Mhhh... I think this is not the point tho. Having expectations is one thing, as well as being frustrated when you discover specs don't fit your needs. But blaming Kemper because you did not even bother reading the specs or, even worse, blabbering about "jokes" is a totally different thing. As if Kemper team did not lost their sleep for months over trying and finding the best compromises, design and price point for the new unit (were hundreds of thousands Euro are invested). As any other small manufacturer, I mean...
I agree that there is no excuse for having bad manners because your expectations were not met. Voicing your disappointment can be done while maintaining good demeanor.
FWIW, I run groups of engineers that design hardware for a living. I suspect that the cost for development of the Kemper Player was likely 1 million or more (I have easily dumped 2-4Million in a hardware program involving hardware, firmware, apps, and integration with server resources). The Player isn't as big a program as some of these, but I would bet it is 1M plus. So your point is valid. They have to get a return on their investment.
Mhhh... This is another tricky point IMO. Chances are the Player was never meant as a backup, except for those who only use 2-4 fx per rig and have very simple requirements in terms of versatility (I've read of many who were happy about the Player just because their needs were totally covered, and with the legendary Kemper tone).
Another very typical application would be - from what I've been reading around - adding the Player to a stomp pedalboard (there are many impressive examples already).
So basically it all boils down IMO to expectations and evaluations. Silly to become aggressive because you chose the wrong unit for your needs, no?
If it is true that the Player was never meant as a backup, then it was certainly a Product Management oversight as this was some pretty low hanging fruit in the market, but your point is well taken. It could well be that this was not a target market (even if we all wanted it to be).
I would contend that most people who use a full sized KPA rarely use more than 2 pre and 2 post efx .... or that they could certainly make due with 2 pre and 2 post in a pinch. Certainly, no one would expect Kemper to create a 3 button KPA that was a full KPA with the limitation of it having only 3 buttons as no competitor does this either. If performances were able to be shared with the full KPA's, I think that the lack of efx slots could be worked around in nearly all situations except the most extreme rigs.
As a player as a stomp box in a pedal board, you are looking at competition with the $400.00 Tone X pedal. In a pedal board, you are likely going to see dedicated delay, chorus, and reverb units. Personally, I personally don't understand these kinds of rigs at all. Very expensive, not that flexible, and lots of things that can go wrong in a gig (one of the reasons I bought a Kemper in the first place!). Not to mention the dreaded tap dance routine needed to switch from one sound to another! No thanks :).
Again, I agree that there is no need to get aggressive about this subject.
had no less than 4 AXEFXs, one of the first KPAs sold by thomann (sent it back based on lag-related issues,) currently entering my 10th year of playing KPA on tour, owning 3 KPAs, 2 players and 2 remotes. fucking flawless. just sent a hx stomp xl back to muziker because of un-usability caused by lag between patches. and no, snapshots don't cut it for me
I agree. Snap-shots in Helix (Quad Cortex does the same thing I believe .... for the same reason) are really just giving you one set of parameters for a rig and giving you 2 more parameter sets within that rig. You can't actually change the rig to another rig. When I want a clean, I usually don't use the same amp, routing and efx as I do for a drive, let alone a heavy rig.
I wanted to talk about a new kemper's player owner. It means, he catches a rig on rig exchange and put it in his Player but he can't set those absent parameters anyway!?
The Kemper Player doesn't offer as many ways to customize a rig as the full KPA. There will be some people who had expected that the Player would have the same editing capabilities of a rig as the bigger brothers (the competition does). Not saying it is necessarily a deal killer, just that people might have this expectation based on other competing product lines.
The fact remains that at $700.00 USD, the Kemper Player might still be the most effective small form factor all-in-one guitar processor that a gigging musician can buy (even without a screen)
Even though it is an imperfect FULL KPA backup device, it is still BY FAR the most effective small format backup device / throw-and-go rig out there for a full KPA user.