Posts by JiveTurkey

So I'm back

Got my Roland GR33 in and 4 days later; the power cord

The 33 sounds are dated Roland for sure but much better than the other units in this thread. At least by my ears. Tracking with the FTP is great as well. I *think* I am going to use my GR as my midi controller for the Kemper. I will just have to do some creative Midi mapping on the GR to assign PCs in different GR patches to the same basic performance slot equivalent on the Kemper. Little tedious setup but not too bad in all actuality. I've got horns, flutes and 80s synth tones pretty much dialed in. I need to find a good saxaphone patch which is still elusive, even after all the guitar synth gear I've burned through.

Now to reorganize my board so all the stuff fits

I don't like el84s for high gain AT ALL. Now I know there are a ton of caveats in this conversation I am sure in regards to your particular situation (not sure your living situation in regards to high volume, etc.). If I was in a metal band and needed some on stage oomph with some tubes; I would be trading for a big bottle Mark in a heartbeat.

The Fractal is killer. The Kemper is killer as well. Different techniques to get to the same end result for me. Get great guitar tones to make good music. Or rather go out and do weekend warrior cover band gigs. They employ different methods of getting there; but both can produce great results and both can be dialed in to sound like complete a$$. I am not sure how anyone could argue AGAINST Fractal tones because they are just stupidly good on multiple levels.

Quote from Antipodes

I think the Helix Native phenomenon is worth noting. If that move - which is a big move for a company selling comparable hardware - pays off (ie big sales = big $) , other competitors may feel compelled to follow. Line 6 were doing software (amp farm) before they sold even the first Pod so they are no strangers to slinging guitar amp sims as software.

Potentially, Fractal and Kemper could port their code to modern in the box processing (Intel/ARM etc). They could use a hardware breakout box/interface to prevent piracy and allow controlled connectivity perhaps. It could be that some think these latter companies are not keen on the software biz but the Virus has been ported to plugin land in a comparable way.

Yes if only a platform I actually liked would embrace the idea of going the VST route Tried Native twice and both times it was absolutely slaughtered by Mercuriall and SGear. If and when the HelixFX arrives; that is going to be my Kemper combination game changer. Add those verbs, drives, and even that synth block to the Kemper and it's going to be on. Providing the price is right and I can swing it.

IME (and all the "but you weren't on 2.3 blah blah blah" responses aside); the Helix is awesome for functionality and the social media explosion effect. It does not hold a candle re: the types of amps I like and their equivalents on the Kemper. Fractal is obviously different tech and a different approach; but I love it as well. Kemper just fits my mindset and workflow much better.

Thank you sir! Love Boogie profiles and the Mark III is an amp I always wanted to own in real life!

Drive overhaul would be great. Though I could always just turn up the gain knob Verbs would be nice but not totally necessary for my needs. Played it through my 2x12 last night at practice and I wasn't left wanting in any direction.

Awesome journey indeed! Welcome Phil!

Quote from V8guitar

I just have to ask....why ? You can just use a simple monetary switch ( like the one Kemper sells) to scroll up and down...

I like A/B switching as implemented in the Atomic Amplifire. Once I got it; I was hooked. Instead of going from switch to switch to switch; you stay on one switch, click it for lead boost or whatever then click it again to get back to your rhythm sound. Then I started working with expression pedal based crossfades/pans/etc. when going into the Roland/Boss assigns world and realized I like that feel the best.

If you could morph from one profile to another then back with the sweep of an expression pedal; I'd pretty much poop myself. FWIW; I am not talking about adding gain and other traditional things you would just use the regular morphing capability to achieve; I am talking going from a synth sounding profile to a traditional gained up Marshall sound where the profiles share zero blocks in common.

I'm a little odd in my "needs"

I know everyone was holding their breath, waiting for me to test this out and report back

Expression pedal will work one way (Rig up or down) but not both ways. I wish I had a momentary switch to see if I could hold the button down to Rig Up and then release to see what happens

I've had the Kemper for a good while and like to think I have a fairly good working knowledge of most things on it. I don't know everything and I might have missed something in the last FW update (or 4 ). Can I go from rig to rig or slot to slot via Expression pedal OR expression pedal via MIDI? Thanks in advance and apologies if it's a dumb question

Got this guy coming in today:
[Blocked Image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61a2hVZWSHL._SL1024_.jpg]
Has EMU 8030 GM sound bank as well as another, custom 8030 sound bank (at least from what I am seeing?). Hopefully the onboard controls work and don't require outboard programming on my midi controller. I am not sure how much "better" the EMU sounds are but it's a fairly cheap experiment.

