This is a pro and con. The kemper makes almost any guitar sound good, but then all the guitars sound similar.
do you find this to be true?
Not at all. A KPA-rig will differentiate between guitars just as well as the profiled amp does.
Posts by heldal
-
-
That way when you return to a certain slot in a performance it will sound exactly like the first time you selected that slot. The rig will sound like when the performance was originally loaded. This is a safety measure to prevent you from getting all confused on stage
I do understand that, and with my suggestion you would get that effect by changing to a different performance and back. Maybe I'm too old-fashioned in the way I use the KPA. It is rare that I create dedicated performances and/or slots for specific songs. I work more with a performance or two per guitar with slots with selected rigs that match the instrument and the style of music I play. Styles may vary a lot with the use of many instruments, but I also often play all night using just one guitar and stay within one performance on the KPA. While playing I make minor adjustments to the gain and eq to match the pickup-selection and how the guitar is dialled in there and then. In this situation it is a pain that the adjustments are lost when I switch between slots in the same performance. There are so many factors that affect the tone in live environments that I find it near impossible to have every detail prepared in in advance. -
Maybe the most intuitive would be if the current "undo" is limited to the current slot, and a new "revert" implemented on the third button above the display to undo all unsaved changes to the entire performance?
-
The current production firmware is 2.7
All software-versions are distributed at the same webpage. There is some information about the content of new releases on that page, but you'll find much more details in files named README <VERSION>.pdf inside the zip-archives updates are packed within.
Kemper never announce new features in advance so there is no way of telling what the next release may bring.
-
The MIDI Standard dictates that a device receiving a MIDI Program Change on the matching MIDI Channel respond to the command.
Yes, but all manufacturers don't do this consistently with all types of equipment. I have both a synth and an effects unit where switching between slots don't trigger reload-from-memory, while bank-switching do. It would IMHO make sense if the KPA also deviate from the standard in this way. Even better would be if it was implemented as a system-level MIDI-attribute where the user can choose this or the other behaviour, not to offend the MIDI-standard purists. I think most guitar-players would be best off with consistent behaviour regardless of which type of control is used to switch between slots.
-
Have you tried the "Undo" button?
Yes, but "undo" will revert all unsaved changes within the entire performance, not only the current slot. -
I could be practical to have an easy way to revert the current slot to what is previously saved while editing a performance in performance-mode. The 3rd key above the display is unused in this context and could be made "Revert to saved". It would also become an indication of unsaved changes if the key only lights up after something has been changed.
I know it it possible to revert everything by switching to a different performance and back, but that would also reset all unsaved edits to all other slots in the same performance.
Btw, the term performance still confuses me after a year and a half with my KPA. Maybe I'm messing about with too many other MIDI-controlled boxes, but to me it would make more sense to call the performances "banks" instead. The term "performance mode" as opposed to "browse mode" OTOH is just fine.
-
It is practical to swap back and forth between slots in a performance while adjusting without having to save every little change separately. This works fine when using the rig "cursor-keys" on the front-panel, but if you use a midi-command (pedal or otherwise) to switch between slots in the same performance all unsaved changes are lost once you switch to the neighbour-slot and back. It would be nice for consistency if the user-interface would behave the same way regardless of which method is used to switch between slots while editing. I'm normally using a FCB1010 with uno4k, but it seems to work the same with any MIDI device. When you use MIDI to switch, the content of the target slot seems to always be loaded fresh from what is previously saved.
-
CK has stated that there is a lot of headroom for further processing on the current hardware-platform. It is therefore unlikely that the hardware will change any-time soon. Faster processors and improved DSP's will eventually make it reasonable to upgrade the platform, but my guess is that it will take at least 3-5 years before we see new hardware.
-
If you sort your Rigs by Date, the rig you just edited will be very easy to find.
True, but that involves saving duplicates with just minor edits which tend to mess up the pool over time ... one of the things copy/paste was intended to avoid. -
Press [RIG] and then [Store to Pool].
That is for putting rigs edited in performance-mode back in the browse-pool. There's no store to pool in the rig-menu in browse-mode. The equivalent for moving information in the other direction is to use snapshots which at least shortens the list of rigs to browse through when you later search for it from performance-mode.
-
Ideally all analog outputs should have multi-band EQ so that it is possible to adapt to the characteristics of the connected equipment. Many who have bass or treble-heavy headsets have been surprised by bad sound when they connect to a pair of good nearfield studio-monitors or other equipment with fairly flat response.
If you do have a trusted setup for dialling in your tone, then it is nice to be able to shape that sound the best way possible for any connected amp/speaker/headset without having to tweak individual rigs. I'd like better resolution than a 3-band EQ. Similary, I travel quite a bit with a band with a fairly complex setup. By bringing our own microphones and a 32ch digital mixer with everything ready we do our setup in little time even when we hook up to PA-equipment provided by the venue. This would not be possible without multi-band EQs on all outputs (mains/monitors). We don't have to do much more than a bit of tweaking of the EQs and adjustments to ambience-effects (reverb/delay) to match the room. With a multi-track recording to play back through the mixer (virtual soundcheck) I can pretty much have everything ready to go before anyone else arrive.
