Need help eliminating initial pop from delay

    One thing that really annoys me about the Kemper is the lack of a really good delay.


    No matter what I try, I can't get the Tap delay to sound great.


    Always there is the initial pick noise that seems to reverberate more than the actual picked note. So on a delay where the feedback is up a little I hear (pa-note,pa..,pa..,pa..,pa..,pa..) over and over rather than (pa-note, ..note, ..ote, ..te, ..e).


    Does anyone know how to set the delay so that the initial pick burst is eliminated or diminished a lot after the first repeat while the note reverberations are not diminished as much over time?


    Hard to explain but very annoying in the Tap delay. I find that using a larger band width helps some but still doesn't quite get it enough.

    Hello I realy agree! the popping sound is to prossessed.. especially when you ar in drive or highgain mode. I have used a TC. G-Force for dely for years and love the way it sounds and feel, just a little dely at the end and making the reverb hanging just a little bit, without being fluffy.. i have tryed the different dely`s and settings and noone realy is good for my use.. It can do the typical Pink Floyd echoes, but thats too much for me, and i dont play that kind of music very often. I have had the Kemper for only a couple of days, but when i am taking it to a gig i would still use TC, dely in the effectloop. maby updates is coming for more controlled and softer dely settings..

    I agree that a pure delay just repeats the input signal, and the KPA does that well. However, I don’t agree that all other delay pedals do the same thing. Most of the high end delay pedals today do just what the op is talking about and they do it in many different ways. Some use filters on the delayed signal so it changes its freq content on every echo (Strymon Timeline does this) Also their Brigadier delay pedal does another kind of mod on the repeats by simulating the analog bucket brigade circuit. The Flashback pedals do lots of tweaking of the repeats. If you look at their toneprint editor, you will see all the knobs you can adjust (high end, low end, dynamics, etc). It’s quite flexible. There are probably a dozen more pedals that do more than just a simple delay.


    It should be noted that some of these pedals are quite pricey because they use a powerful DSP chip just for this one task, so it’s unlikely the KPA will ever be able to compete with pedals that use dedicated delay hardware, but it is not hard to imagine a simple compressor or filter on the repeats. I’m not an expert on coding delays but I bet with a bit of thought and research the team could come up with some features like the OP suggests which could be implemented within the processing constraints if the need is there and they wish to address it.


    I've actually been doing a bit of pedal research because I need a looper capability and some of the high end looper pedals also contain delay features since the functions are so similar.

    Copied from our Reference Manual:



    "We use a specially designed bandpass filter to control the loss of high and low frequencies with every de- lay tap, from the softest natural decay up to an artificial tone shaping.
    At high “Feedback” settings you get a tape delay sound, complete with infinite oscillation and tape-satura- tion effect. For the tape delay saturation we use the softest saturation algorithm possible. The modulation will even give a mono delay a full stereo width, creating an airy effect on stereo delays, and adding wow and flutter to a typical tape delay sound.


    Bandwidth
    This parameter gives you access to the delay’s bandpass filter mentioned above. When set to zero, there is no sound coloration whatsoever. Increasing the parameter will narrow the bandwidth - at first you will notice a gentle attenuation of the high frequencies, that will cumulate with every delay repetition. As you narrow the bandwidth a bit more, the same will happen to the bass frequencies. When you turn “Band- width” beyond the center position, you can clearly hear the character of the bandpass filter: after just a few repetitions the center frequency of the filter will resonate more and more.


    Center Frequency
    This parameter lets you adjust the center frequency of the bandpass filter. You will find a nice, standard value at the center position, perfect for most applications. However, when “Bandwidth” and “Feedback” are set to higher values, the center frequency becomes clearly audible, creating a distinct, musical tone that you might want to tune to your music. This is why the “Center Frequency” is not only labeled in hertz, but also in musical semi-tones that can be precisely adjusted!"

    ouch.


    Just curious, are you using a bright guitar with the tone all the way up? Might think of dropping the tone to reduce the pick attack. Unless it alters the sound too much for you.

    Quote from hjscheffler

    The delay in the Profiler repeats what is present at its input like all other delays. How should it be able to distinguish between the pick attack and the rest of the tone?

    Not all Guitarist want exactly this.. they just want it to blure out in the end of the note, and maby only one or two long repetes.. My TC. G-Force does exactly what i want for dely! Its not that the KPA dely is bad. but it react in another way that i prefear! For stratplayerS and Teleplayers, who have a lot of twang bite and much attac, not all of us want to hear exactly everything.. Its hard to explain this for me in english...My G-Force is much softer and take a bit of the top end. And my ears is used to hear this old school tube amp trough mic trough PA, so it lose a bit definition trough its way.And my old setup its more sensitive for mic plasement and the accoustic in the room/event. It all comes down to playingstyle and personal preferences!