The Amp Factory!

    Quote from Stratosphere

    unfortunately lucky i agree with you and its the biggest downer having only had the kemper for a week and a half. I bought into the community thing so i guess more fool me eh.


    There are 1,399 free profiles on the Rig Exchange, as we speak, and the number grows every day!


    Andy's full Amp Pack comes out to 40 cents per profile.
    I feel that is a very reasonable deal, considering the Amps used, and the high end equipment used to make the profiles.
    Not to mention, the expertise of a professional, who had already honed his skills, having made 100's of profiles for free, before charging.


    I don't see where you have any basis to feel bad about this.
    Start downloading, and have some fun! :thumbup:

    This is a healthy discussion, but guys, don't get too crazy over this. There are only two profile packs that I know that are being charged for (the other being Armin's which I think are quite good and useful also). Think of it like impulse responses. There are plenty of free and plenty of paid options out there. You could stick with the free options your whole life and never have a problem. It may just take time for you sifting through lots of questionable IRs to find the gems and then time polishing your mix more. But if you want someone to hand pick the best IRs for you, and record IRs with the best care and equipment, and all of the other things that take lots of time, then you pay for that convenience. The IR community (and many others) exists just fine with free and paid options side by side.


    If Andy had posted one or two amps and charged for them, then maybe I would like 'meh', But he put up a universe of profiles. It would be great if we could get back to talking about the profiles themselves rather than charging vs. not charging.

    hey hoth, zappledan and others who dont agree with what ive been posting about. I do agree with you about and44s freedom to do whatever he likes in this, his profiles, his time, his business. But at the same time i feel that this is the kemper forum and profile exchange section not the side business forum and sales section. And i feel i should stand up for what i hope will help us all and belieive in. Im not posting to upset anyone but to try and improve it for all. I worry that this belief that you can buy the best rather than work on your own profiles will kill the rig and profile exchange.


    I really dont want to post anymore if it will just upset the majority so I will butt out and wish you all the best including and44. It is incredibly difficult to express disagreement here without what has obviously come across as amnosity. I was wanting the best for the most rather than the few. sorry.

    Quote from Stratosphere

    I really dont want to post anymore if it will just upset the majority so I will butt out and wish you all the best including and44. It is incredibly difficult to express disagreement here without what has obviously come across as amnosity. I was wanting the best for the most rather than the few. sorry.


    Speaking for myself, I wasn't upset. Like you, I was expressing my opinion.

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

    Quote from Stratosphere

    hey hoth, zappledan and others who dont agree with what ive been posting about. I do agree with you about and44s freedom to do whatever he likes in this, his profiles, his time, his business. But at the same time i feel that this is the kemper forum and profile exchange section not the side business forum and sales section. And i feel i should stand up for what i hope will help us all and belieive in. Im not posting to upset anyone but to try and improve it for all. I worry that this belief that you can buy the best rather than work on your own profiles will kill the rig and profile exchange.


    I really dont want to post anymore if it will just upset the majority so I will butt out and wish you all the best including and44. It is incredibly difficult to express disagreement here without what has obviously come across as amnosity. I was wanting the best for the most rather than the few. sorry.


    I kinda look at it another way....


    For the sake of argument lets say charging for profiles is universally frowned upon. If that is the case then no one would sink any more than a very small amount of money into making them since they can't make that money back. This closes a door to a number of options simply because of cost (booking studio/engineer time, renting/buying nice mics and pres etc) and overall diminishes the potential of the end product. Now I don't know about you but I believe the Kemper has ENORMOUS potential and if it takes someone shelling out a decent amount of money to create a library of excellent profiles with top notch mics and someone who knows how to use them then I will GLADLY pay what is in reality a VERY small fee to have that in my arsenal. In the hypothetical scenario that no one is willing to pay for a profile, these profiles would simply not exist because no one in their right mind is going to drop thousands of dollars to create something to be given away for free.


    If you think its a slippery slope that leads to more people charging for their work then let them try, the market will determine whether or not it works out for them. They would need to justify the cost by providing details about WHY anyone should pay for them (mics, pres, amps, experience etc) so the barrier to entry is relatively high since the average guitar player maybe has one of those four.

    Agreed. This is how capitalism works. Let the market drive what is needed. I think one could collect a great arsenal of sounds from the user base, but you have to sift through 1300+ profiles on a system that does not have an easy to user computer based profile manager. Limiting the Kemper to this approach would destine it to be a prosumer product for those that have the time to tinker and hobby around with it. I think that is fine but seriously when you have someone working full time in this industry it is not an option to download new profiles every day. There needs to be a pro option that is trusted that can be grab and go and thats what and44 is providing. It is the same reason trusted brands like Universal Audio, RME, and Apple thrive in the software industry. Because you can trust that they will generally deliver and not slow you down in the creative and professional process. I hope this trend continues because it will lead to better quality sounds and create an efficient option to COINCIDE with the user base profiles.


    I love the free user profiles and still use many that I have downloaded. I hope this community continues to build. I also hope we can allow business ventures that provide a service worth paying for and understand that we cannot expect people to use their own money and time to make professional profiles and think that somehow we are entitled to that for free.

    I completely agree, Andy's sounds are fantastic, and are the result of a huge amount of work, its not unreasonable to charge for that, and i for one have got a better guitar playing experience and enjoyment because of his hard work, so happy to reward that contribution to my life.


