Posts by Locrain

Quote from Sharry

I didn't think it was fair to take the toast me as an example for something kemper can't or won't do.

Hmm, fair enough, though I don't know that I agree about the "won't. You're right, it's not an actual editor, only an interface to the perfectly good editor already built into the KPA. My point in bringing up Toast ME, was just to demonstrate my doubt as their ability/willingness to create routing software required if it were to be a full-fledged USB interface.

As you point out, the editor is in place, all there needs to be is a software interface. And people have been clamoring for it since the KPA was released, it was easy enough for one guy to do it on his own, in his spare time, and...still no editor/interface from Kemper.

My point really was the user-facing software does not seems to be Kemper's focus or strong suit, to say the least, and therefore the lack of USB interface in the KPA does not concern me, even as a "computer nerd", simply because it's not an easy thing to get right, I don't know that they would, and so it's not really a problem that the KPA doesn't function as a USB interface. Which is good, cause it's never going to happen anyway.

Very nice! Great crunch/gainy tones here. I had an early morning and was feeling a little nostalgic, so I made a couple clips. Even managed to fit a ham-fisted lead into the end of the 2nd one.

These are the first two songs that I can remember writing for the first band I was in, only about 15 years ago or so. The drummer and I are still best friends (I mean, he is a drummer yes, but he's a good guy), definitely some good times.

Edit: These were both with the same profile the T75 02, same modifications/stomps as the clip I posted above.

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Moderator Notice:

In most cases, Soundcloud uses a bandwidth of only 128 kbps. As a result, what you hear isn't free of artefacts, especially the high end. For critical listening and also product comparison, please keep that in mind. Users who setup a comparison should use linear wave files and supply dropbox links.

Quote from Sharry

This is not really a fair example. Toast ME is an ecxelent visualization and simulation of the KPA user interface.

It is not an editor. You can't store or manage anything on your computer. It uses only the Kemper excellently elaborated and documented interface (which not everyone does).

I don't want to diminish Damian's performance, it's a great job and I love to use it.

Sorry, I'm not tracking. Not a fair example of what?

Quote from jonathanthomas83

Guys, you're so defensive of the unit that you come across really badly to new users. You have to empathise with new users otherwise they'll be completely put off. To those who've genuinely offered help, thank you.

I put a lot of ground work in on this and many other first time users of the Kemper over the last few months, hopefully RayRay will attest to that. But I come here, read his thread and see that all he gets told is that he's wrong for making viable assumptions and that he's a troll. You guys aren't making a good impression and really need to look at yourselves. Seriously.

Also, not everyone reads manuals. Not everyone understands I/O. Not everyone wants to have to worry about that stuff. Some people just want to plug and play and enjoy. It's not up to us to judge them for not bothering about any of the above. This is about user experience, and believe it or not, a forum is there to aid that experience.

"All he gets told...", give me a break. He got good advice, some ribbing, several people agreed with him, he has resolved his user-error issue. I don't think he's tramuatized.

And if you don't want to read the manual or educate yourself on the subjects that you are asking people to explain to you, for free, and can't handle or understand that might be a little disrespectful to those spending their time helping others, either expect some (hopefully) good natured ribbing, or talk to tech support. Not directed at OP, I understand his frustrations and am glad his interface issue was resolved.

This has been a fairly even thread, maybe not the best hill to die on...

You are welcome, I think it's going to be a nice product.

Quote from Monkey_Man

Logic would suggest it's the new-fangled "physically-modelled" playback engine (round-robins gone and fancy-assed scripts that're designed to make it "play" more-naturally) that's responsible for this, Bruce.

Thank you for the detailed review of the demo, mate. Tempted to hit you up to email me all your grooves once you're done convertin', brother...

That would make sense, and first impression is that it seems to work well.

Happy to do so, will probably be a couple months before I am able to grab it, but that'd be just fine man.

Quote from Monkey_Man

Yup, many are raving about the sound quality and playability from e-kits, Bruce.

Dare I say it, quite a few have said they much prefer the sound over SD3. At least one I've seen owns all the SD3 expansions and still prefers Slate now.

This is the sort of home run I've been hoping Steven would hit throughout the long, agonising wait. With any luck updates will not only add the grooves he mentioned but also some useful functionality enhancements, something he's already alluded to, so it's looking fantastic from my POV.

By the time I finally get to install and hear it "properly", all this dust should've settled, so I'm super-pumped!

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I'm not surprised that those new to recording like myself would prefer SSD to SD just due to the Slate samples being ready to go OOTB, but SD3 kind of has a reputation for having the "best" samples that still need some work. So, for someone who has put as much money as they must have to get all the expansions, to prefer SSD5...certainly impressive. Like we were discussing, no good in getting too caught up in reviews, but they do seem really good.

