A METHOD for ordering and naming KPA sounds (useful also to compare Amps and Rigs)

    *** NOTE on February 2014 ***
    If you want to look for updated rigs/presets/backup, here is the newest thread:
    "Starting Pack" for Beginners: Maurizio70 RIGs, PRESETs and BACKUP (updated to August 27th 2013)
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    UPDATED to Feb 10th 2014


    Here you will find my latest KPA BACKUPs (right click --> save as):
    BACKUP


    Here you will find my FREE Rigs/Presets collection (right click --> save as):
    RIGs & PRESETs
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    SEPTEMBER 19th, 2012


    On this latest version of my backup file (on 1.1.1 KPA firmware version) you will find the following profiles normalized in volume in the way that with Master Volume at 9 almost all of them are near the maximum peak without clipping:
    1) in total there are about 500 profiles selected (corresponding to 130 Amps more or less) including:
    -Kemper Factory Default including Rig Pack 1 of April and Rig Pack 2 of June
    -And44 free profiles
    -Guitarnet selection profiles of last March
    -Acoustic and Bass Amps profiles and Acoustic Guitar SIMULATORs
    -Several updates and adjustments to the previous pack/backup
    -High Gain profile selection from SilentUndergroundStudio.com (added in this latest version)
    -High Gain profile selection from Juanma Blanco RIGs (added in this latest version)
    2) 120 profiles listed as "Preferred" ones to be sorted with 1.1.1 firmware;
    3) The RIGs created to match specific song sound are now ordered and grouped with the first character going from “0” to “9” to switch and move between them more fast


    and for the presets:
    1) 450 Stacks presets ordered by gain in 5 categories: Clean --> Crunch --> Drive --> Lead --> Metal, all normalized in volume
    2) 100 Cabinet presets selection of And44 Pack and Tills Pack plus others few ones, all normalized in volume (added in this latest version)
    2) 80 Stomp presets ordered by Effect Type including 8 Compressor presets
    3) Delay and Reverb presets ordered and with some additions


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    JULY 9th, 2012
    Hi guys and KPA users,
    after the first months with the KPA and waiting for a PC tool to better manage names and Rigs I found for me a method to organize the Rigs that I want to share with you, hoping it can give you some ideas and have your feedback on how you have done.
    Let’s start with my previous difficult in using the KPA that I try to override:
    1) Different profiles of the same amplifier was in no order in the KPA :S
    2) Same level of distortion of different amplifiers was in an open order too in the KPA 8|
    3) Same brand of amplifier the same, always in no any order… ?(
    4) Profiles of amplifiers strongly tweaked mixed with simple profiles with no effects or with no tweaking and mixed also with rigs that try to matched particular song sounds :S
    5) Acoustic and bass profiles mixed in open order
    6) Volumes completely different between different amps and between different rigs that complicate a lot the research of a sound and comparison among them switching from one to another ;(?(


    Starting from these problems and trying to override them, I organized my RIGs collection in this way:
    1) Every RIG where it is present only the AMP section or very little modification is named in this way: AmpFactory Model GainLevel PUType, for example
    a. FEN Mach Crun NE means: Fender Amp, Machete Model, CRunch sound, best suitable for NEck Pickup
    b. MAR JTM45 Cl BR means: Marshall Amp, Model JTM45 Clean sound, best suitable for BRidge Pickup


    2) All these RIGs with Amp Factory and Models are now ordered all with the same Amp Factory and then Model and you have one near the other to better compare the various sound, moreover I normalize the Volume RMS sound to be more comparable and in a way that you can exploit all the dynamic range without “clip” the Output LED


    3) Moreover in the STACK PRESETS I did a long but very useful work: for the same AMPs I ordered in the RIGs I save only the STACK section in the STACK presets, but this time ORDERED by the type of SOUND from Clean to Crunch to Drive to Lead to Metal zone, also these PRESETS are normalized in RMS volume with the tweaking of the CABINET VOLUME. In this way, when you search for a type of sound instead that for a type of AMP, for example CRUNCH you can go one by one all the crunch sounds ordered and similar in volume to compare the various output. UNFORTUNATELY we don't have the possibility to share these PRESETS in the KPA unless we use the BACKUP method that replace all. For example some STACK presets are:
    a. CR FEN Twin NE that means Crunch sound, Fender AMP, Twin Model, suitable for Neck pickup
    b. DR Corn Harlequin BR that means Drive sound, of a Cornford AMP, Harlequin model, suitable for Bridge pickup


    4) I organize all my RIGs using the ones available for free in the Forum RIGs and in the Factory default plus the And44 ones free plus the Factory RIG Pack of April. Now my collection, deleting the worst ones for me, and the duplicates or the very similar ones consist of about 500 different RIGs for 100 different AMPs. I believe it’s a good compromise from the thousands available…


    5) Then I use these others conventions for others type of sounds and rigs:
    a. All the RIGs that I found very impressive and good, useful to maintain but that are created from an original AMP and then strongly tweaked I keep them starting with a $ symbol, do for example I have these:
    i. $ Walking Moon
    ii. $ TillS petrucci jaws
    iii. $ Strumming
    b. All the RIGs that are created to match the sound of a specific artist/song are named in the KPA as # Artist Song Px where Px is the pickup position used for this type of song, for example:
    i. # PF ComfortablyFirst F1 means Pink Floyd Confortably Numb song First SOLO sound Fender Strato Pickup position 1 (bridge)
    ii. # GM StoryBlues G1 means Gary Moore Artist Story of the Blues song Gibson Pickup position1 (bridge)
    c. All the RIGs special for ACOUSTIC or for BASS or for VIRTUAL sound like the VG-99 ones present in the forum I named as & TYPE Sound, for example:
    i. & Piezo Acoustic1
    ii. & MarkBass602
    d. Finally I create some BLANK PRESETS where all the modules and effects are switched off but ready to create a sound or to tweak in a very user friendly way and ready to start a new sound from scratch,. This particular presents are put at the beginning of all the RIGS starting the name with !!, for example:
    i. !!_BLANK_RIG1_!! With Comp in position1, gate2:1 in position2, Overdrive in postition3, EQ in position X, Air Chorus in position MOD, Free Delay and Hall Rev.. all switched off but ready to be tweaked in few seconds


    Obviously this is a continuing refining and optimization process that goes ahead day by day, but if someone is starting from scratch with his KPA and wants a good starting point avoiding loosing himself in the RIGs Jungle :D I can send him my BACKUP file. I have no problem to share with anyone my work (I underline that every rig in my backup file is available for free in the forum or in other place over the internet).