    There are also loads of great and interesting profiles available from other guys (tills I hope CK is helping pay for your back treatment!), but they are variable and they do take a huge amount of time to audition, which I don't have , so am happy to be able to concentrate on some core tones and return to playing and writing


    I think this thread should be about the quality of what has been produced, and celebrating that, not an endless debate about pay/not pay, everyone is free to decide, and that will determine whether theres a business model here or not, but it is all good, the kemper is an amazing tool, and the quality of profiles available is growing all the time, so that is brilliant

    Charging for profiles could stir competition amongst out talented profilers and raise the bar for quality. Could be a win-win for the community in that we can truly tap the full potential of this supremely superior unit. More quality profiles= more users= more sales= more development/Kemper support.
    And44's price tag is comparitively diminuitive for those of us who don't have the equipment(mics, amps, studios) or the know-how to make great sounding profiles. Besides, someone is going to do it. I'm glad it's one of our community.

    "Heavy Metal does have a message for the rest of the world: Fuck You!" -Sebastian Bach

    We I got the whole package and think they are all rather good.


    I have had a couple of people so far say "Hey that sounds nice" which is amazing as people usually throw things at me when I play guitar!

    Quote from steeldragon72

    More quality profiles= more users= more sales= more development/Kemper support.


    Again this is just an opinion. I just see this getting out of control and Kemper sales going down. For example I believe the facebook 'likes' under 4000 for this unit is VERY upsetting for the QUALITY and REVOLUTIONARY aspects of the device - many will argue that 'likes' have no reflection but for many including top execs at EMI and Universal it DOES matter...and I know this first hand. The community needs to be open and free so that more users will part with a large sum of money. I dont want to create arguments I just think if Christoph was to charge for every update/ rig pack/ fx people would not buy into the KPA. I realise the quality of Andy's work - this is NOT in question. Imagine if we had to pay also for the great cabs that Till brought us?!?! :pinch:

    Quote from lucky


    Again this is just an opinion. I just see this getting out of control and Kemper sales going down. For example I believe the facebook 'likes' under 4000 for this unit is VERY upsetting for the QUALITY and REVOLUTIONARY aspects of the device - many will argue that 'likes' have no reflection but for many including top execs at EMI and Universal it DOES matter...and I know this first hand. The community needs to be open and free so that more users will part with a large sum of money. I dont want to create arguments I just think if Christoph was to charge for every update/ rig pack/ fx people would not buy into the KPA. I realise the quality of Andy's work - this is NOT in question. Imagine if we had to pay also for the great cabs that Till brought us?!?! :pinch:


    i dont recall the tills cabs circumstances, but were they done on his own gear at home on his own time, or in a top studio/sound room with a plethora of other (hard to get/ expensive) gear that wasnt his own? Thats the difference, it was at cost to andy these profiles exist. He has contributed to the RE previous with a catalogue of varied amps which are still amoung some of the best available.
    If people want to follow suit and try charging thats fine, but if they are not up to the standard provided then they simply wont sell

    i see no point in this discussion. if you don't agree with someone charging for profiles, don't buy them. simple as that.


    just like with impulse responses, there will always be free ones put up by individual amateur and semi-professional users as well as professional bundles being offered. some of the best impulses i've tried in the past have also been free, like for example catharsis studio's and god's. on the other hand, when you buy professional ones you can expect a certain level of quality, in contrast to free ones which may be all over the place.


    for a professional sound engineer committed to create impulse responses (or kemper profiles), time is money. why should they be charging some artists for their studio time, while giving away their work for free on the other hand? that's not how you run a studio.


    i'd be fully ok with paying a few euro for a great sounding profile, in contrast to browsing and tweaking for hours in the rig exchange. i've been able to find some incredible sounding profiles in there, but i have to admit 90% of them were not my cup of tea. i don't even want to think about the time invested in filtering out the ones i like. in this notion: if i could gain 2 more hours a day to play guitar, i'd also gladly pay for it ;)


    tl;dr there's definitely not a lack of 'good' free profiles in the rig exchange, but i see the point in paying for 'assured' quality profiles at the benefit of saving time browsing among thousands of profiles.


    my 2c



    p.s.: i'm still waiting for a reponse on the triple recto profile pack (cabs, mics, amp settings...) :D

    Quote from Stratosphere

    hey hoth, zappledan and others who dont agree with what ive been posting about. I do agree with you about and44s freedom to do whatever he likes in this, his profiles, his time, his business. But at the same time i feel that this is the kemper forum and profile exchange section not the side business forum and sales section. And i feel i should stand up for what i hope will help us all and belieive in. Im not posting to upset anyone but to try and improve it for all. I worry that this belief that you can buy the best rather than work on your own profiles will kill the rig and profile exchange.


    I really dont want to post anymore if it will just upset the majority so I will butt out and wish you all the best including and44. It is incredibly difficult to express disagreement here without what has obviously come across as amnosity. I was wanting the best for the most rather than the few. sorry.


    I am not upset at you at all. Sorry if it came across that away. I appreciate your opinion and your ability to articulate your opinion calmly. I totally understand where you're coming from too.

    i tried a handful of packs today and have to say im impressed. seem to be a bit more body, depth and richness from the few i sampled. i tried the champ, 65 amps, tone king and two rock. Really liking the tone king/2 rock w/pedals, i like to disable the reverb and eq on the profiles, and judge the raw amp tone. they tend to sound similar otherwise
    Will now be trying a few more packs now ive had a glimpse at what they are like, good job! :thumbup: