a true IR is essentially an EQ curve unique to that speaker, cab and mic selection. The cab portion of a Kemper profile is still pretty much that but the eq curve has some amp properties baked into it. Less so if its a studio profile but still not as perfect on paper as an isolated capture of a speaker IR.
Helix actually models the cabinet and mic technology so instead of selecting a 1x12 Jensen and sm57 IR file, you can just dial in those settings to varying degrees of success.
That’s not true. A lot of AX8’s were made in China. They switched production after a while. I had one from the US and one from China.
Ah, I didn't know they switched. Strange then that the Ax8 had such a long wait list unless Fractal decided to kill its production long before its end of life.
just a wild guess but all the Fractal units up to the FM3 were made in the US and capital investment and rate of production was a limiting factor.
The FM3 was/is the unit that's supposed to introduce the masses to Fractal Audio. Setting up production in China gave them access to mass production at a low cost to hit a very competitive price point. The problem was that just as the FM3 was set to release, the US and China went on a trade war. Then you had a once a century plague. On top of that you have the strange but to be expected production hiccups(headphone jack less units) and then the typical firmware issues that comes with new software.
I'm sure Kemper had challenges but it just seemed like a perfect storm for Cliff and the people at Fractal Audio. My thought is they'll weather the storm, a huge supply of FM3s will hit the market and you'll start to see them everywhere next year.
I had the same issue. Somewhere along they way, a volume pedal got activated through midi and was needing my signal. Everything sounded like I had the volume rolled back to 7 in the guitar.
In the end, I couldn't figure out where I messed things up so I did a factory reset. Solved the problem. I wonder if there's a global midi setting for wah or volume?
I don't think any of the drive pedals get you an authentic Gilmour tone. His Hiwatt was really a clean amp that took pedals well. You need a great fuzz which the Kemper cant do imo. Not only is the fuzz on the kemper not great but I dont think the input impedance matches what a fuzz face actually is. Then you have Colorsound Overdrives and Big Muffs to get the later stuff. Gilmour is pedal junkie so you need real pedals or something like a Fractal or Helix to cover those things. Who knows, maybe new Kemper drive pedals will get us there. The effects are good enough .
I have the powercab plus. The speaker models are good, very usable. The FRFR settings not so much in my opinion. If you're looking for a 1x12 cab and not an FRFR solution it may be a good option. I also incorporate a Helix Rack to control the powercab with the Kemper connected to the Helix. In that sense it's great. My only real gripe is that it's a close back 1x12. I played for years on open back 1x12 or 2x12 fender style cabinets and that's what I'm used to hearing. I assume the problem is the cab positioning related to the room I'm using it in at the moment.
If the powercab will be stationary and not leaving home, I'd probably get the 2x12. If I plan to lug this thing around, the 1x12 is just so darn convenient.
Consider the powercab plus a jack of all trades, master of none. Great price, especially used. There's a Tone Junkies shootout on youtube where it gets a lot of praise. I think you can also use midi to control the speaker models so you might be able to do that from the Kemper Control.
Yep. Page 266 in the manual. You can change performances and rig slots within the performance via midi. I did it using my Helix as a controler.
these are really nice. Thank you!
thanks for posting this. Always wanted to try an Origin but never had the time. Really dig that first Origin profile.
Something sort of similar happened once. I was trying to set up for profiling, and must of got the connections wrong, I think it started a feedback loop or overloaded the input because of how I hooked it up. Whatever it was, it was bad! Then, when I switched back to just guitar, it was like you mentioned the guitar sounded choked, little to no gain compared to before, sounded really off like not getting enough signal from the guitar. Thought I had fried the Kemper. So turned it off for about an hour, turned it back on, no problems since.
That's exactly what mine sounded like. Love my Kemper but I have no explanation for why that would happen and even less for how it was resolved. For bow anyway, everything seems to be back to normal, but I'm hesitant to plug the Helix back in.
it must have been a rogue volume midi command. Plugging into the Kemper with the helix off, everything sounds good.
Hopefully that's all it was and Helix isn't constantly corrupting something in the Kemper. It'd be a shame, the Helix is really easy to set up midi commands not to mention the drive pedals are a great placeholder until Kemper gets updated.
Maybe helix is sending a volume CC? Is the Helix pedal all the way down (100% volume) when you connect the midi to the KPA?
That could be it. The helix volume pedal is set to disengage at 0%, but maybe its sending a weak signal. I'm plugged into the Kemper but helix is still connected via midi, so maybe theres something to that. I'll check.
No other way for me to describe so let me explain.
I bought a Kemper back in December and it's worked fine until a week ago. I have it integrated with a Helix Rack, the guitar & headphones go into the Rack, the kemper is connected via 4cm. Helix controls the Kemper via Midi. Everything was fine until one day last week I noticed all the rigs had a strange reverb to them. Almost like a doubler effect. Subtle, but there was a definite change that impacted everything. I unplugged everything from the Helix, connected directly to the Kemper and it was still there. After doing some factory restores, the problem was gone.
Yesterday, I connected the Helix to the input of the Kemper rather than the effects loops. Changing a couple patches on the Helix caused the Kemper to crash since it was connected via Midi. Now the Kemper sounds like the input signal is being choked. I'm skipping the Helix and going straight into the Kemper and it sounds like my guitar volume is rolled back to 6 or 7, but so far as I can tell everything is full blast.
My initial factory reset didn't fix the problem. I was going to try again today but thought I'd raise the question. Anyone have something similar happen, or thoughts on why this would happen? Anyone have midi crashes that impact the sound of your rigs?
finally got private forum access. I posted this on your wall, but adding it here in case anyone else has this question.
Regarding the Helix midi connection, once you have your midi cable going from helix to kemper, create a kemper midi preset in helix. Then hit global settings to get to the command center. Here is where you program your commands. Go to fs1, set it to the 2and midi option (toggle I think) so you can do on/off commands. MIDI Channel 1 and then use the kemper manual to get the mapping values. The min/max can just be 0 (off) and anything 1 or above (on). Repeat this until you have everything you want mapped to each foot switch. Remember to save the helix preset. You can also rename the switch and change the ring color in the helix
Once you have your midi commands stored, go back to your patch and you can start assigning helix blocks to your foot switches if you want to toggle between helix and kemper. For example, I have a helix plate reverb assigned to a foot switch that also sends a reverb on/off commands to the kemper. This gives me subtle helix reverb when the foot switch is off and more ambient reverb from the kemper when it's on.
thanks, that's what I read and it works perfectly. Problem is in Browser mode once I get to the top of my rig list, theres no way to go down. Pressing 0 from rig no 1 doesnt send you to the last one allowing you to cycle through again. Seems like a strange omission.
Edit: I didn't read 49 carefully enough. I think value 2 will get me to where I want to go. Thanks!
I've had my Kemper now for about 3 months and I'm totally digging it. I had twin boys born the same day it was delivered so competition for my attention has been fierce, lol.
I'm controlling the Kemper Rack via Midi via L6 Helix. In performance mode, I can easily jump from performance and each individual slot no problem. My question is changing rigs in Browser Mode. I can move up the browser list one at a time, or jump 5 slots, etc but I can't figure out how to go down. I want to dedicate one button to cycle up through the rig list and another button to cycle down. Is this possible?
Is your kemper still under warranty? Always good to hear positive experiences like this.
I would like a feedback effect, like the Digitech FreqOut...
...
I'd love to see this.
