What would be your killer feature for a Kemper 2 ?

    Quote from creative360

    Anyhow, maybe off topic, but I think that after putting feelers out a couple of years ago, the CK team is quietly experimenting behind the scenes with new/extended morph implementation and it'll be one of those things where they drop it unexpectedly while everyone is clambering and whining about something completely different that they wish the Kemper would do, and of course the new morph blows everyone's minds.

    No idea what they might be working on but you are spot on about how they will do it with whatever they are dreaming up now.


    Quote from creative360

    I'm hoping it's about a whole range of features that the internet peanut gallery (including me) never even thought of.

    That seems to be the Kemper way 😎

    Quote from karlic

    This is exactly the problem for Kemper; everyone wants something different.


    I'd settle for no screen with just a volume control and Kemper logo on the front, which would bring down production costs. It could still have all the ins and outs on the back. That way we could get it into a 1u rack and control from a phone or computer.

    If i can have all the other things, then I would be fine with this as well lol

    What do you mean here? The KPA can of course already do Stereo effects so Stereo amp means dual amps?


    Also, what do you feel its really needed for? Personally I believe mono is still better for live and for recording I prefer double tracking...

    Quote from pippopluto

    Well, in an interview CK stated that "A Kemper 2 will be at some stage unavoidable", or something very similar
    :)

    We all see that for a couple of years now :)

    Reading all the discussions, I see, there are some people saying "We don't need all the stuff you require", but: They seem to be very traditional in there sound shaping. That is ok! Many of the features came by software updates, like the ability of acting as an interface, which was a big NO for some people because they feared a cost increase. And we get liquid profiling. And we got all of it for free! Maybe a lot more features can be enabled (MIDI over USB???)

    Maybe there should just be a more powerful version of a Kemper, when limits are reached, like: Dual amp use, true stereo, more FX, looping options (*peering to axe fx with feedback loops in delays*) and I would no longer think about selling my two kempers for one... *other thing*

    All the workflow is fine, but in fact, there are limits that mark the actual kpa is a bit outdated.


    Aaaaaaaand... what I forgot: There are two thing of which I'm sure that they would be THE advantage for Kemper:

    - Back in the early 2000s, there were some Pedals (GNX) from DigiTech, that could even blend between two amp sounds (they called that "morphing") That would be a killer thing.

    - These pedals also had two built-in LFOs that could be assigned to FX parameters. Neither Axe FX nor Neural DSP seems to have such nice features, so GO FOR IT!!!

    Edited once, last by jojo3110 ().

    Seems like we go in circles in this discussion :).


    When you break down the KPA product and its competition, seems like things can be broken into 2 markets, and a few categories:


    The two markets are Recording and home production, and live gigs.


    The categories are:


    1) Sound Quality

    2) Ease of Use

    3) Functionality

    4) Marketability


    Things like multiple amps, graphical routing (multiple series parallel paths, etc), more effects, etc all go into "Functionality".


    Where KPA has shined has always been sound quality and ease of use. For gigging, it has flat out been the best thing on the market (IMO) for quite some time and continues to be to this day. For ease of use, among its completion, it is by far the easiest to use for live work (IMO).


    It isn't as marketable as QC or AxeIIIFX. All those shiny color routed screens are tough to compete with for the poor KPA's monochrome non-touch-screen interface.


    It isn't as functional as the QC or Axe III FX either. The routing and output capabilities of these products far exceed the KPA.


    In the past, I have advocated for a KPA Mini (ie, just scale down into a lower cost market). If anything, I feel like a simple upgrade to a color LCD could greatly improve the marketability of the KPA.


    I have always felt that the KPA is a gigging musicians tool. It doesn't need to be pretty, it just needs to sound good and be easy to use live .... and be ROCK SOLID reliable/durable.


    It is also great for people who want to record with classic amp sounds but don't want to carry around a truck full of amps.


    For those with functionality desires for multiple amps, and advanced series/parallel routing capabilities, I have never felt the KPA is the right tool for that job..... and for me, I don't want it to be.


    The KPA workflow (for me) is easy and very "amp like" (for those of us who are classic tube amp setup guys). It has just enough "Digital" work-flow capabilities to be "simple" compared to an entire pedal board of pre and post effects, yet not get crazy confusing in doing so.


    I guess what I am saying is that I am not sure I want the KPA2 to deviate too much from the formula it is currently using for success.


    I agree that a KPA2 is necessary due to manufacturing constraints. Chips become obsolete and companies just quit making them. Nothing you can do but redesign the product around new parts. If I were the product manager of the KPA I would be thinking about things like:


    1) Color LCD - Touch Screen - Soft menu buttons (marketability)

    2) Move from a 4 pre / 4 post to "n pre / n post" (functionality)

    3) Integrate WiFi and BT into the unit (functionality)

    4) Dedicated phone app (ease of use)

    5) Advanced tablet app (designed work-flow from ground up for unit operation, not rig management) (ease of use)

    6) PC rig manager (ease of use)


    The very act of using newer, more powerful, DSP chips would likely give the new KPA2 a sound quality edge over the existing KPA, but I doubt that this would be the reason people would pick the KPA2 over the KPA1.


