Any software developers???

    Can anyone with technical, software, hardware expertise comment on whether a software revision would be able to fix the glaring effects selection problem with the Kemper. As you all know effects modules start on the last effect selected. It you previous selected a distortion effect in module C and then go to module B with a Wah and want to select a different Wah, you have to turn the browse know 50 times to get from distortion to Wah. This is completely unworkable and needs to be fixed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can this be done with a software revision or will it take new hardware??? Why Chris Kemper has not seen fit to correct this Achilles heel is an enigma to me and I am a very new user. Thanks

    Needless to say......what I am asking is if there is anyone that knows about the more technical side of software/hardware development if it would be technically possible to make this fix in a firmware revision or is this something that would require a whole new device? I would imagine there could be a change in the code to allow each module to retain the last effect and not the effect from the last module change. And perhaps to either allow the browse knob to cycle more rapidly, lets say 2x or 4x, or to assign a button or soft button to select effect category for each module. This sounds doable on a firmware revision but I am not a developer. Thanks

    Sure, they could change that. But it's a UI/Workflow issue rather than a development one.


    One possible solution would be to allow the Rig D-Pad and Page buttons to work in all open menus rather than exiting out of the menu. The D-Pad could be used to walk through columns and entries quickly, and the Page buttons could either do as their name implies or even better go to the next/previous category.


    Alternatively the menus could be set up differently to be hierarchical. Select a category first, only see the entries in that category and use the page or top of display hotkey buttons to go in/out of the submenu (although I'd prefer them to be used for sort modes).


    Finally of course the best solution of all would be to have an editor with a well designed UI on your computer.

    The Kemper already is light years ahead of the competition in terms of sound quality and versatility so to create a computer editor is the next logical step and I am not sure why anyone would want anything else.

    My best guess is that it is tied in with their whole philosophy of file management which I assume has some valid reasoning behind it, but manifests in ways that are contrary to most usability and user experience norms.

    Quote from robocomp22

    Anyone have an idea what that meant??? File management??? Anyone have a clue?????

    I can explain in simple terms that even someone who has to use multiple question marks can understand:


    File management is how the system handles files - on the Kemper this would include Rigs, Performances, Cabinets, Presets, etc.


    The Kemper file management approach is different from most others in that it forces you to make duplicates of most files (i.e. presets including stomps and effects) instead of allowing you to edit and save to the original. This is a different approach then most other operating systems. For instance, if you open a Microsoft Word document, you can edit it, and save it to the same file. If it were the Kemper, you would be forced to save it to a new file.


    What I was saying is my guess is that somehow the issue you raised is tied in to how they manage and index files for searching, which is essentially what turning the dial is - a search of the files in the system. Does that help?

    I must admit...you are a genius. I was asking for help from someone who actually has some firmware development experience vs obtuse speculation about file management systems. But thanks for the insult...really appreciate this...God bless!

    It could be either software or hardware. I don't think that anyone outside of the Kemper team could know for sure.


    Hardware:
    It could be that the position of the effects is stored in one physical data address that. (meaning not assigned by an OS)
    If they don't have enough of what we would call RAM on a normal PC to add more physical addresses or if they use specific registers for the ui functions to be able to recall the values quicker it could be that they would need to change the hardware.
    Although I don't think that this is the case because it would seem very limited and extremely hard to code so "close to the hardware" it could be that Kemper is doing that to get every last drop of performance out of their hardware.


    Software:
    Instead of using one variable that just stores the one Adress they could use an array and let the search knob know by a parameter on the search function which knob is issuing the search. This could be harder to implement then said if they use some kind of framework that they can't change or if the information on what knob is doing the search is harder to get then you might think.
    The extra values shouldn't take that much space in memory for it to be critical. (again this depends on what kind of memory control they use)


    this is all speculation because I don't know how the Kemper works. Knowing if they use a framework or which language or languages they use would help me give you a better answer. Or at least knowing the hardware that they use and if there are OSes for it.
    It could even be that they designed their own OS for the hardware.
    I would bet that it is fixable with a software update thought but like I said I can't know for sure. Hope this helps.

    I read a report on the DSP chips they use (which are scheduled to be discontinued soon), and it would seem that they have their own language and instructions. However, I'm not sure if this would have any bearing on file management outside of actually telling the chips how, what and when to process. That said, logically, it surely would be a pretty large task to restructure the whole backend, especially after it has been repeatedly tweaked and optimised for the sake of near-instant switching etc.

    For some reason i had a vision of being able to "hot key" an effect on the USB keyboard...the usb keyboard for me would be an objective place to start.
    I thought i could use the arrow keys on my USB keyboard to go through the effects fast.. but then the ADD kicked in and i saw a butterfly :D


    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

    Like 2

    I also think (hope) that Mothership is working on a great solution that will bring the preset management to a state adapted to the possibilities.
    This will (hopefully) be an editor with which you can also manage the presets like files on your PC.
    The user interface on the KPA will also have to adapt to the almost unmanageable number of presets without changing the hardware.
    And then, of course, everything has to be backwards compatible.


    It's not just a matter of turning the browser or type button a little less. (A property that has been criticized for a long time)
    I think that this cannot be estimated without knowledge of the operating system even by the largest software guru.



    It's the daily running gag. We'd like something, but Kemper says nothing.
    Ultimately, however, it has become apparent that the mother ship is continuously working on improvements and that changes or improvements are not quick fixes, but often point to future developments.


    Debugging naturally has a highest priority as we have seen many times.