The Acoustic Simulator

  • It sounds clean and warm, but not quite like an acoustic.

    So I had my first band rehearsal using the new AC Sim. We did things that included "Pinball Wizard" - and I swear the "acoustic" sound was far worse than my NON - AC Sim acoustic presets. Disappointed. Still love the Kemper, but this isn't useful to me... so far.

    Gary ô¿ô

  • What do you use for your piezo settings mate?

    i have set ups. The first is a stand alone acoustic Rig which uses a Profile in the Amp section. The profile might change from time to time but is usually one of the BM Chandler Germanium or Focusrite Red rigs from the BM acoustic pack. This works for acoustic only.


    if I want to blend acoustic and electric I use one output from the PRS into an FZ return in Stomp A using parallel path. I usually add either Compressor or Reverb in Stomp B it would be great to be able to have the parallel path merge into the signal chain after the stack though to allow access to Reverb PLUS compression etc. I then control the blend either with the volumes on the guitar or by assigning Parallel Path volume to the Morph pedal.

  • ckemper are you saying that it’s pickup specific? I definitely don’t get any hiss with my PRS. I definitely find the PRS piezo far superior to the acoustic sim sound wise but I don’t get any hiss.

    For sure it's pickup specific.


    A piezo captures the full frequency response of the strings right on the bridge, representing pretty much how the strings truly sound (mostly without the body).

    An electric pickup taps the sound more towards the middle of the string, inducing certain comp filter effects.

    But the most significant difference is a resonance peak, followed by a steep high end frequency cut around 3 to 4 kHz, that creates the typical mid hump sound of electric guitars.

    The Acoustic Simulator is mainly an approach to restore the high frequency content of the strings by a set of well positioned, and partially adjustable filters, that boost the high frequencies by dozens of decibels.

    On the one hand, this is not a deterministic approach, because the Acoustic Simulator can not anticipate the exact character of your pickup. This is why we would never promise to exceed the sound quality of a piezo pickup.

    On the other hand the Acoustic Simulator will, due to its nature, amplify high frequency hiss catched by the electro magnetic pickups. This unavoidable property depends in the pickups. Humbuckers, by nature and by name, will suppress hum as well as noise, thus they will be much more gentle with the Acoustic Simulator in terms of hiss.

    Our AC is a very thought out effect. Still it has to fight the odds like every existing acoustic simulator.

    This is why we recommend it for those two or three songs in a band setup.

  • So I had my first band rehearsal using the new AC Sim. We did things that included "Pinball Wizard" - and I swear the "acoustic" sound was far worse than my NON - AC Sim acoustic presets. Disappointed. Still love the Kemper, but this isn't useful to me... so far.

    What presets is it about? For piezo guitars?

  • ckemper thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed response. I really appreciate it.


    I understand the tonal implications of different pickups supplying the sim with different frequencies and therefore the simulation sounding different. I was only really wondering how big a difference this would have on the level of hiss. it makes sense now that, if a pickup is particularly dull and therefore needs massive amounts of high end to be added by the sim this would cause more his than a pickup which is naturally brighter And therefore needs less high frequency amplification. I don’t believe that magnetic pickups necessarily create high frequency hiss though. I understand their tendency to capture electrical noise like hum etc but not hiss. Is it not just a function of amplifying the noise floor of the amp input and conversation itself?

  • I'd like to hear an example of "no hiss" If I turn down the "sparkle" and some other parameters ,that, in my opinion make it sound as much like an acoustic as possible it does get rid of the "hiss" while playing. I could make it have "No Hiss" but then I'd be of the opinion that the Acoustic sim is a bust. The hiss I am talking about is not something that comes before or after, that could be remedied with the gate, but while playing.

    i’ve just had a thought in light of ckemper ’s comment above. What are you listening through? Are you using a traditional guitar cab or FRFR? Obviously, if using a guitar cab you would need to boost the Bronze and Sparkle significantly to overcome the effect of the speaker hi frequency rolloff which would subsequently introduce significant hiss based on CK’s comments.


    Also what guitar/pickup?


    i’ll try and record and example later today but monitoring on studio monitors I don’t hear any significant hiss even with noise gate off.

  • What presets is it about? For piezo guitars?

    I have tried several profiles, including the Morgan AC20, Liquid Neve 1073, Fishman Aura, Chandler Germanium, Venue DI, The Zoom Simulator, Tonedexter (I know, some of these are piezo designed. The Morgan AC20 actually sounds the worst of the bunch, at least with my PRS! I'm actually getting the best result using the ToneDexter along with the new AC Sim (from Djmass, tweaked) and keeping both amp and cab ON (I know this contradicts your recommendations, but it simply sounds the best... so far!).

    Gary ô¿ô

    Edited 2 times, last by prsgary ().

  • i’ve just had a thought in light of ckemper ’s comment above. What are you listening through? Are you using a traditional guitar cab or FRFR? Obviously, if using a guitar cab you would need to boost the Bronze and Sparkle significantly to overcome the effect of the speaker hi frequency rolloff which would subsequently introduce significant hiss based on CK’s comments.


