Posts by RosboneMako

Quote from Rispsira

But if i had to wish for an update, instead of new features I personally would prefer a little improvement on the profiling process.

I agree the process could be a little more in depth. It is made simple for good reason but an ADVANCED option would be great.

I would like to know more about the REFINE option as well. It seems unclear to just sit and play chords? How loud? Hard picking? Dissonant? Palm Mutes? Without knowing what it is really doing you cant adjust your playing to get a better result.

I would like to see VU meters, gain adjustments, and possibly a spectrum analyzer on the LCD screen to get the gain/freq in the best place. Britt has stated (paraphrasing here) he knows he got the profile right when it creates settings close to the defaults in the amp section. As of late I have been using Goldwave (my personal fav) to see a spectrum analyzer view but a better analyzer on the Kemper would be great to help see big resonances etc.

Just my noob opinion:

Sometimes when you profile, you should use a less is more approach. You may get better results with distortion and bass when you set it where you like then back it off about 10-20%.

If the profile is made with too much bass, it may be hard to pull it out. It is easier to put it back in with some EQ in the profile. The Kemper also seems to have a hard time dealing with bass. Like the bass is compressed. So heavy bass profiles may sound dead. Use less then add to perfection after.

Another thing to do is turn the definition UP for boomy or muddy profiles. The definition control is the boomy/resonance type adjustment. It pulls the bass out before the amplifier so the bass does not get amplified/distorted as much.

Low = Bassy Fender type sound

High = Tight bottom end for Metal etc.

Distortion goes the same way. Too much may blur the profile or make the frequency response weird. Its better to use less then add a little with the gain knob, pure boost, compressor, or dist pedal.

In electrical engineering filter terms, 1st and 2nd order generically means how many circuit elements were used to make the filter. Generically each element should add a sharper cutoff. Something like 6 dB/Octave or 20 dB/Decade. So every time you double the frequency you will get 6dB cut or about half the amplitude.

See WIKI:

Wikipedia Roll Off

Here is the high frequency cut (Roll off) for a first order Low Pass filter.

You can see that from 10 Hz to 100 Hz (a decade) we are losing 20 dB of signal.

If this were a 2nd order filter you would get 40 dB of loss for every decade of frequency.

Nobles ODR-mini on Musicians Friend Stupid Deal... act fast... $59 ... today only..... I got one coming. Time to see what all the fuss is about

I vaguely remember reading that the Kemper should never be used thru a hub. Direct connection only. But I dont see it mentioned in the manual. So maybe I am just insane

If someone told me this track was on Passion and Warfare, I would totally believe it. Another awesome one man! I keep wanting to do something that really shows off the Kemper but have not written anything I like for that purpose yet. This track is a great tech demo as well as being a great song.

This one is killer Joe! Thanks for rig info also

What we really need is a Kemper VST plug in so we could use profiles in the DAW. And to really blow our nipples off, we could profile our profilers

Maybe check the OUTPUT section and verify PURE CABINET is off?

Quote from chu

They're salesmen, not reps.

I used to sell car parts for minimum wage and people would expect me to be able to troubleshoot and tell them how to fix their cars. All you can hope is Sweetwater is better then the rest and actually pay to train these people. But they probably do not have 12 interfaces at home and years of personal experience with them. One thing about Sweetwater is the sales people are usually there for a long time. That may indicate they are paying them well because they are training them and want them to stay???

Quote from halipino

For me brother, I get dizzy after 3 choices... when a webpage has 30 of them I get a headache lol

Me too.

Coming from an electrical engineering background I find it really hard to think someone cant make a decent two input device on the cheap. And the key to these expensive units business models is there is no way to prove otherwise. Its a sound. You either hear or dont. Or think you do because you spent so much money on it. The more something cost the more you will see glowing revues for it. My company used to sell a very expensive device for audiophiles that did nothing. But people thought "it was the best" so they paid for it. And they paid a lot.

I went with a Behringer UMC404HD. 4 Inputs and inserts for each channel so I can add a compressor/gate etc. No SPDIF. Got it before the Kemper. And my ears are trash so it could sound horrible. I would not know. How good are your ears??? Its also really cheap so I can get several of them over the years for future proof.

Kemper, Behringer, Sennheiser... I am starting to see a trend.