I wasn't talking about realistic, instrument synthesis. More so something like what's available on the Fractal, Helix, etc. A Kemper equivalent of the SY300 would kill, imo.

MiniEngine going back. Onboard controls dont work, there are some glitching in the tones I have no configurability options in device to adjust and the overall sounds are not quite as good as I'd like, ideally. Not entirely unexpected given the price point.

The hostbox works exactly as I thought it would. The housing is solid but the front and back face where the ports are is a thinner material. Not a dealbreaker, but just know up front if you want to order one. Used it to drive my Roland synth without any real issue. Had to change a few settings in hardware mode on the FTP itself. Couple of playing technique adjustments to be made (aka not much legato) but overall pleased.

I'll keep an eye out for that unit. I have the toaster so rack form factor, unless it's half rack or something similar; would kind of suck for me. Are the instrument sounds good on the motif? I need horns, flutes, sax, organs and then just general 80s synth stuff.

Quote from vablows

I also use a Truple Play with my Kemper.
I am a Roland convert, having used a GR-55 for a few years before the switch 2 years ago.

I am an exclusively live player, no studio work at this time.

Are you using this Live or in studio?

I tried other ways but for me the FC-1 is the only way to achieve what I wanted since I only use hardware synths (Yamaha Motif XS rack).

For me, I use poly mode on some patches, and mono on others, depending on what I need for the patch.

Nice to see another synth cohort here!

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I WISH the GR55 could act as a sound module as I would have already made the Kemper/FTP-GR55 rig happen months ago! I am this close to getting a GR33 and using it in conjunction with the FTP. That Motif probably sounds awesome but is way too cashy for me at the moment.

I am using this live, no studio. Dumb question ,maybe; but do you set up poly and mono on a per patch basis on the motif itself? I LOVE guitar synth gear of all kinds.

So I got the miniEngine yesterday. Here's a quick rundown I posted at one of my other haunts:

Hooked everything up last night. Sounds are serviceable but I didn't get much time with things. Big issue so far is I need an external midi controller connected to change sounds on the device. For whatever reason; the controls on the device do not work when FTP is connected. I had to setup a couple of custom programs on my midi controller so I could browse some of the midiEngine's sounds. With some forethought; I could configure my Kemper profiles in a way that would allow the control to control both the Kemper AND the miniEngine but the tones really aren't worth it, imo. At least with the little bit of time I had to work with it.

The midi hostbox comes in today. I am going to connect the FTP to it, then midi out to midiEngine midi in and see if onboard controls work in that way. I am also going to use the midihost to see if I can connect to my Roland Juno keyboard.

Quote from Sharry

I think this is the CC91 - Reverb control change.I found this manual from Digitech. Seemed to be very close to your device.

It was my failed attempt at humor. I looked at the PianoBox too but it was more expensive and didn't really offer any other functionality I could see to account for the price difference?

Quote from Sharry

It's not so much a psychological problem as a biological one.
But anyway, please report how it is going on with the new gear.
The comments on Amazon are telling some problems with installation. (This must not mean anything )

BTW: Just found that my link of neusonik is not working. Maybe the company does not exist anymore .
Would not be really surprising in modern times

I'm not anticipating anything too difficult but we'll see. Supposedly it's "plug and play" but we probably both know how that goes I'm wondering what the "Reveb" button does

Quote from Sharry

I'm worried that I won't be an active musician anymore. But until then, it's good to know there's a cheap solution.

I have also a cheap USB to MIDI cable converter - µMIDI/022 by http://www.neusonik.com

Dare to dream

Will do @nightlight I found a few videos on it and the "horn sections" and woodwinds seem very usable. Especially if I add some delay and verb from the Kemper to fill them out a bit. Really if they are as good as the Roland GR stuff; I will be good to go. Biggest ? for me is how well I can pull off more "synthesizer" styled tones. Like keyboard sounds versus standard instrument sounds. Looking forward to it either way!