    Also what guitar/pickup?


    i’ll try and record and example later today but monitoring on studio monitors I don’t hear any significant hiss even with noise gate off.

    Listening through studio monitors, Signal chain- Gibson custom shop lespaul, (also tried my danocaster, my '54 tele, and a Gretsch.) to the Kemper and out to s/pdif (also xlr) to an Apollo x4 then to the monitors. I keep messing with it of course. I've found that the "sim custic" in the rig exchange tweaked a bit(took out most of the compression, added, or should i say used some subtractive eq with the studio and graphic eq's and changed up the delay and reverb. ) gives me the most believable sound so far(I know that has the amp and cab with it) It actually gives you some string noise in a good way. But still that hiss while playing is distracting to me.No more or less hiss with that profile than without. This is with all the guitars and pickups and every other example I've heard.

  • That is really strange. I'm actually trying to make a video for you just now but am having difficulty with the screen capture software. It is literally silent on my system. When I engage/disengage the Acoustic Sim there is no difference to the hiss level. Even when I max the Bronze and Sparkle settings etc I get no additional hiss .

  • I just quickly recorded an example of the "hiss" I am talking about. I think the "sim" sounds great. It is dead quiet when I am not playing but there is that his when I am. It's not the end of the world, but this is how we sort things out, right? (there is no processing on the recording whatsoever it's just the Kemper through the Apollo x4 to UA Luna, hit record.


    Here is a link. Hiss example

    Edited once, last by jon9max ().

  • I have tried several profiles, including the Morgan AC20, Liquid Neve 1073, Fishman Aura, Chandler Germanium, Venue DI, The Zoom Simulator, Tonedexter (I know, some of these are piezo designed. The Morgan AC20 actually sounds the worst of the bunch, at least with my PRS! I'm actually getting the best result using the ToneDexter along with the new AC Sim (from Djmass, tweaked) and keeping both amp and cab ON (I know this contradicts your recommendations, but it simply sounds the best... so far!).

    So you are using our AC with a piezo guitar.

    This is what the Acoustic Simulator explicitly NOT made for.

    It is made for electric guitars with magnetic pickups.

    Don‘t expect valuable results with piezo guitars.

  • I finally managed to make a short video demonstrating the Acoustic Sim to test whether it does add noise to the signal. I had lots of issues with my screen capture software trying to capture audio from the DAW plus a mic but finally managed something usable. I also had some issues trying to record the video due to my own stupidity (probably shouldn't have tried to make the video after a few large glasses of vino colapso :D


    Anyway jon9max does this sound different from your experience?


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    Youtube says it will be nearly 2 hours before the link has uploaded but I'm off to bed now.;)

  • ckemper I don’t believe that magnetic pickups necessarily create high frequency hiss though. I understand their tendency to capture electrical noise like hum etc but not hiss. Is it not just a function of amplifying the noise floor of the amp input and conversation itself?


    I have proposed that simple test already.


    Turn down the volume pot of your guitar. If the hiss disappears, then it came from the pickup, being attenuated by the volume pot.

  • I recorded an example of the hiss. The link is 3 posts back.

  • Thanks for that Alan.

    I'll try some more, but it seems odd that I am unable to recreate what you've done so far.

  • I just quickly recorded an example of the "hiss" I am talking about. I think the "sim" sounds great. It is dead quiet when I am not playing but there is that his when I am. It's not the end of the world, but this is how we sort things out, right? (there is no processing on the recording whatsoever it's just the Kemper through the Apollo x4 to UA Luna, hit record.


    Here is a link. Hiss example

    damn, my hearing is shot worse than I thought? I don’t hear any hiss

  • I had one of these, sold it because it was far below the standards of the PRS P22 and the MM Majesty piezo... Can you guide me to a better experience CK?

    Gaz, I'll bet my left knacker that it was the first-gen Variax that you used, which ran v1.x software. It sounded like the "plinkiness" bled through all the models, both acoustic and electric.


    The Tyler Variax introduced the hugely-improved gen-two modelling, which seriously destroyed gen one in every department. The acoustic models were no exception; they're extremely-good IMHO. All remnants of plinkiness are gone.


    The Variaxes are still running this software (v2.x), which is compatible back to the first Tyler models. Once you've tried everything you, CK and the forum can think of, if you're still not happy I can guarantee that if you can afford to grab one of these 2nd-gen Variaxes, you'll experience a marked improvement in realism.

  • As mentioned with my first try I got a lot of hiss as well. I managed to use another profile ( all with amp and cab off) and virtually no hiss. Defo something I'm doing wrong as this was on the same guitar.


    I've not tried another guitar so I'll give it a go later.


    Wheresthedug your recording sounds fine to my ears....any hiss I was getting was very distinct. Noise gate gets rid until you play..


    Just not had any time to experiment further but as I mentioned I just think its very sensitive to settings plus I might have a bug where changes on RM are not changing my KPA.