Future KPA owner thinking about the optimal setup

    Hi everyone!


    First, let me introduce myself: I'm Mauro from Switzerland and ordered a PowerRack with the Remote five weeks ago. Unfortunately I have to wait a few more weeks until the gear arrives (there seems to be a supply bottleneck but regarding the unbeatable price, I'm fine with it)... As you can imagine, the waiting is driving me crazy and that's why I'm reading half of the forum and all the manuals since about three weeks (so I hope that I'll be prepared when my KPA finally arrives :D ) It's just unbelievable how you guy help each other out! The Kemper community seems to be one-of-a-kind regarding problem solving, sharing news and tips and so on :thumbup: I've found an answer to almost every question that came up during my night shifts of reading and thinking about the Kemper ;) So, finally I registred to the website to be part of this community and to be ready and able to download all the stuff in the download section.


    Now to my general thoughts:
    I was thinking on how my optimal setup would look like. So along with the KPA I ordered two Yamaha HS8 studio monitors. The idea is to connect the PowerRack with my Saffire PRO 14 and from there witch the studio monitors and my MacBook. I thought of going from the PowerRack to ---> my Saffire via SPDIF and from there to ---> the two studio monitors. Now, what would be the best solution without having to unplug and plug any cables to do the following (or is there such a solution at all)?


    • DAW for recording.
    • Easy setup to jam and practice (also with backing tracks via smartphone) without having to boot and connect my MacBook.
    • Listening to music etc. on my MacBook through the studio monitors.


    So, here are my questions (I'm more or less a noob when it comes to audio interfaces, recording, routing etc...):

    • Do I have to disconnect the cables running from the audio interface to the monitors each time when I want to play the Kemper without booting the computer and plug them to the main outs of the Kemper? Or would it still work when the routing includes the audio interface without the MacBook being connected?
    • Do I have to plug the smartphone to the return and alternative inputs of the Kemper (with an y-cable) or can I also plug it to the audio interface? What would be better/easier?
    • When I want to listen to some music on my computer through the studio monitors, does the MacBook has to be connected to the audio interface via usb or would it also work to just plug the y-cable mentioned above from the MacBook to the Saffire?

    Please forgive me for any stupid questions... :wacko:


    Would be cool to hear, what you guys would consider to be the most simple setup/cabling that would avoid to unplug a lot of cables for the different settings.


    Thanks and hopefully I will be able to help some guys out sooner or later and become a helpful member of the community! But first I have to get my KPA ;)

    Quote from MaFaDiC

    So, here are my questions (I'm more or less a noob when it comes to audio interfaces, recording, routing etc...):

    • Do I have to disconnect the cables running from the audio interface to the monitors each time when I want to play the Kemper without booting the computer and plug them to the main outs of the Kemper? Or would it still work when the routing includes the audio interface without the MacBook being connected?
    • Do I have to plug the smartphone to the return and alternative inputs of the Kemper (with an y-cable) or can I also plug it to the audio interface? What would be better/easier?
    • When I want to listen to some music on my computer through the studio monitors, does the MacBook has to be connected to the audio interface via usb or would it also work to just plug the y-cable mentioned above from the MacBook to the Saffire?

    Hi @MaFaDiC, welcome to the community!


    1) You don't have to boot computer to play Kemper through Saffire-->Monitors, in my case I just power on my audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, powered by 9V adapter) I power on monitors and then I can play my Kemper which is connected to audio interface using S/PDIF.
    2) I think it would be better to connect smartphone to interface - what do you want to achieve at this step anyway?
    3) Keep your Mac connected to Saffire by USB and Monitors connected to Saffire by regular cables.


    Does it help?


    *edited by mod*
    quote shortened to the relevant parts

    Quote from skoczy

    Hi @MaFaDiC, welcome to the community!


    1) You don't have to boot computer to play Kemper through Saffire-->Monitors, in my case I just power on my audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, powered by 9V adapter) I power on monitors and then I can play my Kemper which is connected to audio interface using S/PDIF.
    2) I think it would be better to connect smartphone to interface - what do you want to achieve at this step anyway?
    3) Keep your Mac connected to Saffire by USB and Monitors connected to Saffire by regular cables.


    Does it help?

    Thanks for your reply @skoczy!
    Good to know that I don't need to boot the computer! Regarding no. 2, I want to use my smartphone for backing tracks and as an metronome (via app on my phone) to play along. So the idea is that I would hear my guitar and the backing tracks through the monitors.

    There ale plenty of backing track on guitarbackingtrack.com as well as on youtube. There are also online metronomes, but yeah both solutions require to boot your Mac. Anyway when you will get you Kemper, you will want to record in DAW. Booting up Mac does not take long ;)

    Quote from skoczy

    There ale plenty of backing track on guitarbackingtrack.com as well as on youtube. There are also online metronomes, but yeah both solutions require to boot your Mac. Anyway when you will get you Kemper, you will want to record in DAW. Booting up Mac does not take long

    Yeah, you're right. Nevertheless I would like to plug in my smartphone from time to time because I'm used to the metronom on it. But as you mentioned, this shouldn't be a problem then. And I'm sure that I will get used to work a lot more with my Mac as soon as I'll have the Kemper. For now it just seems so complicated to me thats why I was looking for solutions without connecting my Mac to the interface :D


    Thanx again @skoczy!

    Quote from Zapman

    I would check further into it before plugging in. The split takes the left and right channels into a mono tip, just like your guitar connector. You would just have to balance the right/left channel volume via the Saffiire.

    Thanks for the tip @Zapman! I've already bought a y-cable. Would you plug the two ends of the cable into the Saffire inputs like skoczy suggested or into the return and alternative input on the back of the Kemper?