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Maybe, but still way better than trying to ascertain sound and feel from a… <shudders> YouTube video.
I guess We all are a little sharp on delivery times. We all want things to be developed quickly... but, in my experience, developing products is a very difficult task. There are always a lot of factors, issues that not always depend on yourself, many of them are unpredicted, and dev times are usually much longer than expected. No matter what kind of product... unless you are launching something "standard", of course. But We want new things. Better than ever things. Groundbreaking things. And that takes time.
I develop industrial products. My boss always want projects to be finished in 6 months... and the result is always around 18 months when everything goes OK. Usually more. Then, the comercial team starts to sell the product a year before it´s ready to launch.
That´s what is offensive to us. They say MK2 is going to be launched in fall... but most probably it wont. Others make an stupid S.O.O.N. campaign... And others do other things. But it´s not usual to see delivery times to be accurately accomplished.
So I´m OK with long delivery times, and I empathize with companies in that regard. However, I get pissed by unreal launch promises.
I develop industrial products. My boss always want projects to be finished in 6 months... and the result is always around 18 months when everything goes OK. Usually more. Then, the comercial team starts to sell the product a year before it´s ready to launch.
That´s what is offensive to us. They say MK2 is going to be launched in fall... but most probably it wont. Others make an stupid S.O.O.N. campaign... And others do other things. But it´s not usual to see delivery times to be accurately accomplished.
So I´m OK with long delivery times, and I empathize with companies in that regard. However, I get pissed by unreal launch promises.
Dimiguitar
Roadie
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- 334
Which is part of why they typically don't give out delivery dates. Failing to meet them, which happens so often, creates discontent.
Additionally, Kemper have typically done a thorough job when releasing important software updates. It's not like they've taken time for nothing. They haven't improved (so far) in the areas I most wanted them to, when I used a Kemper a lot, but they've offered real value to people for years.
All that said, I believe they felt the need to hand out some approximate release date for the new profiling during the MKII hardware announcement. It's something more concrete for people to look forward to, all the while the MKII release didn't offer much that's novel, especially for existing MKI users.
Thanks for asking - they’re all good thanks :) I’m a really slow songwriter at the best of times and unfortunately I hit a wall just before covid hit. Lots of other life things too in these last few years…. Consequently, music has taken a back seat and I haven’t actually written / recorded anything in years or played live. Sorry to hear that you’ve been going through it and I hope things are looking up for you and you’re managing to get some music time in.
I’ve been really happy with my toaster and thought it was a sure thing that I’d upgrade with the company once they had something new. I had not actually explored the market since getting the toaster; (a) I’ve been happy with it and (b) music taking a back seat last few years as mentioned above.
It was actually the way they’ve done the launch here that persuaded me to come out from under my rock and see what else was out there. I asked for clarity on the forum I’d been part of forever and got crickets (apart from ‘back on track’ notes from moderators and fanboys calling me out for daring to ask questions).
Living in my bubble, I was finding it difficult to justify the upgrade. Because of how they’ve been here, I looked outside the bubble and have now seen things have changed in the competition landscape over the last 12/13 years. I’ve now got a preorder in for a stadium - it’s the first time in a while I’ve felt genuinely excited about playing. I know that inspiration shouldn’t take a piece of gear but there we are….. I can’t actually play at all right now (broken finger which has a wire holding it together right now) but I’m looking forward to learning a new ecosystem and, hopefully, getting back to writing again.
Dimiguitar
Roadie
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Someone posting on reddit about their experience with Kemper 2.0 stuff at the summit (or maybe mostly what they were told, I guess).
Jarick
Rock Star
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It sounds like the 2.0 profiling should be a solid improvement on some pain points for Kemper. More dynamic, more accurate profiles (not having to mess around with refining), etc. If they can figure out how to make profiles backwards compatible that would be ideal, then people could shoot profiles and it works for both. I wonder if they'll let you stack the captures on your computer and then process offline line Tonex which would be great too.
