Hey. Kemper owner here. So, after a period of messing about, I've come to understand that this Kemper feature is actually really good. I just read an old thread from this forum while searching for info about a separate issue, and someone in that thread wouldn't use the noise reduction because they thought it worked like a simple gate. I know better, but it caught my attention because, like me, the person didn't fancy gates much. Neither do I, so I kept on reading. Someone told the guy "it's not just a gate" and the OP was like "well what is it then?" to which the guy replied "it's more like multiband compression".
I have little experience with using multiband compression to reduce noise, so I don't know the specifics of how that works, so question 1) anyone care to enlighten me? And to my ears, the way it works actually sounds more like a digital noise removal plugin. With gates I often experience hiss while the guitar is ringing, so the gate effectively only takes away audible hiss while you're not playing. Then you hear the noise floor kinda blend in with the guitar signal the moment you play a string, and then it fades out to dead silence when the guitar string stops moving. To my ears, the contrast makes the noise floor more audible. Kinda similar to how you'll spot something moving long before you spot something that's static and blending in. The Kemper noise remover doesn't have this drawback. At the correct setting it removes hiss indefinitely, without affecting tone. It's really good for what it does. So here's to that Question 2: has there ever been any word on specifically what it does? If it's multiband compression, it can't be just that? They have five knobs and a limited amount of settings, so if that's like an established practice I'm sure it would be a more common thing, but it's the first time I've ever heard about compressors being used for noise reduction. Obviously the answer could simply just be that the guy is wrong. Because if noise reduction by compression was that good, why do gates even still exist? Why are there tons of noise reduction gate pedals but no noise reduction multiband compression pedals? Or is that how the ProRack, G-string and Hush works?
However they do it, it's so, so good. Kemper could make a simple stomp pedal out of it and it would be a great pedal to put in say the FX loop of a noisy amp, or between amp and cab. It really blows any noise gate out of the water.