Posts by grnxnm

I'm going to share some of my notes (answers to some of my questions above) for any who may end up following this path.

First read the latest version of the KPA User Manual (matching the firmware version you intend to use). As far as I can tell, the only way to locate the latest version is to download the latest firmware update package and extract the manual contained within this package. The firmware update package also contains a Presets list, with old and new names for presets. I don't know if I you need to delete all of you existing presets before upgrading, or if upgrading causes them to be renamed. I assume one can simply upgrade...?

Next, you'll want to read through the Tips & Tricks for the KPA (wiKPA) document created and maintained by viabcroce (thanks!).

Now if you're just starting out with the KPA you probably want to dive into the heap of existing free profiles. It appear that one of the best ways to do this is to apply the FREE RIGs and PRESETs collection of Maurizio70. A while ago I read a post by Maurizio70 which described in detail his naming convention. I'll try to dig that up as I think it will be useful to understand this after applying his preset collection.

And to answer my earlier question, if you're upgrading to the currently-latest 1.6.0 firmware, you can read up on details regarding this release here. For those upgrading from very old firmware (such as 1.0.8.7292) it appears from this thread that quite a few users are recommending first upgrading to 1.5.4 before subsequently upgrading to 1.6.0.

Quote from viabcroce

You may want to read the wiKPA for getting to know your KPA better

Great doc! I am already learning from you. Thanks again!

I just discovered your document. Am looking forward to reading it. Thank you for creating and maintaining it! I am finding many answers in the forums (and more questions), but forum mining is an inefficient approach. It is much preferred to have an organized exhaustive manual and your wiki appears to be filling that vacuum. As long as the KPA folks give sound quality the priority these omissions are, to me, forgivable. I hope they are sufficiently successful to pull in enough resources to eventually shore up some facets which affect user experience (better (any) management tools, better profile sharing site, and in this case more comprehensive docs). These are likely just the (typical) growing pains of any business. I have high hopes for them and this community.

Is this no longer an issue with the release (non beta) 1.6?

Thanks for the response!

Is the factory rig import always necessary after every firmware update? In other words, in the future, say after a 1.7.0 update, will it be necessary to again import "via ‘Factory Rig’ import function in the System Menu'?" all of the factory rig packs?

Has anyone written a script to quickly scrape all of the contents of the download site? I find it incredibly tedious to wade through the existing interface. It'd be much easier if I could simply have all of the profile and a spreadsheet with all of the ranking/naming/etc data in one single .zipped download. Boom, done.

If no one has done this then I may just write it myself, in which case of course I'll share.

Hello fellow KPA enthusiasts!

I purchased a KPA several months ago, but suffered some injuries which have prevented me from playing. I'm on the mend now and would like to begin using this amazing tool in earnest. Before my injuries prevented me from playing, I had explored all of the built-in profiles (of my 1.0.8.7292 KPA) and read the user manual, but not created any new presets or rigs of my own. I have created a backup (two actually, just in case) of my KPA, which I assume should always be the first step before any upgrade operation.

What I'd like to do now is to formulate a proper strategy for upgrading the KPA to the latest material, including the latest firmware and rig packs. Unfortunately I'm a bit confused about the best strategy so I wonder if you all could provide some tips and pointers on a recommended upgrade path, and additional configuration tips which may be helpful as I explore this beast.

Here are some of my current points of confusion:

I'm currently running firmware 1.0.8.7292. I noticed another user asked about upgrading this old version and was instructed by the very-helpful guitarnet70 (is this user an official Kemper rep?) to upgrade in stages, first to 1.5.4 and then to 1.6.0. My confusion with this instruction is that the official firmware instructions don't seem to mention this need, and so it worries me that I run across such instructions during a random perusal of the forums. Nevertheless, based on the massive amountof posts guitarnet70 has submitted, I'm going to assume this is authoritative and take this advice.

My next point of confusion is that I want to ensure that when I update the KPA it contains not just the latest firmware, but all of the new Kemper-released profiles/rigs/presets/effects/etc. I noticed in the download section there are the following additional Kemper-released profiles:

Rig Pack 01
Rig Pack 02
(Can't seem to find a Rig Pack 03)
Amp Factory Rig Pack
Rig Pack 04

So my question is, if I upgrade from 1.0.8.7279 to 1.5.4, and then from 1.5.4 to 1.6.0, will my KPA contain all of the above four?

