I'm done with it

Quote from manuelcicca

You should try to walk in the same shoes the OP is wearing at moment.
Not everybody here has the luck of having his/her Mummy buying the KPA for his/her birthday. For some people it's an investment . It's a tool. And it's natural to compare how it performs in terms of reliability with other (even crap-sounding) devices.
I'm realising that 90% of the posts are against Radley !Actually I think what he's trying to say it's absolutely resonable. Not sure whay people get so weird about it. I really hope that Chris will keep an eye on those type of unpleasant threads and will improve the QC of both hardware and software of its products.

It's the internet, so someone's intent isn't always that easy to discern correctly.

I'm 60 years old, so the only party that buys anything for business or pleasure in my world is ME. The KPA is an investment and as music is my business, it's on my tax schedule and being amortized. I expect my business investments to function, to assist in turning a profit.

If Roland is unhappy, as he clearly has a right to be, he should do what's in his best interest. I truly have no idea if he's contacted support and given them an opportunity to make it right. Is that an avenue that involves inconvenience? Yep... wouldn't thrill me, but I'd do it. If his unit is under a return policy and he's not out a bunch of money? Send it back. It isn't convenient, but it is reasonable to persue your rights under the terms of the warranty and avail yourself of putting the manufacturer to have a part in getting you where your rights under the warranty promises you? YES... it's a contract. No company wants you to need to have a problem corrected. I have not searched for every thread regarding his issues. If he has gotten with Kemper and they have not done what they can to resolve his issue isn't something I have noted. If it's somewhere in this forum, then I would not suggest what I have suggested.

Many here are not experiencing regular and repeated lock ups... it doesn't strike me that his should be either. In U.S. warranty terms, his situation would seem to be a "non-conformity". I can't tell if it's hardware or software related... has Kemper support given an opinion? After any outrage with a situation, seeking resolution can be involved. Is it "fair" or "just" or "should it never happen"... ? I would hope it isn't something anyone would need to deal with... however, being the nature of thing on this planet, such a situation can show up from time to time. If my KPA functions everytime I use it, I expect it's a possible thing to occur for other Kemper owners. Roland's should work as well as mine does. It isn't because I have lived a kind and generous life, part my hair just right, nor any such thing. If many KPA's are operating as designed, so should his.

Do I expect reliable value regardless of price?... you had better believe it. Roland wants something that works... I agree with him. I'm trying to inquire if he's given Kemper a shot at making that happen. There's a time for torches and pitchforks, and there's a time for resolution measures. Indignance won't correct his concerns. I want to see him and every other owner satisfied and making music with their purchase. I'm unsure of just exactly how I'm not "getting it" with his situation.

If he is not satisfied and has not faith in the product, it's his stance to take. If it's not returnable then he eats it of sell it at hopefully no loss... but it still makes some sense to get it to a functioning state to hope for any chance of selling it...

Roland - It's kinda like when the psychiatrist tells the suicidal patient 'why kill yourself today - you can always do it later' to help him to hang on another day. There is nothing awful that can happen if you keep your KPA a bit longer. Although I have not had as serious problems as you, I've had enough to know I can't use it live in concert or for any high profile sessions (patch changes on the fly from a foot controller, etc), and that is something I hoped I would not be saying at this point...

Quote from rolandvdh

Well thanks for all your comments so far. I have done the init and memory flash reboot procedure several times. I've bought the KPA early januari and I know and accept to some level that it's a new radical product. But after 4 months I expect that the reboot bugs are gone. I don't talk about the extras like more effects etc. How is it possible people telling me I have downloaded corrupt profiles? Can they tell me how I can see they are corrupt? I only download them from rig exchange. But this way it's not save for me to use it live. I still think it's a remarkable product and the profiles sound very very good! And perhaps I'll keep it for studio work.

Roland, first off, I empathize with your frustrations. I'd be upset.

