Bluetooth

  • I have had this idea for a while now, and a recent post by db9091 in another thread motivated me to flush this idea out and post it for consideration.


    As we know, the KPA has limited resources (small amount of ram, low res display, etc.) which are sufficient for it to make fabulous music, but present a “bare bones” interface suitable for picking a rig and enabling some basic tweaking. However some users have been frustrated by this interface when trying to do more complex tasks.


    On the other hand there are many consumer devices which we all have, that do have good high res displays and lots of storage, with nice user interfaces (mice, keyboards, and touch screens) as well as access to the internet. These devices can be made to connect to the KPA with the right SW and a data connection.


    So here is the concept.


    On the KPA side load a Bluetooth stack in an upcoming operating system update, so that users could purchase a Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into the USB port (a $15 investment these days). The devs would then have to build some code that would handle the data exchange. This code would be similar to what is currently implemented in the USB stick interface and could push or pull presets and rigs to and from the other external device. The salient difference would be that the external device is now abstracted and should be allowed to initiate transfers and poll the KPA for information (what’s currently in its memory).


    The external device has the responsibility of its own user interface and mass storage as well as being able to manage the KPA content. I like the Bluetooth interface because it allows devices such as cell phones and tablets to interact w/ the KPA. A less desirable, but simpler approach would be a wired USB connection to a computer (which I personally find inifinitely more cumbersome than my tablet or phone). The Bluetooth connection would require the KPA team to expand into the area of developing Windows, iOS, and Android apps, however, the kind of app we’re talking about (basically a graphical interface and data exchange) is quite simple and should be easy to port amongst the various platforms. The tricky part (IMHO) is that all the external devices can have different screen resolutions and aspect ratios, so some clever planning of the interface would be required.


    A user could still use a wired USB connection even if the Bluetooth stack were present if they so desired. A USB cable would have less latency than a wireless Bluetooth connection, but latency on the exchange of rigs and presets should not really be a significant issue, since the GUI on the external device can still operate in a snappy fashion on its own copy of the data.


    This would be phase 1 (getting a nice selection of external devices talking to the KPA and managing its data). Phase 2 would be to extend the external apps so they could perform deep editing of preset data. This is more challenging because of the vast array of editable parameters, but one could envision how this would be much more user friendly if things like photos of the amps, graphs of the EQs, custom application skins, and touch screen controls were available.


    Here is one last thought, because the ideas laid out above can be quite daunting to developers (although I have no idea how big the KPA SW team is). Once the structure or skeleton is laid out for the external device SW and it works on all the supported platforms, you could release this to the community as a form of a tool kit. You wouldn’t be divulging all the secrets of the audio processing, just allowing the users to help you build the rig managing SW so that the Kemper team can get back to the things they probably would rather work on (KPA features and bugs). Just a thought.


  • I don't understand all I know about what you just said :P However, it sounds like a cool idea. When I talked to CK @ NAMM last year he said that they didn't plan a keyboard interface due to the inconsistencies between various keyboards. As you describe the Bluetooth interface, it sounds like it could avoid those issues. So...............


    +1 :thumbup:

  • Keyboards, although somewhat varied, are much more consistent than Bluetooth. Everyone's BT stack is different and not all adapters work with all stacks. Cool idea but a keyboard would be easier and they won't even do that. Oh well.

  • Keyboards, although somewhat varied, are much more consistent than Bluetooth. Everyone's BT stack is different and not all adapters work with all stacks. Cool idea but a keyboard would be easier and they won't even do that. Oh well.


    To quote Professor Dumbledore: Alas.....earwax. ^^;(

    Edited once, last by Dlaut ().

  • There is another quite simple reason for bluetooth: often the amp is far away, and I would like to see somthing on the display. With bluetooth a little smartphone app could just show the actual content of the display.


    Roland