The next step of having a real competitor

  • Ok, the influencers videos try to convince guitar community that the new Kemper is here and is called Quad Cortex. Smaller, more power, newer,wifi updates, no need for a computer, iOS app, audio interface, no need to refine captures, and some new more hazardous benefits like touch screen... and APPARENTLY a more accurate amp recreation.

    (Even if I still believe it had too much aliasing and noises, especially in highs, but that’s just my 2 cents).


    what will be the next step for Kemper?

    Will Kemper stay the same, ignoring the competition?

    Will Kemper OS have a major update to refine the profiling process and offer more accurate profiling?

    Will Kemper work on a new Kemper to be even better than the QC specs and keep its place?

    Of course Kemper has a huge ecosystem with many professional profiles makers who constantly promote the product as they make videos to sell their own profiles.

    Of course the Kemper sounds good as it is now. (Just want more Chorus CK ;)

    But what you guys think would be the best for Kemper?

    I will not hide my disappointment about the Access Virus Story.

    People loved it and CK let the product just survive without anything new, letting the competition slowly take its place.

    I don’t want this for the profiler. That’s why I take the time to write it and ask what is your opinion, what do you want as a customer and what would you do if you were CK himself (or if your are the actual CK himself hahaha but no doubt Kemper II will not be announced in this thread!!!)


    respectfully.

  • It really depends on how far they've taken the Kemper hardware. I don't think any of us really know that. But for me, I'd like to see:


    - More accurate profiling

    - Somehow reduce the need for refining, and/or have an exact specfication of what we should be doing when refining

    - Full rig-to-rig spillover for all ABCD slots (I really like delays and reverbs in front of the amp!)

    - Ability to run more than one amp+cab at once

    - Multi-stage profiling: Kemper asks you to "set the gain to 9, set the gain to noon, set the gain to 3, set the gain to full" and has a way to interpolate between all of those settings in a single profile. Same with tone stacks.


    I think possibly they might need new hardware.

  • Agree, would love to see some improvements to the profiling. If you bring that issue up though you will he met with “it’s perfect”, “no room for improvement”. That arrogance will lead to someone coming up with a better solution. Do I think Quad Cortex is that product? At this stage, no..but it’s in its infancy. If Roland, Line 6 or Fractal come up a capture product given their reach, sharing, clouds and software editors etc, it’s game over.


    The black art of refining the profiles is what kills me. It’s been debated for 10 years on how to refine a profile and the manual covers it with a vague sentence or two. With the Quad eliminating refining, it is a step in the right direction...even tho Kemper claims refining isn’t necessary anymore, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a profile I did that was close enough right off the bat that didn’t need it.

  • I am happy with the kemper as is, but I would like more options for RM and a better UI for it. Other than that, the ability to run two profiles at once would be nice.


    I can see myself holding on to my kemper for 20 more years.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • I think at some point they might make a newer unit if only because of the need to change components as they eventually run out. That could be a long way off though.


    I think there’s more to come from the old gal, and honestly it sounds fantastic right now. Could do with a little tune up on cleans maybe, dual amps would be lovely of course and I’ve always maintained that room and “air” are the areas that need a little work. Maybe more flexible routing at some point, and there’s always room for more effects.


    Thing is Christoph and his team remind me of the Z-Brush guys. Chasing excellence, fresh angles, new ideas, never dwelling on the past. It’s a hard, no, relentless business strategy to follow because it is dependent on that hardest to maintain of commodities - passion. You must always be researching, not just seeing what the competition is doing but also loving it and learning from it. You must be always listening. And then the trick is knowing that the real ideas aren’t the grand plan, but the details. Ideas themselves are ten a penny, solutions though are a stage harder and it’s only implementation that actually counts. Place too much emphasis on the value of innovation without fully understanding its nature and you can needlessly burn yourself out. I worry about the well being of the team knowing this, knowing the toll this approach can take, and of course I worry about us consumers. It can lead to capricious decision making. There’s a balance of novelty and practicality that has to be walked for truly great business practice and healthy work/life balance.

  • This would be a rambly one.


    To me, it feels that most of the suggested improvements will not bring Kemper to another level, but just bring it up to the competitors. Don't get me wrong, those are all great and needed improvements, but those are not game-changers.


