Transpose Effect With an Acoustic Guitar

  • Hello Fellows:

    I am trying to get the "Transpose" effect to work in Rig Mgr (tried both under "Input" settings on the Rig Mgr, as well as just dragging /dropping transpose into an open stomp) for use with my acoustic Yamaha guitar. I want to lower a half step -- which I understand would be -1.


    However, I get "spacey" sound, not a clean, half-step down sound. And yes, I realize that since this is an acoustic I need to monitor via headphones -- as to not hear both the Kemper, modulated sound thru my amplifier and also the unmodulated sound thru the guitar's sound hole itself.


    I have also made sure that everything else is normalized, with no other additional effects in any stomp.


    Any suggestions would be appreciated, or if someone can vouch for a rig for sale with a working acoustic -1 (half step) transpose setting , I would appreciate a recommendation.


    [Rig Mgr V 3.3.49 and Kemper Non Power Profiler Firmware V 8.7.10 38833]

    Edited 2 times, last by artdir ().

  • Are you running into any sort of preamp before the Kemper? If you're just running the K&K straight into the Kemper it might not be getting a strong enough signal to work the transpose magic? Just a guess.

  • As a side note - I have a second output jack on my main stage acoustic, which is wired to a Fishman Rare Earth soundhole pickup. That's what I feed to the Kemper. My equivalent to the K&K goes to an acoustic preamp and the PA, for a more acoustic sound or blend.

  • You're probably not going to have much luck with this. You'll still hear the acoustic sound of the guitar even though not mixed into your headphones, and that's likely what you are calling a spacey sound. You could verify this by recording the guitar and then listening back to the recording. If the recording sounds OK, it's the acoustic sound bleeding through when you play that you're hearing.


    Even on an electric guitar, you can often still hear the real strings ring when you have headphones on causing the same kind of problem. Since the guitar is right next to you, I don't know how you could avoid that.

  • Thank you for the responses.


    No preamp, just running the Acoustic K and K signal directly into the Kemper via 6' guitar cable.

    I can confirm though, that the Kemper is giving me a spacey sound and I am not also hearing the ambient room sound projection of the guitar.

    It is an after market/non powered/passive pickup, though. So it might not have enough signal strength to work properly.

    And I should note -- when I use the same effect with an electric guitar, it works fine.

    Edited 2 times, last by artdir ().

  • the Profiler has no way to know if you are playing an acoustic or electric guitar. Follow the advice already given and record the signal. I am sure you will find that it sounds fine. What you are experiencing are a mix of the original tuning and the transposed signal. Acoustic guitars will transmit the sound to your bones more than an electric guitar.

  • the Profiler has no way to know if you are playing an acoustic or electric guitar. Follow the advice already given and record the signal. I am sure you will find that it sounds fine. What you are experiencing are a mix of the original tuning and the transposed signal. Acoustic guitars will transmit the sound to your bones more than an electric guitar.

    It's surprising that a passive contact pickup sounds right straight into the Kemper. Thanks for that.

  • Quote: “Acoustic guitars will transmit the sound to your bones more than an electric guitar.



    This is an interesting comment.


    Most people think that we hear sound with our ears alone.


    In point of fact, our bodies absorb and our senses detected vibration and we hear sound better at differing frequencies with particular parts of our bodies.


    Hearing Essay | Evelyn Glennie



    My approach to the problem the original poster raised would be to keep an additional instrument tuned to a lower pitch. Using a sound hole cover to seal it completely.


    There’s a great number of reasons why I feel such an approach is preferable. Many of them have to do with specialising the set up on the instrument to maximise its tonal projection at that voicing, along with the particularly singular, additional flexibilities in technique doing so, affords the player.


    Perhaps the best exponent and exemplar of that approach is Tommy Emmanuel.


    TONE TECHNIQUE: Tommy Emmanuel On Getting That Maton Guitar Tone - YouTube


    Tommy Emmanuel - Somewhere Over The Rainbow (live 2006 Leverkusen) - YouTube



    Explore the technical possibilities available for sure, but be open to the notion that there may be other methods to achieve the same aim that may provide rather more satisfactory results.


    Then tweak that with your Kemper!

  • and I am not also hearing the ambient room sound projection of the guitar.

    You're likely hearing much more than you believe. Put your headphones on with no signal at all. Play your unamplified/unplugged acoustic guitar and whatever you hear is the bleed that you would also be hearing along with the Kemper transposed signal.


    And keep in mind that with any transpose there will be at least some latency involved. Maybe very slight but that could also be some of what you're hearing.

  • I recommend you tune down a whole step and capo at the 1st fret.

    Billy Strings tunes down a whole step and capos at the 2nd fret for lighter string tension.

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  • My grandmother says my music makes her bones rattle. I tell her that she is just resonating to my music and picking up on sympathetic frequencies. I'll have to show her this thread. :D

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • I recorded a "transpose test" using Garage Band, and it clearly sounds wrong.

    I would like to upload it, but the 2 files formats I tried (the native m4a and an mp3 ) would not upload ...I got an "invalid" popup.


    I would like to provide for all to hear, is there a format your Forum likes for uploaded sound files?

  • I recorded a "transpose test" using Garage Band, and it clearly sounds wrong.

    I would like to upload it, but the 2 files formats I tried (the native m4a and an mp3 ) would not upload ...I got an "invalid" popup.


    I would like to provide for all to hear, is there a format your Forum likes for uploaded sound files?

    You can post on soundcloud or to your google docs and just provide the link here. Only pictures, txt, and zip files under 1MB are allowed to be directly attached to the comments.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • Your recordings have both the transposed and original notes. Do you have Parallel Path on in the RIG page in Rig Manager? That would cause that to happen in the Kemper.


    I tried duplicating this with a piezo electric to verify this. I used Transpose under RIG at -1, and I also tried a Transpose effect in Stomp A. Only way I could get both tones was with Parallel Path turned on. But even with Parallel Path off, although the pitch was correct, the sound quality is nothing I'd use.