Recording

  • Nothing too serious here, just me, my guitar and an MP3 backing track. When I had a Fender Mustang it was easy because it had USB, but I'm not in Kansas anymore, as the saying goes.


    Should I mic up my CLR (when it arrives), feeding the mic into a Steinberg UR22 interface and then into my PC (Reaper or Audacity)?


    Or


    Could I hook up the MP3 player to the Kemper, listen through headphones, and hook up the Kemper to the Steinberg, which would then connect into my computer. Would this even work? Assuming yes, which of the two methods will give me better recorded sound?


  • Okay, so that narrows it down. I guess my only issue is that I was hoping to play along with a backing track running through the Kemper, and just record as I play. Does that backing track get sent out of the Kemper along with the guitar, or just the guitar?


    I have Reaper and Audacity, and can find my way around both fairly decently, including lining up two tracks and merging them. It's just a matter figuring out how to wire everything up. I guess there's gotta be a YouTube video I can dig up. Everything's on YouTube!

  • Yes, the MP3 and Kemper could be recorded in real-time into the Steinberg.


    From the Manual:
    The RETURN and ALTERNATIVE input can be used as the stereo loop returns for external stereophonic equipment by selecting “Loop Stereo” in the EFFECTS section (X or MOD). Both the RETURN and the ALTERNATIVE input can also be used as aux- iliary inputs. You could, for instance, use this feature to mix in music from your Mp3 player to the sound of the PROFILER to play along. You will find the corresponding mix controls in the Output Stage.

  • Yes, the MP3 and Kemper could be recorded in real-time into the Steinberg.


    From the Manual:
    The RETURN and ALTERNATIVE input can be used as the stereo loop returns for external stereophonic equipment by selecting “Loop Stereo” in the EFFECTS section (X or MOD). Both the RETURN and the ALTERNATIVE input can also be used as aux- iliary inputs. You could, for instance, use this feature to mix in music from your Mp3 player to the sound of the PROFILER to play along. You will find the corresponding mix controls in the Output Stage.


    Awesome, thanks. I remember reading that at one point but it's great to know that both will go out to the Steinberg in one 'package.' Saves me from having to merge the files in the DAW.

  • Wow, this is brutal. All the stuff I'm finding is for reamping and it's way too much for my purposes. Does anyone know where I can find a guide or video on how to connect the Kemper to an interface, so the fully processed signal passes from Kemper to interface to DAW? I don't need a dry signal to mess around with.

  • Connect the Kemper Main 1/4" or XLR Outs into the interface inputs.


    Amazing. Grabbed a spare 1/4" guitar cable, plugged from Kemper Main Out to interface input, and that's it. Did a test recording in Audacity and it worked perfectly.


    Paults, I really appreciate the help. I had it in my head that something super complicated had to happen and thanks to you I now know all I need to do is plug the thing in in the most intuitive way. Cheers and thank you again!

  • So that was very cool, I'd say the recordings I'm getting are about 70% of the sound quality I get just plugging my guitar into the Kemper and listening with studio headphones (which is just amazing).


    Assuming....Guitar ---> Kemper ----> interface ----> DAW (without any reamping or other fancy stuff).....


    .....how close can you get to the quality of just listening to the Kemper directly? Is it the interface that does the heavy lifting in terms of transferring the sound quality, or the computer, or a mix of both? I always hear people saying you gotta have a Mac if you want to do this kind of thing right.

  • .how close can you get to the quality of just listening to the Kemper directly?


    Decent computer audio-interfaces have so good converters that there hardly is any audible coloring of the tone, but you have to make sure you get everything across. Listening with headphones on the KPA and use the same headphones on an audio-interface that offer hardware monitoring of the input signal should be near identical if you make sure you have a stereo-connection between the KPA and the audio-card with two 1/4" unbalanced or two XLR balanced cables (XLR recommended). You can also establish a digital S/PDIF connection if you have an audio-interface with S/PDIF input to eliminate one A/D/A conversion sequence, but I doubt you'll be able to hear any difference.


  • Decent computer audio-interfaces have so good converters that there hardly is any audible coloring of the tone, but you have to make sure you get everything across. Listening with headphones on the KPA and use the same headphones on an audio-interface that offer hardware monitoring of the input signal should be near identical if you make sure you have a stereo-connection between the KPA and the audio-card with two 1/4" unbalanced or two XLR balanced cables (XLR recommended). You can also establish a digital S/PDIF connection if you have an audio-interface with S/PDIF input to eliminate one A/D/A conversion sequence, but I doubt you'll be able to hear any difference.


    Cool. One thing I noticed is I have to use the 1/4" jacks. If I use XLR cables, the signal becomes extremely loud and it gets significantly distorted. I'm fine using the 1/4" but it seems really odd that I would have this weird change with the XLRs.

  • Interestingly, in terms of sound quality (which is quite good) I cannot distinguish between:


    Guitar --> Kemper --> Steinberg --> Audacity/Reaper


    and


    Guitar --> Kemper --> Both Kemper 1/4" Main Outs --> 1/8" Line In on Zoom H1

  • Okay thanks. I tried a bunch of adjustments and I think that was one of them, but I'll give it another go!


    Well, the solution to a clipping issue depends on what it actually clipping of course; if the cable creates distortion, and provided that it's not defective, something clips in your soundcard or your DAW.
    In both cases, unless there's something defective in the soundcard or DAW, it's impossible that by lowering Master Volume enough you don't get rid of the distortion :)

  • The balanced outputs (XLR) on the KPA are rather hot so many people experience clipping on recording interfaces or mixing-consoles unless the signal is attenuated. I'm currently running the main output from the KPA at -10dB into the mic-preamp of a digital mixing console. Then I get about the right level with the console's preamp gain at about +4dB (as opposed to a vocal condenser microphone where the input gain typically would be somwhere between +35 and +40dB). I also disconnect the main output from the master volume in the KPA putput-configuration so that nothing I do while messing about with local monitoring-levels on the KPA will affect the main output level.


    I'm sure you will be able to lower the input gain on the UR22 so you get a good signal if you reduce the KPAs main out by 10-15dB. With any mixing-console or audio-interface you should always start with the input gain at minimum when you experiment with new equipment.

    Edited 2 times, last by heldal ().