Adjustable tapers for expression pedals

    I’m not seeing a way to adjust the sweep curve of the volume exp pedal. It feels and sounds like a linear taper and I’d prefer a logarithmic taper.
    I’m using a Boss Fv-500 and it’s sweep always sounds and feels great using the analog jacks. Using it as an expression pedal doesn’t feel the same for lapsteel swells. So I wish I could adjust the taper of exp pedals on the Kemper.

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    Quote from Guavadude

    I’m not seeing a way to adjust the sweep curve of the volume exp pedal. It feels and sounds like a linear taper and I’d prefer a logarithmic taper.
    I’m using a Boss Fv-500 and it’s sweep always sounds and feels great using the analog jacks. Using it as an expression pedal doesn’t feel the same for lapsteel swells. So I wish I could adjust the taper of exp pedals on the Kemper.

    Asked for this years ago, and got weird replies that it's already logarithmic and everything's fine. Then i got beaten down by people that said everything was great already....But it still doesn't feel like a "real" volume pedal or a "real" wah-pedal. And i've tried a lot of different brands of exp-pedals.


    I got used to it, but it's no fun.

    Seems like this would be an easy fix with a ratio or percentage control.
    It’s probably fine if you’re not doing precise swells but on lap or pedal steel it makes a big difference.


    Well if nothing else you’ve saved me a lot of money on trying expression pedals.

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    Very much want this feature fixed too. I use a Yamaha FC7 expression pedal to control volume when I switch between profiles and I always end up just having to adjust the volume by hand on my speakers themselves instead. 90% of the action is in the first few degrees near the heel and there is no way to adjust the overall range either. Went over every setting a million times but couldn't solve it.

    I’m really hoping that the Kemper team address this especially with the new reverbs coming. Volume pedal swells are a big part of that sound and it has to be a lot easier to add some different volume pedal tapers than it is to create new effect algos.


    The Telonics volume pedal offers nine different tapers and is considered the gold standard of volume pedals.


    The one sized fits all approach of the Kemper settings severely limits the true expressiveness of this feature.

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    Quote from Wheresthedug

    which controller are you using?


    A Gordius Big Little Giant. It's a lot bigger than the Remote, but I can power it with a single 7 pin cable going into the Kemper input and output. Also, enough buttons to browse through all five rigs in a performance as well as activate and deactivate each FX slot individually or in multiple configurations. Has a tuner out from the Kemper too, which is really easy to use when you just move your volume pedal to 0. A lot of other crazy features too, I'm really happy with it.

    We have plans to add a shape control to the volume pedal.


    However, the shape is logarithmic, of course!


    We have changed the curve quite a time ago, with good responce from our users.
    When you put your pedal to a quarter of the range, it attenuates by 24 db, opposed to 12 db of a linear curve. 48 dB in the first 1/8.


    I checked with my Boss FV 500. I found the difference between the analog volume pedal function and the expressen pedal function is pretty small. As a side note: I don‘t like the Boss pedals, as they have a very large dead zone at heel and toe.
    I will check later with my Dunlop.


    To those who find the volume pedal unusable because everything happens in the first quarter, there might be two causes: The pedal polarity type (1 or 2) must be set adequate. The FC-7 is type 2.
    When a volume pedal is placed before a distortion, then the volume range gets compressed, sometimes heavily.

    @ckemper thanks for letting us know.


    I actually don't use the volume pedal at all. If I did I would most likely want a log taper. So your current methodology seems perfectly sensible.


    I would like to be able to select the taper/curve for the expression pedal (a Mission SP-1 RJM in my case) to make Wah and Morph more usable for me. Others may feel differently of course but I find the Wah effects have all their impact in less than the first quarter of the travel. It is almost like having an on/off pedal :) I know that real Wah pedals aren't perfect but both my Cry Baby and Morley transition the filter gradually across the majority of the travel. They might not be linear but they do have some impact across the full range.

    Thanks CK. For me it's like Wheresthedug. The Wah effects heavily occurs in the first quarter of the curve. Maybe i haven't enough experience with analog wah pedals, but since it's digital, it would be great to alter the curve of the pedal. Unless the process of converting the analog taper of the physical pedal to the digital taper of the kemper is a difficult process.


    Anyway, suggestions in a sea of pleasure and greatness. Thx for this amazing product!

    I always run volume pedal post everything but delay and verb and I checked the calibration several times and it all seems to be correctly setup. I’ll do some recordings of a real volume pedal vs what I’m hearing with the expression pedals in the Kemper.


    I admit this is a subtle “feel” thing and every analog volume pedal feels and reacts differently. It just seems like the Kemper should have expression settings that are flexible enough so that if I’m used to a Boss feel or an Ernie Ball feel, I can easily mimic that. Since it’s basically a math equation of input to output it seems like one area that could offer a wide variety of options to be used with different effects, including volume.

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