Posts by Robrecht

The whole album is now premièring on No Clean Singing, see updated first post!

Thanks all!! (Saturnus and Cookie Monster are both major inspirations. )

Update – September's here, the whole album (still with all Kemper guitars of course!) is now out globally.

• Full album stream on YouTube
• Spotify
• YouTube Music
• Apple Music
• Bandcamp
• Tidal
• Deezer

You can order the CD Digipack with lyrics through our label, Ardua Music, or read an extensive review ("one of the best death/doom albums 2023 has yet produced") and our own personal notes on No Clean Singing.

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Original message – My band My Lament has a new single out, with a full album coming in September. All Kemper guitars of course!

Check it out (and add it to your library or playlists) on Spotify, YouTube Music or Apple Music!

Quote from Steve5478

IMO, the Tonestack will replicate exactly your amp's board and behaviors when you touch at a button. It was the original criticism...

In TJ vid, you can see that the few parameters we see, some turns greyed when he changes amp sims....

I assume an amp with only two buttons wil be replicate with only two parameters allowed...

Specifically, the BrightCap parameter turns grey for "Nrm" models and is enabled for "Brt" or "Topbst" ones. But yes, it will be interesting to see how models will be made for amps that don't have the classic "Gain/Bass/Mid/Treble" knob set. My old red Carlsbro GLX 150T head has five tone knobs!

Michael_dk Check the YouTube video (it goes up to 4K so you can read the Kemper Stage screen clearly).

For those willing to speculate, here are the parameters visible:

Quote from RosboneMako

Old CRTs were insane! I actually put my guitar up to it and used the noise as an intro to a song.

Nice, that's making lemonade!

(I've heard interference from modern LCD screens too, even something like a Launchpad with a couple of LEDs lit will cause buzzing... It can be hard to get away from every source of noise.)

Quote from Robrecht

That's a lot of the classics covered already, at just half of the total of about 40 models CK mentioned.

On the other hand, plenty of brands are still missing from what we've seen: Peavey, Mesa/Boogie, Orange, Dumble, Bogner, Soldano, Engl, Diezel... Some of those will undoubtedly be among the remaining 20, but with normal and bright variants included, maybe 40 won't feel like that much after all. Still, definitely a good start, those Marshalls alone – sorry, Marses – are enough to keep me happy.

Quote from paults

There will still be a reason to make multiple Studio Profiles of an amplifier. Microphone choice and placement will continue to have a great influence on the sound of a profile.

Exactly, the value of a profile set will be more in the skill and resources (mics, cabs...) of the maker than in their patience to go through every combination of knob increments.

Of course, thanks to Merged Profiles, even a badly mic'ed amp can be saved by switching to a better cab section. Merged and Liquid Profiles together make me much more confident that I'd be able to make a usable profile myself, even without any experience or expensive gear.

Quote from spotter

1. Fan Twins Rev Nrm	Fender Twin Reverb
2. Fan Twins Rev Brt	Fender Twin Reverb w. Bright Switch
3. Fan D'Lux Rev Nrm	Fender Delux Reverb
4. Fan D'Lux Rev Trem	Fender Delux Reverb w. Bright Switch
5. Fan Vibr. Lux Nrm	Fender Vibro Deluxe
6. Fan Vibr. Lux Brt	Fender Vibro Deluxe w. Bright Switch
7. Fan Vibr. Champion	Fender Vibro Champ
8. Fan BM Nrm	Fender Bassman
9. Voice Ace 15 Topbst	Vox AC 15 w. Top Boost
10. Voice Ace 30 Nrm	Vox AC 30
11. Voice Ace 30 Topbst	Vox AC 30 w. Tob Boost

As I'm not really into Fender or Vox amps, I'm not sure if I got everything right. Please correct me, if I'm wrong.

Some more in the original video and in this demo:

That's a lot of the classics covered already, at just over half of the total of about 40 models CK mentioned.

Quote from Wreckington

I'm just excited to have the gain knob be more realistic and hoping it will prevent having to load up additional profiles to lower/increase the gain. If it does that, then I will be happy with the update.