I did get the free version. The kit is pretty good, I think it's identified as a "rock" kit, though I did find it to have less "heft" than "rock" kits I compared it to in SD3...but it's hardly fair to compare, as I have the entire stock SD3 library to go through. I really like the snare. Nice and snappy. Overall, a well-balanced kit. Very dynamic, in the sense that it seemed to be less compressed than the SD3 kits, but I really liked that, it seemed to "cut" through at lower volume than the SD3 kits I listened to.

I think it sounds more natural than SD3 with the midi track I made/modified from a groove in SD3. Dunno if that was just my mind playing tricks, but it sounded more like a drummer, less like a drum machine. I am not a great drum programmer yet, and I have noticed it sounding "choppy" in SD3. This seemed better.

Took me a while to figure out to export a midi file of my track from SD3, and if there is an intuitive solution to getting that midi file to somewhere where SSD5 could find it, I missed it. I ended up using a solution posted for SSD4 that involved going to the folder where the grooves are kept, then creating 3 sub-folders with different file extensions so SSD could sort it correctly, then dropping it there...then dragging it from the grooves section of SSD to a track in my DAW, which then gave me a good bit of trouble, but I think I know why I had the issues I did, and how to prevent it in the future. There must be a better way to do this...I should finish reading the manual.

The splash was triggering correctly (flashing blue) when it should have, but there was no sound, when I clicked it with the mouse, it flashed and sounded. Dunno, probably user error.

The interface is bad. At the price point I couldn't care much less, but it's 10 years behind. I guess you could look at as Slate worked on the things that really matter, like the way the thing sounds, haha. But the GUI is pretty rough.

It's still a must-buy for me. I don't get why it's so cheap. With the entire library, and all the grooves, it's going to be awesome.

Quote from bobmccune

That sounds killer Locrain ! Really cool riff too!

Thank you! It is a cool riff, I really like it. Wish I had written it.

Tim gets credit for the tonez!

Quote from Monkey_Man

I'm with you and Andy_T-V . Always download manuals first 'cause most of what you see in forums whilst researching is opinion, and reviews tend to omit important details as they try to appeal to "most people's" needs.

Interesting. I enjoy reading both manuals and reviews for gear I have, but I don't think I've thought about using the manual as a sort of "review". Makes perfect sense though. Dry reading, but very telling.

Quote from GregGibbs

I’ve read this twice, watched multiple videos, red the website and pdf, and still don’t understand what this does!

Same. Is he saying he recommends to use their cab sim when you're playing through a regular cabinet?

Awesome, that sounds fantastic man!

I'd second the suggestion to try different profiles. Or maybe try the "old trick" of going to the Lars Luettge pack that came free with your KPA, selecting the TH Diesel Hagan 6 1960 rig, hold the "CABINET" button for just a sec until it shows the 1960av cab, press the "LOCK" button, then go back to your Top Jimi profiles and check them out with the new cab. I have not been a fan of the TJ profiles I have tried. I know lots of people like them, and it's clearly a quality product. But not for me.

I have to plug Tim @ Live Ready Sound here. I play mostly heavier stuff, but his packs are very large, cover a tremendous amount of ground, and he's a workaholic, constantly adding updates as long as he has the amp. Other profilers take months for an update, Tim has gotten me spoiled. I'd be really surprised if you couldn't find something there, regardless of what you play. If you want to record a DI of your Les Paul, he'll take that, run it through, and make a custom profile based off the DI and what you're looking for. That'd be a way to ensure it's not the guitar at fault (I doubt it is though).

Don't get fooled by the name, these are just as home in the studio as they are live, I did an a/b/c comparison with some of the LRS profiles (I think from the ReVv pack), compared them with several STL profiles from a highly regarded pack that I won't mention the name of, and was pretty surprised. The STL stuff was more fun to play with, but got buried in a mix (I should note that I am very much an amateur when it comes to recording, so I could be missing something) next to the LRS profiles. And Tim was able to correctly guess which profiles were his in a full-band mix...he has a good ear, is what I'm getting at.

https://livereadysound.com/

I also have to 2nd Steinmetzify 's plug for SFG. As you'll see, they are completely different business models, which I think both have their strong points. I was pretty skeptical of SFG at first (if it's too good to be true...), and unless they run a sale, they're above what I would pay for such small packs...but the profiles that are there are very good, and do cut very well.

To compare the two, you can get a little lost in Tim's packs (how could you not, with 200-300 + profiles in some of them), but there is a TON of awesome stuff in each one. SFG's packs are very small, I'd say 3-5 rigs per pack (hard for me to count a merged, a studio, and a DI as 3 separate rigs, maybe I misunderstand something about how Merged profiles work...), but, out of the two packs I have, there is not a dud profile among them, they're all very solid...as they should be.

I do like STL, Cililab has some awesome packs, MBritt is great (though if you're having trouble with a muffled sound and low-end, they might not be the best...they really shine cranked live. Sinmix for the heavy stuff...those are some of my other favorites.

