Cable's and elves
That's usually where the trouble starts. 
Posts by Chris Duncan
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But the main question still is: who legitimately ownes the sound. Can an amp manufacturer really claim ownership on a 5E3 or a modified 5E3 circuit? I mean, loads of amps are based on that particular circuit.
Yeah, the whole realm of intellectual property is a complex and ever changing landscape. And society at present is actually hostile to the ownership of IP, i.e. "copyrights / patents are evil and should be abolished!" This, of course, from people looking for some way of getting all of our hard work for free without feeling like a thief.
Who owns the sound is trickier still. If Kemper is doing Bad Things by miking an amp, does that also apply to the recording studio and record company who released the Zep albums? Hard to come up with a completely black and white answer to this sort of thing.
In my case, while I sold all my amps when I bought the Kemper, part of it was because they were decades old and twitchy.
IfWhen I buy amps in the future, those purchases will likely be driven by the fact that I got to experience Friedmans, Bogners, etc. in the Kemper and fell in love with them. So, yet another bit of grey.I'm not certain that amp sales dramatically decreased over the last years.
I don't know what the numbers are either. I do know that guitar sales in general have diminished in part because the younger generation (always the prime market for music related things) relates more to Rap, EDM and other forms of music that are less guitar-centric. That would certainly put a dent in amp sales.
On the other hand, I'm seeing a trend in tube amps where it's common to include built in attenuators. I had a Vox AC 15 that ran at something like 15 watts, half that, and then something like a quarter watt. And sounded good at all levels. Same with an EVH lunchbox I had. My 20 year old 50w Marshall, on the other hand, simply had to be cranked to tinnitus-inspiring levels to get "that sound."
I think this is due in part to the fact that while there are still people who like playing guitar (and metal is currently popular), there are fewer gigs for electric guitar music. And the ones that are out there are much smaller rooms. There are also bedroom players who have a family, career and a full schedule. They have no interest in gigging but still enjoy playing because, well, it's good for the soul. Neighbors banging on your wall, however, aren't.
So, I think part of the tube amp stuff is just evolution in action. Now if I could just figure out how to grow a tail. Because that would be so cool on stage...
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And there we have cables and stress again.
Cables have their downside, to be sure. However, assuming your cable is in good working order (and they're cheap enough to replace if they're not), it's about the most bulletproof device you'll have on stage.
Wireless is very convenient. It's also under ever increasing attack by everyone from cellular companies gobbling up bandwidth (600 was the latest victim; there will be more) to the bar's kitchen microwave operating in the same 5Ghz range as your router.
Want stress? Try coping with constant dropouts or noise in the middle of a gig with absolutely no option to fix it because you can't eliminate bandwidth conflicts between the first and second set. Your gear is your gear, and you have no control over the conflicting perps. A bad cable between your Kemper and remote, however, can be swapped between songs while the front man stalls for you. Problem solved. On to the next song.
Of course, all the old dogs who have seen the evolution of wireless gizmos remember the days of truckers' CB radio conversations suddenly being broadcast, at Marshall on 11 volumes, through their guitar wireless units and coming out of the guitar amps. Very exciting. Possibly even stressful.
I run wireless for my guitar and IEMs because I like to move, and cables get in my way. It creates a vulnerability, but that's the cost of doing business if I want to leap about without getting snared like some hapless rabbit in the woods. Why in heaven's name would I want to create that vulnerability for another piece of gear like my remote that's going to sit in one place all night?
Screw that. Wire the remote to the amp, run the cable path on the floor, out of the line of fire. Duct tape is your friend.
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I'm sure Wheresthedug is correct that you're overloading an input somewhere. If you're just going from two Kemper outputs directly to the speakers, his -18 suggestion will doubtless solve your problem.
That said, you were previously going from the powered speaker output to your guitar cab. Now you're using a pair of studio reference monitors, so it's possible you may have additional things in the chain, like a computer audio interface, before the two speakers. What's your complete signal path, i.e. what Kemper outputs to what [possible other devices] to the speakers?
