I can't see how this is applicable to guitar.
No I dont think you did.
Posts by RosboneMako
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Just to be clear
Thank you for the clarification!
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This is a tough question.
An IR is just a time based filter. It provides a certain frequency response only.
Speakers being played at a high volume will go into compression as the cone movement becomes limited by the paper suspending it.
These are two different things.
When you make a full STUDIO profile on the Kemper, the profile will capture the amp, speaker IR, and the speaker compression.
When making a DI profile (MERGED), the speaker compression may not get created if using a load box for instance.
So when you combine a DI with an IR, you may not be getting ALL of the profile information. Assuming the DI does not contain the speaker compression.
The other thing to think about is that a STUDIO profile may create an IR that is not necessarily great sounding because it perfectly complements the AMP. Meaning it is made with the amp and matches it better than a stand alone IR can.
That said, there are a lot of great profilers out there that seem to make MERGED (Di + IR) profiles that sound great.
Another thing to think about is what type of profile it is. A bluesy breakup amp may get more from the speaker compression than a metal profile. Breakup amps tend to be bad amps that distort and compress. Where metal amps have a ton of pre Amp distortion but cleaner, higher headroom amp sections. -
I think you mean a low pass filter, but that's not what de essing is either. It's sidechaining a compressor to only respond to a specific frequency range. I can't see how this is applicable to guitar.
You did not fully grasp my post. I was saying that a couple simple additions and the Kemper could be used for MORE then just guitar.
And for clarity, yes the filter I mentioned would be in the side chain / triggering portion of the compressor. -
In 6 or 7 years is spending WAY too much time here and elsewhere discussing all things Kemper…..this is the first time I’ve heard this.
I made the assumption that MESA may have multiple stages of EQ and gain.
But the problem is probably closer to what I discuss on this thread:
Profiling with too much gain is not the best way to do it. Low to mid gain should yield the best results. -
Personally, I’d love a more accurate profiling algorithm that can capture even the most complex amplifiers (anyone who’s tried to profile distorted Mesa amps knows what I mean). I’d also like the ability to run two profiles in series, and if possible, a more precise capture of fuzz-like tones.
NAM INTEGRATION
The best solution would be to add NAM tech as Waraba stated. This would create the correct output for ANY amp.The problem with that is the ability to adjust it post capture. A Kemper profile defines parts of a normal amp. That means you can adjust each part. NAM tech models the WHOLE system. There are no parts to separate out and adjust. As seen by the NAM VST, they let you change gain and a POST EQ. There are things like DEFINITION, SAG, etc that could probably be added no problem but may not be as good as the Kemper versions.
The next issue is CPU usage. NAM is very CPU heavy. So it may take some work to get to the holy grail of capturing both pedals and amps in a single preset. Which is the future next step the Kemper should be working on. I would hope for a NAM process that can be used before the AMP or in place of the AMP.
FX SLOTS
The original kemper hardware design limits things to eight FX slots by having eight fixed buttons. Changing this would break every aspect of the Kempers ease of use structure. Creating a KEMPER 2 would break free from this limitation. But would make K2s not backwards compatible. Since the PLAYER just came out, I would guess they do not want to break this compatibility any time soon. -
Just to pile on about the FX slots:
Any real amp situation is 99% of the time a few MONO fx before the amplifier. The amp is then miked and passed thru several STEREO effects. The Kemper follows this real world situation.Another reason for this could be CPU usage. Calculating IRs is very CPU heavy. If you assumed the Kemper is doing an IR for the amp and an IR for the speaker cabinet, that is a LOT of CPU calcs for every sample.
As a designer you want MONO data until after the CABINET/IR simulation. If the device was a VST on a PC, you could do full stereo and let the user adjust how much CPU use they have. But in fixed hardware made for professionals, you want it to be bullet proof. Which the Kemper is.
All of that said, there are times I could use another fx slot. I tend to use a gate, EQ, OD before the amp. This only leaves one FX slot for chorus/phaser/etc. So I push a MOD effect to after the Amp. No big deal. If it had 8 slots before the amp, I am sure I would hit that limit also. We as humans will always push the envelope. -
FWIW: When I first started using Kemper, I used it for everything. I bought it to replace my aging Line 6 UX8. That means guitar, bass, vocals, etc. The UX8 had built in Mic PreAmps etc. It was the best musical purchase I have ever made as far as value goes.
Every stomp Kemper adds should expand on this idea.
Having a full Comp would be a great step. DeEssing, etc could also be an great option by adding a simple high pass filter. -
I have been playing distorted guitar for 40+ years. I recently bought an Ibanez with a gotoh trem. And I started getting this weird squeal that I have never heard before. Turns out the trem forces my hand to sit in a position I have never played before.