I love Sweetwater but I am not a fan of them using Google to track your online activity on their site. I may stop using them altogether. Everytime I go somewhere I see a list of all the things I was just browsing. And that really pisses me off.

This is a great question for Kemper. I too would like to know the differences.

Would be nice to get a file layout definition also so someone could write some code to modify the cab file. Maybe that is something Kemper plans down the line or maybe they feel the CAB Hi/Low/Character/Pure Cab adjustments are enough? I dont know enough about IRs to say.

Since an IR is a wave file showing the frequency response and resonances of an impulse signal, you can load it into a sound editor and EQ it. I use the handy tool Goldwave. You could also write some code to make your own IR and create some other-worldly thing.

It would be nice to see why some CABs are really loud and full of dynamic range and some are not. Could maybe adjust that also in some form of CABMAKER editor.

Quote from Dynochrome

1) I've never had a problem with "fizz" from a Kemper. Fizz is a byproduct of too much gain. I find with a Kemper I can use lower amounts of gain below the fizzy threshold and keep sustain and fullness. It's like the entire amp has more sustain without gain or hindering dynamics. The way it feels is what makes me love mine the most.

2) Are you using the compressor pre amp or post amp? Which slot?

1) The fizz is definitely on high gain stuff and is more a matter of taste. Since speakers naturally roll off around 5-6k it just lets you tweak it more to how you think a real speaker would sound. Death metal you may want all the fizz. I am starting to believe the Kemper over exaggerates the frequency response of CABINETs when the profile is made. This may be a marketing decision to get it closer to sounding a way your brain may expect to hear it. But I constantly roll the CABINET CHARACTER back to get a flatter freq response. Like the SPACE and PURE CABINET settings.

2) The compressor is always PRE amp. My default effects for high gain in order are:

GEQ - High cut set around 2.5k to reduce noise. Other freqs to adjust pickup/amp color. 80Hz down -3dB if woofy/muddy.

NOISE GATE - Usually 4:1. Some profs are low noise so I rarely use the 2:1.

COMPRESSOR - All dials between 12-1 Oclock. Adjust mix for tone. Volume set to add gain (pure boost).

Empty - Sometimes a screamer or OC but they color the sound a lot, so I may make a separate prof if used. Nobles when?

AMP

CABINET

SEQ - Tone shape and the 6k fizz cut.

TREBLE BOOSTER - Low mix value and tone set to fill in missing freqs in profile.

CRYSTAL DELAY/SPACE - May add ducking to emphasize long sustaining notes.

REVERB

Sometimes I swap the SEQ and BOOSTER depending on who they are interacting with each other or if the booster high freq needs tamed.

I am a noob and still learning everyday. But with this line up I feel I can dial anything in to where I like it.

Yesterday I made an edit of a tone on the Rig Exchange:
PROFILE EDIT TEST

But after hearing it on multiple speaker setups I was not going to post it. But we are here talking sound so...

I just run thru a bunch of play styles for a high gain sound that show me how the profile reacts. There are three setups: original, original modified, and cab swap . Most are normal tuning, then drop D, then drop C.

BugeraPlexiTest.zip

Quote from Dynochrome

Trying other $3,000.00 &$4,000.00 amps will make you come home and beg your Kemper for forgiveness and take you back.

I agree. My taste is a little different than most. But every profile I hear of a REAL WORLD AMP sounds muddy and like its being played thru a tube because of the cab+mic situation. But the Kemper lets me tweak the cab settings, add some EQ, a treble booster and voila it sounds amazing! So I have no great desire to drop $3-4k on a single sound amp that will need a bunch of pedals etc to get it where I want it anyway.

As of late I also find this helps:

1) Having the Studio EQ (parametric) set around 5500 - 6500 Hz with a high Q (narrow) filter, to reduce the distortion fizz, works wonders.

2) Adding the M.Britt™ Compressor settings with a little gain boost makes high gain profiles roar.

It would not be practical to even try these things with a real amp.

NOTES:

- M.Britt™ comp settings are all dials around 12 O'clock then adjust the mix to dial in the thickness it adds.

I have never used one but it is on my list to get. I know a guy who swears by the Nobles and states it is the secret sauce for many studio musicians.

It would probably be a good idea to go over the output settings as well. My Kemper came stock with the SPACE effect active (2.5) on the output. That makes a huge difference when playing loud and in stereo like I always do.

