Anyone Notice the Nice Font Change on the Manuals?

    I like the newer, simpler and less-fancy looking one; it suits the Kemper better IMHO.

    Click to enlarge 'cause there's some subtle, twirly stuff on the older one that's arguably a little pretentious by comparison, IMHO.

    Honestly without overlaying the two the only thing I notice off the bat that's different is the leg of the capital R, which is now straight (like in the logo). I wouldn't call either typeface pretentious though.

    Monkey, I hope font and text was or is part of your career.
    If not I would kindly recommend that you step away from your screen, go outside and check out that awesome Australian wildlife for a short. :D

    You are in Australia, right?

    Who notices this stuff? Hell, who reads manuals.

    Once again, Even after being told, I couldn't catch the difference between them.
    But as we are learning, including myself, I am a bit slow at times.

    I did see the R after it was pointed out.

    If I'm not mistaken, the title was in Helvetica in the earlier version, while the subtitle was Arial. Now, both are Arial.

    So, it's a matter of consistency.

    Well spotted, by the way! The capital R is one of the few notable differences between these two very similar typefaces.

    You know, I'm going to continue laboring under the illusion that this place is completely separate from the rest of the internet and is full of rock stars and I'm not in point of fact continuing to be surrounded by the same graphics/cg/coding/tech people and we don't already all know each other...

    LOL! Too funny, Per. :D

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    arguably a little pretentious by comparison

    Quote from Per

    I wouldn't call either typeface pretentious though.


    Oh, I wouldn't either, Per. It's only a little fancier than the older one. I edited the OP to more-explicitly indicate that it was a comparative judgement. I did use the words, "arguably" and "a little" all along 'though, assuming that in light of the fact that it was only being compared with one other example, the comparative, implicitly-defined nature of the comparison would be self-evident.

    Geez, I think I need a lawyer, Per! :D

    Quote from Inthrutheout

    Monkey, I hope font and text was or is part of your career.


    Most-definitely not, brother ITTO. I'm actually terrible and completely-ignorant when it comes to this stuff.

    The only reason I noticed this was 'cause I was comparing the January v4 manual with the latest download in order to see if there was any difference. I happened to hit the spacebar (preview on Mac) and up / down arrows to see if there was a version number or distinction of any sort on the covers after downloading. If you do this, you can flick between the two views instantly, and I can tell you that the differences become super-obvious; even a blind bat such as I could see them straight away.

    Quote from Inthrutheout

    Who notices this stuff? Hell, who reads manuals.


    I nominate Skoczy as someone who usually notices the minutia. He's all over this stuff.

    As for manuals, I know of nobody in the world who does this. :D

    Quote from Robrecht

    If I'm not mistaken, the title was in Helvetica in the earlier version, while the subtitle was Arial. Now, both are Arial.

    So, it's a matter of consistency.

    Well spotted, by the way! The capital R is one of the few notable differences between these two very similar typefaces.


    At last! Someone who actually knows this "stuff"!

    Thank you for the compliment and the Clarise's-titty-lactation, Robrecht.

    I haven't checked, but I'm guessing RM uses the "newer" font adopted for the manual; if it doesn't I'd like to see it do so, just for Clarise's sake.

    Now I'm registered I can be my weird self here.

    The first typeface is, or looks very much like the classic Helvetica (or the Neue version). This comes with Mac computers.

    Kemper's obviously been making some money though, as the new version features the beautiful Gotham:

    Try it here

    Weirdly, thinking about this, fonts may just be the most similar thing to a Kemper profile file in terms of intellectual property. Profiling an amp is like taking a very high quality photo of some printed page and using line detection software to turn it into a font file. It's not identical to the original, the kerning/hinting might be wrong (similar to amp controls working differently). But it's a fantastic approximation - and with some further work (tweaking, playing with microphones etc.) a good designer could make it better - or use the inspiration of one font to create something new.

    Sorry, it's almost 2am here and I'm having 'profound thoughts. Better go to bed.

    Obviously I've no idea, Robrecht.

    Interesting observation 'though:
    I just stumbled across the Rig Manager Manual dated 23 Feb, so it's the same vintage as the Reference Manual that had the other font, and guess what? It uses the "newer" Gotham or Arial font, whichever it is.

    Go figure. It's as if the Reference Manual's font choice was a mistake.