    I think the main thing that holds Kemper from being a game-changer, is that it is built more like a guitar rig: you have amp+cab section, you have pedals before and after, and the hardware interface reflects that as well. Which is fine by itself, but if you look at the competition, all AxeFx, Helix and QC are built more like a signal chain processor and their interface is more instrument-agnostic and they feel less guitar-centric. Though I must admit, that all these devices are used primarily by guitar players and this is the market to target, so Kemper's guitar-centric interface should not be a big problem, but maybe something to reconsider. But still, it will just bring up to competitors, not take it to another level.


    What else Kemper can have, to become game-changer? The profiling by itself was new and fresh a decade ago and today there is competition for profiling – it is capture in QC and eq-match that Positive Grid and Fractal have (of course eq-match is not a direct replacement for profiling, but if people are happy with what they get, then it should be considered a competition). Ability to profile anything will just bring Kemper up/over QC, but not will take Kemper to another level.


    What Kemper does differently and better than others (at least to my view), is how it deals with creating sound.. Despite guitar-centric interface, it has gear-agnostic sound editing. The philosophy is that you have your sound and you edit your sound without need of knowledge of tube types, eq and gain interaction, mic placement, etc (which create unnecessary abstraction level). Some parameters are even more "humanized", like "Definition", "Clarity", "Pick", "High Shift", "Low Shift", "Character", "Slim Down". This is more straightforward and easy approach. I'd say that further development of sound-editing philosophy (as opposed to gear-editing philosophy that competition has) is the main way to go. How can this approach be developed further? Maybe Kemper can have more humanized parameters that let you sculpt your guitar sound. Maybe Kemper can get rid of some of the gear-related concepts, like amps and overdrive/distortion pedals and have just "Instrument sound" that morphs distortion the way you want. This could still exists alongside profiling, but will allow more editing options and less abstractions. Though I think guitarists would still hate it, because they can change tubes for amp model in their AxeFx V XXXL and with Kemper they would have to learn to use their ears...

  • I think the main thing that holds Kemper from being a game-changer, is that it is built more like a guitar rig: you have amp+cab section, you have pedals before and after, and the hardware interface reflects that as well. Which is fine by itself, but if you look at the competition, all AxeFx, Helix and QC are built more like a signal chain processor and their interface is more instrument-agnostic and they feel less guitar-centric. Though I must admit, that all these devices are used primarily by guitar players and this is the market to target, so Kemper's guitar-centric interface should not be a big problem, but maybe something to reconsider. But still, it will just bring up to competitors, not take it to another level.


    I actually prefer the way Kemper has developed the interface. You can find many complaints about how it is to work with the Fractal interface. I have not used a newer Fractal product but will be in the near future. I was really hoping that they had made some major improvements in the interface and menu system. It looks like it is pretty much the same as what I used over 10 years ago. It is too complicated in my opinion. I found the Kemper really easy to figure out and work with right from the start. I am used to using tube amps and pedals. This interface makes perfect sense when coming from that environment. I think the vast majority of Kemper's customers are coming from that experience so the interface makes sense.

  • I actually prefer the way Kemper has developed the interface. You can find many complaints about how it is to work with the Fractal interface. I have not used a newer Fractal product but will be in the near future. I was really hoping that they had made some major improvements in the interface and menu system. It looks like it is pretty much the same as what I used over 10 years ago. It is too complicated in my opinion. I found the Kemper really easy to figure out and work with right from the start. I am used to using tube amps and pedals. This interface makes perfect sense when coming from that environment. I think the vast majority of Kemper's customers are coming from that experience so the interface makes sense.

    I also like Kemper's interface and I'm not saying that it is bad. In fact I think it one of the easiest interfaces in non-touch screen devices, because it has optimal amount of soft buttons and knobs for its needs (4 of each). Every other button and knob has its own dedicated functionality that does not depend on the context. The interface would be a soft-button mess if it would not have section of dedicated buttons for stomps, stack and effects, rig and system settings, undo/redo, copy/paste, lock. It might look complex and archaic, but I think is the reason why Kemper is easy to use.


    What I meant in my previous post, is that Kemper's interface is specific to guitar rig, and that could be one the reasons why current hardware might have hard times to compete with others units. Though I admit, that all that is debatable, because most of the people who buy these devices are guitar players, and in that situation guitar-centric interface should not be a problem.

  • As an owner of both the Kemper and the QC, I will say that the UI on the QC beats the Kemper and everything else on the market, hands down no questions.


    But the Kemper UI is very usable, and now with the Editor it has become much easier.


    But I would like a 2nd generation Kemper with a smaller form factor and a touchscreen.