t get any overdriven or distortion tones anywhere near as sweet as I see on the videos I’ve watched. I have tried every setting imaginable. I have watched a dozen Jason Sadites videos and tried mimicking a lot of his settings, with and without compressors and eqs’ and still have only come up with a couple “somewhat” decent fuzz tones. Not much luck with overdrive pedals and amp overdrives. The pedals usually sound hollow and the amps either under or overdriven into an audible nightmare. I may be wrong, but I think the effects loop set up with the Blackstar is not the best or possibly faulty. First of all, in order to use the effects loop of the Blackstar amp you have to plug in a dummy guitar cable into the input jack. That is something I found out by contacting Blackstar directly a couple years back. Second, when I hook the 4 cable method up to it, none of the pre-amp adjustments change with any of the knobs. The amp has 6 modeling settings from clean to crunch to distortion. None of those change, the volume knob or tone knobs don’t do anything, but….. I can get reverb and delay to change from the amplifier by turning the knobs on the top of the amp. In other words, it's like the effects work in the loop, but not the pre-amp of the amp. in hindsight, there are delay, reverb and modulation effects on the Blackstar and I just realized that only the delay and reverb work, but not the modulation section when I have the 4 cable method going to the amp. I will say that the amp is a stereo amp and has 2 effects return plug ins. I have not tried running 2 returns into it from the Helix; always mono. I wouldn’t think that would have much to do with tone, more with delay and reverb, but I could be wrong. I would expect the question as whether or not I hooked the cables up correctly to come up. The answer is yes; another Line 6 video watched on Youtube. I also have an old Fender Cyber Deluxe modeling amp that I hooked the 4 cable method to and everything worked fine; all the knobs worked. It’s just that the speaker on that amp is 20 years or more old and not the best sounding either. I wonder if speakers sit in rooms like I do and say, “it sucks getting old” lol….. 4cm settings: Guitar—Helix guitar input Helix Send 1—Amp guitar input Amp fx send---Helix return 1 Helix ¼” out –Amp fx return Simplified preset setting before adding any effects- was guitar in->send 1 block -> amplifier block-> return 1 block->multi out...... Lastly, I think I should have just hooked the guitar to the amp and play through it’s 6 modeling options, before all of this. I had not played into it directly for a couple of years and found that it doesn’t sound that awfully good after you get past the “crunch” setting, so I’m thinking that this amp is not a good amp to use with Helix or anything for that matter. I know I'm bypassing the amps pre-amp by using the effects return jack alone and that part of the amp has no impact on the sound (when I'm not running 4 cables), but I'm just wondering if the power amp or speaker is not the best. I’m also wondering if anyone else has had any issues or luck using a Blackstar modeling amp or modeling amps in general. This brings me to the final question: an frfr…. I really would like to get the Helix to sound nice. It has such great potential when things are right; so many fantastic amps and effects available. I’m really leaning towards buying one to see if I can have some better luck and if I do, I’d get a second one. All my 3 amps are modeling amps, so I don’t have another “normal” amp head to try the Helix on. I would consider getting another speaker for the Fender amp to see if that might help, but I’m really looking more to having a stereo sound in my house and figure that if the frfr works better, I’d rather invest in another one instead of the speaker for the amp. I’m not really too interested in playing through that amp anyways. It was a novelty when it came out years ago, but a dinosaur nowadays. Would the consensus recommend the frfr over a purchasing a different kind of guitar amp or are there any other suggestions you can think of that I haven’t tried or am I destined to a live in a digital Sahara Desert for eternity? Thank you in advance.