Using external footswitches with LEDs

  • Hey all

    I'm wanting to use external footswitches to turn on my stomps on my Kemper. I bought a couple off Amazon with LEDs. I specifically wanted ones with LEDs so I could know when the effect is on or off. Seems simple enough but it's not apparently.


    The footswitches I bought have 3 modes: Open, Close, and Latch. The LED only stays on if you're in latch mode. But the Kemper doesn't like latch mode. In Latch mode, it requires two clicks to perform a function.

    If I switch to "open" or "close" mode, the Kemper works fine but the LED on the footswitch doesn't stay on.


    I understand the difference between latch, open, and close but I'm wondering if anyone knows how to solve this. I'm not really looking for work-arounds.


    TLDR:

    Is there a way to use footswitches on the Kemper that have LEDs so I know when the effect is on or off. Or is there a footswitch you know of that works the way I'm wanting it to?


    Thanks!

  • Unfortunately the Kemper only works with momentary switches so there is no way that I know of to have an LED on an external footswitch work correctly. If you figure out a way please let me know :)

  • The most inexpensive option I know of (although, there may be others) is a Behringer FCB1010 with the third party UNO4KEMPER chip installed.


    A used FCB1010 can be found for extremely low dollars. They have made them for a long time.

    I already have a midi pedal board; a Voodoo Lab Ground Control. Is there a way to sync up the LED state with the KPA?


    It kind of syncs up now. However, if you have effects turned on via a midi foot switch, but then change to a different rig where those effects are off, the Kemper doesn’t send that off state back to the midi foot switch. Do you know if there’s a way to change that behavior?

  • If you have the Ground Control (not a Pro) pedal, it can't be done, because it requires bi-directional MIDI control.


    But, if you have a Ground Control Pro, take a look at this thread:


    Kemper and Ground Control Pro


    If it doesn't help, I suggest starting a new thread, with Ground Control Pro in the title, and also looking at the MIDI chapter in the Kemper Profiler Main Manual.

  • I have the Ground Control Pro. I've been using it as a remote for my Kemper for about 5 years.


    I scanned the link you provided. However I didn't see anything in there regarding making the LED lights of the Ground Control Pro correspond correctly to the on/off status of the Kemper's effects. Am I missing it?

  • As others have said, the Kemper doesn’t support LEDs on external pedals. I had this confirmed bu Burkhard in a previous thread a while back. He gave an explanation of why it works that way but I can’t remember the details.

    Thank you for confirming. I had already come to this conclusion myself but I thought it was weird. It helps to know I'm not missing something. Do you know if we can achieve a similar result by using midi switches with midi data going from AND to the midi controller?

  • I'm wanting to use external footswitches to turn on my stomps on my Kemper. I bought a couple off Amazon with LEDs. I specifically wanted ones with LEDs so I could know when the effect is on or off. Seems simple enough but it's not apparently.

    Maybe a footswitch with separate power from a battery is a suitable solution for you. I own one of these and it does a good job. It is a Nobels FS-2L.


    Nobels FS-2L on eBay DE


    They are pretty outdated but obviously available used for small money. I never tried mine with the Kemper but could try if necessary to make sure it works in the desired way.

  • Maybe a footswitch with separate power from a battery is a suitable solution for you. I own one of these and it does a good job. It is a Nobels FS-2L.


    Nobels FS-2L on eBay DE


    They are pretty outdated but obviously available used for small money. I never tried mine with the Kemper but could try if necessary to make sure it works in the desired way.

    That's actually what I was hoping to do. The ones I bought are powered, but when you take them out of latch mode, they don't keep the LED's on. The Kemper won't work properly with pedals in latch mode. Here's what I bought.


    https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d…=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

  • When using the RJM Mastermind with 2 way midi I’m pretty sure everything was working fine including on off status lights

    I tried this today. I'm pretty experienced using midi, to control devices remotely but have never done anything where I was sending midi data to a midi controller.


    Here's what I did. Took a midi cable from my KPA OUT to the IN of the Ground Control Pro. I also turned on "UI to MIDI" in the KPA system settings. My Ground Control is already configured with the correct control commands for the KPA. It doesn't appear that the Ground Control Pro is receiving any data as nothing is changing on it. ?


    Is there anymore to this that I'm missing??

  • I can’t remember. Its a long while since I set it up on mine and I haven’t used it since I got the Remote. Hopefully, somone else with a Ground Control will chime in. If not I’ll check my settings on the Mastermind when I get a change but it might be a few days.

    Thanks Dug. I read in the KPA instruction manual that only certain midi controllers support bi-directional midi data for the Kemper. So it's possible Ground Control Pro doesn't support this function.

  • Thanks Dug. I read in the KPA instruction manual that only certain midi controllers support bi-directional midi data for the Kemper. So it's possible Ground Control Pro doesn't support this function.

    Update. GCP doesn't support bi-directional with Kemper. So I guess I'm in the market for a new midi foot board if anyone has suggestions for one that supports Kemper's bi-directional function. Looking for something as small as possible that will give me 4 to 8 control command buttons with LED. I'm using the stage so I don't need midi program changes, just control commands.


    Also if anyone has experience using it this way I'm interested to get some clarity on the behavior between the two. For instance, if you turn on a stomp using a button on the KPA, will it send the message to the midi controller and turn the corresponding button on? Curious...