Are we gonna get a looper?

  • Personally, I think that expecting a looper in the Kemper that would have enough functionality to be on par with popular standalone units currently on the market is not reasonable. Even the looper in the Axe FX II is pretty limited. I found it generally useless. The only thing I found it useful for was recording a riff and letting it repeat while I tweaked the preset.


    Bottom line is that if you really want a good looper you're probably going to have to buy one.

  • Personally, I think that expecting a looper in the Kemper that would have enough functionality to be on par with popular standalone units currently on the market is not reasonable. Even the looper in the Axe FX II is pretty limited. I found it generally useless. The only thing I found it useful for was recording a riff and letting it repeat while I tweaked the preset.


    Bottom line is that if you really want a good looper you're probably going to have to buy one.


    What is the XFX-II looper missing?
    Sorry for the dumb question, i'm unfamiliar with the XFX's looper or loopers in general, i don't really know what to expect.

    "But dignity is difficult to maintain
    stamina requires constant upkeep
    repetition is boring
    and you pay for grace."

  • "What is the XFX-II looper missing?"


    I'm not a big looper user either but the most common complaint with the Axe Fx II looper is the time. It ranges from 15 to 60 seconds depending on whether you choose mono or stereo and whether you want to use the "undo" function, which removes the most recently recorded stack layer. Personally, that's enough time for me but my issues (and many others had this problem as well) were getting the looper to start/stop recording precisely and getting it to start playing back precisely when you want it to.


    I used to have a Boss (can't remember the model number) looper pedal and I found it much more useful and easier to use than the Axe's looper. Boomerang seems to be a very popular choice these days.


    I have no need for a looper live and at home if I want to loop something I just use my DAW.

  • man a good looper is going to need to be able to play multiple loops; not just a single loop for 30 secs.. and it's going to need to play them in series or parallel and you're going to need them to sync to midi time clock or generate their own time clock.. it's just a small touch of what a decent looper does... of course it can be done but I've yet to see a company integrate it into their amp effectively; not to say that the KPA team can't mind you... it's just a lot of work to get it right and useful.

    Gettin' funky up in here..

  • man a good looper is going to need to be able to play multiple loops; not just a single loop for 30 secs.. and it's going to need to play them in series or parallel and you're going to need them to sync to midi time clock or generate their own time clock.. it's just a small touch of what a decent looper does... of course it can be done but I've yet to see a company integrate it into their amp effectively; not to say that the KPA team can't mind you... it's just a lot of work to get it right and useful.



    Most multi-effect processors include a looper with fewer options than a dedicated looper, because the processing power is used for so many things at the same time.

  • Line 6's HD500's looper has reverse, half speed and 48 seconds recording time (in half speed). It doesn't seem to have any affect on the processor to use the looper or not.


    For me Reverse is definitely fun but not essential, and the 48 seconds isn't quite long enough.

  • so like.. they're going to create a foot controller that has to switch between banks of controls... one bank for your regular KPA stuff, stomps, performances, etc. and then another full bank for a looper? you realize we're talking 10 or 12 buttons just for running a looper effectively live. and they'll have to redirect the volume/wah pedals for controlling loop volumes and such... So like we're going to be doing the River Dance on pedals just to keep up between looping and switching from rhythm and leads and tempo, tracks... man we want a lot out a pedalboard and the KPA team... but hey.. if they've got it in them...


    maybe we should ask to preload loops too?? it'd make it great for those solo players out there doing the circuit.. just preload the songs/tracks and get to looping...

    Gettin' funky up in here..

  • so like.. they're going to create a foot controller that has to switch between banks of controls... one bank for your regular KPA stuff, stomps, performances, etc. and then another full bank for a looper? you realize we're talking 10 or 12 buttons just for running a looper effectively live. and they'll have to redirect the volume/wah pedals for controlling loop volumes and such... So like we're going to be doing the River Dance on pedals just to keep up between looping and switching from rhythm and leads and tempo, tracks... man we want a lot out a pedalboard and the KPA team... but hey.. if they've got it in them...


    maybe we should ask to preload loops too?? it'd make it great for those solo players out there doing the circuit.. just preload the songs/tracks and get to looping...


    i think a laptop would better serve this purpose. Don't think the Kemper has an onboard hard disk, so it's unlikely you'll be able to preload things.


    My hopes are pretty reasonable, I think: a looper that's easy to use, with about 30-60 seconds of record time. Just hate being unable to record perfect loops due to the pinpoint accuracy you have to maintain while punching in and out.


    Hey, I wonder what kind of footswitches we'll have on the proposed foot controller. So many options, I hope the Kemper Amplifiers team gets it right!

  • @nitghtlight, the perfect loop timing issue is pretty simple though... take a look at Loopy HD http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/43206700


    I used it for a while before I switched to Boomerang. You just need midi timing, internal or external and the looper can do the rest.. so all you do is start it and tell it to stop somewhere in your last measure; the looper counts to the end and restarts the loop or switches to the next loop based on your request.. i.e. another stomp switch.


    The points that I was making refers to the complexity of building such an endeavor, that in addition to considering ones business plan. It appears to me that Kemper wants to be an extraordinary amplification profiling system. At least from my perspective, I'd rather see them focus on refining an exceptional product than building a looper. There's already a multitude of loopers out there that can do the job..

    Gettin' funky up in here..

  • Looks like he's using a Pigtronix Infinity Looper, as per the shot of his pedalboard, but he keeps saying he's using a Jamman. Confused. Oh wait, he later says he got this new looper, the Infinity, so all is well.


    They finally implemented midi timing for the Boomerang? Sweet, remember there being a lot of requests for that.


    I guess that might sort it out if you're using a Boomerang, I hope they can implement something like that in the Kemper. I've had one looper pedal, kind of a combo delay/looper actually. The EHX Stereo Memory w/Hazarai. It was a pain getting a loop that stayed in sync with a drum machine over a period of time.


    Man, that guy Phil Keaggy can play. What beautiful playing.

  • Looks like he's using a Pigtronix Infinity Looper, as per the shot of his pedalboard, but he keeps saying he's using a Jamman. Confused. Oh wait, he later says he got this new looper, the Infinity, so all is well.


    They finally implemented midi timing for the Boomerang? Sweet, remember there being a lot of requests for that.


    Yep, he was playing both Pigtronix and Jamman. The Jamman is 1st in line and he bounces tracks from it to the Pigtronix, which has more memory and multi-loops. Plus he uses the DL4 to push reversed phrases into the looper, pretty cool stuff.. I love the guy, he's so creative an has a heart and feel.. He used a separate midi pedal board, multi-switch to control the Jamman to the left of his main pedal board..


    Oh yeah, they sync the Boomerang to any midi sequencer and it locks up nicely, so you can get on with better things... like jamming.

    Gettin' funky up in here..

  • i've only used a looper for tweaking. i would definitiely need some kind of quantization to match the next beat on the tap tempo or full midi clock functionality to use it musically. i need to train my hands to keep rhythm! - definitely not enough time to train my feet too!


    anyway, i pretty much agree with the duke. i'd prefer the continued focus on incredible amp/cab tone.