Posts by pippopluto

    Hey Dan,

    welcome here :)

    Yep, Head = Toaster = Lunchbox ;)

    I'd not be worried about the double updating: once you have done one, you'll just have to do... one ;D

    Manuals: The Basic manual (comes printed with the unit, but you can d/l it) shows the hw and the controls. The Main manual explain the latest KAOS (Kemper's OS) and all the functions. I'd read them both, but I am a nerd :p

    One thing you might find interesting to d/l is the Addendum document, which starts from KAOS 1 and shows and briefly explains all the news by version. This might be a very fast and simple way to learn what you new device can do, it might be a nice way to "grow with the Profiler" :)

    The reason for keeping the upgrade license would of course be in case you would want to purchase a new one at a later time.

    Well, but it's the same, isn't it?

    Image you've upgraded a given unit with a hw card. If you sell it the price will of course be higher (with a loss, as usual). Whether or not you re-buy the unit would be irrelevant.

    Anyway, it doesn't seem to me that the perspective of re-buying the unit justifies criticisms to the upgrade(s) being tied to the device :)

    Yeah but if you want the same functionality as the the stage, so all the buttons for presets and programmable loops.... You probably end up with the same prices


    I think that if one wants the same functionalities as the Stage... they buy a Stage :)

    A different unit (whatever it is) stands on itself in terms of advantages and disadvantages, you just buy what best suits your needs. For many users, the Player's small form factor is a great advantage.

    Having said this, you can't have a supercomputer of 1 exaflop/sec in a matchbox that costs 500 €... I mean, there always be functions or I/O missing for the price :)

    My original point was simply to say there is a great deal the Stage can accomplish that a Level III Player cannot.

    OTOH, if you have a pedalboard of fx and are after a good source of amp sounds... ;)

    ... or if you are looking for a compete unit that fits your guitar bag's pocket... ;)

    Lastly, let's not forget that you can buy a Player Level I and upgrade as you wish in many years, which is not trivial IMO/IME

    The whole point of the OP was to try to nail down what is different between models. But of course everyone here gets butt hurt because they think its bashing The Player in some way.

    Actually, ha wrote "Is a Kemper Player (Level III) appropriately priced compared to a Stage? I'm not so sure...". I think people are responding to that statement ;)

    OP: IME, When things sound good at home but not on stage or rehearsals it's always a matter of properly EQ'ing.

    Tones must be made at volume and in the mix context. Most often, a tone that sound glorious alone will die in the mix and when you raise volume up. This happens because of the way we hear sounds.

    At low volume we perceive much more mids, so tend to raise lows. When you raise your volume the prevalence of mids ceases, and you find your tone engulfed/flooded, and don't cut.

    As for eq'ing for the mix, the more frequencies from the various instruments occupy the same ranges, the more sounds get lost (for example, pianists are recommended to not use the first two octaves when playing with a bass).

    I'd suggest you search for "isolated electric guitar tracks" for tunes you know well, in order to realise how weird those tones have to sound by themselves in order for them to sound good in the whole mix.

    HTH :)

    the upgrade should be tied to the user and not the machine

    In this case, when selling your Player you'd lose the value of the upgrades

    You can sell your UAD DSP cards with all of your plugin licenses or with just the basic package if you want to keep your purchased plugins. It has been done successfully for years.

    Mhhh... what would the use of keeping upgrades and selling the hw be, since those are useless w/o the hw? Reselling an updated Player would result in a net loss for the upgraded value.

    Kemper's choice makes sense to me :)

    I was shocked (no idea why) that when I compared my Rack to the player....they sounded the same! I guess I did not expect it to have the same glorious huge sound from one so small

    Yep! The nice thing is that Player keeps all the settings, including those it can't edit (like for the Amplifier section)

    Its definitely a compromise with the switching

    New KAOS has added the awaited (and missing) footswitches performance :)

    IIRC dotted 8ths are in presets already, and are available in the fx options among parameters.
    If your question is how to get rhythm expressed in fractional notes, you have to assign a Tempo to the rig or the performance (best choice would of course be the same metronome as the song itself X) ).

    HTH :)

    Mhhh... you are probably overthinking Performance mode :)

    The only meaningful character of Performance mode is that you have 5 rigs loaded into memory (RAM) at the same time: this gives you advantages Vs. Browser mode: instant recall, seamless switching between (those) rigs and modulations trails (if you want them).

    Having said this you, can place whatever 1 to 5 rigs you want in a performance, and each of them will have its own fx, stomps and everything like in Browse mode: no mandatory relationships among them.

