NAMM 2019

  • I have an iPad "2"... Yea I know but it works well for other editors including the FH-1500 on Bluetooth. If they make an editor for the KPA, I hope they make it for new and "old" iPads. :saint:

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

  • I did ask, they said Summer 2019 or maybe sooner. I also asked about an iOS app, he said no plans, but it makes sense to develop one.


    That's a really smart answer.


    Summer 2019 in America? Or Australia? Over here it's summer all year long (jeez).


    They must have made a mistake when they said 2019 when they really meant "she'll be coming around the mountain when she comes".

  • So thinking out loud here, Kemper took a certain designed speaker and then created a "FR FR" software algorithm inside the KPA to make that new speaker sound like different cabinets. Im I correct? I'm not trying to bash this, but isn't that what we have now using different profiles into an FR FR powered cab? Please set me straight here, and thanks. :)

    Hello Spikey,


    Keep in mind that when playing a Studio profile with the KPA's Cabinet enabled, and playing through an FRFR monitor, you are hearing the sound of a mic'd cabinet. The same goes for modelers that use IRs.


    With the new Kemper Kabinet, Kemper has eliminated the contribution and influence of the microphone from the equation. Therefore, the Kemper Kabinet is providing that immediate "amp-in-the-room" experience. By using some proprietary EQ filtering in the KPA, the KPA can cause the special Celestion speaker that is built into the Kemper Kabinet to change its characteristics so that it reproduces the tone of sixteen (16) various classic speakers. The number of these speaker "imprints" may increase over time, with new OS releases.


    Cheers,

    John

  • I'm curious what effects this cone option will have on the sound via the FOH and the near field monitor I use on stage.

    I was wondering about that as well. Is this stuff just to make your monitor sound better on stage, or will it / can it color what's sent to FOH? Ironically, I just went FRFR because I really enjoyed what was coming out of the studio reference monitors and wanted to hear exactly that. So like you, I'm happy with what I have, and if it turns out to benefit me anyway then so much the better.


    And I love all the speculation but of course, writing about how a guitar cab sounds is like dancing about architecture. Or something like that. :)

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

    Edited once, last by Chris Duncan ().

  • I don't think the Kemper Kone has a role in FOH unless it's a small room and you're not going through a PA. In that case it is the FOH.


    I see the Kone useful as onstage monitoring or for jamming/practices. The FOH will always get the main outputs with the Cab sim included for me.

  • Hello OneEng1,


    While I haven't used Damien's ToastME editor...I think it will be safe to assume that the official Kemper editor will be amazing , innovative and comprehensive. Not sure if you had a chance to watch the Anderton video -- because the care and thought that went into how the Editor/GUI simplifies the Morphing assignments is hopefully a great example and preview of just how brilliant this Editor will be in terms of ease of use and facilitating work-flow.

    Hi Tritium,


    I did watch the video (Anderton did a good job I thought).


    With respect to morphing, I completely agree. The new editor brings the KPA to a new level with respect to how easy it is to setup complex morphs. Sadly, I haven't found a good use for morphing and haven't put it into my show .... so the feature (while very impressive I might say) doesn't do much for me in specific (The new verbs certainly do though).


    What would make a difference for me would be a feature where an entire show could be setup and saved as a file. The show feature would let you assign songs to a performance, and then you could simply put a set list together by song and have performances that are custom setup for your every gig.


    I love the new preset management for sure. Toast ME doesn't do everything that the Kemper Editor demo can do, but then, the firmware that allows it to do so hasn't been released yet ;)


    I write code myself and had privately asked the folks at Kemper if there was any possibility of getting a few more back door commands to get to some features that were not currently there. They replied and let me know that those features would be in a future version of Rig Manager .... which we know see is true ;) I quit my efforts at that time knowing that an editor and new back-end changes needed to support these features were on the way from Kemper.


    I am a little concerned about the relatively small amount of screen real-estate being dedicated to the editor, but it looks like they have been able to get everything they need on the screen so far. In general, the less screen you have, the more "menu diving" is needed to reach all features (or to even know that the feature exists).


    I think the potential for the enhanced Rig Manager is huge. Toast is limited to polling the MIDI SYSEX messages to get the job done ..... which is really kind of a "cave-man" approach. I am certain that the USB interface and Kemper's proprietary interface will give them much better response time and fewer bugs.