I think that's the essence of it. If Liquid Profiles work as advertised, they should eliminate the "each profile is just a snapshot" limitation of the Kemper. The update is not about better sound (which is subjective anyway), and I think "authenticity" is not the best way to describe the benefits either, although you could say the tone stack models will allow profiles to be tweaked more "authentically" (but who cares as long as it sounds good?).

I think the main benefit will be that the decisions and conditions at the moment of profiling will become less limiting. Say I only have access to a certain amp for a short amount of time (because I'm planning to sell it, or because I'm borrowing it). A good amp will have a lot of different sweet spots to be discovered, and at any time, who knows what other settings would sound good too! Until now, there was always the pressure to cover all of them, because those snapshots were all you had left once the original amp was gone. If you failed to profile a particular sweet spot, it would not be possible to exactly recreate or discover it starting from other profiles.

With Liquid Profiles, that worry should be over. You will only need to profile an amp once, not even worrying too much about settings, and that profile will include even those sweet spots you don't know yet. At least in theory, at least for those tone stacks for which a model exists.

So that's the promise. I don't care too much about authenticity for its own sake, but the idea that you can now profile an amp's full potential instead of just specific snapshots sounds pretty cool.

Start with your PC display. It's right next to your interface, audio cables and (especially) speakers. Probably close to your guitar too when you're sitting there playing. Try moving it away a little and see if the sound changes.

Quote from Antipodes

ReAmping via USB

Right! Which is an option shown in the video. That confirms it then.

Quote from StefanErtle

Is USB recording unilateral or am I able to use the high end headphone out of the KPA whilst recording? Problem is I do not own monitors so my focusrite would still be needed anyway and therefore I still could carry on using spidf…

I think it would go both ways, like a full audio interface.

In any case, you would have the option of direct monitoring your guitar before it goes into the computer. But I assume you are asking about audio coming out of the computer, like the other tracks playing in your DAW.

In the video, we saw four channels going from the Kemper into the computer. That would be an improvement in itself, as S/PDIF only provides two input channels so you can't combine a stereo signal with an additional DI signal. With four channels of USB audio, you wouldn't have to choose anymore.

But Christoph Kemper also said in the video he uses the Kemper for recreational listening now, taking advantage of its excellent analog outputs. That would suggest the USB connection is able to receive and convert digital audio from a computer. So, both ways!

All speculation of course, going from the video! 😀

Quote from HIWATTHEAD

yeah, and?...
So what lol be it. Por que no los dos

Oh of course, I meant it as a good thing! The profile sellers will survive, they still have their unique amp and mic collections and good ears. I just think it's really cool that the user value of a single profile as a representation of a certain analog amp will increase by so much. The whole system with having to do dozens of separate profiles to cover all knob settings was always a bit cumbersome.

(All of this is ignoring the fact that right now, without Liquid Profiling, the Kemper's gain and EQ knobs already work very well in many circumstances! You can get a great variety of sounds from a single profile, even if it moves away from the original amp.)

Quote from RDM

This should also cut out the issue* where someone profiles sweet spots on an amp by dialling in tones with a Strat in pick up position 1, but you the buyer are going to use an archtop style guitar to play the profiles. It shouldn't matter anymore with Liquid Profiling, whether the baseline profile was set to tame an ice pick sounding Strat, as you can tweak the Gain and Tone to suit the guitar you are using just like you would with a standard amp.

This is a very good point I think. In general, it seems Liquid Profiling (like merged profiles before it) will make the decisions involved in profiling a little less defining and make profiles less snapshot-like. Cab choice, mic choice and placement, and now knob settings and the guitar used for tweaking them will no longer restrict what you retain from the original amp.

Curious what the update will bring for commercial profilers. The integration of a third party store in Rig Manager sounds good – without going into a debate over whether you want to pay for profiles or not (to each their own), the possibility of selling profiles has undoubtedly inspired studio owners to invest time and resources into methodical and well-made profile packs that we otherwise wouldn't have had. Bringing them into Rig Manager, along with the free Rig Exchange and Kemper's own free packs, certainly will make things even more convenient. If I understand correctly, there will be a way to test profiles before buying (maybe the Store button will be disabled then?), which we didn't have until now.

