Tips for a blind Kemper user?

    Hi all,


    So I have recently acquired a Kemper, head version, unpowered, for a short period. I have been trying to learn how to use it as a completely blind guitarist, with some success – I have memorised the front panel controls, and figured out how to use Rig Manager on the PC (side note: my computer talks).

    Anyway, I am trying to figure out how to add effects to a given rig, but am running into some difficulties.

    I am basing this on the following assumptions:

    ·         When the effects menu opens, it starts from the beginning (e.g. the delay section) this is what the manual says at any rate;

    ·         All effects menus are the same, regardless of whether I hit one of the stomps, or one of the fx loop buttons, meaning that regardless of whether I hit one of the stomp buttons, or one of the FX buttons, I should be placed at the start of the same menu; and

    ·         The menus do not wrap (e.g. if I get lost, I can simply turn the “type” nob until I stop hearing it change, and I should be back at the beginning), where I can start counting again from memory.



    However, something has gone wrong. I hold down stomp button 1, and I am expecting to be in the fx chooser menu, with delay up first. I turn the browse nob, thinking I will hear different delays, but I don’t. As a side note, I am well aware that the delay should go after the amp stack – I’m simply looking for the delay section in order to orient myself in the menu.

    The manual says that the fourth category of effects includes distortions, which is what I want, so I turn the type nob 3 times. Sadly, I am not placed among the distortion effects, and am now adrift in the menu with no way to relocate where I am supposed to be.


    Could anyone assist/provide a few hints as to how I might sort out this problem? It is critical to my use of the unit – I love this thing, and I really want to buy one, but cannot justify it unless I can find a way to make enough of it useable without seeing it.


    Thanks

    Hi.


    This is on OS version 5.7.0

    When you select an (empty) stomp, the first click of the TYPE knob takes you to the effect selection, the next click selects Wah Wah,

    followed by: Wah Low Pass, Wah High Pass, Wah Vowel Filter, Wah Phaser, Wah Flanger, Wah Rate Reducer, Wah Ring Modulator, Wah Frequency Shifter, Wah Formant Shift and then to the Green Scream overdrive - so you finally arrived at the distortion effects.


    So from an empty stomp it's 11 clicks in total to get to the Green Scream.

    From there the stomps are: Plus DS, One DS, Muffin, Mouse, Fuzz DS, Metal DS, Treble Booster Lead Booster, Pure Booster Wah Pedal Booster, Bit Shaper, Recti Shaper, Soft Shaper, Hard Shaper, Wave Shaper.


    hth :)

    That would be great to have the full list.


    So much faster to search on a computer than with the browse knob.


    On a similar note, if I told you guys how many times I looked up on the computer the same Roland synth full patch list, you'd laugh ;)

    absolutely. The danger with this, I think, is that Kemper may argue that the PC editor is coming out soon, and that people can just use that interface if desired. However, PC editors are almost invariably inaccessible to blind users, so we are still left out in the cold in that event.

    Thanks so much for trying @DonPetersen I really appreciate it. AS a follow up, would anyone be able to recommend a way that I might reach out to Kemper directly, to discuss accessibility (e.g. making their editor accessible, or self-voicing on windows using SAPI). I have even thought about asking for the Midi control list, so that we could build our own accessible interface, since Toast Me is also inaccessible at the moment sadly. These things can be done, and Kemper's Rig manager is accessible, so they clearly have some awareness of the issues.


    And a final point, then I promise I'll stop asking annoying questions :) can anyone tell me how many clicks the compressor is in the FX menu? lol its in the EQ and noise gate section, so its really hard to find as a lot of things in there sound similar when first activated.


    Thanks again all

    Quote from bermudianbrit

    Oh man thanks a lot. Whilst I know it would be pointless for most users, I wish Kemper had a transcript of the complete menu structure. I'm genuinely considering paying someone to create one.

    Not sure what format would be sense to you but we can absolutely make one available to you and others. I'll take a first stab next week as soon as I have time (not near my pc right now).

    Kemper PowerRack |Kemper Stage| Rivera 4x12 V30 cab | Yamaha DXR10 pair | UA Apollo Twin Duo | Adam A7X | Cubase DAW
    Fender Telecaster 62 re-issue chambered mahogany | Kramer! (1988 or so...) | Gibson Les Paul R7 | Fender Stratocaster HBS-1 Classic Relic Custom Shop | LTD EC-1000 Evertune | 1988 Desert Yellow JEM

    Like 1

    Here's a list with FX type = number of clicks:


    None=0

    Wah Wah=1

    Wah Low Pass=2

    Wah High Pass=3

    Wah Vowel Filter=4

    Wah Phaser=5

    Wah Flanger=6

    Wah Rate Reducer=7

    Wah Ring Modulator=8

    Wah Freq Shifter=9

    Wah Formant Shift=10

    Green Scream=11

    Plus DS=12

    One DS=13

    Muffin=14

    Mouse=15

    Fuzz DS=16

    Metal DS=17

    Treble Booster=18

    Lead Booster=19

    Pure Booster=20

    Wah Pedal Booster=21

    Bit Shaper=22

    Recti Shaper=23

    Soft Shaper=24

    Hard Shaper=25

    Wave Shaper=26

    Graphic Equalizer=27

    Studio Equalizer=28

    Metal Equalizer=29

    Stereo Widener=30

    Compressor=31

    Noise Gate 2:1=32

    Noise Gate 4:1=33

    Vintage Chorus=34

    Hyper Chorus=35

    Air Chorus=36

    Micro Pitch=37

    Vibrato=38

    Rotary Speaker=39

    Tremolo=40

    Phaser=41

    Phaser Vibe=42

    Phaser Oneway=43

    Flanger=44

    Flanger Oneway=45

    Transpose=46

    Pedal Pitch=47

    Pedal Vinyl Stop=48

    Chromatic Pitch=49

    Harmonic Pitch=50

    Analog Octaver=51

    Single Delay=52

    Dual Delay=53

    TwoTap Delay=54

    Serial TwoTap=55

    Rhythm Delay=56

    Quad Delay=57

    Legacy Delay=58

    Crystal Delay=59

    Loop Pitch Delay=60

    Frequency Shifter Delay=61

    Dual Chromatic=62

    Dual Harmonic=63

    Dual Crystal=64

    Dual Loop Pitch=65

    Melody Chromatic=66

    Melody Harmonic=67

    Quad Chromatic=68

    Quad Harmonic=69

    Spring Reverb=70

    Natural Reverb=71

    Easy Reverb=72

    Echo Reverb=73

    Cirrus Reverb=74

    Space=75

    Legacy Reverb=76

    Loop Mono=77

    Loop Stereo=78

    Loop Distortion=79

    Thats great DamianGreda. bermudianbrit I wonder if the full menu structure is useful to you, or did the manual cover that?


    We could make the following type of information available. I have just shown an example below. Picture 4 columns A, B, C and D.


    A contains the number of clicks to get to the effects type.

    B contains the effect name

    C contains a list of all the pages, their 4 soft buttons if they exist, and their encoders if they exist

    D contains the various options for an encoder in case it's not obvious


    Here is an example of the Wah Wah:


    Clicks


    1 Wah Wah



    		Page 1/3


    		Soft keys


    		None


    		Encoders


    		Manual


    		Peak


    		Pedal Range


    		Peak Range


    		Page 2/3


    		Soft keys


    		None


    		Encoders


    		Pedal Mode Off/Touch/On/Bypass@Stop/Bypass@Heel/Bypass@Toe


    		None


    		Mix


    		Ducking


    		Page 3/3


    		Soft keys


    		None


    		Encoders


    		Volume


    		None


    		None


    		None


    Let me know if that is useful - or another format is better.


    Nikolaj

    Kemper PowerRack |Kemper Stage| Rivera 4x12 V30 cab | Yamaha DXR10 pair | UA Apollo Twin Duo | Adam A7X | Cubase DAW
    Fender Telecaster 62 re-issue chambered mahogany | Kramer! (1988 or so...) | Gibson Les Paul R7 | Fender Stratocaster HBS-1 Classic Relic Custom Shop | LTD EC-1000 Evertune | 1988 Desert Yellow JEM

    Like 1

    Sadly Ive had to take my Kemper back from bermudianbrit for now....I need it for recording.


    I think he may have had to factory reset the unit, which meant he was probably a few updates short, Im just restoring from my backup now and its clearly updating software .


    TBH I the he's got round it much more than I anticipated....I can't remember half the functions myself !


    Lets hope Kemper can help .

    No Gain - No Pain.... :D

    Quote from bermudianbrit

    I turn the browse nob, thinking I will hear different delays, but I don’t. As a side note, I am well aware that the delay should go after the amp stack – I’m simply looking for the delay section in order to orient myself in the menu.

    The manual says that the fourth category of effects includes distortions, which is what I want, so I turn the type nob 3 times. Sadly, I am not placed among the distortion effects, and am now adrift in the menu with no way to relocate where I am supposed to be.

    Re-reading this it says you turn the "browse" knob. You should be turning the "type" knob which is the left one instead. The "browse" knob browses presets which is not what you want. @DamianGreda's list above applies to the "type" knob as well.

    Tell him to check back in the thread then - we might be able to help a bit.

    Kemper PowerRack |Kemper Stage| Rivera 4x12 V30 cab | Yamaha DXR10 pair | UA Apollo Twin Duo | Adam A7X | Cubase DAW
    Fender Telecaster 62 re-issue chambered mahogany | Kramer! (1988 or so...) | Gibson Les Paul R7 | Fender Stratocaster HBS-1 Classic Relic Custom Shop | LTD EC-1000 Evertune | 1988 Desert Yellow JEM

    Like 1

    Hi all,


    Thanks for all the assistance provided in this thread.

    I did make sure, through rig manager, that I was running latest firmware, so tried to eliminate all the chokepoints I could. Having chatted with a few other blind guitar players/recording guys who have used the Kemper, we have all had similar issues. I would simply ask Kemper the following:

    Please, please consider the needs of blind guitarists when developing your PC editor for the Kemper. There are so many of us who are interested in using the unit, but who are being held back at the moment.

    Bitte lassen Sie mich bescheid im Falle, dass Sie mehrere Informationen über die bildschirmleserZugänglichkeit des Profilers haben möchten.


    Matt

    Joining this thread late...


    DamianGreda:

    Thanks so much for that effects list! I'm saving info like this in a standard .txt (text file) for future reference.


    Nikolaj, musicmad:

    I like your idea for a format for that effects table. That's a lot of typing though.

    How can I make it worthwhile for you to create that? PM if necessary.

    As for file formats, something basic and accessible, like .txt or .rtf, HTML, or something like an Excel spreadsheet would work.


    This community is great!!