Kemper Profiling Amp

[AboutBlank]

My first little try with the Kemper:



(bare with me, we tracked(and setted up) everything in 14 hours straight

 

[Josh Burgess]

It's identical to recording the amp track + a DI (I hate working with just DI's and an amp-sim because I hate running unnecessary plugins while tracking. I track with a really high sample rate (1024/2048) and only monitor inputs to avoid any chance of crackling/popping).

How do you deal with multiple parts that should have the KPA tone when recording when using the KPA as a plugin? I like the idea a lot but it's not really feasible when tracking.

What do you mean by "only monitor inputs"?

You mean, just monitoring the track the right side of the SPDIF is routed to? Wouldn't you be getting a fuckton of latency at 1024?

 

[AboutBlank]

Fireface TotalMix

 

[Josh Burgess]

Fireface TotalMix

Ah, I see. I thought he meant in the DAW.

 

[Josh Burgess]

Just to make sure...you guys are saying that this is all kemper?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHXmHssCHY8

I'm not really an AILD fan, but holy fuck! That's probably the nicest Kemper tone I've heard so far. I really need to try to setup some time somewhere where I can try to make my own profiles.

 

[Clark Kent]

Very nice tone there! Is that Kemper? Very impressive!

Did you guys see this one yet? My first reaction was that I didn't believe Cliff but he actually proved it with a price list and spec list later on.

Re. the above post. The Axe-Fx II uses two floating-point TigerSHARC processors. Their list price is around $300 ea. The KPA uses one fixed-point Motorola processor. It's list price is around $12.

Floating-point processors will sound different than fixed-point. With fixed-point you run into problems with finite word-length effects more easily than floating-point processors, especially if you are oversampling. The more you oversample, the more word-length you need. The Axe-Fx II uses 40-bit math in the amp modeling for this reason. Regular SHARCs can only do 32-bit math and Motorola DSPs are only 24 bits.

 

[superfreak]

Why is Cliff so insecure about his product? He is constantly trying to drag the competition down in the mud to prove that his product is superior.
I think he has some deep rooted self-esteem issues.

I'm beginning to see a pattern with your posts regarding the Kemper, Clark Kent. You toss a little compliment and then follow it up with Cliff's opinions/paranoia.
Nobody cares about Cliff's opinions or his technical discoveries about the KPA except for FAS fanboys and crusaders (e.g. Scott Peterson).

This whole Axe-FX > Kemper arguments reminds me of other silly arguments like OTB > ITB or 192kHz > 44.1kHz.

Different strokes for different folks, man... get over it and move on.

 

[JeffTD]

Cliff is a little bitch. He should not be the spokesperson for that company.

 

[jamvanman]

Yeah, I really don't get the point. Pretty much all that matters is how it sounds, and whether you get on with the workflow. Beyond that, who cares about whether it's got this chip or that chip or whatever.

Seems pathetic to me.

 

[Trevoire520]

Why is Cliff so insecure about his product? He is constantly trying to drag the competition down in the mud to prove that his product is superior.
I think he has some deep rooted self-esteem issues.

+1
If Axe FX is so superior then why can't the guy just stop being a little bitch and whining about other products? It really just drags down his companies reputation, you don't see the Kemper guys bitching about Axe FX all the time.

Kemper and Axe FX are BOTH very capable units, with slightly different objectives in mind. Both are easily good enough to be used on a pro level production. Pick whichever feature set works best for you.

 

[drew_drummer]

Nobody cares about Cliff's opinions or his technical discoveries about the KPA except for FAS fanboys and crusaders (e.g. Scott Peterson).

Scott Peterson is a bit of a cunt; he banned me from TGP for refusing to shut up about the Kemper when I was basically refuting some of the claims being made against it. He's a little bitch and needs to grow a pair and learn to take criticism.

As for Fractal? Well... the price of their products is the off-putting thing for me, followed closely by Cliffs interaction with the public. He just comes across like a douche. Then again, don't we all! :Shedevil:

 

[Trevoire520]

I also find the firmware wars on Axe Fx quite funny/interesting. It's always "I hear the next firmware is finally going to get the sound "there", the factory presets are much improved and it needs less tweaking than before" or there's someone else saying "the new firmware sucks I'm sticking to version 6.01" etc.