The more devices you have in the path, the more places you can overload your signal, so proper gain staging has to take them all into account.
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and clone them physically (nobody would ever do such a thing
There are more than a few amp companies whose designs are basically modded Marshalls. A certain deep fried male humanoid comes to mind.
and simply steals the real amps soul
Witchcraft! Witchcraft!!!
I knew this thing had to have supernatural powers.
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The Friedmans are worth it alone.
Absolutely. The Friedman with the Klon in front is my default rock sound.
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To take this line of thought even further, you might as well consider amp manufacturers... All the plugins / modellers and the Kemper are basically aiming at creating a virtual and perfect copy of their product. And they don't earn 1$ in the process. Let's not forget that Kemper and all the other software producers do not own any rights of the amps getting profiled / modeled.
I agree that it seems silly that THU is emulating Kemper profiles. They are basically emulting an emulation. But in the end, we're talking about emulating amps / effects / mics and whatnot that aren't owned by either one of these companies...
To a degree this harken's back to another thread about Dave Friedman's comments that the Kemper is piracy. When you buy an amp, you get every possible combination of every position of every knob. The Kemper doesn't do that. It gives you a snapshot of one specific setting, just like your favorite record gives you a snapshot of the guitarist playing the part through a miked up amp. I don't have to buy Jimmy Page's amps to enjoy Led Zeppelin, but I would imagine Zep sold a lot of amps for manufacturers.
So, when you spend money with amp manufacturers you get endless combinations of sounds from that amp. When you spend money on a Kemper you get something that takes a snapshot of that amp + a kipr playback device. I would imagine that most R&D money went into the first part of that equation. But the snapshot couldn't exist without all the amp manufacturers' hard work, right? True enough, but the picture you took of the sunset over that rolling landscape couldn't have taken place without the land, either. And you didn't pay them rent for it.
With the THU you get a kipr playback device, which would be fine if that's what it did. But they're taking it a step further. They take the kipr that the Kemper generated and then create a proprietary file format that only their software can play, then they sell those massaged kipr files as if they were their own intellectual property.
This is like stealing someone's music from a torrent site but claiming it's not really stealing because you renamed the file.
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absolutely ridiculous
While I don't doubt that it's frustrating, the entire point of a beta is to find things like this so that they don't make it into a production release.
If it's important in your environment to have a completely bulletproof OS, and you don't have a second Kemper to test betas with, it might be best to avoid installing betas and just wait for the production version after all the kinks have been worked out.
For what it's worth, that's the advice I follow myself. I'd love to get my hands on the new reverbs, but I only have one Kemper and prefer to have a known stable version. So, I wait.
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Cool noodling, and congrats, man!
I'm travelling in the opposite direction as you, used to play for a living (just bar band stuff) and these days fooling around with learning mograph, etc. via Cinema 4D just for fun.
Not very good at either, but I'd like to emphasize the fun part.
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Yep I sent them an email with an update. Two first day stable alone, three days now with the Remote plugged in. So yes to both
Excellent testing, and I'm sure they appreciate it. More importantly, it sounds like you're on the path to just playing guitar and not having problems.
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With my Kemper, I can profile it and then tweak that sound till it's perfect for my mix, and then get that exact sound EVERY TIME I plug into it.
No issues with where I stand, tube temperature or age, mic placement, wall voltage, temperature, humidity, the alignment of the stars, or any of the other factors that seem to always change the sound the next time I plug into the HJS.
This is exactly what I'm enjoying.
For years I gigged with a Rocktron Voodu Valve, a 1 U preamp that was midi controllable, so that I could bounce around from sound to sound and get consistent results. Oddly enough, the path that led the the Kemper was a smaller car where the rack + speaker wouldn't fit. A toaster and DXR-10 does. I was just looking for a simple bar band rig that would get the job done and fit in the car. I was completely unprepared for what I'd get out of the Kemper.