The cabinet part is really intriguing to me. Christoph seemed to say new profiles were being made without the cab? I'm not sure if that's a requirement or not. But cabs much like IR's in modelers have a massive influence on the overall sound. Being able to adjust the low end resonance would really fix a lot of issues I hear in some profiles, and then you have the definition and treble/presence controls to adjust the high end.
I'll still be in a holding pattern, hanging onto my Kemper to see what happens. End of the day great UI may win out and I may end up with the new Helix but not sure if it's going to be worth $2k to me out of the gate. Still eyeing down used Helix LT/Floor models, if I can snag one at $600 that would be a killer pedalboard replacement and to run with my JJ Junior amp (full size Helix has amp relay switching which my HX Stomp does not).
The cabinet part is really intriguing to me. Christoph seemed to say new profiles were being made without the cab? I'm not sure if that's a requirement or not. But cabs much like IR's in modelers have a massive influence on the overall sound. Being able to adjust the low end resonance would really fix a lot of issues I hear in some profiles, and then you have the definition and treble/presence controls to adjust the high end.
I'll still be in a holding pattern, hanging onto my Kemper to see what happens. End of the day great UI may win out and I may end up with the new Helix but not sure if it's going to be worth $2k to me out of the gate. Still eyeing down used Helix LT/Floor models, if I can snag one at $600 that would be a killer pedalboard replacement and to run with my JJ Junior amp (full size Helix has amp relay switching which my HX Stomp does not).
Monkey Man
Groupie
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- 26
Haven't written / recorded anything in years either Gary. Many years.
Sorry things got tough for you too man. Hopefully its a case of things can only get better from here on in for both of us.
paisleywookiee
Rock Star
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Yeah, I mean they've only had 14 years to figure something out for a MkII. Gotta give em some leeway.
Well... I don´t own a Kemper, but I think the unit has evolved since its launch. Even though they did nothing (or almost nothing) to the profiling tech. And 14 years ago the "updates culture" was not so normal as of today. Nowadays, it´s a sacrilege not keeping a good update pace... But not so much back in the day. Maybe they didn´t keep up the same pace as Fractal, but they didn´t stay sleeping either (again, apart from leaving profiling almost untouched).Yeah, I mean they've only had 14 years to figure something out for a MkII. Gotta give em some leeway.
I´m curious for what they have to offer now. They have a tough situation because the competition has surpassed them clearly. And the fact that the hardware has not been upgraded as it should, put things even tougher.
As I see it, it´s almost impossible that they launch an up-to-date device because We all already know the MKII hardware... and it´s dated.
PorcinePicker
Roadie
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- 172
I think it's safe to say that Kemper utterly failed to....
paisleywookiee
Rock Star
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Oh yeah, they’ve totally kept it moving with new updates. I’m just saying that they knew the time would come that they’d need a MkII device, and therefore should have been planning ahead for that.
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
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dean701
Roadie
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I think people forget the mindset of Christoph Kemper. I think he was completely content with the original Kemper design. One and done. Many people were happy with it (me included) It was only through the bombardment of feature requests or perhaps boredom that he added things along the way. I still remember the Andertons video where he went on to advertise his new gig bag. He marches to the beat of his own drum. Walking around in sandals and shorts, doing what he wants, when he wants. When it does come out, I think it will be an improvement. I would say spring '26 at this point before everything is stable. Just my opinion.
Dimiguitar
Roadie
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- 334
It seems far fetched to me that they believed they could release a unit of this kind and never add new features though. They were one of the first (if not the first?) to have a system of online updates, which they did with their previous product.
"One and done", I believe, applies more to profiling itself. But they couldn't keep that up now that several do arguably overall better with capture functions. It was easier not to update the core function when there were some demands some people made, but there were no alternatives.
Then again, from the translation of the short video, it seems that this was born out of accident? I don't know what this means.
