Posts by EdwardArnold

  • Rig Manager 3.0 Editor

    Quote from spikey

    Never had a Kernel issue on either of my iMacs. Course I run legit software. Whats that like?

    Grey screen, rather than blue. Same thing though; an unhandled exception due to hardware or software renders it impossible for the motherboard to continue running. I’ve used a lot of Macs and they are certainly not immune to it, but it’s rare. On the flip side, I recently rediscovered a PowerBook G4 from 2004 in my loft that I haven’t used for 10 years - powered it on and it booted fine! Damned things won’t die.

  • Playing along Backing Track

    Option 2 as your guitar signal path will be shorter. This means it won’t unnecessarily go through another preamp/converter stage and will be lower latency (if your option 1 plan includes A/D D/A conversion).

    As another option a small analogue mixer could help you out. Something like an Allen&Heath ZED10 has mic inputs, stereo line inputs and USB for audio interface functionality. The difference being that you have all of the mixer routing functionality in the analogue domain (main outs, monitor out, aux send) without the need to use a separate audio interface should you want to perform basic tracking duties. I have a few small mixers for this sort of purpose, but recently I’ve just been patching playback into the aux returns on the Stage (FX returns) as it’s very convenient.

  • Removing the feet from a Profiler Stage to mount it to a board?

    Quote from PhilUK84

    I’ve got a Pedal Train Classic 1. I haven’t removed the feet, and I’ve put some low strength Velcro on the bottom of the Kemper. I’ve found I can slot the Stage onto the board and it’s in the perfect position and is easy to pull it off when I want to take it off. The vents don’t seem to be covered.


    I’ve also got an expression pedal on it.

    I’d be very grateful if you could post a photo of this as I’m looking at the Classic 1 for my stage, with an EP-1 and possibly some other bits. While I’ve got the dimensions for everything, it’s hard to visualise how much will be leftover around the edges. Thanks

  • Connection from Kemper to audio interface question???

    Quote from digbob

    spdif is easy as you dont have to care so much about the Levels,

    but to me Analog outs from the KPA sounds slightly better than spdif

    the Kemper has great soundingAD Converters

    That's interesting - I can believe it, but I guess the question is where in the signal chain the sounds diverge slightly. Not had my Stage long enough to do an AB on these yet, but I'm interested to have a go at this with some fancy measurement tools and see if I can spot anything :)

    Were you re-converting the main angle outs via a dedicated interface back into your DAW to compare?

  • Connection from Kemper to audio interface question???

    Either option is going to work, they just have different considerations. SPDIF will require a dedicated 75 Ohm cable (i.e. not just an RCA phone you have for consumer analogue equipment), and the Kemper has to be the clock master, as it can't sync to incoming clock. You'll need to pick your preferred sample rate (44.1/48 kHz etc.) to clock your DAW.


    Be careful re-clocking your Focusrite with your monitors un-muted, including sample rate and source changes as I bet it doesn't lift its output relays and will go BLAT when you do this. Better to have the Kemper on first, but this can be impractical if you've already got your computer up and booted.


    Personally, I'd go analogue from the Kemper in a simple rig like this so you can forget about the re-clocking scenario above. It would be nice if there was a sync ref input on the Kemper (word clock for example) so that it could be a slave and better integrate with other systems, but meh.

  • Connection from Kemper to audio interface question???

    As above - you should use the balanced XLR outputs from the Kemper into the TRS sockets of your interface, using XLRf-TRS cabling. Alternatively, you *may* be able to PAD the XLR/Mic inputs down on your interface to bring the level down to something that doesn't clip, or you could run the output of the Kemper into a DI box if you have one, to take bal Line down to bal Mic.


    Either of these solutions is preferable to running TS (unbal) instrument cabling as the latter doesn't reject the interference/noise that can be picked up and the level will be 6dB down from bal Line as the extra XLR pin (3) will be grounded or not connected. If this is just a quick demo recording just to get some ideas down or stick on YouTube at 128kbps I wouldn't worry too much, but if you're committing something to a recording that you're going to want to mix later, stay balanced.