 

[Pot]

in amps i trust...

 

[gibson5413]

I know this is more of a metal community here but thought I would post some cool tones I have been playing around with as of late. For those that might like Pink Floyd I did a quick vid to demo a couple of different lead tones. The first is trying to capture the originals soaring tone and the second is a more clean version. Either way, check it out.




BTW, who cares what Cliff thinks. The Axe is a great product just like the Kemper. IMO, he is doing this to try and prevent existing from moving on and new users to second guess the Kemper. He just needs to focus on his differentiators and not worry about the mud slinging. Sales 101!

 

[Clark Kent]

Those quotes from Cliff were taken WAY out of context. You guys should probably know where they came from. Basically someone was saying that Axe-II is too expensive since it's just basic hardware and it should be the same price as the KPA. Also he pointed out that all the inputs and outputs and every part in the Axe-Fx is usually the highest quality (=highest price) component. It was a question for Cliff. Not Cliff posting this information for no reason at all.

I agree that Cliff sees KPA as a threat and he shouldn't need to do so. But it's not like the same thing isn't happening at KPA forum. Still... when Cliff says stuff like this he's never lying. He always backs it up with facts. F.ex. he showed the price sheet for those processors on the forum.

 

[Tercero]

I was noodling around last night and threw this together. Just drag and drop Metal Machine drums and a Kemper 5150 profile. It'll probably become a full song at some point.

 

[superfreak]

I agree that Cliff sees KPA as a threat and he shouldn't need to do so. But it's not like the same thing isn't happening at KPA forum. Still... when Cliff says stuff like this he's never lying. He always backs it up with facts. F.ex. he showed the price sheet for those processors on the forum.

Christoph Kemper has never spoken about the Axe-FX, FAS or Cliff. The times he did mention them was to answer questions based on the shit storm Cliff was brewing on his forums e.g. the super exaggerated "horrible aliasing", the imaginary "guerrilla campaign again FAS" etc. etc. The Kemper forum users aren't hardcore fanboys and don't go out of their way to show how superior the KPA is compared to the Axe-FX. They don't employ cheap tactics to make the Axe-FX look like a toy etc. etc.

As for Cliff not lying, he made a bold statement saying the KPA runs @ 22kHz internally when it obviously isn't true.

And his comments about the price of the DSP chips... now that the minor aliasing issue with the KPA has been fixed, Cliff is moving on from the attacks on the "Sound of the KPA" to the "Guts of the KPA".
Seriously, that's pathetic!

 

[Clark Kent]

Sure. I agree that he'd be better just hushing.

 

[jamvanman]

If Christoph can get as good a sound etc out of a cheaper chip isn't that a good thing anyway?

What if I said hey my program's got twice as many lines of code so of course it costs more, even though it does pretty much the same thing as some other computer program? One response might be maybe you are not as efficient a coder.

So all I care about is how it sounds and the workflow (and reliability and stuff like that) and of course how much I have to pay for that, not that it's got an xyz chip.

 

[Clark Kent]

If Christoph can get as good a sound etc out of a cheaper chip isn't that a good thing anyway?

What if I said hey my program's got twice as many lines of code so of course it costs more, even though it does pretty much the same thing as some other computer program? One response might be maybe you are not as efficient a coder.

So all I care about is how it sounds and the workflow (and reliability and stuff like that) and of course how much I have to pay for that, not that it's got an xyz chip.

I guess we should all just remember to be happy that there are two amazing products on the market and not concentrate on bashing one or the other. Let's face it... we're lucky as fuck to have these products available to us.

The Internet world forces us to get involved with the business side of things which has nothing to do with the product. These two are different products. That being said Cliff seems to be worried about losing his customers (which he has plenty of) to Kemper. Then again that has lead to the Axe-II having multiple functions enabling features of the Kemper like tone matching through your own amp etc. Then again the Kemper is getting custom IRs which I think is their step closer to Axe-Fx.

So much of driven guitar tone is about the spectrum alone and not the accuracy of the amp dynamic matrix. I think this has surprised many people.. Like f.ex. when I matched my Ultra to sound like the Axe-II and no one could tell the difference. Even Cliff got it wrong.



So the spectrum is key.