Posts by franknputer

The Tube Expander looks cool. It's interesting that they included that capability. Saves you the cost of another DI box I guess!

I don't know of a device like that. You're talking about doing two different things: converting a speaker-level output to a much lower level analog signal that can be passed to another electronic device; and the converting that to digital and sending that via USB. I'm not an expert on every device out there, but I think you'll have to do something similar to what they CABM manual suggests: put a speaker load box of some kind after your amp to get a usable analog signal, and then feed that to another device to convert that to digital.

It's not unprecedented to unlock additional features for an upcharge. Eventide did it with the H9, and it seemed to work for them. I wasn't crazy about their pricing scheme, but that's a different topic. If you don't need a hundred crazy effects it's nice to have the option NOT to pay for them.

It does help get the hardware in peoples' hands sooner when price point is the issue. I seriously considered the FM3 before I decided to save for the Kemper Stage, and if I'd have started with the Player I would probably gotten the full Profiler down the road.

Cool - tbh I thought this would be coming, it just makes sense on several levels: perfect for the grab & go gig where you don't need to tweak everything, pedal board friendly, and a good counter to the FM3.

The whole point of testing betas is to find out what's not working from a wide pool of users. No software company can test ALL the possible scenarios in-house, there are just too many variables. Initial testing is usually done with clean environments, and public testing brings in the real world: people with different software, preference settings, and ways of workin which exposes issues that just don't happen in a lab environment. If those people don't report back then their problems won't be prioritized as highly, simply because the company won't know how bad the problem is.

My team at work administers a Mac beta program populated by a few hundred volunteers across the company. We test macOS releases and various software titles that we deploy to our employees. They help us get ahead of those issues that would affect tens of thousands of employees by reporting back to Apple, Microsoft, etc. and providing then with feedback and diagnostic data so they can fix those problems before general release. We also get to comment on what we like or don't like before those things get baked in - it's usually a lot easier for the developers to adjust something while they're building it out.

It's a vital service (and a very successful program) but it's not for everyone. We make it clear up front that, before you join the program, you have to comfortable dealing with unforeseen problems while doing your regular work, and you need to be able to roll back on your own or even rebuild your system from scratch in the (relatively rare) event something catastrophic happens. It's the same in this case - you really need to be willing to take on those risks before jumping on the beta train. It is great fun to see all the new shiny stuff but it's also a gamble every time you update. If you can't afford the risk - which is the case for most people - then you should stick with production releases.

Thanks, looking forward to checking these out!

I have an M2 mini for my DAW. I would say connect your interface directly rather than through a hub if you can. The hub is adding another layer of electronics into the stream, which means more to go wrong. When I first tested running my Kemper in via USB I did so though my USB hub and it had noise issues. Direct I have no problems, although I still default to my Presonus ARC16c mixer and run the Kemper through it.

If you do get a hub, don't go cheap. You get what you pay for. You wouldn't splurge for a high-end converter and then record everything with a sub-$50 mic. Not that you have to buy the priciest thing around, but you do have to pay for decent quality if you want good results. I've heard good things about Anker hubs (my day job is as a Mac admin for Cisco).

Pro tip: Version numbering is completely arbitrary, and up to the developer(s). Generally they adhere to some sort of pattern, but there's no reason Kemper couldn't jump from v9.1.1 to v25.0 if they wanted to.

It's one thing if the unit isn't capable of 48k. However, there are a number of valid reasons for the higher sampling rate, including the construction of the low pass filter necessary on the back end. For one thing, 44.1 requires a much steeper filter, where 48 can use a gentler slope. You can rely on the SRC in your particular DAW to handle the conversion, but not all SRCs are created equal and the conversion can introduce artifacts. (That's the best reason for setting everything to the same sample rate rather than relying on conversion after the fact.) Now, if Kemper simply relied on SRC to produce a 48k signal then that puts the responsibility on them to deploy a high-quality SRC - so again, if the unit is actually designed to operate at 44.1 only then it's debatable as to whether that's really the best thing for them to do.

Thanks, looking forward to trying this!

Just had a go with the beta on my Mac Mini (M2 Pro) and Ableton Live. It sounds pretty good, except that it's injecting intermittent digital noise into the track every couple of minutes. I have it in a USB hub, which is where I'd been connecting it to Rig Manager - I'll try moving it to a port on the Mini, but thought I'd post what I'm hearing.

Another difference between an analog amp and a digital one is that the analog amp will be affected by the voltage of the house electrical, which will naturally change the behavior of the circuitry.

Not a bad thing to lighten your touch, though, even if you have to adjust a bit. Over the years I went up in gauge, eventually to .012s, but bending is also a lot harder to do and it was stressing my finger joints quite a bit. I went back to .010s, and then 09.5s which I used to play for many years, but now I find .009s to be a lot more fluid for my style of playing.

Quote from thegman

That thing is just goofy looking...and I hate to say it, but I want one!

Fair enough - but I gotta say, I really like not having the upper part of the body in the way of my forearm. Ergonomically speaking it's an improvement, IMHO. Plus, it's small enough to travel with.

My latest guitar: bought this from a local shop, LOVE the way it plays but the stock pickup was kinda meh so I installed a DeArmond Gold Tone, which has a bit more character. I also replaced the stock pots with new CTS and set up a 50s-style tone control. String changes are a bit of a pain, you need a hex wrench for the nut but it's not really that bad.

The pinstripe was done by a previous owner, there was also a red stripe but I removed that along with a Harley Davidson sticker.

Longtime D'Addario user, I've tried some other brands but I always end up coming back. The NYXLs are great, but I like the regular XLs too.

I also like Rotosounds, and the extra high E string they include is a nice touch.

I'm definitely excited by these announcements, can't wait for the next release to check them out!

Rig update: I bought an old Peavey Stereo Chorus amp, which happens to have power amp inputs on the back. I swapped out the stock speakers for the F12M-150s (one of which required cutting a notch into one of the speaker frames to fit it under the power transformer!) and it's a decent stereo 2x12 combo solution. All amp controls are bypassed, everything is driven from the Kemper Stage. 70w per side at 8 ohms, so it's plenty loud.

Actually, the F12M-150 is rated down to 60 Hz, and it doesn't mean it stops dead there but that low frequencies start rolling off drastically. A low shelf boost is going to bring more of that sub-60Hz stuff out.

Agree w/Burkhard. The 48v on that mixer is always on across all the mic inputs. You need to use the line inputs to avoid it. You might consider TRS cables from the Profiler as well.