-
Just hit Copy without being inside any menu
Then it just pops up with a couple lines of info saying: "Copy module ... Select source" (using FW 2.7.0). Nothing happens if i then go to an empty performance/slot, enable the slot and hit paste.Going via snapshots isn't too bad, but direct copy-paste would be even simpler.
-
I try to limit the number of rigs in browse-mode, and thus avoid saving duplicates with minor edits. I also try to keep factory and purchased rigs original in browse-mode so I avoid overwriting those. If I then noodle about in browse-mode, find a good rig, turn a few knobs and push some switches and hit nirvana, then I want to bring this sound into performance-mode. The intuitive way would be to hit copy when the sound is right to save a temporary snapshot, then switch to performance-mode, go to the performance/slot where I want the rig and hit paste. But copy isn't available for entire rigs in browse-mode. Having to first save the rig in browse-mode, only to go in search for it from performance-mode isn't very practical.
-
Have you tried headphones on the KPA? Any sound you can get in headphones should be possible to reproduce on a decent FRFR-rig.
Remember to turn off cab-simulation if you use a guitar-cabinet with the KPA. Likewise, remember to turn cab-sim back on when you hook up to a FRFR-rig. You can get decent results with a straight power-amp and old-style cabinets, but don't expect wonders. The KPA won't make your Mesa or Marshall 4x12 sparkle like a Fender Blackface no matter how hard you try. To cover all grounds in the best possible way you will need a FRFR amp and speaker(s).
-
Push the OUTPUT knob, then scroll to page 2/5. On top of that screen you see check-boxes that indicate which output-signals are affected by the master volume.
My recommendation is to leave the main-output unlinked so that you leave that volume alone for the sound-man to handle, and link everything else for your own control. -
Been seeing a lot of these issues of late. What's up?
I suspect it is an issue with many guitar-players not being involved with PA much. In bands who do their own PA from the stage this job usually lands with the bass-player or drummer. Possibly because they have less gear to look after. I have never had problems hooking the KPA up to any mixing console (analogue or digital), or to any computer/recording audio-interface. There's the possibility of an odd broken unit, but beyond that it is just a question of some basic knowledge. Keeping track of the signal-chain in various amp-simulators is very different to just placing a microphone in front of a traditional tube-amp. I've seen many guitarists with such equipment who get their distortion from many other places than the stomp or amp-model they think it originates from.With Soundcrafts Spirit Notepad OP should be able to experiment with both balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (1/4" jack) outputs from the KPA. Decent sound in a headset connected to the notepad should shouldn't require more than turning the pre-amp level down so that it doesn't clip. This mixer is able to handle signals up to +14dBu on the mic-input and +30dBu on the line-input.
Someone should write up a simple tutorial to give people a better understanding of the signal-path and gain-staging. If the guitar sounds good in a headset connected to the KPA it should also sound good at FOH with only a little tweaking of the KPA-output and channel-gain on the FOH-console. Good mixing-consoles and audio-interfaces have neutral channel-preamps that don't color the sound, but it is still wise to try to balance the output on the KPA so that the mixer's input gain-control can remain close to or just slightly above 0dB. You should try to minimise attenuation and re-amplification in any signal-chain to maintain the best possible S/N-ratio.
As an example: I'm running my KPA through a Behringer X32 rackmount mixer for practise and also at small venues where I handle FOH myself. In this setup I connect the KPA with XLR to a linked pair of channels. The KPA's main volume sits at about -10dB with the mixer's channel gain at +4dB. This output-level also works well with other mixers such as a cheap Mackie analog mixer as well as a high-end Midas Pro2 digital console that I use from time to time. For comparison a vocal condenser microphone such as a Shure Beta87A has the X32-mixers channel-gain at about +40dB. Your guitar signal should be suitable for just about any mixer with the KPAs main output at between -10dB and -20dB. There has been very few occasions where I had to go below -20dB.
-
I use the volume-pedal as described above, and have a separate on-off switch connected to the KPA in addition to my FCB1010. On-stage I place the On/Off switch next to my guitar stand. This setup works nicely if you, like me, keep swapping a lot between instruments.
-
I usually create one or more patches with the amp and cab-sections turned off for my various acoustic instruments. I frequently use EQ and effects such as reverb, delay and compressor with my acoustics and set the rig-volume to match other rigs.
-
What I'm looking to accomplish with the SPDIF connection is a "soundbite preview" evaluation of a rig prior to downloading it.
I believe this ability is possible as long as the SPDIF is connected to a PC, DAW or even my DXR10.You obviously need to be able to play the KPA while browsing rigs in rig-manager. Any headset or decent speaker will do. A set of monitors hooked up to a computer-audio-interface will also do the job as long as the interface offer hardware monitoring (most do) Software-monitoring through a DAW is generally not recommended because it may introduce too much latency.
I did find that M-Audio offers an M-Track product which might just work for these needs.
You need the M-Track-Plus to get S/PDIF in/out.