On the other hand, the introduction of Liquid Profiling sounds like it could undermine one of the selling points for commercial profilers: that they typically provide a whole profile collection of every possible combination of EQ and gain settings for a specific amp, rather than the disparate one-offs found for free in the Rig Exchange. If Liquid Profiling works as described, as long as you know the knob settings of the original amp, one profile would be enough to cover every corner and every sweet spot. And that, in turn, could make those free one-off profiles much more valuable than they are now.

For the rest of us, Liquid Profiling is definitely great news. My bandmate is planning to sell his Marshall head. We're going to profile it first, of course, and the prospect of this update means we don't have to worry too much about covering all the gain and EQ sweet spots – we'll just make a couple of profiles and make sure to remember the knob settings. Combined with merged profiling, which takes the pressure off mic placement (since the direct amp part is foolproof and you can always switch to a cab made by someone with better mics and better ears), there's so much less that can go wrong!

Quote from karlic

I thought the Air Chorus was a specific model of the JC120 Chorus. Wasn't that effect one side and no effect the other?

Yes. The manual says it "modulates the pitch of the left and right sides of the signal independently from each other", but also explicitly refers to the JC amp. So it's not clear if the Kemper effect modulates both sides or only one side, but the essence is that they don't mix in the same speaker.

Quote from Robrecht

The effect is much more subtle than the hard beating you would get from combining mutually detuned signals in the same speaker.

To clarify, I used the term "mutually detuned" here to mean "detuned in relation to each other", by which I meant a dry signal and a pitch modulated signal. The essence of both the JC120 and the Kemper's Air Chorus is that such two signals are not sent through the same speaker, which would sound very differently, and much more pronounced.

So how would a mix parameter even work in this case? I suppose it would get a lot of complaints: "Hey Mr Kemper, the mix knob works the wrong way around in the Air Chorus! The effect suddenly gets a lot stronger instead of more subtle!"

Dans la section "Output", il y a un écran avec les volumes des différentes sorties (Main Out, Monitor Out etc.). Au-dessus, il y a à chaque fois une option "Link" qui détermine si le volume de cette sortie soit contrôlé par le bouton Master Volume ou non. Il faut donc simplement la désactiver pour toutes les sorties sauf celle que tu veux régler* (en utilisant les boutons au-dessus de l'écran).

(For English readers: just pointing out the "Link" option in the Output section for selecting the output channels you want to control with the Master Volume knob.)

* Je ne suis pas sûr de ce que tu entends par "l'ampli avec l'entourage led". Le bouton "Master Volume" contrôle le volume "final" du Kemper pour les différentes sorties, donc le Main Out, le Monitor Out (qui est aussi le volume de la sortie de l'ampli de puissance dans le cas d'un "Powered Kemper"), la volume de la sortie casque... Ça dépend donc de la sortie que tu utilises pour écouter le Kemper.

The specific nature of Air Chorus is that the modulated signals don't mix in the same channel, but "in the air between the speakers". The effect is much more subtle than the hard beating you would get from combining mutually detuned signals in the same speaker.

For that reason, as soon as you would mix in some dry signal, the effect would suddenly become much more pronounced instead of being regulated like you expect.

I believe that is the logic behind the omission of a mix parameter.

That Harley Benton cab is advertised as full range (i.e., not a traditional guitar cab that colors the sound) so it should in theory sound at least similar to what you get in your headphones. Some thoughts:

• I see that the cab has "Resonance" and "Presence" dials, implying that some coloring is still going on. That may explain some of the difference.
• How are you connecting the cab? The most standard way would be to use the Monitor output from the Kemper, making sure that the "Monitor Cab Off" option in the Output settings is not engaged. Since your cab is not a traditional guitar cab, the Kemper needs to provide that part of your sound as well, just like it does to your earphones and the PA. (Just checking, you've probably figured this out already.)
• Raising your cab, as has been suggested, can make a huge difference. A full range cab on the floor can sound very boomy, plus you're currently sending most of your sound energy to below your knees.
• Finally, it's true that even a "full range" cab will never sound exactly the same as a pair of headphones. "Full range" is never entirely "neutral" (and that goes for the headphones as well). Also, even though the Kemper isn't like a traditional amp where the valves behave differently at high power, our ears do respond differently to the same sound at different volumes. For that reason, you should ideally audition and select your profiles at the volume you'll be playing at, or at least expect to have to tweak profiles that sounded good at home.