    Keep in mind that at this point, we aren't just talking about a new product. We are talking about a new generation product line. It is likely that the "Cadillac" version would go first .... the Toaster and Foot Controller. After this, the rack, stage, and mini would need to be filled out to complete a full market product line. The existing Kabinet should be interchangeable. It would be a nice touch of the old foot controller was also compatible for those who have existing product and want to upgrade to the KPA2.


    Anyway .... those are just my 2 cents :)

    Well said and I totally agree!

    Quote from jojo3110

    Reading all the discussions, I see, there are some people saying "We don't need all the stuff you require", but: They seem to be very traditional in there sound shaping. That is ok! Many of the features came by software updates, like the ability of acting as an interface, which was a big NO for some people because they feared a cost increase. And we get liquid profiling. And we got all of it for free! Maybe a lot more features can be enabled (MIDI over USB???)

    IMO, it's not a question of cost. All the competitors do updates for free.

    The NO can be split into 2 categories ;

    - Poeple who think they won't use an option. But at the end, they recognize it's rather practical and they use it (a lot)... I remember what i said about my keyless vehicules' option ;) :D

    - Poeple who know they will not use some fonctionnality ;

    I've played with parallel Cabs/Combo on another modeler, at the end, all my preset were basics.

    For me, it brought nothing i needed.... I could have a Fender for the intro, a Marshall for the solo (so on the same "preset'") but stopped mixing amps.... Same behavior as performance....

    Quote from pippopluto

    Well, in an interview CK stated that "A Kemper 2 will be at some stage unavoidable", or something very similar
    :)

    What? He said that? =O I didn’t know that and I actually thought that CK would stray away from these questions.


    I couldn’t care less about a screen. I’ve not used the screen ever since RM was announced - only for the tuner, that is visible all the time. All I pretty much are two things.


    - A better USB solution which I have already mentioned and something Kemper support already acknowledged as being something the Kemper couldn’t do. I believe that it should be possible though.

    - A way to blend profiles or mics together. How to is irrelevant to me. In the Kemper itself, in RM, a software or even a third party software. I don’t care. This is my main wish. Being able to blend signals as I never, as a former hobby sound engineer, only used one mic for guitars. And the only option right now is a mixer between the Kemper and amp/cab. Not flexible enough. When the profile is done - it’s done. You cannot really tweak it like if you had 2-3 channels of guitar recorded. You can blend, eq and pan to your liking.


    So that’s my wish. Will some third party software company create this solution already. Come on. What are you waiting for? Easy as hell I would think. Load a bunch of profiles in a software and mix between them and export a new profile. Done. Of course….a problem with that is, if Kemper owns the right to make a file for their product.

    Quote from b_ryan

    - A way to blend profiles or mics together. How to is irrelevant to me. In the Kemper itself, in RM, a software or even a third party software. I don’t care. This is my main wish. Being able to blend signals as I never, as a former hobby sound engineer, only used one mic for guitars. And the only option right now is a mixer between the Kemper and amp/cab. Not flexible enough. When the profile is done - it’s done. You cannot really tweak it like if you had 2-3 channels of guitar recorded. You can blend, eq and pan to your liking.


    So that’s my wish. Will some third party software company create this solution already. Come on. What are you waiting for? Easy as hell I would think. Load a bunch of profiles in a software and mix between them and export a new profile. Done. Of course….a problem with that is, if Kemper owns the right to make a file for their product.

    You could pretty much achieve what you are asking by making a Direct Amp Profile and making an IR with some of the current IR software which letsnyou bland mics and cab. Then import the IR into RM. Certainly extra work but definitely doable.

    Quote from Addamone

    It could be good a mini Kemper as a pedalboard. no profiling, only reading for quick live session, to put in a guitar case.

    It would be useless to me personally. I need all the in and out connections. Cut down on them and the unit has no use for me. In fact i would want more than one send return. As many as possible actually.

    And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

    Quote from Kim_Olesen

    It would be useless to me personally. I need all the in and out connections. Cut down on them and the unit has no use for me. In fact i would want more than one send return. As many as possible actually.

    Get a Stage ;)

    If something is too complicated, then you need to learn it better

    Quote from Kellerblues

    Get a Stage ;)

    No can do. I have been a rack guy for 30 years, and need the kemper to be connected to lots of other stuff. Personal inear mix, devices that lightly expands/hacks the kemper functionality. Imagine all the audio cables and signal loss i’d get if i extracted the kemper from this setup.


