Posts by dougc84

Quote from paults

Or, use Browse Mode, and manually map the Rigs to MIDI Program changes.

But it's not easy to manage songs or keep any consistency or order. Browse should be used to browse your rigs. Performance should be the place to place them and modify them for performance - setting up presets and such.

For myself, I use roughly 15-30 unique slots (over 5-10 performances) per set I play, and the next set may only borrow 20% of those slots. I would have loved to have saved the $150 I feel I wasted on a Behringer FCB1010 - it is, hands down, the worst controller I've ever used - but I had to, because the three of them I have sitting around are all 4-slot-per-bank controllers, and I'm not yet able to afford the controller I'm ultimately going to buy. The other option was ditch the Kemper altogether and go back to my Vox AC-15 and AC-30, and go back to tapdancing on my pedalboard.

Listen, I'm just in favor of OP's points on this. I'm done arguing the point, which, I believe, is incredibly valid. The "oh no we don't need that, just do this instead" arguments are not valid at all because not everyone has encountered the same issue or has had the misfortune of having to use something that isn't the current standard. Failing to support controllers that don't have a multiple of 5 preset buttons essentially makes performance mode a waste of money for those users, and, guess what? They'll go somewhere else.

Quote from Ingolf

@dougc84: You can decide to make a slot inactive. So actually you could easily go from a 5-slot layout to a 4-slot right now with the present firmware.
The migration problem you mentioned before would persist though.
You could make up 2 kinds of peformances then, 4-slot and 5-slot.

No, that's incorrect. While, yes, you can set up a performance with only 4 active slots... actually, let me give an example.

With all slots active:
Performance #1 uses MIDI Program Changes 1-5 to trigger the individual slots
Performance #2 uses MIDI Program Changes 6-10

If you disable slot #5 on Performance #1, what you end up with is:
Performance #1 uses MIDI Program Changes 1-4
PC #5 now does nothing.
Performance #2 STILL uses MIDI Program Changes 6-10

This causes an issue with any controller that isn't 5 button. More controllers are going to 5-button preset layouts, which doesn't really make any sense (since MIDI spec is base 2 anyway), but whatever - not every MIDI controller is 5-button. If I have a 4-button controller (regardless if it's a POD, Peak, something "vintage," whatever) that has program changes hard-coded into the selectors, what happens with the "disabled slot" is now Bank 2's first button (1, A, whatever it is) is now no longer mapped to anything.

Here's a chart of the incompatibilities, with the 5th slot disabled:

If you can't see the issue offhand, performance 1 spans the controller's 1A-1D slots. Great! But, performance 2 now uses 2B-3A. Awkward. You now have to switch banks for that particular performance. Even worse is performance 3 - it will use the controller's 3C-4B slots. This pattern eventually loops around, but that's still an issue.

So, for someone with this kind of controller, the user has two options:

1. Ignore the performance mode's "performances" and bank change off the individual MIDI PCs. This means either naming every performance generically, and moving around sounds means reshuffling slots, not simply reorganizing slots.
2. Keep with the performance mode's "performances" and just deal with it or spend money on another controller, whether that's an FCB1010, a Kemper controller, whatever. This means someone having to sell their perfectly useful controller just to fit within the "Kemper MIDI spec."

A solution to both problems would be global MIDI reassignment based on accepted banks, making the controller's bank match up with the Kemper's performance bank, and the controller's slot match up with the Kemper performance's slot.

You can figure this out using the basic stats provided on the tech specs page and using the following Ohm's Law formula:

I = P/V, where:
I - Current in Amps (the powered head and powered rack use 10A)
P - Power in Watts
V - Voltage in Volts (assuming 110V for US usage, but let's round up to 120 to be safe)

10 = P/110, so:
10*110 = P, and therefore:
1100 = P

That said, a battery backup is silly. Why you would need a battery backup for a rig is beyond me.

Quote from paults

It would be much simpler to avoid those issues with a backup controller. You could sell the X3, and get a cheap old "5 Slot" controller made by Ground Control, ART, Rolls, Yamaha, Roland, Behringer, etc.

