I would love to see a USB digital interface for the Kemper, like the way I can control my PODx3 with Gearbox.

  • I love my Kemper, and I love twisting knobs as much as the next engineer, but with all of my rack gear and limited space, it can be a pain to walk over and adjust things manually. Plus, trying to name and detail your profiles takes waaaay too long, especially when a client is in the studio. I end up with a bunch of hastily named/unorganized profiles. :thumbdown:


    Kemper did a great job with the button/knob layout and interface, but I would absolutely love to be able to control it on my PC without moving back and forth between my rack units and my workstation. With the POD and Gearbox, it's super fast throwing a ton of effects in the chain and adjusting hundreds of parameters. It's just impossible to be that fast when you're chained down to the physical world. Plus naming profiles is a pain - well designed esp. with the buttons we have to work with, but it will never come close to 30wpm. :pinch:


    That's really the only complaint I have about this thing. One of the best pieces of gear related to guitars to come out in the last 10-20 years... so in love with this thing :love:


    [Blocked Image: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/sWsfw9qW7MY/maxresdefault.jpg]

  • That's a shame. I use the Kemper full-time in my studio, and while the interface is nice for what it is, it is painfully slow and feels horribly cumbersome when clients are paying to wait on me.


    I think an interface on the computer should be very high on the priority list. For those of us who are full-time musicians and producers, having to use the little screen and flip knobs for hours at a time gets old real quick. I just want the fasted possible route to get the Kemper to do what I'm hearing in my head, and a software interface is by far the best solution. Line 6 had the right idea nearly 10 years ago :rolleyes:

  • +1


    After i bought the KPA i was really suprised that there is no software editor available. Line6 and also Avid 11R made a good job on this field. I think the KPA works really great for me with all his features and flexibility. So a software editor should have the highest rank on the priority list. :love:

  • For recording purposes; withouth a pc editor, its very unpractical to experiment with reamping, adding or editing effects, unless the KPA is placed straight at your desk, which for many of us it likely isn't.
    So if its possible to make one; I hope a full editor gets priority.
    Lack of an editor is also the only thing now, that sets the KPA apart negatively compared to virtual all of the competition, so commercially it would make sense to offer this as well.

  • That's a shame. I use the Kemper full-time in my studio, and while the interface is nice for what it is, it is painfully slow and feels horribly cumbersome when clients are paying to wait on me.


    I think an interface on the computer should be very high on the priority list. For those of us who are full-time musicians and producers, having to use the little screen and flip knobs for hours at a time gets old real quick. I just want the fasted possible route to get the Kemper to do what I'm hearing in my head, and a software interface is by far the best solution. Line 6 had the right idea nearly 10 years ago :rolleyes:


    The Profiler Head was explicitly designed with the best possible hardware user interface. It was designed for sitting near you on a desktop, on the right of your computer (and of course on a guitar cabinet). We even swapped the input and headphone jacks shortly before mass production, to have the guitar cable not interfere with the computer mouse. The Head has a tilt panel and a small footprint for desktop use. We have the RigManager to overcome the problem of typing names. There is a comfortable consens that for editing this hardware design can hardly be beaten by a software editor.
    For sure an editor would be nice to have, but due to this reasons an editor software does not have the highest priority in our company.
    A rack unit is - by definition - not very suitable to be a center device in a studio, especially since DAWs took over. That is why we released the Head first, to show a new ergonomy of a digital amp that can stand by its own and does not need a remote control.

  • The design of the KPA is flawless, Operating felt very inuitive from the first minute that I owned it. So the need of an editor is perhaps less felt than with other digital amps.
    Nonetheless theres plenty of situations imaginable where a pc editor would come in very handy. Im not gonna place it on my desk and spil a cup of coffee over it is one :).
    If it is not first priority to develop an editor, thats not a problem for me. I knew in advance the KPA came without one. I do hope however its not definetely of.

  • Glad to see I'm not alone here.


    "The Profiler Head was explicitly designed with the best possible hardware user interface. It was designed for sitting near you on a desktop, on the right of your computer"


    Absolutely, I really love the physical design of the profiler. If I didn't have racks filed with other gear that I use every day in my studio, I would just leave it on my desk... but that's the problem. I have so much studio gear, that lugging it around is a pain. I would rather just rack it up somewhere, route it through my patch bay, and edit everything from my main PC. 1000x times more convenient, 1000x faster.


    Also, like someone just mentioned, I take working lunches at my studio, so my desk usually has a cup of coffee and snacks. Again, I'd rather set it and forget it.


    On most of my records, I like creating soundscape-style guitar effects. This calls for all kinds of crazy reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, pitch shifters, etc. It takes eons to get things to sound the way I want them with Kemper vs my PODx3 rack unit. Yes, Kemper has a beautifully (and cleverly) laid out physical interface design, but it's dreadfully slow compared to how fast I can dial things in via Guitar Rig, POD, or any other piece of gear I own that has a digital interface option.


    I think a digital interface is something Kemper should seriously consider... Sooner rather than later :thumbup:

  • Two reasons I'd like to see an editor.


    1. Desk space. I have a basement studio as a hobby but have manage to accumulate enough gear that beginning able to take the KPA head off my desk and onto a rack shelf would be great.
    2. I have a POD HD500 so am familiar with Line6 editor and must admit that it has spoiled me to the point that the only real effect I use pre stack on the KPA is the noise gate and the occasions harmonic pitch shift. For me, it's much easier to use Line 6 Edit to click on a effect location, click on the effect type (Dist, Mod, etc) I want and then select the model (TS, dual phase, etc). Instantaneously, I can see all the controls for the effect model and can start editing.


    It's interesting that CK mentions that the location of the headphone and input were changed at the last moment as it was expected that people would put the KPA on the right side of the desk (which is where mine is) and it would avoid the input messing with a mouse on a desk. I wonder if there was ever any discussion of switching the Type and Browse knobs because one thing I find problematic is that when I start thinking of adding an effect, if I move my hand over to the Type knob to select an effect type, my hand ends up blocking the panel to so I have to look around my hand to see what I am selecting. What I've learnt to do is flip my hand palms up when reaching for that knob in an attempt to get my hand out of the way of the panel. Not exactly a natural movement so like I said, I tend to use the HD500 effect pre the KPA.


    Just my thoughts and hope it's taken as constructive criticism and possibly moves any future editor work up the priority ladder.


    Cheers,


    jayson

  • It's interesting that CK mentions that the location of the headphone and input were changed at the last moment as it was expected that people would put the KPA on the right side of the desk (which is where mine is) and it would avoid the input messing with a mouse on a desk. I wonder if there was ever any discussion of switching the Type and Browse knobs because one thing I find problematic is that when I start thinking of adding an effect, if I move my hand over to the Type knob to select an effect type, my hand ends up blocking the panel to so I have to look around my hand to see what I am selecting. What I've learnt to do is flip my hand palms up when reaching for that knob in an attempt to get my hand out of the way of the panel.


    Right, that's bothering me a bit too. OTOH if they would flip browse- and type-knob it would be the same problem with the browse-knob and nothing would be gained.

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

  • Mine is one the left because I like to hit strings with my right hand when dialing in a tone roughly with my left one - which is exactly what I do when I am in front of a tube amp.

    90% of the game is half-mental.

  • I originally thought the editor would do this and function like Fractal's Axe-Edit program. It has become painfully obvious that this is not the case.


    At this point in time, if I were purchasing again, I would 100% go with an AxeII, partially because of this. Not having software control over the hardware unit is an absolute joke in this day and age, especially considering that Access allows for DAW-based plugin control of their Virus synths.


    Kemper dropped the ball on this in a huge way.