At the moment it's the best you can get
It's free, but damien is polish and like to drink some beer sometime (as we austrian too) .
You could send him some virtually by klicking the donation field
A guitarist / programmer who likes to drink beer and spends his nights slinging code for my benefit, out of the goodness of his heart?
How could you not buy a round for a guy like that? 
Being a brand new Kemper owner, I wanted to try a baseline of commercial packs and these were obviously the first call choice for a lot of folks. The 33% didn't hurt, either (thanks, Michael).
I got the 800, Vintage, Tweedy and Crank n Go. Wow. For the kind of classic rock things I do, every single patch was right in the pocket. As I've mentioned elsewhere, dialing in tones has never been my strength, so the ability to pull one up that's already been carefully crafted is worth the price of admission alone.
I've spent the week selling all my amps. I had a little EVH III LBX that I was holding on to, just in case. After hearing Crank n Go, it's headed for Craigslist / Reverb as well. One of the cool things about all this is the chance to hear amps I've never actually plugged into before. I have to second dmatthews on the Friedmans. For all shades of crunchy rock stuff this thing sounds amazing and was the area I kept coming back to.
Of course, that's a bit of a problem as well.
What I'm trying to do is finish configuring the studio setup with the K, Rig Manager, Toast Me, routing, profile organization, foot pedals, etc. so that it's all nice and tidy and I can just play guitar. But every time I go to test something and select one of these pack profiles, I end up screwing around on guitar for half an hour before I remember my initial objectives.
I haven't been this inspired by guitar tones in ages. And I've been at it since 72.
From Kemper perspective:
1) They never over promise - the comms are limited which frustrates many people but it does mean they rarely let people down as they make few definitive commitments
Having gone through pretty much every DAW out there over the years, I finally settled down with Steinberg's Cubase, another German company. They are also very limited in their communications. I don't know if it's a cultural thing or just the fact that they're smart. The road to hell is paved with vaporware promises that never end up in the release (or are so buggy that they do more harm than good).
No software is bulletproof, as you doubtless know, but Cubase is among the more stable that I've used. From hanging out here I get the impression that it's the same for Kemper. That's actually a priority for me because one of the draws of the K is that I'm playing guitar through a computer, but I'm allowed to maintain the illusion that it's otherwise. I find that comforting somehow.
Chris - that is a given.
The first 2 we always think help but rarely do...my wife was not woo'ed by my 400 BHP Audi or my 22 guitars...in fact, I'm not sure what woo'ed her come to think of it
Whenever you figure out what did, let me know. I'm currently between models, and the Passenger Side Blonde option I ordered with the Vette has been on back order for quite some time now.
Downloaded Toast Me last night and will be installing today. It looks like a great addition to the environment.
Do you play the bass? if so I would imagine you're much more discerning in terms of tone than I am.
I found one that works well for my needs but the part itself is just a songwriting placeholder. I leave the nuances of real bass playing to those with deeper minds (and strings) than me.
Yep, I'm exactly that OCD.
I'm running Windows 7, and the Rig Manager stores data in the C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Local\Kemper Amps\RigManager folder (the entire C:\Users\me tree gets backed up nightly). There you'll find the local library folder structures you mentioned replicated as you've set them up. However, rather than the .kipr files themselves, there are instead .db files.
I'm assuming the db files are indexed lookups that contribute to how fast the profiles load when you select a new one, since they load pretty darned fast. What's not clear to me is where the kipr files themselves are stored. I Googled last night but couldn't find that. I'm sure it's probably detailed in a forum thread or doc here somewhere if anyone can point me to it.
If for whatever reason the native kipr files aren't stored by the rig manager and only in a condensed manner in the repository files, then I'll do exactly as you suggested and just do some drag and drop maintenance in a backed up folder tree. Good idea, thanks man.
I do all my auditioning in Rig Manager but I don't need to sit guitar in lap and mouse in hand. I can just as easily stand in front of my computer as I can my amp. As for the mouse. I don't use it that much. My process is just narrow down the selection with a quick search field. Rank in rig manager by some parameter by clicking the column header. I typically use gain ranked lowest to highest. Mouse click to select the first profile to audition. From here on I just use the up and down arrows on the keyboard to move around the rig list. Once a rig is selected up and down moves to the next rig and automatically selects it to audition.