    In fact even my midicontroller is wirelessly connected to the kemper. Very easy to setup.

    Quote from Kim_Olesen

    No can do. I have been a rack guy for 30 years, and need the kemper to be connected to lots of other stuff. Personal inear mix, devices that lightly expands/hacks the kemper functionality. Imagine all the audio cables and signal loss i’d get if i extracted the kemper from this setup.


    In fact even my midicontroller is wirelessly connected to the kemper. Very easy to setup.

    Guitars are day/colour coded? :)

    If something is too complicated, then you need to learn it better

    Haha 1
    Quote from Kim_Olesen

    No can do. I have been a rack guy for 30 years, and need the kemper to be connected to lots of other stuff. Personal inear mix, devices that lightly expands/hacks the kemper functionality. Imagine all the audio cables and signal loss i’d get if i extracted the kemper from this setup.


    In fact even my midicontroller is wirelessly connected to the kemper. Very easy to setup.

    Its really interesting Kim because since day one I have been a rack guy....but ( and I appreciate this isn't the case for you....as I'm using my backline less and less, because sound engineers are more used to digital stuff and therefore using foldback for the sound, that Im starting to think about a stage...I never thought it would happen...:)

    1. Faster boot time. Today we have to keep them on ups since booting up a spare takes half a song.

    2. Shorter switching lag/faster response (as an example the 20+ y.o. H&K ZenTera has a much less apparent switching lag)

    3. Ins and outs to separately profile drive pedal, preamp, power amp, and speaker+mic all in on profiling go, each part taking into account their respective impedance and response dynamics. In/out for power amp and speaker should be combo tele/speakon do easier do bass amps.

    4. Concerning the last point would also be a good built in mic pre, with phantom power.

    5. Two Dante ports (or whatever digital format rules the market when the Kemper 2 comes out). That would make it possible to stay in the digital domain longer and reduce latency, say going from a Shure ULX-D to Kemper to digital stage box back to IEM.

    6. Software wise I´d like to see pre- and post eq (studio style) included in the amp section and console style eq/comp in the cab block. And I´d like to have back the possibility to bypass the rig EQ, to easier compare changes.

    7. A foot controller with scribble LCD´s over each button would be nice. But I hope a Kemper 2 would keep the compatibility with the remote and original profiler rigs.


    Regarding #3 above; some people never do their own profiles, some do their profiles in the studio, while I as a backline tech do mine on the road on stages. It would make sense to offer the profiling I/O's as a separate module, maybe to go in the "luggage compartment" like the Camplifier or, even better, as a full width/depth unit to attach underneath the profiler (that would effectively reduce size if you don't travel with it on). Connection between profiler an I/O unit should then be class compliant USB C so you could use it as a stand alone unit to keep in your studio if you want, to use directly from you computer.


    And while we are at it, with add on modules:

    8. Choice of add on power amp in mono, stereo or wet/dry/wet configurations respectively. Module attachable underneath as mentioned above (full width/depth.


    I would really like to finally have full transparency on the profiling process. I'd like to be told "This is how the process works and therefore you need to do/play exactly this during the refine stage to get the best result" for example. Now we are somewhat kept in the dark as to how it works and what affects the result and we end up blaming the product for our poor profiling results.



    I´d really like Kemper to stay the proffessional choice when everybody else is doing smaller and smaller gadgets lacking necessities like effects, digital options and general connectivity.

    Edited once, last by Edmund ().

    Like 1
    Quote from Wheresthedug

    You could pretty much achieve what you are asking by making a Direct Amp Profile and making an IR with some of the current IR software which letsnyou bland mics and cab. Then import the IR into RM. Certainly extra work but definitely doable.

    That’s actually a very good point

    Quote from Edmund

    1. Faster boot time. Today we have to keep them on ups since booting up a spare takes half a song.

    2. Shorter switching lag/faster response (as an example the 20+ y.o. H&K ZenTera has a much less apparent switching lag)



    I´d really like Kemper to stay the proffessional choice when everybody else is doing smaller and smaller gadgets lacking necessities like effects, digital options and general connectivity.

    Can I ask - why is boot up time with a spare an issue? The reasons I say so are:

    1) Mine has only ever crashed once mid song - known issue, now resolved, so extremely rare event for me

    2) I only play pubs and have no KPA backup ( I have an amped 3 to finish the gig). If I was playing such critical gigs that I had a spare Kemper, I would have it powered up ready anyway. For me the use case is so small - a player than plays at a level that they need a kemper backup but not have it racked and powered up. If its not Am I missing something?


    I also don't get the switching lag. My sound changes are pretty quick, no major lag. I'm not saying there isn't a lag and I've never measured it, but I don't notice it. Defo not an issue with your KPA ?


    Totally agree with your last point!