The paradox of choice, productivity and visualising my rig now I have gone 'virtual'

    So, something to bring in the new year for you - I read a lot of threads about people wanting to 'give up' the Kemper and being overwhelmed by choice. This sort of thing is not exclusive to Kemper. It is something which is the paradox of choice we have with modern gear. Too many options.


    I don't know about you all but I find these things about myself:


    - I like some choice but I find too many options spoil my workflow
    - I am a visual person and find abstract patches and saved data to muddle my mind


    I realised that I was most productive when I had very little money to spend on gear and I would make the best use of the tools I had. I wrote lots of songs during this time. Using a cheap amp and a couple of pedals. My band got a record deal with those songs. Many years later I got more and more gear and then I had lots of options and patching and re patching stompboxes became the creativity killer. So I wanted something with convenience.


    Before I got the Kemper I always wanted the sound of my gear with the added convenience of no patch cables and easy switching between sounds. Line 6 never gave me that, Digitech never gave me that, Eleven rack didn't give me that. You see I could go on. It was always about the sound.


    With the Kemper I have the sound and convenience now. But I also have the other thing which comes with rack or multi effects units - options. Oh dear. The options.I hear many people complain that there are too many options.


    So convenience and options can kind of cancel themselves out productivity wise.


    But....with that in mind I have chosen to limit myself to a handful of actual amps rather than flick through thousands of profiles. I thought I would look at this as an actual amp collection.


    Since I have had the Kemper I have started writing several songs in a short space of time because of the convenience and sound quality combined. But I have also done so because I have chosen to limit myself within the Kemper.


    So I thought. I would like particular amps in my collection to write songs with. But no more than about 5 guitar amps. And one bass amp. If I had a physical collection of amps I would never have over this many anyway. So why should I have more? Because I can? Is that a good reason?


    Really it is great that there are potentially thousands of profiles - but that is only so you can get your collection of amps. Not a reason to flick through and try more and try more and try more etc. Think about it - if you went and bought an amp from a store you wouldn't go and return it and get another one a few days later when you got 'bored' with it. The paradox of choice stifles your creativity. At least it does mine.


    So I went and I found the best profile of each of those amps for my small self enforced 'collection' and saved those to my favourites. When I say the 'best' did I try hundreds of each amp? No - I tested a handful then picked a keeper. Then I created a locked stompbox chain. In reality I would not change my stompboxes every time I plug in to a new amp. So why would I do this on the Kemper?


    Now bear in mind. I am not talking about covers bands here. I can understand you would need totally different chains for different styles and songs. I am talking about all you songwriters and original bands out there. Sticking to your rig - your sound.By all means you can use the Kemper to go on a history lesson and a fun covers session now and again - but when you want to write songs you don't need that distraction of so many amps.


    So I got my handful of amps and my locked stomp box chain. So I also thought that I am a visual person - how do I deal with that - I want to be able to see those amps and stomps so I can at a glance know what my options are. So I created this:


    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_La-Dzy2mQAZlJnSjRBY2wwM28/view?usp=sharing


    It may seem silly to some but I like to see what I have at my disposal. I am a visual person - a preset name or lights do not do it for me - I want an at a glance guide. As if I had a room of gear ready to use. I may update the picture with preset numbers for the pre amps.


    Now I don't feel as overwhelmed by the number of profiles etc. You may think this is silly but I am a strong believer in making the best use of the tools you have and not going too far down a rabbit hole of tweaking and options.


    This is not to say I will not try other amps in future, or not switch stomps in and out now and again - but I will try and keep to my core 'collection' in the main - at least for now while I attempt to get this EP finished!!


    So if any of you are struggling with your writing and recording - try and look at the Kemper a bit differently. Try and limit yourself. It certainly helps me and I hope it will help you.


    Now if I can keep the guitar GAS in check I will really be making progress.... :)


    I hope this shared experience has been useful for at least one of you. Once the KFC comes out my setup will be complete!

    Good post. recording deadlines are also a great help in focusing the mind and not straying too far from a select number of trusted profiles. of course the temptation of fresh new rigs being offered all the time is often hard to resist and i suppose a counterpoint view would be that new rigs/sounds/fx etc stimulate the mind and can lead to something interesting songwriting wise.

    When I 1st got my KPA all I seemed to do was tweak and chase profiles. But now 2 years down the line I've got my trusted profiles I do little tweaking and have become more efficient with the KPA. The same was for me when I first entered the world of pro tools I thought every new plugin was going to make my next song a hit lol now I have my go to plugin chains and I know what to use for a certain sound effect etc. I think once you learn the piece of equipment and are comfortable with how it works and its limitations you will be a guru in no time :)

    I have always been very restrictive to myself, staying on a few profiles only.
    When I try new profiles it's like going to a shop.
    I turn on my profiler for that purpose alone, enter the shop, so to speak, try profiles and evaluate them.
    Then leave the shop again.
    Next rehearsal I'm back to my usual profiles, there is very little change.