Any chance we could get a recording so we can hear what you're hearing?

The new Mars profiles kick ass! Out of all your packs (of amps I knew about before you told me about them, haha), this one has surprised me the most out of all. I am pretty sure it'll do anything. Before this pack, I would not have called myself a Marshall guy. I loved the JVM, that's about it. But this amp rocks.

Quick clip before I wind down for the evening, double-tracked (as if you can't tell by the mistakes), 2 takes, no comping, so it's pretty sloppy. Light EQ/Limiter on the main bus.

Edit: I did turn on the Shaper and Dist stomps that Tim included, increased the gain on the green scream to 2 db, and raised the amp gain by about 1.5.

Moderator Notice:

In most cases, Soundcloud uses a bandwidth of only 128 kbps. As a result, what you hear isn't free of artefacts, especially the high end. For critical listening and also product comparison, please keep that in mind. Users who setup a comparison should use linear wave files and supply dropbox links.

No worries! It's always the simple s#!t.

Dumb question: Have you already dis/re-connected and restarted everything? I've had similar issues, but they disappeared.

If so, I'd personally try uninstalling RM, and taking another whack at it.

I am loving the reviews. A little bummed that a lot of the samples seems to need more treatment than in the past (that's what I have SD3 for) before they are mix-ready, which is my main draw here. But there seems to be plenty of highly processed samples to keep me happy.

This'll have to wait until the new year (spending some time in Serbia soon, trying to save for that), but I think this is a 100% buy for me (it's too fairly priced not to)...I think I'll get the free version just to tease myself until then.

Of course the Snapshots can be deleted. But it could be much quicker and simpler than it is. "Delete all", etc.

There are still clear advantages to an "a/b" button, such as switching back and forth between the rig and your current tweaked rig, and not scrolling through ~10 snapshots to maneuver to the one you wanted to compare...which one was it again?

The ear/brain gets pretty unreliable pretty quickly, I am not sure of the # of seconds before it "forgets" the first sound and loses the ability to discern between the two, and I'm sure it's debated, but I've seen estimates of 1-3 seconds.

The "a/b" button becomes very useful with this in mind. The Snapshot feature is also very useful, but doesn't address this issue, IMO.

I think the general apathy towards the KPA functioning as a usb audio interface, is that it lacks the ins and outs of a proper recording interface. It wouldn't bother me if the KPA could function as an interface, and I could see how it'd be useful for those who only record guitar. But for those with "pro-sumer" interfaces, it'd be of not much use compared to what we have.

The drivers for the KPA are very stable. I don't think (but I don't really know) that this would translate to similar stability when functioning, basically, as a sound card. I have an RME Babyface, and RME's reputation for driver stability was one of the big sellers.

I think the a/d/a converters on the KPA are very good? I don't know how they measure to RME or similar, but there's not much to talk about here probably.

Connectivity, my (small and pathetic compared to others) Babyface has an instrument in, two XLR ins/outs, two headphones outs, and in expandable and controllable through TotalMix.

Which is where the real problem kicks in for me. We are coming up on 7 years since release, and we have no editor (thank you to toastme for a great independent editor), probably the most glaring omission in the entire product, by far IMO the most requested, discussed, and talked about feature request for the KPA, and no real hope on the horizon.

Then I open RME's TotalMix routing software, and it is so dense and function-rich, I can't imagine the nightmare that would be Kemper's attempt at a similar program. They'd probably have us navigating everything through the Browse knob and Page buttons.

All that said, line 6 can get an interface working and sell it for $99, so it couldn't be that hard to put in the KPA. Your complaint is valid, and it is a competitive disadvantage when compared to the fractal.

I can understand the viewpoint that it should have one, but I also fit in the camp that doesn't really care that it doesn't. If you just play live, you don't need it and the extra cost, if you're using it for your studio, you already have an interface, and possibly much better hardware/software than the KPA would have. But it would be nice for those who want to record, but have no interface...which I think it quite a small subset of users?

Either way, I am glad you have stepped back from the cliff. Yes, it would have been handy for the KPA to have had an interface while you figured out the issue with yours, but now you have, and you have a fully functional interface. Win-win.

Quote from Wheresthedug

I’m actually one of those people who just picks a profile and tweaks my playing to make it sound right rather than tweaking the profile

Same. It's rare for me to touch anything. I really don't like tweaking, I dont trust my ears for very long at a time.

As said by 'bcgood' on gearslutz, "...

a class A discrete FET pre that runs off of 48 V. Seems like a good deal at $99".

Definitely interesting.

Yamaha FC7.

Pros: Cheaper (I think, haha, $40 new, less used), well-built, will last for a looong time. CKemper uses one.

Cons: Very wide sweep, fairly large pedal/footprint.

I'd like something with a smaller sweep for wah, but at the price, no complaining from me, works great.