Exporting a Kemper Impulse Response

  • hey there! :)


    I´m new to the family & currently super excited about my new "toy" ;) As a former (and ongoing) Helix user, I´m wondering how big tonal differences of the exact same amp models really are and how much of the tone comes from kemper´s own impulse responses.


    I am indeed aware of the option of loading a 3rd party impulse into the kemper., but what i´d love to do is using the kemper IR within my helix (or even better: inside my daw) to be able to benchmark both platforms against each other with the kemper´s impulses active.


    So my questions are:

    1. is there someone out there who has already done this and is open for an exchange?
    2. does someone know how I´m able to export some of my kemper´s IRs on my own?

    Thanks a LOT for any hint! :)


    Cheers from Switzerland

  • the Profiler does not use Impulse responses and therefore cannot export these.

    You would need to run a test tone generator through the Profiler and use the appropriate software app to generate an impulse response from any given rig in the Profiler.

  • I have to ask why?


    As mentioned the KPA doesn't really use IR's. It profiles the whole signal chain which includes the response from the speaker.


    If your question is what is the tonal difference between speakers, then you can check this in many ways - not least using the Kabinet and imprints. There were some recent videos posted on here debating the impact of speakers on overall tone - the answer is, they make a big difference :).


    If in some way you are looking to output the cab part of the profile to use in the Helix, I suspect your results will be no better than any commercial IR's. It also will not allow you to benchmark effectively as its not an exact science (too many interactions).


    I know in the Helix world, a lot revolves around IR's but this is not the same for the KPA - yes you can load IR's but ( in my view) they are not necessary.

  • Well. You cannot really load them. But you can convert them into something the kpa can use. Which I assume is some rough approximation of the frequency response. Judging by the limited size of a Kemper rig compared to an impulse response.

    Kemper PowerRack |Kemper Stage| Rivera 4x12 V30 cab | Yamaha DXR10 pair | UA Apollo Twin Duo | Adam A7X | Cubase DAW
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  • Hi muggel and welcome on board!


    There is no direct way of exporting the frequency response of the cabinet section of a certain profile as an IR. You can, however, follow the approach suggested by Kemper Support #1 to measure it. But there is an alternative route which I have successfully implemented: You can directly sample the filter taps (i.e. the IR)! There is more to the cabinet implementation of the Profiler than just a simple frequency response but I've found the results to be quite good.


    However, the complete procedure is somewhat (read: very) complicated if you want to do it right as -- for instance -- one has to correct for the low and high cut filters of the input section.


    I currently don't have the time to describe the process in detail. But if you (and/or others) would like to know what I did: I may occasionally find time to write step by step instructions on how to extract/reconstruct an IR out of the cab section (combined with post EQs if desired). Just let me know...


    Cheers-

  • Hi muggel and welcome on board!


    (...) But if you (and/or others) would like to know what I did: I may occasionally find time to write step by step instructions on how to extract/reconstruct an IR out of the cab section (combined with post EQs if desired). Just let me know...


    Cheers-

    First of all: Thanks to you & the others for the very warm welcome! :)  nejo_hh such an instructions would indeed be super interesting! Count me in on the (maybe) long list of people who are interested in your work! ;)

  • Yes, I would be very interested in this also. I have some profiles which sound like nothing else around because of speaker and mic'ing, being able to use them in other scenarios would solve a lot of problems.

  • Ok, muggel, luntho, Andrew_Ongley and the exceptionally long list of other interested fellow Profiler brothers and sisters (Have you ever noticed that the Kemper Team always speaks of The Profiler? It's because, actually, the master wizard ckemper himself is The Kemper!) -- here we go:


    The description of how to extract/reconstruct Profiler cabinet IRs has been moved to Share tips and tricks.

  • nejo_hh oh wow mate - a HUGE thank you for your effort to type down this summary! i´m currently at work, but will try to understand what exactly has to be done later today. Will get back to you! :) But again: THANKS!

  • @nejo_hh, that's a great writeup. Thank you for taking the time to post it. What tool are you using to do the math? Matlab, Octave, other? and what platform are you on, Windows? Mac? other? I did a lot of this at work (I'm a retired engineer), but looking for a tool to use at home. Thanks again, and if this wanders too far from the original intent of the post, I can take this off the board and chat via private conversation if you prefer.

  • DigitalBliss: I would suggest that you just stick to the tools and platforms you are familiar with. As you know, math is invariant against such transformations ;).


    Personally, I do all the math with Mathematica on CentOS/Linux at work and on macOS at home. However, it's often just for the prototyping of new algorithms; I usually implement them in C++ once they can fly. Additionally, I heavily rely on ROOT/Cern when it comes to storing and processing large amounts of structured data (worked as an astrophysicist in my former life).


    Regarding further questions: You're right! Let's leave this thread to its original topic, i.e. Profiler cabinet IRs. You may then PM me a few questions, but please understand that I'm an infrequent visitor and may not have time to provide detailed answers. So why not join a forum that is better tailored to your needs?

  • nejo_hh thanks for your thorough coverage of this subject which has interested me for some time.

    I have found the response of the cabinet section different since v5.7 prior to that version i found the cabinet section produced a more faithful representation of the cabinet., after that firmware, kemper implemented some changes (they documented this) and to my ears the cabinet section no longer gave what I thought was a true character . In the grand scheme of things, the full signal chain sounded as good as always, again this is explained by the kemper version notes.

    Please check out my post on this:

    v5.7.x Cabinet sound changed


    The bottom line here being that capturing the cabinet section alone renders a result which i believe is no longer an honest representation of the original cabinet.

    Whether the user likes this or not is subjective.


    If anyone fancies doing some experiments running pre v5.7 firmware and the latest fw to capture the cab IR id be very interested to see/hear the results.

    v5.7.x Cabinet sound changed

  • slateboy: There is probably no one willing to do the proposed analysis:

    1. You've already presented an in-depth analysis of the problem!
    2. What would you even do with the refined result?

    However, you may fix the frequency response yourself:

    1. Install the latest OS version not affected by the cabinet fix.
    2. Extract/reconstruct the cab IR by following the instructions above.
    3. Import the IR via Rig Manager and use it for your cab only setups.
    4. Alternatively, you can use it with Logic's Space Designer (apparently the DAW you work with), i.e. without the Profiler being part of the signal chain.