    Thanks for the responses - all useful and good points. I really think this sort of thing is important as ultimately most of us are musicians and songwriters - in the modern era sometimes we can forget that (and I sound very old saying that but I am not!).

    I only really use the delay and reverb block in the Kemper. Everything else is a pedal on my board. I have 59 profiles on my Kemper, and I've got five profiles of my own that I use, and two bass amp profiles that are stored as snapshots - meaning I get quick access to the main profiles I need.


    No problems with too much choice here. I just deliberately limit myself to a setup and write songs.

    I tend to flit around a few profiles each time I turn the Kemper on initially, but once I've found one that inspires I stick with that for the rest of the session. My tastes change day to day.


    It's pretty rare for me to use anything more than reverb these days. When I first got into guitar I was an fx junkie, they're a lot of fun, but it becomes too much trouble if you don't have a tech.

    Excellent post !
    We do use only 2-5% of our brain capability , we do use only so little from our computer capability , so the same thing with Kemper...
    Sadly , I agree that new and new tools just killing our music....but we live in such a (good) times for guitarists.
    I am using browse mode as a library , from where I am pulling my favoured rigs to performance mode .
    I play only in Performance mode , currently have only 17 of them , meaning about 18 amps in total .
    In browse mode still keeping 600 of them, but it will be soon erased , as I met about 30 Performance modes...

    1988 Branko Radulovic Hand Made Strat in Macedonia (SFRJ)

    2006 Steve Vai vwh moded with SS frets and Sustainac 2006 (Japan)

    2008 Fender YJM , moded (USA)

    2010 Tom Andersons Drop Top 2010 (made in California)

    2017 Charvel GG sig Caramelised Ash (USA)

    2022 Gibson ES 335 2011 Custom Shop Cherry of course ( Memphis)

    Actually, I had just found the link, but knew about the paradox, first hand, as you did. Since music is my only source of income, I tend to buy a lot of product, rather than give money away in taxes. Because of this, my choices are insane, as I play guitar synth as well. But I am rethinking all of this because of this paradox. What makes it even crazier, is that I prefer to travel light to my gigs, so most of it stays in my studio, and i literally have barely scratched the surface with most of my gear, cause I am gigging a lot. On top of it all, I feel un satisfied with what the gear won't do, just as in the TED video. In the case of my beloved Kemper, I am going to actually try to use very few amps, so I spend more time playing and creating. Also, I wish to sell some of my guitars, cause none of them have everything I desire, and then just have one built with everything I do want. I am sick of GAS, as it is a symptom of creative constipation!

    Yes I really do think that you have hit the nail on the head - creative constipation!!


    I really do think back to my prolific song writing days when I had nothing but a cheap amp and a few pedals. I really just got on with it.


    The fact is the Kemper and similar gear is great - and can actually make you more productive if you limit yourself . However, it suffers from a multitude of choice - which for musicians who want to be productive - is a bad thing.


    Then there is a layer on top of that which I think you touched on. That is regretting the gear choices you made and wanting to buy something else that appears to be better.


    I find grass is greener syndrome with audio gear is prolific. People who say 'well I sold my DD20 delay pedal for a memory man, then I sold the memory man and bought a DD20 again, then I sold it for a strymon, but then I sold the strymon and got the eventide and ended up selling them both and getting the DD20 again'.


    I find myself on ebay and youtube and forums looking at endless delay or reverb pedal demos even though I have a t rex replica and an RV5 and DD20. All brilliant pedals. But now I am like - hmmm, Strymon Timeline!! But think of the presets and options on that thing!


    Most of us can only afford to buy one or two amazing tube amps. Now the Kemper has thousands inside it. It is like opening Pandora's box. This is not a dig at the Kemper. But a serious question that musicians should be asking themselves.


    I really think this is an interesting topic. I certainly think that Kemper minimalism is something which I will be trying my best to practice. Someone mentioned having 18 profiles they use. Personally that is way too much for me. I think 5 guitar amps and one Bass amp will be my setup. And I will try and stick to it.

    I agree with this concept, too much of a good thing. I choose my amps for my guitars and the sound I need for what I play. Basically it comes down to the real amps I own and a couple of the holy grails I have always wanted. Make or find the best profile of that amp,Then I dial in MY sound.


    If you wanted, you could spend all of your time aduitioning amps and never playing. Its funny, my keyboard player rags on me that I have this Kemper full of amp profiles and he only hears me play the same one all the time,lol

    I went through mine when it had 500 profiles. I then took some time each night for a few weeks to listen closely to the profiles through headphones and through my monitors. I ended up cutting the number of rigs down to about 250. I'll keep going through those a bit more and further taking out the ones that I don't use or won't have a use for. It's tough because so many of them have some great uses for other sounds, especially some of the special FX ones. Those are great!


    but yup....a daunting task at times when you have a machine full of different tones. It can be overwhelming.