    Let me know comments and new ideas for the future and how you override my problems in having so much damn GOOD profile to manage :)


    Ciao!

    I came up exactly with the same conclusion as you, to allow to do comparison and then clean up you definitely have to move similar rig close to one another, but didn't do anything as extensive as you did.


    On more thing I'm realize is that I never use a profile as is and that I might eventually end up using the same base profile multiple time, but with different modification, so I'm never modifying the original profile to be able to go back to the starting point. So each time I want to map a profile to my midi controller to use it and eventually modify it I save a copy of it with a - in front of it. So I can scan quickly the profile I'm using and that I modified and also I can go back easily to the original using the name.

    It is a hassle to navigate between distant profiles in the list.....soooo.....


    An idea: if you re-save both profiles to be compared then sort by date, wouldn't they be side-by-side at the end of the list? All my profiles I've edited are together when I do this.


    bd

    Hi Maurizio,
    I think you're way of reorganizing all the profiles is great. Sometimes I'm a little bit helpless because of the great amount of profiles I've already in my KPA and are available on the Rig exchange.
    If you don't mind I would like to get a copy of your backup file.
    Thanx for all your effort!
    Manfred

    Hi to all my KPA users and friends,
    I put at the beginning of the first post the link to a first version of my KPA BACKUP file.


    Be careful before try it to do first your FULL backup using the KPA feature and also to save ALL the RIGs using the feature "export all rigs" in the KPA. In this way you will not loose any rig created by you that you can easily recover.


    In the coming weeks I will upload a new version with more optimizations. Anyway, the idea is to have just a starting point where you can after easily refine and improve...


    Ciao!

    This is awesome, Maurizio - thanks for going to all of this effort, and for sharing it with the rest of us. Way beyond the call of duty!


    I'm looking forward to getting home and restoring your backup, and seeing whether this arrangement is intuitive for me. (It has to be an improvement to the random pile of rigs I've got loaded now LOL.) Stack presets is a feature I didn't even know existed, so I'm impressed you've put it to such good use.


    Of course all of this is a workaround in the absence of a well-designed Performance mode, and better search/ sort/ filtering options (e.g. by rig/amp/cab Tags) in Browse mode. So let's keep the pressure on encourage Kemper to keep improving the firmware!


    In the meantime, mille grazie!

    Quote from mbenigni

    Of course all of this is a workaround in the absence of a well-designed Performance mode, and better search/ sort/ filtering options (e.g. by rig/amp/cab Tags) in Browse mode. So let's keep the pressure on encourage Kemper to keep improving the firmware!


    In the meantime, mille grazie!


    :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

    Maurizio, I finally had time to restore your backup last night, and dig back into the KPA.


    WOW.


    This is just awesome! I can't thank you enough!!!


    It is amazing how much value is added by way of consistency and attention to detail. Same amps, same rigs, but I can actually use the stuff now. I turn on the KPA with a simple aim, e.g. "What can this thing do in the way of Fender clean?" Key up to "F"; it's all there. "What's the difference between a JCM800 and a JMP in this context?" All under "MAR" where it belongs.


    And your alternate naming scheme in the stack section is brilliant, too. If you build a rig out for a given song and then begin to wonder whether that boutique Fender clone wouldn't sound better than the actual Fender, it's right there. (I'd never even used the stack browse feature before last night, which is a little embarrassing.)


    I haven't played around with programming in the Blank profiles yet, but I think I get the idea, and I think this will work just fine until the Performance Mode materializes.


    Anyone who has yet to really wrap your head around the hundreds of profiles at your disposal (and that's probably most of us): you owe it to yourself to take 15 minutes and at least try this. Backup your KPA, restore Maurizio's file, and browse around for a few minutes. I'll be surprised if you don't consider it a breath of fresh air. (And the more people who adopt this naming scheme for their own profiles, the easier it will be to deal with merging new profiles going forward.)


    Thanks to you, Maurizio, my "honeymoon period" with the Kemper has just started all over again - better than the first time. :)

    Hi Maurizio. Still loving this backup of yours. Thanks again! Now it's time to start importing new profiles, and I was wondering if you could share your thoughts as to how to best integrate new profiles without confusing the organization that you've established. I'm concerned that if I import an entire rig pack, all of the profiles will be scattered randomly throughout, and I'll be hard pressed to even find them all, let alone get them named/tagged correctly. Newer profiles should be easy to find with the date tag, but older profiles will be easy to lose track of.


    Once I have them imported, the first step is to rename them, of course. Then I have to change all of the tags, to whatever extent accurate information is even available. Then save the stack preset and add tags specifically for that preset? Am I missing anything else?


    How much of this would you recommend doing on the KPA itself, and how much of it would you do with some kind of a PC editor to change the backup file itself? Obviously typing is a whole lot more efficient than turning that browse knob. 8|


    Still wish we could get everyone to agree on this or some other naming convention, so that new profiles would fly in and play nicely by default.