I think all of this might become irrelevant once the new preset management system comes out though.
That's been pretty much my process as well. The more I play with it, the more I prefer auditioning in front of the near fields rather than out of the 4x12. It's not only a more detailed sound, it's wysiwyg, so to speak.
Be aware, that the PROFILER only load Slots that are enabled. Otherwise the MIDI PC gets ignored.
Actually, that seems like a very clean implementation.
I think what the OP was saying was that since the Midi Mongoose has only 5 buttons and no way to increment or decrement (performance or browse mode up or down) the midi numbers, he is just stuck with sending the same 5 PC numbers.
Hopefully your old controller will work fine, Chris Duncan
Thanks, man. I knew you could bank through. I'm just always looking for the simplest way to do things, e.g. just keep stomping on the same button over and over. Musicians can be so lazy sometimes.
Reading manual's is SOOOOO last year dude. keep up
Chris, just messin' I hope Burkhard's info is what you are looking for. All the best.
As a programmer, I'm philosophically opposed to manuals. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to use!
Display MoreI just looked a couple of minutes at a video explaining the Tech21 Mongoose. And - no surprise - it offers multiple banks. You access higher and lower banks by pressing two buttons simultaneously. It's even printed on the Mongoose front panel:
-10 = - 2 banks of five
-5 = -1 bank of five
+5= + 1 bank of five
+10= 2 banks of five
So in bank 1 button 2 sends program change 2. if you press buttons 4 and 5 simultaneously you move two banks up. Now button 2 sends program change 12.
This must be described in the Mongoose manual.
Thanks, Burkhard.
Yes, you can bank through the standard 128 PC values without a problem. I was just being lazy, hoping for a single button that would always ++PC, but this would get it done as well.
Neither.
It backs up the non-Rig-Exchange content that you've added to the app, Chris.
The KPA's content will only appear if it's connected and switched-on whilst the app is running, and it's gleaned from the unit at that time. You'll have to create a separate folder/s in the app and copy the KPA's Rigs / Performances to them in order for them to be backed up too.
Thanks, man. Knowing what to back up is as important as creating stuff.
It's certainly a winning combination, and it removes a significant distraction during mixing. Bass is always one of the hardest things to get sitting right in the mix, and is probably responsible for more round trips to the car than all other instruments combined.
DI for additional top-end clarity / bite if needed, and the mic'd signal for the overall tone.
I'm just glad something bites besides my bass tone skills.
Toast me can handle only datas which are stored on the KPA.
There is no storage on the PC
Forgive the stupid question, but when you do a backup from Rig Manager, does that just back up what Rig Manager knows about on your PC, or is it backing up the data in the KPA?
Wow. Christmas comes early this year.
After getting acquainted with Rig Manager, a real time editor was the next thing on my wish list.
Thanks, Damian!
When I'm writing, I sequence the bass part and use a free VST plugin called 4 Front that emulates a Fender bass. The plugin does a fine job of giving you a clean, realistic sounding Fender style output. But it's always been a hassle trying to take that and then get a realistic bass amp tone. I've thrown the kitchen sink at it - channel strips, Distressors, VST amp simulators, etc. - and it's just never quite right. I'm not a bass player and if I had trouble dialing in guitar tones, it's even less impressive for bass.
But wait! Right there in Rig Manager there are 98 profiles for bass players. Point my 4 Front output to the K reamp in and poof - instant bass player. One of the things I'm really enjoying with the guitar profiles is that I don't just get a well miked guitar stack. I get the talent of people like Michael Britt to dial in killer tones for me. Turns out that works just as well on bass, making me look good where I have absolutely zero talent.
You know, I think I'm gonna keep this thing.
Great stuff, guys. Thanks!
Hey, Paults. Missed this last time in, thanks for the info!
Makes sense, thanks.
Come to think of it, I have another older controller laying around in the chaos room that does have up and down functionality. It's bigger than I wanted to use on gigs, but would be perfect in the studio for browsing.
Thanks for getting me on the right path!
