Posts by Robrecht

I have a couple of output presets for different listening situations (headphones, powered speakers...). They allow me to easily switch between the appropriate EQ and master volume values.

However, I just noticed that the Space parameter is not saved in these presets -- it just stays the way I set it manually when I switch between them. That's a pity, as it would be great if it was automatically set to zero in my powered speakers preset and turned up again for headphones, along with the other settings.

Or is there a reason for the way it is now that I'm missing?

(Also on the subject of output presets: if you re-save a tweaked preset under the same name, the previous version is not overwritten, so you end up with two identically named presets. I think I would prefer to get an "Overwrite Y/N" dialog so I can replace the previous one -- if I wanted to save it separately I would just choose a different name.)

I get a very nice delayed, shimmery effect by using the ducking knob in the harmonic pitch shifter. Put it somewhere around +2, with two voices at, say, +10 and +12 (a third and a fifth, one octave up), and they fade in beautifully a moment after you pluck the string. Try varying the ducking value and your playing strength to find the right balance.

Enable pure tuning and formant shift, and turn the formant shift knob all the way to the right. Use a nice clean amp profile (I used Ola Englund's clean EVH5150). It's like a choir of angels singing along!

Are you using a volume pedal? Maybe you accidentally enabled the setting that makes the volume pedal control wah effects. If those 20 rigs have the wah stomp set so that it remains inactive as long as you don't move the pedal, you may have not noticed it before because you had no dedicated wah pedal connected, whereas now the volume pedal acts as one. Just a guess...

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Help, how can I embed a picture? I can not do that.

Here you go. Cool picture!

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I think it refers to wiKPA, the wiki knowledge base created by the community.

As regards your question, this is how it is: the profiles or 'rigs' include stomps, effects and other tweaks as well. Some a little more than others.

What you're looking for is, in a way, provided by the stack section. You could create a vanilla rig by turning off all stomps and effects, and then start browsing inside the stack section; I'm not in front of my Kemper right now, but I remember that using the browse knob (top right above the screen) you can not only import amps/cabs that were explicitly saved as settings presets, but also separately 'extract' the amps or cabs from all other rigs.

Edit: double ninja'd. That's how long it takes me to write something.

Also, check the output section to see if all outputs are set to the same source. The Kemper has many options in that regard; you can, for instance, send everything but the delay and reverb effects to the monitor out, and only delay and reverb to the main out, to name but one scenario.

Make sure they all say "master" or "stereo master".

The SPDIF especially might be set to a left-right mixture of master out and direct out (your unprocessed guitar) to enable re-amping later

Quote from Tpen

A friend I am collaborating with listened to a couple of samples I sent him from the Kemper into sonar and he told me he was hoping for a little more body in the sound. He uses 5 separate mics to capture sound from cabs and asked me if I can record direct out as well as mic the kemper through my monitors at the same time and see how it comes out.

That's kind of a weird request, as the profile you are using is already the result of a specific miking technique.

It's as if you e-mailed a digital photo of the Mona Lisa to an art photographer, and he replied that he likes to use 5 lamps when photographing paintings, and could you please take a picture of your photo on screen with a couple of spotlights aimed at it.

The sound that comes out of your Kemper's direct out or SPDIF is already meant to be the finished thing, no miking necessary (just some EQ, compression and other studio techniques to make it fit in the mix). As DonPetersen wrote, it's your profile he doesn't like, not the way you recorded the Kemper. Use a different profile, let him create one the way he likes, or just convince him that yours is ok.

Quote from viabcroce

As long as the acceptance of the cab poweramp's input is respected, a good trick is to always raise the volume of the less noisy unit. A device's intrinsic noise get amplified along with the overall volume, this way you'll have the best possible tones.

Thanks, that's more or less the conclusion I reached after some experimentation at rehearsal yesterday.

With the main output EQ bass at -3db, I was able to reduce the boominess to very acceptable levels and achieve a great sound. One of the things I'm learning is that the Kemper is quite sensitive and sounds better if I don't dig into the strings quite like I used to, which is a relief -- hard picking in general isn't good for accuracy and intonation anyway.

Thanks guys, that was some informative and sensible advice.

I guess what I'd really like then is for the master EQ to become a parametric EQ rather than just the three bass, mid and treble knobs. That would allow me to apply very precise global tweaks for every individual monitoring solution I use (headphones, active speakers, or as a recorded track in a mix...). I would save them as output presets so I could easily switch between them (as I already do using the less precise 3 knob system).

That way the rigs themselves can remain the same whether I'm at home or at rehearsal, with no effects slots required for correcting the quirks of a specific output device. Ideally, in my mind, everything that goes into a rig -- the stomps, stack and post effects, including EQs -- should go towards creating the 'inherent' or 'intended' sound of that rig, while ensuring that it sounds more or less the same across different listening situations should be implemented globally, outside of the rigs -- i.e., using the output EQ.