Every time I pick and slightly mute with the side of my palm I am getting harmonics from the strings. It only happens with that guitar and mostly on the D string. I can hear it even as I am playing loud parts between each stroke of the pick I get a squeak.
Weirdest thing ever. I plan on trying a different pickup at some point in the hopes its resonant freq is near that squeal.
Another thing would be to deaden the strings between the nut and the tuners. Those may be vibrating and being picked up at high volume/gain. I have that issue on another guitar.
Hope it is something simple, good luck! -
You will never know until you get one home and play with it for a week.
I have a Helix LT. I never touch it. It has more effects that do cool things and you can put things in any order you want. This makes it easier to do complicated things or things the Kemper cant dream of doing. And it does a better edge of breakup jangly sound. But organizing IRs on multiple PCs is not fun because of how it needs to work as a VST. So the ecosystem is harder to work in. It is also better for non guitar uses since you can have many paths and inputs.
I also have a stage which I use 99% of the time. The Stage is designed more like an Amp and pedal platform. Not a lot of room for crazy custom layouts. The Amp sounds are as good as you need them or better in certain cases. It has less crazy effects than the Helix, but IMHO the effects sound much better. Especially the reverbs and delays. As mentioned, the amp adjustment section is much better than the Helix and is a key piece. I love the workflow of the Stage in Rig Manager (I don't play out so I don't use the performance stuff).
You cant go wrong anymore. All are good. For Queen stuff the Kemper may be a better pick. Since the sounds are more straight forward. For weird, ambient stuff, or having a lot of changes at your feet the Helix may be better.
The other plus for the Kemper is since you have the amp you want to sound like, you can easily profile that amp at exactly the settings you want. something you cant do on a Helix.
I am a long time Line 6 fan boy. But something simple like using IRs is clunky enough on the Helix that it gathers dust while the Kemper gets used daily. So you wont know until you use both to find out what your particular little pet peeve is. -
My guess is any professional profile would not have this issue.
Things to think about:
- Are there any pitch effects in the profiles? Check the input section also?
- Do you have a pedal connected to adjust things that is acting up and causing the pitch to float around?
- If the prof has a modulation effect and the mix is 100% you may just be hearing the normal chorus pitch changes.
- Some smart person could explain intermodulation distortion here. This may make a prof sound like the guitar is out of tune or make it "hard to sound in tune" when playing. Should be during chords because the freqs in a chord may be fighting against each other.
It depends on what you mean by out of tune.
If the problem is a pitch effect, the whole guitar will sound in tune and musical but be tuned to a wrong freq.
If it is intermodulation distortion, the guitar will sound out of tune, not so musical, and tuned to the correct freq.
Intermod would probably show up on an edge of breakup or heavy distorted profiles.Hope that helps.
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Stage owner here.
If you run a Stage and play out, you need a backup. If you had two Players (same cost) you would have a back up for the same size displacement.
I would go Stage and Player as backup personally.
But I dont play out and I dont use any pedals. So it is a no brainer to go Stage for me.Another plus for Stage+Player. You could make profiles of the Player. So you can tweak your fav profiles and then make a profile of that and free up FX slots.
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Devils Advocate:
- It would not be super easy to do on the Kemper units themselves. Which would make the Kemper and Rig Manager feel different to use.
- There is not a good place to put the graphic in Rig Manager. It may make the UI bigger in an awkward manner breaking flow.
- As AndyShick says, you may end up tuning by sight instead of hearing.That said, I welcome all changes myself.
Seeing the curve would help a lot when you have freq bands that overlap. For example: If you have a low Q filter pushing 100 Hz and a high Q filter cutting 220 Hz, it is hard to say exactly what is happening at 180 Hz.
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The OCD is maybe the exception.
The OCD is my personal fav. The stomp compressor is another great choice. I select the SOFT option from the defaults and then push the 1st parameter up and up until I get what I need.
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What is the advantage of buying another Profile Pack from a supplier?
Most of the top profile makers have profiles in the free Rig Packs available thru Rig Manager. You should go thru those if you have not already.
FOUR THINGS
1) The best profiles will be made at a low-mid gain. These will have the closest sound to the original amp. Depending on the gain levels you are looking for, you will get varying results.2) The best profiles will be recorded in a studio with quality mics, rooms, EQ, etc.
3) The profiler will EQ these profiles at the volume the user intends to play them. And will do so on very good speakers. If a person is playing live they will want darker sounding profiles. If a person is playing at low volumes or recording they may want brighter sounding profiles.4) You may want the profiles to be made thru the same speaker cab so that they do not drastically sound different when you are using them.