As far as a corrupt file? I don't know if that's the situation or not. It's a question and not an answer. Kemper would be in the best position to answer that. I have only read about one situation where such a thing occurred to one owner. Clearly, we all don't use every rig or cab file from the exchange. It's likely not the issue, but it's a remote possibility, perhaps.

I had a situation where a very popular rig didn't download or usb load correctly to my KPA. I didn't have lockup issues, but I did have a failure to get any audio from the file. A reload solved that problem. Can the download from the net or from USB to the KPA itself have an issue? Maybe.

What I want you to be assured of is that I don't suspect you are or have done anything wrong. That would be for Kemper to work out with you. Point being, I don't think intentional user error is a part of any problem you are experiencing.

Mine works when I turn it on. You deserve the same.

Quote from Radley

Roland - It's kinda like when the psychiatrist tells the suicidal patient 'why kill yourself today - you can always do it later' to help him to hang on another day. There is nothing awful that can happen if you keep your KPA a bit longer. Although I have not had as serious problems as you, I've had enough to know I can't use it live in concert or for any high profile sessions (patch changes on the fly from a foot controller, etc), and that is something I hoped I would not be saying at this point...

I have noted some issues with midi program assignments being saved... and it's something which I thought might have been a result of my not following the protocol to the letter. THAT needs to be addressed if it's a save problem with the software... particularly prior to marketing a foot controller, IMO. That sorta thing needs to be bulletproof, or some feedback from Kemper regarding how to be certain the assignment is solidly held. I'm with you on that.

It's a bit irritating that some rigs seem to be put on the exchange WITH midi assignments... It's not a major sin, but it's a possible stumbling block. It would be reassuring to know that anything being loaded as a new rig would generate an argument which made certain there wasn't an overwrite possibly taking place. OR, midi assignments were not copied or substituted on download with the exception of restoring a backup..

I don't know the most eloquent way to put it, but if I step on an assigned button, I absolutely must get the setting I assigned to that program change to come up when I request it.. It's a reasonable expectation of the functionality of the KPA. Ther are, I believe situations where midi program changes can be lost...? Make certain that that's the only situation where that's possible. They shouldn't go away on a shut down restart routine. I'd like to believe that's been considered.

Quote from rolandvdh

Tonight I went to rehearsal with my band. I turned on the KPA and it got stuck on the boot up screen. Frozen again! I've had this at least ten times now (with different FW)! I'm on FW 1.08 now and everthing was stable untill tonight. Yesterday I imported some new profiles and no problems. Untill tonight. I've spent 15 minutes to reboot (yes I know the Armin procedure), got it workin again but after installing the back up it was frozen again! I'm done with it. It's too instable to play live. I've took my tube amp and that felt good. I've decided to use the KPA no longer live or for rehearsal. If there's FW that's stable soon than perhaps I'll keep the KPA for studio use. But when it keeps freezing I might sell it no matter how much I like the sound quality. It's too frustrating..........

I have no clue how complicated it is to write code for these devices, but it seems over the years tons of little digital units like the Roland VG's, GT series, Korgs and cheap ZOOMs etc, every time you turn them on they always work! with some of these expensive units, you cross your fingers and hope they actually boot, it makes you nervous when you're at a gig(haven't gigged with the kpa yet) i just don't understand why this is the case, I think having a unit that's 100% reliable is the most important thing on these devices, sure I understand the occasional failure of some electronic part inside, but other then that we should feel confident that the unit will turn on at rehearsal and especially at gigs.
Hope they get these bugs fixed soon, because it's a very good sounding unit and it would be a shame if people start getting rid of them for these reasons.

Quote from Radley

Roland - It's kinda like when the psychiatrist tells the suicidal patient 'why kill yourself today - you can always do it later' to help him to hang on another day. There is nothing awful that can happen if you keep your KPA a bit longer. Although I have not had as serious problems as you, I've had enough to know I can't use it live in concert or for any high profile sessions (patch changes on the fly from a foot controller, etc), and that is something I hoped I would not be saying at this point...