If you get a chance, it could be useful to try out your Kemper at high volume on a different full range system, like a PA or an active monitor speaker. If the result is closer to the sound you're after, you'll know that it's not just a matter of volume, and that you should try adjusting the positioning and/or settings of your Harley Benton cab.

I have a question that is probably not specific to the Kemper, but I can't seem to find an answer elsewhere.

I use NRPN messages to control the Looper in a couple of songs. The correct way to send them, according to the Kemper MIDI Parameter Documentation and common MIDI practice, is as follows:

CC99 (MSB/address page) 125 (for Looper)

CC98 (LSB/address number) 88-94 (varies with intended function)

CC06 (MSB of value) 0

CC38 (LSB of value) 1 (to simulate button press) or 0 (to simulate button release)

I have entered these four messages in the correct order (at the same timestamp), but I have noticed that my MIDI editor displays CC98 before CC99:

Since they are on the same timestamp, both messages are "simultaneous", but presumably CC98 is sent before CC99 in the MIDI stream, as displayed. Is this a problem?

Note that the MIDI file does work: I've used it like this in countless rehearsals and shows, and the Looper does exactly what it should. But I wonder if this simply "luck", perhaps due to the fact that I'm only ever addressing page 125, so this stays the same for subsequent messages.

So, my question is: does the order of MSB/LSB matter if they are on the same MIDI timestamp?

Quote from defectdesigner

Hi all,

I am terribly sorry, I cannot find a similar topic, and I am sure it existed from before..

I need to be able to do one channel pitched when I play live (for some moments).

I think, previously I had used Chromatic Pitch with 200% stereo and -50% mix, and it did the trick, - but now I hear that the original channel blends into the pitched one.

Could you suggest how to make this effect for pitching one channel only? It seems to be quite a simple feature, but for some reason I fail to make it..

Thank you! .

Display More

I'm not in front of my Kemper right now so this is from memory, but here are two things I can think of.

* The Voice Balance parameter plays a role in the way the Stereo knob works. If you enable only one pitched voice (by turning Voice Balance all the way to the left or right), the Stereo knob pans the unpitched signal to one side and the pitched signal to the other side. If you enable both pitched voices (by leaving Voice Balance somewhere in the middle), the Stereo knob pans those pitched voices left and right and leaves the unpitched signal in the middle. So, in your case, make sure that Voice Balance is all the way to the left or right.

* I'm not sure if this applies to the Chromatic Pitch effect, but I seem to remember setting the Stereo parameter beyond 100% enables something Kemper calls "super-stereo", which makes the stereo image appear wider than the physical distance between your speakers if you stand in the correct position between and in front of them. Now this is speculation, but I imagine "super-stereo” works by mixing a bit of the right channel into the left channel, and vice versa, but phase-inverted, to cancel out all hard-panned signals in the middle. If you listen to each channel separately, or in headphones, the cancellation in the air between the speakers does not happen, which might give you the impression of the opposite side bleeding through. So, tldr: try 100% stereo instead of 200% to avoid this.

Edit: Sorry, I just gave it a spin and my second point doesn't seem to be correct, at least for the Pitch Shifter effects. There, as far as I could tell, 200% simply means a hard pan, without the "super-stereo" mid cancellation (which seems to be specific to the Delay effects).

It's hard to tell while playing because the direct sound of the strings always bleeds through, but I think with these settings of Chromatic or Harmonic Pitch I was getting full L-R separation between pitched and unpitched signal:

Voice Balance -50% (i.e., using only the first pitched voice)

Mix 0% (same volume for pitched and unpitched signal)

Stereo 200%

First thing to check, since you're using the Monitor out: the "Monitor Cab Off" option in the Output settings. It should be unselected, like in the picture: