Posts by endlessnameless

I think it is a problem with the Kemper FX loop parameters as the noise vanishes if the ducking setting is changed from <0> to a negative value. But the fx in the loop don't sound right then.

Hi all,

A while back I posted about tone suck in the FX loop. I stopped using the fx loop for my FX pedals in the loop for a bit then I tried again once the loop could be adjusted down to not overload my pedals.

But I have been finding the loop is very noisy - like a white noise hiss when turned on. You only notice it on decent headphones or if you turn the monitors up nice and loud.

Strangely the lower the FX loop output level the higher the white noise. Anyway I have been investigating further and think I may have found a bug.

So try this. Turn your kemper up nice and loud on your monitors. Then turn on the fx loop (post) in the x slot. Background hum seems to get quiter but can you hear a hisssssssss? Try touching your strings. That could release the hiss sound. It is almost like there is a noise gate effect on the loop.

So I looked at the mono loop parameters and started playing with them. Here is where it gets weird.

If I turn 'ducking from <0> to -0 the hiss vanishes completely and the 'noise gate' effect is gone. The 'tone suck' from the loop also appears drastically reduced. But my fx in the loop don't sound as they should.

Now I think there may be a bug with the ducking parameter because at <0> it shouldn't be doing anything to the sound should it?. What it appears to do is kill hum introduce hiss and also deaden the tone by introducing some sort of noise gate. But at one tiny notch back suddenly the blanket is lifted and things sound as they should. (with fx bypassed in the gate). Except if I turn my fx on I don't get the full fx level because the ducking parameter isn't neutral anymore.

Can anyone shed light on this? It is 100% reproducible every time for me.

Quote from Nikos

For the same reason the same PR guys once in the mid-90s thought it would be a good idea to kill the image of "skilled musicians" of the 70s supergroups and the 80s "guitar/drums/bass"-heroes and selling "unskilled" boygroups/grunge/techno/gangsterrap as the "next big thing" for the next 20 years..
The result today is that everything has become just a mix of idiotic clichés/stereotypes and big confusion.Specially when it comes to all issues about electric guitar.

I agree that electric guitar has had the stereotype of big hair, leather, sexism and 'widdling' 15 minute guitar solos hanging around for far too long. But for that I blame 80s metal. It simply hasn't left in many quarters of guitar (gear). Boss and Roland videos and marketing are testament to that. At least this new video has a woman as the main 'star' - I give it credit for that.

Now I am sure a lot of people love 80s metal. So no offence to those people. But it carries a lot of baggage that has bogged down guitar for years. And I am not convinced great tone was a strength of it either.

The 90s allowed the positive guitar of the 50s, 60s 70s and 80s to come forward and add even more to that. It stopped being about showboating and pyrotechnics and more about supporting the song.Not sure I agree that grunge bands are 'unskilled' musicians either.

WHY would the PR people think that a demo of cheesy compressed 80s hair metal tapping will impress people? It's like the Roland approach to marketing.

Play some Radiohead, Nirvana, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Beatles, Bowie whatever, I just want to hear some straight up classic amp tones, clean, dirty, overdrive etc.

I have noticed a huge increase in price on US guitar gear in the UK. For example the Strymon compact pedals lkke the el capistan and blue sky are now almost 300 pounds new when they were aroumd 230 not so long ago. it is definitely down to brexit caused currency fluctuations.

thanks monkey that explains it, so its not necessarily solving a problem with the kemper but a problem to do with miking cabs in general?

And it seems it doesn't affect all profiles from what you are saying?

My only head scratcher is how you can apply some pure cab to a signal and solve it. is there such a thing as incremental phase cancellation? normally you flip a switch and there is a 100 percent polarity change isn't there?

What is all this about phase cancellation? Do you mean when monitoring? Why would you get this? I don't use pure cab and don't find the sound to be out of phase.

I thought monkey meant he was monitoring and sending a signal to PA and putting pure cab on one signal to avoid phase cancellation but perhaps I am misunderstanding.

Quote from Monkey_Man

For me, it's Purely™ the anti-phase dial, and I hate phase cancellation, so it lives at a setting of 4 and is hardly ever touched.

Is this for live use if you are monitoring?

Not sure what you all think but I find Pure Cab is akin to sticking a nice compressor on the track. But like a compressor - it works for some things and not others - it seems to work better for clean profiles that need a bit more body but it also takes some of the 'edge' and smooths distorted tones which can be desirable or not depending on what you want.

Thanks guys, interesting, I didn't realise ez drummer could create patterns based on template.

Could I use it to generate midi patterns for intro, verse etc and then import those into Ableton and use BFD to play them? sounds like I can.

I really like BFD samples because they are so raw, I hate processed drums, I like the Steve albini school of drums.

I loved my ipad until it bricked and won't turn on. The apple thing is because of a few factors. Firstly since brexit the pricing has gone ridiculously high in the UK. but also I disagree with their removal standardised ports forcing you to buy special adaptors and cables. and how they make it insanely difficult to upgrade hard drives or ram in modern macs to force you to buy their insanely high priced memory. I think they are getting quite arrogant now so I will seek alternatives where possible.

Interesting. I always liked the look of Logic Drummer which follows your playing with a beat, but I don't have a Mac and Apple's whole business model lately has left me cold.

So I use Ableton Live and normally program my own drums or use the BFD midi loop library and drag and drop. But that is getting a bit stale.

How could Trio help me? Could I import the drums and bass creations into Ableton? Could it export midi or just Wav info?

Thanks
Mark

i find that some profiles are quite boomy by nature so switching profiles can help too

Quote from meambobbo

if the front input a>d is suspected to be faulty, try the alternate input or even the fx loop return placed in one of the stomp slots.

Just a suggestion. Also, keep very keen track of exactly how anything is recorded. Document all the connections, the profiles used, the os version, the guitar/pickups used, etc.

Do you have a looper? You could even place a delay effect in one of the stomp slots and let it repeat a simple riff over and over, so you can let it record for a long period of time and see if you can find a point where you catch it changing sounds. Maybe also gently move the kpa around, see if it jiggles a faulty lead.

Finally, see it from others perspective - you dont have any clear evidence of a fault. You are saying the sound changed - try to show that. Or provide a di and a reamp and share the profile. Make an experiment that anyone can reproduce.

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could it even be the output has an intermittent fault? Like an internal loose connection or solder joint?

Sorry if I am being silly but there are two straightforward solutions here.

The Kemper convertor needs to be ruled out here. It could be a dodgy input or something. I have had audio interfaces where the preamp went strange. So the OP splits his signal direct into his Tascam (not through the Kemper) and another feed into the Kemper profile. Perhaps record through three different profiles that everyone could access. Then OP shares his direct Tascam track (that hasn't touched the Kemper) and others can re-amp through the exact same profiles. Then see if everyone gets the broken sound (indicating a source issue) or if only OP has broken sound then his unit is faulty.

OR

Kemper take it back and look at it and we end this mess. The unit is in warranty so why not at least have a look.

If the fault is intermittent it is very frustrating. I have a Focusrite ISA digital card that kept crackling randomly and support could not recreate it when I sent the unit in. But they did take it to look at and changed the card anyway.

Quote from Eltzejupp

Check it out, they do!CheersFrank

cool, will do. was going to buy an El capistan for tape delays but these may work as well by the sounds of it.

Quote from LGMTTUBEMASTER

Thanks CK.
Goodbye Timeline.

do the new delays stand up to the quality of the timeline? very impressive if so

Typical, the delays get released when I am on holiday!! What I've heard sounds good so far and pleased to see some straightforward parameters to tweak. I acknowledge there are some new weird and wonderful pad type delays but has anyone dialled in some really nice tape/analog sounds like the El capistan or t Rex replica? I felt the old delays were quite digital sounding so can the new delays get closer to a warmer sound? Or is it the same core delay sound with some ambient extras?

If an OS reset fixes it to start with I tend to think it is software. Perhaps some parameter change after a bit of playing triggers a glitch in the OS? Maybe try not touching any controls after the reset and play and see if it comes back or if it relates to you fiddling with a rig or something?

Still waiting to get my unit here (just under 2 months now) but this appears to be the fault of my retailer who appear to be painfully slow in getting the unit back to me.

So the seller finally got in touch - said he had been on holiday and had no idea where the parcel got to. He didn't send it tracked and said he would investigate and refund me if required. So I said I would wait a few more days and then would want a refund this weekend. He didn't respond with the results of his enquiry or to my request to refund. So I went through ebay and got a refund almost immediately as he didn't respond to the case I opened.

Something about the whole thing was fishy. I kind of felt it in my bones when I ordered it. Stock photo. He also said he had only 4, then he listed another two. But he isn't a shop by the looks of it. He also undercut the RRP by a huge amount.

I have been trading on Ebay for donkeys years - so hopefully an exception. I think you can get screwed over anywhere - including from stores. Some interesting stories on here though.