The Kemper Foot Controller: Evolution

    Quote from Calaban

    I'm very much looking forward to the KFC, but it won't be the perfect solution for me.


    I think it will be GREAT as a foot controller for the KPA of course, but I am planning to use external pedals as well (Fuzz, Delay, and Uni-vibe) and I would like to write those pedals into my presets.
    This can be done with my Musicomlab EFX unit because it's also a programmable true bypass switcher with MIDI, but I don't know how I'll do this with the KFC.


    Maybe there will be some workaround.....anyone have any ideas?


    I used to have a Musicomlab EFXIII. I believe you can put the pedals into the loops and send a midi message to the unit to switch them on or off. If the Kemper will send the corresponding midi message to it's thru/out port when you press a button on the KFC, that might work. I guess this won't be something that everyone needs and may not be supported by the Kemper team though.

    Quote from timdabel

    I used to have a Musicomlab EFXIII. I believe you can put the pedals into the loops and send a midi message to the unit to switch them on or off. If the Kemper will send the corresponding midi message to it's thru/out port when you press a button on the KFC, that might work. I guess this won't be something that everyone needs and may not be supported by the Kemper team though.


    Yes you can definitely control the Musicomlab with another MIDI unit, and I'm going to assume it's possible for the KPA to be the "master" if you will. But that's part of the problem....I'm just assuming right now.


    The other problem is that that would mean having TWO controllers, and I'm not going to do that.


    What would be perfect for me would be if the KFC had maybe 3 loops in which to put a few pedals....loops that could be programmed into the presets just like the EFX III. In other words, a programmable loop switcher just like the EFX III that was built specifically with the Kemper in mind as well. But unfortunately, as much as I'd like it, the world doesn't revolve around my guitar wishes! :P


    I have a feeling I'm just going to get the EFX MKIV which was just released - 5 presets per bank, more PC's, more CC's, a song mode and a setlist mode, copy and past of presets and full banks etc...but who knows?


    I just don't know enough about the KFC to decide yet, but the lack of loops for pedals is a bit of a strike against it for me.

    To be honest, I initially thought the Looper switch would control an effects loop built into the KFC, which would suit me perfectly. I have no use for a sample looper, but being able to put the few pedals I still use on a board with the KFC and still have one cable going from the board to the KPA would've been dreamlike.
    Oh well...


    Cheers,
    Sam

    Quote from sambrox

    To be honest, I initially thought the Looper switch would control an effects loop built into the KFC, which would suit me perfectly. I have no use for a sample looper, but being able to put the few pedals I still use on a board with the KFC and still have one cable going from the board to the KPA would've been dreamlike.
    Oh well...


    Cheers,
    Sam


    I like that idea! But I guess it's to late now :/ And I haven't seen any footcontroller yet that sends sound via ethernet-cable. (Well, some digital mixers do it nowadays...so there is hope that someday, somwhere, some... :D )

    My biggest fear is when I die my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

    Quote from malleus

    I like that idea! But I guess it's to late now :/ And I haven't seen any footcontroller yet that sends sound via ethernet-cable. (Well, some digital mixers do it nowadays...so there is hope that someday, somwhere, some... :D )

    No, neither have I. I guess it will remain in my dreams, for now...


    Cheers,
    Sam

    Actually, if the sample looper hardware will be built into the foot controller (as seems to be the case), this would entail sound being sent up and down the ethernet cable as well, right? This was one of the reasons I was convinced the looper would run on the Kemper itself, but apparently it's possible.

    Quote from sambrox

    To be honest, I initially thought the Looper switch would control an effects loop built into the KFC, which would suit me perfectly. I have no use for a sample looper, but being able to put the few pedals I still use on a board with the KFC and still have one cable going from the board to the KPA would've been dreamlike.
    Oh well...


    Cheers,
    Sam


    I thought the same thing. Many people assumed it would be a looper, and it became a greatly requested feature. It will be interesting to see what kind of looper can be put into the Kemper, leaving enough DSP headroom for their long term plan.


    Maybe there will eventually be a software option to disable the Looper, enabling the Kemper to do more things than it would be able to do with DSP and memory dedicated to a Looper effect.

    This feeling of the KPA not having "enough power" has been going around since a good while. It is worth mentioning that Mothership has never stated anything on the matter, and that all the speculation were born when some users started requesting implementing dual-channel playback.


    We may suppose what the Profiler's brute force ability is by opening the unit (supposing this is not trivial, but I doubt about this), but we miss two critic elements in order to understand "how much" is left for the future:

    • the notion how how much crunching power gets currently used;
    • the notion of what services and features are already planned but not yet implemented.

    A typical example would be the total rig storage space: they told us the unit would be limited to 1000 rigs just before performance mode came out, to discover that 600 more rigs were storable in performances.


    Again: when Eng. Kemper solved the aliasing issue by using more CPU power he said he used a part of the power he had reserved for future features. This gave most people the impression that the unit was short of power, but we have no clue whether the unit was planned to receive satellite signals from RE in the future.


    As far as we know, we might well be at 1/10 of the total available power... or not. Any discussion about the matter is pure speculation tho.


    I often feel a sort of inferiority complex towards Fractal in the air... kind of "we're the weaker, but the good ones"...


    :)

    Good post!


    Quote from viabcroce

    This feeling of the KPA not having "enough power" has been going around since a good while. It is worth mentioning that Mothership has never stated anything on the matter, and that all the speculation were born when some users started requesting implementing dual-channel playback.


    This is true.


    Quote from viabcroce


    As far as we know, we might well be at 1/10 of the total available power... or not. Any discussion about the matter is pure speculation tho.


    Yes.

    Quote from viabcroce


    I often feel a sort of inferiority complex towards Fractal in the air... kind of "we're the weaker, but the good ones"...


    :)


    Hehe, I don't. :)


    This is why I've been satisfied using the M13 to Midi control the KPA via program changes. It mismatches the Banks and Slots, thus takes planning to organize rig placement. But I can get through a slow without any issues.

    Quote from Robrecht

    Actually, if the sample looper hardware will be built into the foot controller (as seems to be the case)



    Actually, about a month ago a user inadvertently made some strange trick and had a phrase repeated on his Profiler. I believe the function is in the device itself.


    :)

    I know, but then to my surprise I read some confirmation -- I think in this thread somewhere -- that it would be built into the foot controller after all! Can't find that post anymore now and I don't remember exactly why it convinced me at the time...


    Running the looper inside the Kemper itself still seems more likely to me (in part due to the requirement to send audio up and down the ethernet cable if it was in the foot controller). But honestly I have no idea anymore. :D

    It could be in the controller. The signal would be converted from analogue to digital in the KPA, then sent down the Ethernet cable quite as easily as any other digital information, then the controller would store it in whatever memory it's equipped with, before looping whatever portions and sending that information back to the KPA to be converted back to analogue. No worries!


    Cheers,
    Sam