The Acoustic Simulator

  • I definitely noticed a lot of hiss if there was anything active in the Stack section but CK told me it isn’t designed to use in conjunction with anything in the Stack. As soon as I turned the stack off I got no hiss.


    CK also recommendeds using the AC Sim in slot X after the Atack as it runs in sterwo there with a space effect automatically added. I find I prefer it in the Stomps in Mono as the space effect sounds too much like a double tracking effect to me so far. Maybe it will grow on me with some experimatin though ?

  • I definitely noticed a lot of hiss if there was anything active in the Stack section but CK told me it isn’t designed to use in conjunction with anything in the Stack. As soon as I turned the stack off I got no hiss.

    That might be the cause...I switched off Amp and Cab but not Stack, so might have had some residual EQ? I'll have a further play..

  • Hey everybody, first time here...after about two and a half years of KPA usage...


    I put a profile named DANOCOUSTIC on RE, which works quite well with the neck lipstick PU of my Dano DC59.


    Tried different settings and ended up in putting an IR of an acoustic guitar in the cab section, which I found on the web in some free IR-bundle of acoustic guitars. Acoustic Simulator in X-slot.


    Finally, here is a demosong I recorded with a DigiTech SDrum, Jamman Express Looper and Digitech Freqout to give an impression of the profile in a mix.


    It's just one guitar loop synced with the SDrum, an overdubbed sologuitar and vocals. Recorded in Logic, no processing on the guitars except for panning.


    The song is called Tijuana, originally written by JJ Cale .

    https://drive.google.com/file/…PDsrYzPg/view?usp=sharing


    Cheers, Oerdel

  • Glad you came out of the shadows. Welcome to the forum!

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

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

    ? You don't? listen to right at the beginning. I strum one chord. you'll hear the noise.(it's during the notes, in addition to, not before or after) Then I mute it with my hand, and it's silent. Then I do it again and you'll hear it. You don't hear it while I am playing the song bit, but I have to do a lot of single note (just guitar)stuff where it would be noticeable and probably real noticeable in the very high end speakers in the FOH system. I don't hear any in yours( the video volume is really low on my end though. I had to put my IEM's in and turn it way up. I'm sure we'll straighten this out it's just the first try of a beta and it's pretty damn good . Gonna try it out at a rehearsal this weekend.

  • Gaz, I'll bet my left knacker that it was the first-gen Variax that you used

    No, Nicky, the Majesty left that 1st gen in the dust. BUT it had design issues - placement of the pickup selector was (and still is I believe) right in the way of strumming, so you'd change pickups without wanting to... constantly. Very annoying! But the sim in it (Piezo) was excellent!.

    Gary ô¿ô

  • Hmm. It’s there. I’m not home now so I just listened on my iPhone with my Bluetooth earbuds and I listened in the car. It’s the same as I have been hearing with the studio monitors and my 64audio IEM’s. One noticeable spot is after I play the bit of the song the last strum on a “G” chord it’s there until I mute the chord. It just sounds like air, a hiss. Hmm you can’t hear it but it annoys the heck out of me. Wonder what else we’re not hearing. Ugh. It’s not like an amp noise where when you’re done playing you can roll off the volume. It’s while I’m playing the quiet, stuff with single sustaining notes and chords. Just don’t know how it will translate FOH or if the sound man will ruin the sound by eq’ing the crap out of it. We’ll see!

  • So interestingly tried this and for me its very noisey/loaded with hiss ( on 2 different guitars, single coil and humbucker).


    It sounded better when I switched off the stack..

  • To be clear, I can get the SIM to sound good and with low level of hiss, it just seems to strongly depend upon what base profile I use, even switching the stack off.


    Some profiles, loads of hiss. others not so much. It just seems to be sensitive to a number of factors...I'm sure its something pretty stupid/obvious.


    That suggests something like clean sense or some other EQ effecting it.

  • Decided to record a mashup between the following:

    • Taylor 310 CE L7 with a 2004 Expression System (two contact mics and under-neck pickup)
    • Patrick Eggle Berlin with coil tapped Seymour Duncan humbuckers
    • Fender ‘Partscaster’ Tele with Bare Knuckle ‘Yardbird’ pickups
    • Fender American Professional Strat 2017 with factory pickups

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    I’m very pleased with the AS - I’m having much more success than I was with the Boss AC-3 I once owned. Particularly like the Tele, despite it still being obviously a Tele when digging in. Although I had an 8kHz noise at one point, it seems to have been external interference that is no longer in effect, or my ears have gone again. Free from hiss over here, as far as I can hear...! If not, don't tell me...

    Ed / Audio Systems Engineer / Kemper Stage + Fender fan

  • For everyone experiencing the hiss, I would strongly suggest using the profile that waraba shared earlier in this thread (he links to the video and download). I originally started off using a different profile and was getting the hiss. I tried his, and it was hiss-free. So then I just used his as a starting point and tweaked it to fit my pickups (using the neck pickup of a Guthrie Govan Charvel with the coil-tap on). No hiss, and starting to get really good sounds. It'll NEVER sound like an actual acoustic - so if you have that as your goal, you're likely going to be disappointed. I'm comparing it to past piezo pickups I've used, and it sounds comparable. Put it this way, I was going to buy a Taylor T5 for my acoustic duo project I'm starting, and instead, I'm going to save the $1800 and roll with this. Just my opinion, but I'm happy with it . . . . . IT WAS FREE!

  • It sounds great. I don’t hear any hiss either. Would you mind sharing your settings or if it’s a profile, which one? I think I dialed in a great sound but it just comes with some hiss that will be unacceptable for some quiet things I need to do. Good job!

  • in what way is it different?

    Using Kone, create a new profile, add AS to any slot, amp/cab off, I get:

    a) Hiss when I pluck a string (not seriously loud mind you)

    b) If I strike strings heavily the audio craps out, sort of a distorted noise which is as loud as the expected profile volume. If I play quietly it sounds as expected.

    I'll have to try again tonight after work but I think it sounded better/OK with the Kone off. Same thing running my Monitor out to my L-12 board and Yamaha monitors.

    Tried "Init Globals" as well, to no avail.

  • It sounds great. I don’t hear any hiss either. Would you mind sharing your settings or if it’s a profile, which one? I think I dialed in a great sound but it just comes with some hiss that will be unacceptable for some quiet things I need to do. Good job!

    Thanks. Haven't curated a profile I'll keep just yet, but these are the AS settings used:


    I added a Pure Booster at +5dB to get the level up, and Legacy Reverb like so:

    I did a bit of EQ tweaking on the main output EQ for each to match them and control the low end, retaining the body but rolling off around 115 Hz and below. Controlled the high end by backing off tone pots on the guitars. All of them were on bridge pickups too. It's quite a sensitive process, which is perhaps a criticism - I got one good sound out of each guitar, rather than an array.

    Ed / Audio Systems Engineer / Kemper Stage + Fender fan

    Edited once, last by EdwardArnold ().

  • I understand that some of you combine the Acoustic Simulator with an amp profile?

    yes I do. I use a Tonedexter profile. Tonedexter is a preamp which gives life to any piezo signal (there are I think acoustic guitar IRS and other tricks). It Colors very interestingly the ACo simulator. I add also a acoustic guitar IR in the cab section.