Or maybe check the INPUT settings for Noise gate and sensitivity. Maybe your gain is being soaked up in there which would make all your profiles sound weak and wonky.

I have not messed with the global settings enough to think of anything else.

Quote from OneEng1

If there wasn't a market for a smaller, less functional foot all-in-one higher end guitar processor, Line 6 and Fractal wouldn't be making them.

I am not that great of a guitarist. But I love playing. I never even looked at a Kemper because it was priced way too high for me. I dont play out so I cant see spending $1800 for a Kemper. I set an arbitrary limit of $500 for a modeller.

One day I was watching Herman Li stream on Twitch and he had a Kemper and it sounded amazing. My wife said why dont you get one of those. I said because its like 3X what I want to pay. She said just get it. If it was not for her pushing me I would not have a Kemper.

The point is having something closer to $600-$1000 would definitely get some attention. If it was $800 I would have bought one several years ago.

And I would probably have 2 or 3 now. Because after getting the first one I would want a second to profile my edited profiles. And a 3rd for playing in other places in the house.

So hearing Herman Li and seeing the Helix come out at $1500 actually made the Kemper sale. So you can thank Line6 for the sale If the Helix was $500 I would probably have that instead.

But what can you take off the large Kemper to make it cost less? It kind of needs everything it has.

Sounds like something changed. I am on my Kemper about 3 hours a day minimum and dont see that ever ending But I love tweaking and tweak all day long. Then like you, come back the next day and go Ewwww thats kinda bad. But I think it is because I am getting better at it each time.

What are you playing thru the most? Studio monitors? Cab?

Every device has different EQ.

What changed?

New guitar? New strings?

What volume?

Try to play at the same volume each day. Speakers and our ears change at different volumes. I struggled a little before I started trying to tweak at the same volume each time. Then test it at different volumes. And no matter what louder is always sounds amazing.

Is there a chance the Kemper volume is too loud and clipping in a device you are using to monitor. I see profiles once in a while on the Rig Exchange and they are wayyyyy tooo loud. You stated even headphones sound bad so probably not.

Quote from o0NAC0o

Another thing i figured out is: When you are searching for something in rig exchange/local-folder

I crashed RM yesterday trying to search for something that it had no results for. But I dont know if that is real reason it crashed. It may have been trying to search as I typed each character and just got confused. Like it was mid search then started a new search...?

Quote from Johndoebh

Turning the definition parameter down, for me, it gives the feeling of looseness of the distortion.

Yes for 99.5% of high gain profiles you want the definition set to 10. This removes bass from being sent into the AMP section. Having the bass freqs being amplified/distorted creates that loose flubby sound. So you focus the distortion in the higher frequency. You can also add an EQ before the amp and adjust the distortion color/voice even more. For example you may want a boost around 400-800 Hz for some thickness and turn the HIGH up for more bite.

If the Distortion has too much grit/hair (generically sounds too distorted) you will want to adjust the CLARITY setting. More CLARITY expands the waveform a little so you quiet the mid volume distortion. So you get less Buzz Saw and more articulated notes. If you add a lot of CLARITY you will want to add a little more GAIN to make up for the cuts you just made.

If you are going for full-on death metal you will want to add a little of the clean sound with the AMP MIX. It clears up the sound and adds mid freq thickness that you need when detuned heavily. Sometimes reducing the AMP GAIN and adding a boost/dist lets you color up the clean signal a little so you are not mixing a pure clean and AMP signal. But for super high gain stuff the pure clean signal actually works really well.

And adding a LOT of the clean signal in MIX actually will move a high gain amp into super cool sounding crunch or blues tone.

Having an EQ before the amp also lets you adjust the clean pure signal as well.

For strong metal I may also alter the CABINET Hi/Low settings. Usually turning the LOW down a little and the HI up to around +.3. The LOW setting is not super touchy. The high setting is more touchy as it covers a lot more frequency range so small changes are needed. I tweak the HI until it moves the speaker resonance into a frequency I want to get more bite/clarity. Reducing the CHARACTER setting may reduce the speaker resonant frequencies and add more high end also. Always worth a quick check.

For more of a stack on 11 sound I add a TREBLE BOOSTER after the AMP. Not so great for super high gain but for all other amps styles it can really help. I set the MIX to 50% and adjust the tone to help push the frequency you want. Then I adjust the MIX up from 0 until you get a nice even frequency response.