I was using that as an example, but many people use the Pod HDs as their controller, and I used an X3... for about a week before I sold it. But you're missing the point altogether - you're trying to solve a problem for someone that obviously doesn't have money to go throwing around in addition to their amp by suggesting they spend more money on it. Setting a set number of slots per performance would solve it, whether you have a controller that has 2 slots per bank, or 3, or 4, or 5.

Quote from Michael_dk

@dougc84: Pretty fast to pull the T-card, don't you think??

Nope. Posting on a thread that died over 2 years ago saying "it sucks for live use" with zero other posts implies that, IMO.

Quote from Smoothie

it would be sweet indeed if a mid-side mic setup could be profiled since it s a very clean and effective way to get stereo spaceousnessssssss.

i ran two 6505 amps in stereo for years. also i have been a professional sound guy for 10 years. i mix in stereo. of course. were not trying to emulate am radio here.

i have a kemper and have profiled a number of amps. i have come to terms with the fact that i ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT sound like my amp when playing live.

i profiled my amp with a utterly transparent and very expensive mic pre and used various mics including royer ribbons.

then i AB'd my profiles with the amp for my band members and the consensus was this. doesn't sound like my amp. even when i listen to recordings using the same mic same settings and all... it sounds good. but NOT for live! STUDIO YES!

to be honsest i could see someone using the kemper for clean tones live. distortion? it just don't have the "real thing" sound for live. just doesn't..

i definitely had all parameters set properly for those who would say i did it wrong.

very cool box for sure.

BOTTOM LINE at the end of the day i also bought a stereo tube pre and a stereo tube power amp ( Brunetti MILLE pre and MESA BOOGIE 290 power) couldn't be happier!

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Holy necro-thread, batman. Check post dates before commenting.

That said, CKemper has said there is not enough power in the DSP to have two profiles running at once. This was in reference to having overdrive/distortion profiling. I would assume if that's not possible, then dual amp profiles are not possible. And, after all, a stereo profile would be running two profiles - a left profile, and a right profile.

For me, the Kemper sounds just as great as my AC-15 cranked live. I have zero issues with it live or in the studio. I'm running my Kemper into a Matrix GT1000FX and a Matrix NL212 with cab emulations on.

The reason the powered Kemper is mono is because people run mono normally when performing live. Unless you're in the sweet spot, you're not getting a stereo signal anyway - you're just catching delayed reflections.

However, if you must run stereo, then consider adding the Stereo Expander to the X or Mod slot, or experimenting with delays.

Finally, I feel like if you have NEVER liked your amp sound live, then perhaps try a different amp? The 6505 is a solid workhorse, but, now that you have the Kemper, you have the ability to try out tens, if not hundreds, of available amps, often for no cost to you, using the Rig Exchange. No need to troll the forums, bashing the Kemper on its live sounds, when you've stuck to your own profiles and haven't tried other options. Maybe a different IR/Cab profile would work better for your live performance? Or be sure to disable your cab section altogether if you're running into a standard guitar cab (non-FRFR cab).

Isn't there an IR converter in the downloads section?

I agree - performance mode w/ a programmable amount of slots would be ideal. I had a feature request a while back that was more complicated, but, after this post, and after thinking about it, it would be great to specify a slot count of 2-5 globally. Basing it off the controller would be too difficult, and controllers don't have a standardized SysEx message they could send to state what they are.

The difficult thing would be migrations - say I have it set to 5 slots per performance, and I'm using a controller like the FCB1010. If it breaks, I would resort back to using an old Line 6 X3, which only has 4 "slots" per bank, so I would adjust the master setting to 4 slots per performance. What would happen with those performances that have 5 slots filled? Would it spill over or migrate to the next performance? Would it get deleted altogether? Or would everything just get wiped?

Any idea if this would work on the 8pre? I've got the latest firmware, though it's not been updated in several years. Heck, you can't even download 8pre firmware from their site any longer.