    What I really would like is what Behringer did with their X32 mixers. They published the OSC interface specification for the mixer so that anyone could use the interface and create their own tools (which they have).


    Despite all that, having a Kemper editor with a graphical signal chain is a very cool thing! I am eagerly awaiting the release.


    FWIW, FRFR speakers are not flat either. Each one has different frequency responses or "voicings". It is possible that the new Kemper feature will give FRFR more accurate sound on stage through any speaker.

  • I’m using a non-powered Kemper through two DXR-10’s in stereo...

    I’m really curious to find out if this new Kabinet (and imprints) is going to make me want to change that. (Other than the little green cabinets look neat!)


    Guitarists have so many great options these days... :)

  • I was wondering about that as well. Is this stuff just to make your monitor sound better on stage, or will it / can it color what's sent to FOH? Ironically, I just went FRFR because I really enjoyed what was coming out of the studio reference monitors and wanted to hear exactly that. So like you, I'm happy with what I have, and if it turns out to benefit me anyway then so much the better.


    And I love all the speculation but of course, writing about how a guitar cab sounds is like dancing about architecture. Or something like that. :)

    Hi Chris,


    I am pretty sure the Kemper Kone function will only be available on the KPA's Monitor Output jack...at least in the standard "default" state. So, the Master Outputs will still carry the full Studio/Merged profile with Kemper Cabs enabled, to the FOH,

  • Hi Chris,


    I am pretty sure the Kemper Kone function will only be available on the KPA's Monitor Output jack...at least in the standard "default" state. So, the Master Outputs will still carry the full Studio/Merged profile with Kemper Cabs enabled, to the FOH,

    Yeah, that makes sense, thanks.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • FWIW, FRFR speakers are not flat either. Each one has different frequency responses or "voicings". It is possible that the new Kemper feature will give FRFR more accurate sound on stage through any speaker.


    Hello OneEng1,


    Indeed. I have always taken the "Flat Response" part of FRFR to be understood in a relative sense...especially when looking at manufacturer's Frequency Response curves. :)


    Cheers,

    John

  • I'm guessing it's not going to matter too much how accurate the speaker will be as a true frfr speaker, it's only intended to work with the 16 speaker sims on the Kemper which were created specifically for this speaker.

    I respectfully disagree, based on what CK says in the video. The cab is designed for two different purposes.


    1. As you say, to use the DSP to 'imprint' the 16 speakers.

    2. To use the DSP to produce a FRFR response that can be used with profiled speakers.


    See the video. CK specifically says that the DSP is used to better recreate FRFR with the cab. If the cab only worked with the 16 imprints, you would not be able to effectively use it with Studio profiles, or a Merged profile with a cab. Using an imprint and a profiled cab together doesn't make a lot of sense to me.


    I am going to build a 2 x 12 cab with two of the Kemper speakers once they are available.


    Question:


    Will it be possible to use the Kemper speaker with its imprints without a tone stack? I think this technology would be great as a speaker cab with an amp sim. I would love to be able to match my Universal Audio Unison amp sims with this new Kemper speaker technology.


    I'd also love to have some bass speaker imprints available down the line.

  • I don't understand why people are so focused on the FRFR aspects. It doesn't need to be full range, the Celestion speaker in question only needs to produce guitar range frequencies. The real wood guitar cabinet provides the rest of the spectrum. Wouldn't surprise me at all if some of the background DSP will be high and low cut EQing to eliminate those frequencies that don't occur with a guitar speaker.

  • I don't understand why people are so focused on the FRFR aspects. It doesn't need to be full range, the Celestion speaker in question only needs to produce guitar range frequencies. The real wood guitar cabinet provides the rest of the spectrum. Wouldn't surprise me at all if some of the background DSP will be high and low cut EQing to eliminate those frequencies that don't occur with a guitar speaker.


    Hello ElDoca,


    This issue has been discussed. The primary reasons for the special Celestion speaker in question to be "full range" is because Christoph Kemper specifically uses the term "broadband" in the Andertons video. Furthermore, there is this statement from Gear News:


    Whenever you switch to a full range sound, for an acoustic guitar the Kemper Kone will switch to Full range Mode automatically for you. Music that is fed into the Profiler through the Aux Input will also be played back in Full range Mode.


    Gear News NAMM -- Kemper


    Cheers,

    John