To you, Roland, and others.

I spotted this thread... sounds as though it's replicated and under corrective measures....http://www.kemper-amps.com/for…ad&threadID=4682&pageNo=1

Quote from rolandvdh

Thanks. I've seen this. I have to make a rectification on the midi and system settings bug I mentioned before. I've just did the init flash and memory flash. Installed the original FW (1.01) en after that FW 1.08. Then I restored the back up. Not the latest back up but the one before that (that worked fine). KPA seems allright now I turned it on and off several times without problems. And, the midi assignments and all the system settings were also restored! So that's good news and this brings back al little trust..... So it looks like it has something to do with the latest profiles I've imported. That's also what support suggests:

Dear rolandvdh,

possible, that you loaded corrupted files. You might want open the suspect backup archive (e. g. with 7-Zip) and screen through the details. Are there any 0kB files?

I'll check it tonight..... But even if this is correct and causes the bugs how can I avoid them? Should I look at every profile and check if it's not 0 kb before I import it to the KPA???????

Edit: Checked the files and no files with 0 Kb.

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Great news! Let's hope it's resolved from here on out. Get back to making music with it.

Could a program be made to check for "corruption" in files or could the KPA run a corruption check on importing the profiles? Can't there be like a CRC checking ability?

Quote from Radley

OK - I must ask the obvious question: What is so different about the Kemper software code that prevents it from being as robust as many other modeling units that sell for a small fraction of it's price? (Boss, Digitech, Line6, Fender, Zoom, etc) Pray tell...

The difference is this is a brand new product with some growing pains.

Quote from hoth

Could a program be made to check for "corruption" in files or could the KPA run a corruption check on importing the profiles? Can't there be like a CRC checking ability?

It seems such a thing, or some other preventative or diagnostic routine would be a wise troubleshoot when issues arise. Maybe something which would warn that whatever file is corrupt or incomplete.
.

Quote from rolandvdh

Thanks.
I'll check it tonight..... But even if this is correct and causes the bugs how can I avoid them? Should I look at every profile and check if it's not 0 kb before I import it to the KPA???????

Edit: Checked the files and no files with 0 Kb.

Ok - until we get a rating system or a way to mark files the only way to help others is identify the corrupt kipr files. Do you remember which you loaded that may have been corrupt?

Quote from eatapeach

Ok - until we get a rating system or a way to mark files the only way to help others is identify the corrupt kipr files. Do you remember which you loaded that may have been corrupt?

The corruption though may not be in the uploaded profile but when the profile is downloaded, copied to the USB stick, imported by the KPA, or at some point after it's already on the KPA. By the way, copying to and from a USB stick is a notoriously unreliable process because of the delayed read/write caches that operating systems use. Another reason why direct USB functionality for the KPA would be great.

Quote from hoth

The corruption though may not be in the uploaded profile but when the profile is downloaded, copied to the USB stick, imported by the KPA, or at some point after it's already on the KPA. By the way, copying to and from a USB stick is a notoriously unreliable process because of the delayed read/write caches that operating systems use. Another reason why direct USB functionality for the KPA would be great.

Windows does not use delayed write for USB (removable) memory.

Quote from hoth

The corruption though may not be in the uploaded profile but when the profile is downloaded, copied to the USB stick, imported by the KPA, or at some point after it's already on the KPA. By the way, copying to and from a USB stick is a notoriously unreliable process because of the delayed read/write caches that operating systems use. Another reason why direct USB functionality for the KPA would be great.

Possibly but we've had corrupt profiles on the board before. If a file is incorrectly copied to a memory device it usually fails to load by the host (ie why support asked if there were any 0kb files)

A file could be corrupted at any point but we haven't heard of on board corruption - most likely is user caused corruption and that's why we get told not to take a hex editor to them.

God help us if we get direct USB functionality. Can you imagine the support calls? "I just plugged my laptop into it and...."

I sure hope the stability issue is resolved. I love my KPA ...