    Apart from the above, a performance can be useful in different occasions. I create a performance for example

    • for different sounds I need in a given song (seamless, trails as above)
    • for collecting and keeping together up to 5 different nuances of a sound (for example, 5 different cleans)
    • for creating a set of tools I could play a night with (clean&fat, clean&chorus, rhythm, crunch, solo being only one possible example)
    • for collecting 5 rigs for my acoustic guitar/gigs ((clean&fat, clean&chorus, rhythm, crunch, solo for example)
    • for having in a same place any 5 rigs I think I want to keep together (say rigs I often use from a same vendor); as a side note, if such rigs are more than 5 I just create more than one performance and name them meaningfully
    • ...

    Two interesting things to keep in mind:

    1. rigs are copied onto a performance: so you are free to delete any source rig, if any, and tweaks won't reflect
    2. Input sections for the two Modes are different, so you can set say Clean or Distorted Sens differently, or lock one but not the other.

    Easy peasy :)

    HTH

    I guess what I am saying is that JCW308 is likely not an anomaly in his expectations.

    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... :)

    It is possible that even with its limitations, that the Kemper Player is still the best KPA backup.

    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?
    :)

    It’s understandable that existing Kemper owners are frustrated over the lack of direct rig compatibility.

    Sure... but see above :)

    I hope Kemper will fix this by adding the missing FX, Morph and the like.

    Actually, I find the idea of upgrading for a price w/o having to sell your unit in order to buy something more performing to be great.

    Again, it all boils down to expectations, and evaluations. IME, never buy something for what it's supposed to be doing in the future: buy only if the unit as is satisfies your needs :)

    I just realized the NOT Even the AMP profile of the KPP have the same parameters from the the STAGE ! I am shocked I didn't read that anywhere !!

    Well, it's in the manual, like everything else.

    OK so I spent a couple of hours with my Player today. I just don't get this thing. Mine was buggy with the Android app to no end. I would save changes and then the changes would be half there and half gone. It's missing all my favorite reverbs. Particle. Gone. Ionosphere. Gone. No shimmer? There is no way to calibrate an expression pedal. The button is there but it does nothing. There's no morphing. There's no press and hold. It's noisy as an old BOSS from the 80's. In every outlet with every guitar. I mean this thing, the way it is now, even with the latest firmware, is a nightmare. An expensive one at that.

    Why is Kemper as a company behaving like this to its customers? Especially new customers? Kemper is supposed to be the best but you are behaving like NDSP. You guys think this is a big joke I guess. Customers need to know what's going on so they can plan ahead. Not every little detail but at least give us the outline of what is happening with this product that we just invested in. I can't work with half the effects and half the features.

    Mhh... there's some confusion among different things IMO.

    The set of fx (and other features) available in the Player is reduced in comparison with the other models. In order to learn about the difference, I think it's enough to read its manual (for example, I've found the list of its fx set). So if you expected to find some fx that are not listed in the manual you can't certainly blame Kemper.

    As for missing functions with respect to the manual, keep in mind that you are currently on KAOS 10 while the manual refers to KAOS 11. This already represents a kind of projection for the future, doesn't it?

    Bugs: this is of course a different story, every new product at launch may have some, and early users know they are somehow voluntarily taking some risks in this respect. But there's no need to believe they won't be fixed. Again, you could have waited but decided you wanted to be an early bird (as opposed to a late mouse)... which is fine, but deal with that :)

    As for other aspects (what has been called "upgrade"), I don't think there's any plan yet. Even if there was one, this commodities sector is crammed, and competitors respond very quickly. Since Kemper is not as big or quick as others, I understand their reluctance in revealing their plans.

    OTOH, this is something they have been accustoming us to: see for example how out of the blue the Player has arrived... already in the shelves, although in a small batch.

    Rule of thumb I've learned in my musical life is: don't buy anything for what it's supposed to offer in the future; always buy a device for what it does, if it fits your needs.

    As for your "You guys think this is a big joke I guess" it's clearly a nonsense that comes out of frustration, and doesn't really mean anything, if you look at Kemper's history since the Virus exploit (I mean their synth, not the covid), their European assembly, their Support that has often gone beyond their duty to help customers, their effort in making people save money by adding functionalities for years to the same hw not making it obsolete in a couple of years... you'll have to admit that if this is a joke, it costs them quite a lot, and that they could have easily made much more money just doing as other have been since forever.