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Enchilada Jones
Roadie
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- 829
I was under the impression from his comment about the ‘accident’ that it was about how the process now takes less time.
They planned to improve the quality and feature set it but they didn’t know they would also speed up the process by making those improvements.
Monkey Man
Groupie
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- 26
Prediction:
I reckon that at some point they'll introduce dual playback of Profiles.
Many requested it over the years and Christoph's take was that the hardware simply wasn't powerful-enough to manage it; he didn't poo-poo the idea.
I reckon it's safe to assume that the new DSP / CPU power will take care of that "deficiency".
I reckon that at some point they'll introduce dual playback of Profiles.
Many requested it over the years and Christoph's take was that the hardware simply wasn't powerful-enough to manage it; he didn't poo-poo the idea.
I reckon it's safe to assume that the new DSP / CPU power will take care of that "deficiency".
dean701
Roadie
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- 543
it's a rat race right now. Tonex upped their game. Stadium seems like the dream UI. Kemper mk2 eventually will come. Even small products like the Valeton gp-5 are putting out some good sounds (including NAM loading) One thing is for sure, my AXE3 will be going. I'd really like to test drive both the Kemper 2 and the Stadium before purchasing but that seems moot since a lot of the functionality won't be there at launch. The Jon video with Eric left me the feeling that it might be another year before Proxy even rears its head. It sounds like they haven't even plotted out the algorithms yet.
I think Line 6 played too much of an NDSP card with so many features missing. The only difference is, that I think Line 6 will fulfill their promises.
I think Line 6 played too much of an NDSP card with so many features missing. The only difference is, that I think Line 6 will fulfill their promises.
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I have a pre order in for a stadium after 12+ years with Kemper Mk1
The concept of proxy brought me to the Stadium table because, workflow wise, I’ve been used to buying commercial profiles / downloading from the free user base and then scrolling through until I found a sound I liked…. There’s certainly a message / perception over at the Kemper forum that profiling is superior to modelling and that if you go for modelling you’ll be tweaking forever. I believed this. So having something that did the (in my mindset at the time) ‘superior’ thing of capturing was something I did not want to give up.
I recently tried Helix native and discovered how good modelling can be, even last generation. I hadn’t usd a modelled since Tonelab and Pod XT….. Once I got into the mindset of Native, I found I spent less time dialing in than I spent scrolling through profiles. Plus it made more tactile sense to me - the liquid profiling ON Kemper went some way to making profiles more like the real amp but it still doesn’t give the same experience as something modelled from the ground up in terms of behaviour - you are still better off choosing a different profile if you’re going too far IMO. That might change with Mk2 - I hope so….. But in Native, I enjoyed geeking out with all the controls in the Dumble model for instance and it was positive tweaking - not a depressing rabbit hole. And the eq switches on the Matchless….. these are things you can’t do with the Kemper plus liquid - you’re relying on the profile maker to have done this. Fair enough, different mindset, they both work but I strangely felt closer to the original amp’s ethos with modelling for this reason. This is arguably ridiculous as I’ve never played a Matchless but I enjoyed the model far, far more than I’ve enjoyed profiles of Matchless from commercial vendors.
So although I’m looking forward to what proxy will do, I care about it far less now that I’ve experienced what modelling can achieve. Agoura, along with the focus view to help me dial in what I want in a hurry, is the thing that’s making me buy this rather than Kemper II….. The proxy side of things will be *at least* as good as current Kemper (which has kept me happy for years) and I am factoring in that we’ll be able to clone dirt pedals. You can do this with Kemper 1 but, as you can only run one profile at a time and they have given zero indication that this will change, you’re buying an unknown future if you think they’ll go there…. With stadium, you’ll be able to clone a dirt pedal with proxy and run that into an amp model….. or maybe another clone - who knows??
For me, the promise of better sound on mk2 just wasn’t enough *compared to what else is out there now*. It’ll absolutely be a great unit for folks that want it and I wish them every success but we’re all different and my preferences have changed due to having choice.