If yes, then the follow-up question is: What do I need to do to ensure that my KPA can access *all* of the profiles in the four packages above? I ask this because in the 1.6.0 Firmware Upgrade instructions it states that:

Quote

Factory Rigs

- added: The Amp Factory Rig Pack included in firmware**
** New factory rigs can be imported via ‘Factory Rig’ import function in the System Menu or selectively by downloading ‘The Amp Factory Rig Pack’ from our web page.

Does the above quote (from the firmware install instructions) only apply to the "Amp Factory Rig Pack" or does this apply to all four of the Kemper-provided Rig Packs?

After upgrading, are there any settings I should alter in order to see these newly-added profiles/rigs/etc, such as to set "All Rigs" in the Rig Filter?

Also, is there any single list that maintains the known issues in 1.6.0, or must one mine through the forums to discover these things?

Thanks for bearing with me. I apologize for my ignorance. In fairness, I have read the entire manual, and I've also spent hours reading through these forums, so I feel that I've really tried to seek these details without bothering anyone.

That warning (not to update firmware if you have over 1000 profiles stored on the KPA) I have noticed in the firmware release notes. Thanks.

Quote from guitarnet70

The download file with the FW includes the updated manual as well.

Thank you for this tidbit. Very helpful!

Another thing I'd like to understand is how to get optimal naming/tagging for the factory profiles. I recall reading somewhere in these forums how the community seemed to be settling on an intelligent naming/tagging convention, and if this is the case and if it has been impkemented in the latest firmware or rig packs then Id like to know how to properly update my never-been-updated KPA so that it has intelligible names. I dont know if its recommended for me to clear out some/all settings/profiles before a firmware upgrade. Conceptually I thought that the firmware upgrade wouldnt affect profiles but I think i must be misunderstanding this because apparently some new presets are included within some of the firmware upgrades.

Its very frustrating to me that the upgrade path is so poorly documented. You have to dig through these forums for random tips which have questionable authority.

From my perspective, KPA has tearfully-wonderful tone, but stone age management tools, awkward community tools (core to the KPA idea is the ability for usere to easily share profiles, but the profile download site is terribly inefficient - it needs better search/ranking filters, and the ability for mass download - such as a "download all profiles and include a browser-viewable xml dump table describing each file in the package including ranking info" link, and ability for users to post sound samples associated with each profile and comments), and critical details and instructions are very difficult to hunt down. Just my opinion/perspective.

Quote from guitarnet70

If you're below 1.5.0 I suggest to make first the 1.5.4 and then the 1.6.0. otherwise go for the newest directly

I'm in the same boat. Have never done any firmware updates and it concerns me to find advice like this missing from the instructions which accompany the latest firmware update. If multiple firmware upgrade stages are indeed necessary to upgrade from very early firmware versions then it bothers me that this isn't called out in a more obvious/prominent manner. I suppose I'm lucky to have stumbled upon this detail in this little thread in the corner of the forums.

It would be very helpful to have a sticky thread "So you've never modified your KPA and you want to update it to the latest firmware and incorporate all new factory preset packs" which also details where to read the latest up-to-date manual (is the online manual updated with the new features in the latest firmware?).

The "VAB Clean" and "VAB Crunch" factory profiles are both taken from a Valvetech 25 w/ 1*12" Celestion 70 Anniversary cab and AKG 414 mic.

That's really great news! Thank you for easing my concerns!

Hello All,

I'm struggling over a dilemma with my recently-acquired KPA. One of the primary reasons I purchased the KPA was to be able to tap into the large pool of freely-available profiles on the Kemper site. However, as I perused the forums I ran across various links discussing how a hex-edited profile could brick a KPA. This caused me quite a bit of concern because if the KPA itself doesn't validate a profile (using a checksum/hash/digital signature/etc) before loading it, there's no way for me to protect my KPA from corrupt (or maliciously-modified) publicly-available profiles. The only recourse I see is to pay for commercial profile bundles, where the provider has a vested interest in ensuring that their profiles aren't corrupt.

Does anyone know if Kemper itself is doing anything to remedy this? I realize that there may be no recourse for older profiles, which apparently lack any form of hash for corruption detection, but it would be helpful to know going forward if the KPA will at some point be able to validate profiles (at least those generated by newer firmware).

Until there are integrity safeguards in place, I'm hesitant to sample profiles on Kemper's site.

I hope nobody interprets this as an inflammatory post. I don't think anyone wants to see their beautiful KPA transform into a useless brick.