EXAMPLE COMMERCIAL PROFILER
A popular pro is Michael Britt. He tends to profile his amps at low-mid gains. He has a studio with quality mics. He makes his profiles for playing live so they are a bit dark. He usually uses the same 2x12 cab when making profiles. He hits all four of the major criteria.
WHAT TO DO
1) Go thru the included RIG PACKS and land on a few profilers that have the sound you are looking for. Then decide if they are better than what you can find on the Rig Exchange.
2) Look thru Rig Exchange and sort by number of votes and rating. This will find a few gems.
3) Watch some YouTube videos. There are a few people with "Top 5 favorite kemper profile" videos.
4) Look thru the HIDDEN GEMS post on this forum where people discuss faves from Rig Exchange. -
You are working on overload!
It was not too much work. It would have been done quicker if I did not lose two sound cards while working on it. And the sound card failure made it sound like something went wrong with the guitar so I rewired a guitar multiple times.
I was going to add some Helix amps in there too but that thing is messing up my USB ports when I plug it in on my dev PC
So that blew even more time trying to debug that. I finally gave up on that nightmare. -
VERSION 3.0 has been uploaded to GitHub.
UPDATES:
- Added 200 Amp/IR database to improve VST use.
- Minor VST use improvements.
- Compressor pedal fix.
- Tremolo pedal fix.GitHub - RosboneMako/MakoDistortion2: Digital guitar processor.Digital guitar processor. Contribute to RosboneMako/MakoDistortion2 development by creating an account on GitHub.github.com
DISCLAIMER
I rarely use the VST. I always use the EXE. If anyone has issues with the VST portion please let me know.
DATABASE
MD2 still has the 30 built in Amps and 20 built in IRs.
Additionally you can add 170 Amps and 180 IRs by defining them in the AMP/IR database. This is required for VST operation since DAWs like to pass numbers back and forth and not strings.
To edit a database select the DEFINE AMPS or DEFINE IRS buttons.
To add an amp or IR, left click the slot. A file dialog box will appear for you to select the AMP/IR you wish to load.
To delete an amp/IR from a slot simply right click the slot.
The database is updated as you edit. However, you will need to re-select amps/IRs if they are in use when editing.
If for some reason amps/IRs are not showing up, a RELOAD button was added to force a database refresh.
HINT:
It is advised to rename Amp or IR files with the slot you intend to use them in. This will help you if you start using the VST on multiple PCs. It will be obvious which file goes into which slot. -
Just a reminder: This is the time of year you need to let electronics acclimate to the environment they are in before powering them up.
If a unit has been sitting in a cold warehouse for months and then loaded onto a truck at very cold temps for days, it will need to warm up for several hours before powering it on. Or condensation can build up on the cold components when the warm air hits them.
I just purchased a new guitar and was surprised it also had a warning to let the guitar come up to temp for 24 hours before unpacking or the finish may be damaged from rapid expansion.
In other words, dont buy stuff in Winter
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Don't worry about it because it "may never happen"?
It was said "Roe v Wade will never be overturned, so don't worry about it"
It was said "30% tariffs on China will never happen, so don't worry about it"
It should say "No way people are dumb enough to over turn this, so dont worry about it." Well surprise, most of the population has room temp IQs.
But I love all the stuff this "person" is doing because it exposes how poorly laid out the US govt is. That a lone individual can do so much harm so fast just reeks of not enough checks and balances. Like everything in this world, from a child onward we assume the people at the top know what they are doing. Well surprise, they are faking it just like the rest of us.
That is why Kemper is so great. Every great company has a person in charge with the passion and knowledge to do great things.
No matter what lunatic price policies emerge "Kemper will be fine so, dont worry about it"
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“If you applied a lot of gain to the Fenders response it would be flubby bassy garbage. The bass would overpower the highs completely.”
Doesn’t that assume that gain is flat? I would have assume that power tubes (especially depending on whether it’s el84’s, 34’s, 6v6 or 6L6) are not flat and amp designers (at least the good ones) look at the eq curve of various tubes at least to some degree and its impact on overall eq as a contributor to tone.
Your work is fascinating! Thanks.I know next to nothing about tubes. As a guess I would say tubes themselves are pretty flat relatively. All of the passive components required to get the tube working probably have a much larger effect on frequency response. And it is generically those components that create the input EQ voice to a large extent.
My comment about the bassy stuff was to say if you put that much bass into a gain circuit, the highs will disappear. The lows will become a square wave and the highs will no longer exist. They will be replaced by the harmonics of the square wave (clipping). And it will be muddy farty garbage.
I am no expert. Just a dumb guy playing with code.