Strange that they consider this such a great product, and have even done a cosmetic update on it in the last couple years, but it looks almost like it's going into legacy.

Somewhat on topic, somewhat off - I'm curious about the Mission Rewah. Does anyone have one of these? I almost debated dropping my Morley Bad Horsie for one, but I decided against it.

Quote from Monkey_Man

Cool brah.

You did check the AVB line, I take it? I'm referring specifically to the first 8 interfaces on this page:

MOTU.com - Products

MOTU tweaked the ADAT optical I/O on the units to accept S/PDIF through a firmware update. Don't know if that helps you. The mic preamps on those 8 new units (where available) are apparently better than the 828's too...

Whatever you go for, good luck with it and knock 'em dead... I mean, break a leg... I mean, knock 'em dead with your broken leg, Doug!http://www.motu.com/products/body.html?productslider=1

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I did check those, but I wasn't aware that the optical ports accepted S/PDIF. That's interesting. I'd still need some sort of RCA -> Optical converter, and that bugs me. I work from home, so my office is also my studio, so it's just packed to the brim; I'd like to avoid extra boxes at all costs

Yeah, I think, at this point, now that we understand what cabling you're using, it's definitely an issue with the unit. Try a hard reset first (see @Aussiejoe's post), but more than likely it's a hardware issue, like others have said. It sounds like you may have gotten one that has a bad A/D converter. Unfortunately, that can happen with any piece of electronic gear - it may have left the factory fine, but a connection somewhere along the way just got loose or damaged, probably during shipping by someone that just chucked the box with no regard for its contents. If your dealer won't help you in a timely manner, Kemper Support certainly will.

Quote from Monkey_Man

What about the AVB line? Surely there's something there you could use?

I keep bangin' on about it, but that line of interfaces has set a new price vs performance bar, IMHO.

The 828mk3 is one of the only ones that has S/PDIF. I like it a lot, but, for the price, Focusrite's got my attention. That, plus the 828 doesn't have the nice preamps's that the 8pre has. I dunno. It's a pipe dream for now anyway.

The alternative input works because it has a TRS jack, used for returning balanced signals. That's why a higher noise level is acceptable - a balanced signal will provide a cleaner signal to start with. The front input does NOT work because it has a TS jack, as it is designed for a guitar input.

The ring (R of the TRS) would meet where the sleeve is on a TS jack, causing a short. This might work for some equipment, but it simply doesn't for others.

In short, use a proper instrument cable. Why buy a $2000+ unit and try to use cables that weren't even designed for the instrument you use/

You should be using a TS cable. A TRS cable will effectively short out your connection. There are no stereo inputs on the Kemper, as with any piece of professional gear (you'll have a single-channel left and single-channel right instead).

[Blocked Image: http://img.zdnet.com/techDirectory/TRRS.GIF]

So if you're using a TRS, switch to a standard guitar cable.

Secondly, when using the front input, does the "output" light illuminate when you play? You mentioned the "input" light, but not the "output" light.

You can do a couple different things, depending on your setup.

Regardless what kind of controller you're using, you can set up presets in performance mode. Use the same sound set to two different slots on a performance bank, and turn on effects in one, and off the effects in the other. Performance mode rigs work independently of the browse mode rigs, and allows you to configure each for each performance slot.

Using performance mode gives you the advantage of having a lead sound, a rhythm sound, etc., and you can go crazy and define presets by song, or, do like I do, and set up a performance of rhythm sounds, a performance of lead sounds, ambient sounds, etc. Then, all you have to do is switch banks to trigger what you want. If you're using a controller that allows changing the program change messages, then you can either configure it by song, or have "favorite" presets grouped together, whatever you want to do.

Additionally, if your controller is capable of sending control change messages, you can assign a button to multiple control changes. This is possible in the Behringer FCB1010 with the UnO chip (not the UnO for Kemper), I believe. Some of the more expensive controllers (RJM, for example) will allow you to do this as well.

My first suggestion is the common RTFM comment: read the manual. Both the basic "getting started" one and the "reference" manual, available online. For now, focus on the output settings. The manuals are easy to read and provide insight of every feature and function of the Kemper.

I'm thinking there are several issues going on here.

When you play through either input (with the setting for which input you are using properly configured), does the "output" light (the little green one above the soft button) illuminate? If it does, it's a problem with your connections going out from the amp. -Infinity means zero volume, which is why you aren't getting volume on your headphones out. Try turning this up and seeing if you're hearing output. You also have two volume knobs on the unit - a "master," which can control whatever you tie it to - main out, headphone out, monitor out, whatever - but you have to "link" them to the master volume control. This is why turning that knob adjusts that volume. The other volume knob is the volume for the current rig you are on. You may have turned this completely down and not realized it.

When you play through either input (with the setting for which input you are using properly configured), does the "input" light (the little green one above the soft button) illuminate? If it doesn't, it's a problem with your connections. Try a different guitar cable, and, if you're running pedals, try bypassing all of them. Otherwise, check the input settings - make sure things like clean sense and distortion sense are at 0. You can tweak these later.

As far as your outputs are concerned, TS = tip/sleeve, a.k.a. a mono guitar cable; TRS = tip/ring/sleeve, a.k.a. a balanced cable or a stereo cable (think headphones). You should NOT be using TRS cables to output anything, as all of the outputs on the back are single channel. You're effectively shorting out whatever power amp you're driving by using TRS cables on the main outs.

Also, if you're using a mono speaker setup, you want to use the monitor out instead. Try using that with a TS cable. THEN adjust your monitor volume from the output settings. You can link the monitor out's volume control to the master volume knob at a later time; for now, we need to get you sound.

Finally, have you tried browsing through the rigs? The rig you are on may be muted by some effect parameter or volume control. Try a different rig.

Once you assign a rig to any of the performance slots (by using the directional keys to go to different banks or slots), it is activated. You then have to save the performance, or, as soon as you hop off of the bank (and sometimes the slot), your changes are lost. I tend to make a change, save the performance, rinse and repeat, even if it's a small tweak to a delay sound or shifting effects on one rig. I've spent a lot of time wondering where certain sounds went only to realize they weren't saved.

You also have to load the rig on every slot, even if you're using the same rig. The flexibility of performance mode is you can load up a chimy Fender sound for a clean part, a Vox with a light overdrive for a rhythm part, a Marshall for a lead sound, and maybe some boutique amp for the bridge, or load up 5 separate rhythm sounds for different amps and drive settings all across one bank. The Kemper doesn't make any assumptions - you have to dial in the rig on each slot in order to activate it, and tweak it to your needs.

Finally, the top right soft key enables the slot. Once you load up a rig in a slot it should be enabled automatically, but, be sure to press that if the text of the rig doesn't appear in the slot.

This should have nothing to do with your controller either, except if you don't save - if you change the bank, then you're basically reverting your changes. Save, and save often.

While you can't do that directly, and I doubt Kemper would implement this (because this takes it the direction of a Line 6 POD-like device with a built-in interface), you could always set up your rigs' MIDI parameters and send a MIDI program change from Reason (via a MIDI interface connected to your computer) to the Kemper. I took a class on Reason 4 when that was the new hotness (I think it's on, what, version 6 now?), so I know this is totally achievable. This can really be done in any DAW.

It's a neat idea though. It'd be cool to have something like a piano roll set up that triggers the software to change rigs.

I've had a MOTU 8pre for close to about 7 years now. It has never let me down. The preamps in it sound great and it works like a champ. 8 1/4" or XLR ins, optical for whatever you use optical for, phone out, and two monitor outs. However, those monitor outs just send a line level out, so they can be used for reamping. I've been debating going to the Apogee Quartet, but, as a Kemper owner now, I feel like I need something with SPDIF built-in, and, unfortunately, while it's a stellar interface, it lacks that. That's ok though, those Focusrite Scarlett interfaces are nice (and much cheaper).