    I guess you have an interface with combo XLR/Jack inputs that auto-switches between Mic and Line modes depending on the physical connector, trying to be helpful? A lot of Focusrite units are doing this now.

  • 5 Switches, so can Rig Browser be in blocks of 10 not 8?

    Rig Browser shows 8 rigs per page, in two columns. Given that the Stage has 5 footswitches, could there be 5 per column so that it tallies better? It would also reduce the number of Browser pages, which can only be a good thing. A little 'thinning' of the title bars and I'm sure you could squeeze another text line in there.

  • Kemper Stage - Loose knobs, broken stomp switches, browser push knob broken & more. Poor Quality?

    For those with potential footswitch issues straight out of the box, just try 'exercising' the switch rapidly through 50-100 presses and retest before drawing conclusions (much quicker if done by hand and easy to push as they're momentary). I say this as it resolved my issues with switches 4 and 5, which now behave perfectly. I suspect switch contacts have not been actioned much/at all because they are new will be generating some switching noise. If it was part of an analogue circuit, you'd hear the noise in the signal. If this is switch is just being interpreted as binary the noise on that signal could mean it doesn't reliably send 0 or 1, either not triggering or double-triggering on/off. This seemed to be the behaviour I had, and it quickly went away. I don't think this is poor quality componentry per se, as this is common to all electro-mechanical switches/pots/faders including those on new large-format mixing consoles I commission that just need to be used.

    If it's still broken, it's broken, but I'd give it a go first if it really is straight out of the box.

  • Profiler Stage Introduction Thread

    Anyone else mounted the Stage to a pedalboard yet? If so, photos please. Pedaltrain Classic 1 looks like it would do the trick without being unwieldy. I only have a Classic JNR at hand atm, which is too narrow. Think the Mission EP-1 could just stay on the floor as it’s already quite tall.

  • Get closer to the unplugged sound of the acoustic guitar with the Kemper. Is it possible?

    Quote from joes70

    I think the acoustic sounds of 30-year-old records sound better than the acoustic guitars recorded today on pop-rock CDs. That old sound, in my opinion, is more realistic. The only exceptions are the recordings of the great guitarists who mainly play the acoustic guitar (tommy emmanuel, andy mckee, etc.). Most acoustic recordings are too "plastic" compared to the true sound of the guitar.

    I think perhaps what you are hearing is the change in approaches to mixing and mastering, more than the changes in the way the acoustic guitars are captured. Especially in the modern pop/rock genres, there can be huge amounts of dynamic compression and filtering of frequencies to allow acoustic guitars to occupy a space in the mix, without taking away from anything else, sometimes reduced to little more than a percussive strum sound. What you hear from Andy McKee and Tommy E is the sound of a miked guitar, for sure, but their music has the guitar as the sole occupant of the complete mixed track, in terms of arrangement, dynamic range and frequency bandwidth. If you've got some specific track examples, I'll have a listen and see whether I think what I'm saying still holds true.

  • DANTE Please

    Quote from Uno4Kemper

    ... although I'm not sure his Dante vs. AVB arguments make much sense... "Dante does have some serious networking problems which are being solved in AVB"? Dante uses DSCP to give audio higher priority - something supported by any decent switch, without need for a more expensive AVB capable switch.


    But when you say "DANTE please", why not ask for the most obvious (which I believe would be yet another step ahead of the competition for Kemper): plug your guitar into the Remote, and have the signal streamed through Dante over the network cable to the Profiler, along with the Remote commands. Perfectly feasible - no latency - no risk for network priority issues - one single cable to the rack...

    Yeah, I disagree with much of what this chap is saying too. Dante has no serious networking problems, otherwise most of the national broadcasters I work with around the world would be in trouble. DSCP queuing is indeed supported by off-the-shelf switches. Prioritising e.g. clock multicast data is only relevant when the network bandwidth is limited, and it's easy to provide sufficient bandwidth across even very large networks to avoid this, but when required, it's there. All professional Dante networks I encounter are physically separate, or separated by switch VLANs, but QoS and DSCP is utilised on occasions where network traffic is mixed (I see this more in music studio networks with lower channel counts).