And yet, through the Kemper, I've also become acquainted with other amps that I'd never played through, which is how I discovered that I love Friedmans. Last night I was watching a video on the Bogner Ecstasy after being impressed with some profiles of it. I have as much GAS as the next guy, and while I sold my old stable of amps, no one is dumb enough to bet on me never buying another one. If / when I do, it'll doubtless be a purchase driven by the Kemper.
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It's now been five days with my KPA plugged directly in to the wall (no shared outlet, and no smart remote switch
Glad you're making progress. Have you tested with it plugged directly into the wall with the remote plugged in?
While it might be the combination of the two, it could also be one or the other, which would be useful for the Kemper guys to know.
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Kemper profiles into rig profiles with Overloud's service?
So they will get to stockpile all Kemper profiles sent to them! WTF... WOW!
Sure. They can also download all 13,000 profiles from Rig Manager, cherry pick it, then turn around and sell them. Or buy commercial packs from popular profilers, convert and resell them on their own platform. And there's really not much Kemper can do about it but spend money on lawyers, who in the end will probably be the only ones who benefit.
To be clear, my interest in all of this is purely philosophical. I own a Kemper. It's awesome. No matter what the ethically challenged may do in other companies, it doesn't make my Kemper sound any less awesome.
That said, I pay the bills writing software. I've written a few books. Like most here, I also write music. Sometimes I write screenplays and do video production. In other words, my entire life revolves around intellectual property.
I'm a professional geek, and have been for a long, long time. Believe me, if I wanted to steal someone's stuff, I'm far better armed than most people to do so, but I choose to pay for intellectual property as a matter of honor. We live in an age with zero respect for IP as it is, but when I see people being so very blatant about this sort of thing, particularly for companies or people I respect, it bugs me.
I mean, really? Your graphic designer even modeled the little leather strap on top? Man, if that's not flying the social finger, I don't know what is.
And I bet they complain about torrent sites pirating their software.
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I use alt input in the back, right? Not the front input. Otherwise I have to set Input to front input not reamp
What is alt output?
Is stereo necessary?
Again. I only recorded a mono DI track. I just need to run this track back through the kemper.
Im wondering if I may need to get an interface with more output options if I want to run stereo and monitor as well
Thanks
nakedzen has you covered on the feedback loop. However, if you don't have reference monitors and are using your Kemper -> speaker as the playback for your Studio One recordings, it complicates things. See below on that.
Yeah, alt input in the back is fine.
Alt out was my bad - I mean the direct out (I'm usually not in front of the Kemper when I write this stuff), which you're obviously already using correctly.
I record mono as well, I only specified stereo to give you full options on that path. For my own rig, I just use the L main out and I have it set to Mono.
As for more output options, I made an assumption that you were monitoring through studio reference monitors connected to the speaker outputs of your audio interface. If you don't have reference monitors and are trying to monitor through the speaker the Kemper is connected to, that's probably why you're having trouble with feedback.
If you're going Studio One -> interface out-> Kemper reamp in -> Kemper L main out -> interface in -> studio one track for guitar sound, then you need Studio One to send that to speakers. As nakedzen pointed out, if you then route that back to the Kemper, the dog chases his tail and you get feedback.
I'm not sure what the best configuration is if you're trying to use the Kemper -> speaker cab as your recording monitor. I don't think you need a new interface, but if you don't have studio reference monitors, that should probably be your next purchase. You can get Mackie or comparable 5" monitors, which sound just find, for around $300 a pair. They'll connect to the speaker outputs of your interface, and this will make your life much easier.
In the meantime I would recommend using the headphone out of your audio interface for monitoring, and don't send anything to the Kemper except the DI you want to reamp.
I just took a look at the Focusrite, and you probably want to connect your powered studio reference monitors to Line Out 1 & 2.
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I think part of the thump might be to do with the general shape of guitar speaker cones compared to PA cones. If I have interpreted what I've been reading properly it seems that guitar speakers tend to have steeper sides than PA cones. This affects the the dispersion and causes the beaming effect. Whereas PA and Monitor speakers seem to have a shallower cone which causes a wider dispersion.
