Then on top of all that yes you should in theory get even lower latency as you're removing a stage of DA/AD and of course there'll be slightly less noise introduced through an all digital pathway, than using the XLR/Jack outs (but it'll be very subtle, you might notice it if you're layering up a bunch of tracks and have golden ears).
The KPA's analog Master Outputs are delayed 15 samples with respect to its S/PDIF out on my box. A good reason not to monitor both at the same time.
-djh
Hey! One of my songwriter friends runs a studio in Nashville; I picked up a couple of Gibsons at the factory store when I was there. Best musicians' airport ever; they understand what it means to check in a guitar!
-djh
Holy cow, never would have guessed. Thanks! How'd you know that?
-djh
I could almost understand if Kemper didn't want to make it easy to extract something like an impulse out of a kipr - I mean, no sense helping the competition. But the other way? I dunno, maybe the Kemper cabs are a set of EQ matching profiles, or perhaps something more dynamic in nature that wouldn't recognizably round-trip as a similar impulse and Kemper would rather not have people looking at that too closely.
I'm going to try profiling some cab sim plugins this weekend and then extracting their impulses from the Kemper just to see what comes out. I'll report back what I find, unless someone else has already tried this.
-djh
I can't believe I'm asking this. But - what is it? A farm tool? A TO-5 transistor with bat wings? A Japanese Shinto torii with parasols?
-djh
Feel free not to download, guys. I'll edit the comment fields to mention their VST origins when I have a minute. By their titles, I thought it seemed rather obvious...
I find the two plugs I posted (Rammfire and Dammit) interesting for a few reasons, which I'll note here:
1) First, they're both "signature artist" plugs. Like it or not, that's interesting and it's a starting point for noobs to compare against. This alone is sufficient to justify the profiles.
2) Second, the company behind Dammit (MasonSoft) is no longer active. So, for archival purposes "Dammit" is a piece of history and I can't think of any other company (besides NI) who has made such a bold tonal claim. It's unique.
3) Profiling those two plugs was technically interesting for me, and I don't like to see good work go unshared. They were done with care, and sound pretty true to the originals. Plus, their cabs are useful with other amps.
I'd like to point out that there are literally dozens of honest-to-god tube amp profiles that I will probably never use, yet I have not complained about them. And there are several profiles of modelled equipment in the Exchange that I do find interesting. There will undoubtedly be others.
As owners of a Universal Amp, we all all have the right to collect our favorite gear into one place and streamline our studios. Maybe in the future there will be better ways to categorize this stuff, but right now we're really lacking in the file editing department.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I've got a friend right now who's selling his tube recording head for an Eleven rack because he couldn't get a good sound out of it. And he's right - it was a poor sounding design.
-djh
From the start page:
KPA Operating System 1.0.4: "This is a release version and recommended in a productive environment. It supersedes all previous release builds. It is not meant to be used in an unproductive environment, non-productive environment, or reproductive environment. Unauthorized lipids on your Kemper may damage the finish and possibly void the warranty. For more information see: http://kemper-amps.com/warranty.txt."
-djh
New Exchange profile post up: Dammit Distortion, A thumpingly hi-gain VST plugin from Sweden's MasonSoft that came out in in 2008 to recreate the sound of Metallica's "Black" album.
I wasn't expecting this one to profile at all, actually! But it came out decently and its cab is worthwhile as well. Brontosaurus-like rig; lies someone between "Black Cemetary" and Line6's "Insane" patch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg3bHJ190Y0
-djh
I hear a bit of Synchestra in this! Devin Townsend fan?
-djh
I feel so guilty. Downloaded Native Instruments' Rammfire demo, profiled it, then uninstalled it. Does that make me a bad person? 
Three cabinet variations, "A", "B" and "AB", with and without 50% "Air" for a total of six profiles.
Enjoy the sweet, delicate sounds of Richard Z. Kruspe's Rammstein Recto and his 4x12 cabs. This is the go-to "Init" preset.
-djh
There's a "Marshall YJM100 Lead" profile in the Exchange also, which sounds quite good. This will be sweet!
-djh
Now that I've lived with these a bit, I'm quite stunned by how much better some of the factory user cabs are with these profiles - it's like a whole new beast.
Recommended Cabs (particularly with the DI versions) :
ENGL 860 (Surprising! Not a coincidence, perhaps)
1x12 DELUXE REV
FENDER DR 1x12
-djh
Get one of these little golfball USB extenders. Unlike your usual hubs, they're electrically passive and work with any and all hardware including the KPA. Also, great stocking stuffers.
http://www.dak.com/reviews/3312story.cfm
-djh
Well the first one's got a bit more definition IMHO. The second sounds like a mic was moved slightly off-axis (nasally), and the dynamics might be a touch stiffer.
[edit] after posting, try opening the file up and visually comparing the two waveforms. Instructive! The dynamics are indeed quite different, although the EQ curves are very close as you might expect.
-djh
"Squish" = technical term, very scientific. 
Sustain, basically. Also related to "compression" amd if you're lucky, "bloom". The feeling that you amp has your back, instead of fighting you.
[Nigel Tufnel is showing Marty DiBergi one of his favorite guitars]
Nigel Tufnel: The sustain, listen to it.
Marty DiBergi: I don't hear anything.
Nigel Tufnel: Well you would though, if it were playing.
-djh
I don't know about others, but finding the "Distortion Sense" knob helped a good bit with the overall lack of gain I'd been experiencing on single-note lines vs. chords. I've usually got it on 1.9 or more - I've not regretted cranking this knob on saturated sounds yet. Now if I could just get a bit more "squish" out of the response...
-djh
Just assign one of the soft buttons as "Tag/Untag Favorite" and then add a "Sort By Favorites". Doesn't have to be fancy.
-djh
D'oh! I remember that. Lord, such a basic concept - not asking for endives on my burger, just ketchup. Squeak, the wheel said. Squeak, squeak.
-djh
Yep. It's been mentioned every so often, and it's still there. There was also another irritating behavior, where posts would preview in doublespace and require post-editing paragraph removal; that seems to have gone away, I hope.
[edit] nope. It's still there.
-djh