But, anyway, I'm not complaining! I love my Kemper and tweaking the sound for my (admittedly low-budget) speakers is not a big deal.

Thanks for this. Two of my 7-strings have Blackouts as well, and I get occasional flashes of (almost?) red too, but I guess I shouldn't worry about it too much then as long as there's no clipping.

I've tried my Kemper a couple of times at rehearsal now and I must say I find it hard to translate those fantastic tones I get at home to a high-volume setting.

Running them through my two Alto ts112a's, there's an overwhelmingly boomy sub-bass on low palm mutes and on sustained clean chords that almost drowns out the rest. I mainly use Lasse Lammert's ChugChug rig.

I've tried lifting my speakers off the floor or tilting them to a 'wedge' position, but to no avail. The 'contour' function on the Altos (which adds a bass and treble boost) is, of course, switched off. I've also tried running the Kemper through the PA system that's installed at our rehearsal space (I don't know which brand or model it is, but the speakers are mounted off the ground, on poles), and the boominess remains the same.

It gets better if I dial the bass on the main out EQ down to about -4db, and I have no doubt that I'll be able to make it work (I love my Kemper so I'll just keep trying until I will), but I just wondered if I might have missed something, or if there are any other tricks I could try. The global EQ is kind of coarse and dialing the bass down removes some good frequencies as well; I could add a more precise, parametric EQ stomp to every rig with a bass cutoff at around 100hz (or just lock it), but that seems like an inelegant solution, wasting a stomp slot in every rig for what seems to be an overall, non-rig related problem. So, any tips?

Related question: what is the best way to set the respective volumes on the Kemper and on the speakers? Kemper master volume low, speakers high, or vice versa?

Hurray! I was browsing through rigs like a crazy person with autoload enabled, and never lost sound! 2.2 wins!

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- fixed: occasional loss of sound triggered by fast rig browsing

This, exactly, happened to me yesterday. I was planning to try and reproduce it and post a bug report as soon as I got the time. Now they beat me to it. Pretty cool! I'll load up the beta tonight.

Unfortunately, I encountered another unexpected event today -- without the FCB1010 plugged in.

I had just tweaked and saved a rig in browse mode. Then I went to performance mode, to performance 2-slot 4, where I wanted the tweaked rig to go. Browsed to the rig, stored the performance... And found out that the completely unrelated rig in slot 1 of the same performance had been overwritten with the tweaked rig as well.

Hey, thanks for reporting this. I may have seen some unexpected behaviour myself when storing rigs, slots, performances, MIDI assignments or other things, but I just chalked that up to my inexperience with the Kemper interface. I have an FCB1010 with the Uno4kemper chip too, so I'll keep an eye out and see if it makes any difference if it's plugged in or not.

Quote from DonPetersen

now I don't know if you're asking for a visual representation of the curve you set in the EQ or if you're asking for a frequency analyser.

The first one. I was just saying that even if you have good ears, a visual representation of how a specific EQ stomp is configured can make easier to understand its role in the overall sound.

I agree that a visualization of the equalising settings is not essential (it does not add information but merely shows it in a different way), and that listening comes first, of course. But it would be handy in many circumstances.

For instance, there may be different equalisation points within one rig (the tone stack of the amp itself, the tone knobs of different stomps and effects, several different EQ stomps in series...). If you hear a certain undesired peak in the low, mid or high spectrum, a quick glance at an EQ stomp should tell you whether it is the culprit or not. And a graph is just easier to see and interpret than a numerical value, especially if it is buried behind a couple of pages of settings...

Besides, if using our ears was to be enough, we wouldn't need those numbers or green LEDs either, right?

Something like that, yes, only simpler of course.

This is how my old GT-10 shows it (not my picture -- found this on the internet):

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It isn't much, but even such a low-res visualization would help. There's an empty rectangle on the Kemper's Studio Equalizer screen that would be perfect for this.

I confess: I am one of those people who understand things better when there's a picture.

It would be great to have a small graphical representation of the bass, low mid, high mid and treble nodes. Even for experienced professionals who get by on numbers alone, it would help to get an idea of the respective q, gain and frequency settings at a glance without flipping between the studio equalizer's settings pages.

Quote from Guitartone

Buy the Kemper Power Rack, not the regular version, add the FCB1010 plus Uno4Kemper chip, your Cabinet of choice, done...perfect 'live' rig!

Why would you want to buy a separate poweramp when you can have a Bang & Olufsen Class D poweramp built right in?

Quote from chamelious

Because the powered version is £500 more expensive, ridiculous!

To me, it was the fact that the built-in amp is mono. I probably won't use a stereo setup all the time, but with the regular Kemper + two active speakers I at least have everything I need for that option. Pity, as the powered Kemper is just about the perfect machine in all other respects.