I was thinking about the beaming thing when Paul was talking about frequencies, so maybe there's something to that.
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And the actual entertaining programming exercise would be, IMHO, to read a kemper profile and convert it to this format.
Since they're trying to make money by creating a proprietary wrapper around a Kemper profile, something about poetic justice comes to mind.
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Yes Chris! Thank you!! Now, I need to get it figured out! HAHA.
Heeey, if it was hard to write, it should be hard to use!
Actually, it's pretty straightforward, though I did run into one thing that I don't think was documented, which you'll want to know. In my case, I was firing CCs via a midi track in Cubase, so your end will be a bit different of course.
After trying them all, I ended up going with the CC47/50-54 approach. The benefit is that once you get to the performance, all your slots are relative, so if you move the performance to a different location you don't have to change anything but the CC 47 value.
First, make sure in system that Performance Load in System is set to Pending.
To change performance, send CC47 with (Performance number - 1) in the LSB.
Once the performance has been loaded, sending one of CC50 - C54 will load the appropriate slot 1 - 5 for that performance.
Important note: When sending CC50-54, be sure to include an LSB data value of 1 or it will just sit there flashing, waiting for you to push the Load button. This was the only thing I struggled with as I don't think it's mentioned in the doc.
If you can get your gear to send these CCs, it works like a charm, and switching is very fast (the audio will actually switch much faster than the UI).
Also, here's an excellent thread on midi:
Have fun.
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Hello! I am wondering, and I have looked in the manual, whether there is a MIDI command map anywhere, or detailed instructions on the MIDI process anywhere? I know some other units like the HX Effects for instance have those and wondered if the Kemper system has one?
I'm just beginning the programming process. I am going to set up performances in the Kemper, and then choose them using a Selah Quartz pedal, which will also be "instructing" my HX Effects and my Digitech Whammy DT.
Look in the main manual on page 208, with the topic heading of Rig Change in Performance Mode.
There are several different methods available, including direct PC in browse mode, auto PC for the first 128 slots in performances and CC47 + 50-54 for selecting the performance and then the relative profile.
Hope this helps.
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If you have your DXRs in wedge position, they don’t have the same kind of floor reflections as a guitar cabinet, and a hand held 105db measurement from a speaker pointed at your head is a different acoustic volume level than a guitar speaker that is pointed at the backs of your knees. You can get more thump by sitting them upright, even if you angle them up a little, to be able to hear the horn better.
And, since FRFR are more linear, they don’t have peak frequencies that allow you to easily get feedback at the same notes as conventional speakers.
I usually put the meter on the floor in front of my feet though that's probably not optimal, either.
I didn't realize how much of the resonance thump comes from interaction with the floor, but it makes sense given that the floor is something with which to resonate. The DXR also has a few EQ curves on the back, which I haven't experimented with.
That said, I used to run a one 12 sealed V30 cab on a small X stand to point it at a 45, which also raises it off the floor by 8 or 8 inches, but I still got a pretty decent thump from that. I wonder if the same lack of peak frequencies (albeit different ones) that affect feedback are also a factor in thump.
I'll try sticking it upright to see how that feels, thanks for all the info!
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If you hook the Kemper up to the "usual" speakers (monitor, PA, FRFR) then the air moving feeling is diminished a lot.
I've noticed that myself, along with the fact that feedback doesn't see to work the same as with a regular amp / guitar cab.
As a purely intellectual point of curiosity, that's something I don't really understand. I routinely push 105db. That should be moving some air, and thus I should feel it more, but with the FRFR I don't. And yet, the actual guitar tone sound like a cranked amp.
My ears tell me all the frequencies are there, or it would sound funny. But clearly something's different as I don't feel the same, "chest thump" and the feedback / responsiveness characteristics are also different.
Could someone with a bit more knowledge in this area offer some insight on why this is the case?
I love the FRFR, I just like to understand these things.
