Kemper Profiler MK 2

[Gary_W]

I haven’t posted over there in a while - I got a one week ban for being off topic (I wasn’t any more off topic than another guy two posts after me who didn’t get banned) but I had posts deleted, got banned and I haven’t tried logging in since. So it might still not work for all I know. I still check it for news occasionally and it’s as per the above posts - no news, no updates, only interaction back from the mods is to tell people off for not sticking strictly to topic. I still have my Kemper (it’s my only modeller) but it will be moving along once my Stadium arrives which is hopefully later this month. Shame it’s ended this way after years of enthusiastic support.

In light of how launches can be, Mk2 has indeed been a mess. On a related note, I can’t believe people on forums having a go at Line 6 for holding stock from shipping till 18th of this month to ensure the firmware is ready….. especially when that still puts them a month inside their ‘fall’ deadline. And when their product manager has engaged so well online (Facebook, here, elsewhwhere) and there’s been tons of information / videos / stuff from the show a few weeks back etc. On the Kemper side there has been radio silence. Their website *still* says ‘expected during the Summer’ for the new profiling tech. I suppose they may as well leave it there now as they’re not saying which Summer!

 

[Jarick]

Well put. The false equivalence game by some fanboys is hilarious.

Now if Line 6 doesn’t ship anything until next year and starts banning anyone who asks questions then I’ll rip into them. But they have respect for their customers as well as a sense of humor so I’m expecting minimal issues.

 

[Gary_W]

Well put. The false equivalence game by some fanboys is hilarious.

Now if Line 6 doesn’t ship anything until next year and starts banning anyone who asks questions then I’ll rip into them. But they have respect for their customers as well as a sense of humor so I’m expecting minimal issues.

Totally - I’ve really appreciated having actual information put onto an website / YouTube and official responses to questions. I tend to not buy and sell gear all the time; I’ll think about it, research as best I can, buy the best I can afford that meets my needs then stick with it / do my best to get the best out of it. Having responses and information is a part of that process and it makes a difference to me.

 

[Dimiguitar]

Their website *still* says ‘expected during the Summer’ for the new profiling tech. I suppose they may as well leave it there now as they’re not saying which Summer!

This is one of these seemingly insignificant things to me, considering there's 0.001% chance I'd buy an MKII after seeing how good tonex V2 is on my tonex one, and how I like IK multimedia a lot more as a company, imperfections and all....

..... But it does screw with my head a little. There's the feeling of wanting to fix the date on their site myself. Because the info is wrong. And that's annoying. God damnit

Heck: how much work could it possibly involve to just update the date? You don't even need to mention specifics about when it comes out. Just don't freaking have incorrect info on your site. It's been pointed out to you already.

 

[Dimiguitar]

@Gary_W I saw your avatar on Kemper forum without a ban, so your punishment is over for now.

But OneEng (EE) was banned. Yet again. I see his avatar with the "locked" sign. That's a Kemper guy I always found quite reasonable and respectful on the Kemper forum.

At this point, it's almost like forum sadomasochism for some to continue participating on there. It's just my own view and perception, but nonetheless.

 

[Chocol8]

Companies used to use forums as a way to attract and retain customers. Now it seems to be more of a tool to drive customers away, and certainly not limited to Kemper or MI. I simply don’t get it.

 

[Jarick]

@Gary_W I saw your avatar on Kemper forum without a ban, so your punishment is over for now.

But OneEng (EE) was banned. Yet again. I see his avatar with the "locked" sign. That's a Kemper guy I always found quite reasonable and respectful on the Kemper forum.

At this point, it's almost like forum sadomasochism for some to continue participating on there. It's just my own view and perception, but nonetheless.

Yeah nothing like driving away one of the few people standing up for your products. Or trying to scare away people from participating in your user community.

 

[LP59]

@Gary_W I saw your avatar on Kemper forum without a ban, so your punishment is over for now.

But OneEng (EE) was banned. Yet again. I see his avatar with the "locked" sign. That's a Kemper guy I always found quite reasonable and respectful on the Kemper forum.

At this point, it's almost like forum sadomasochism for some to continue participating on there. It's just my own view and perception, but nonetheless.

He was frequently chastised for posting off topic messages, or at least messages that in the opinion of the mods were off-topic. I guess he did it one too many times, so they permanently banned him.

Even worse than off-topic posts in the eyes of the mods is thread title grammar. If you have a capitalization error, they'll immediately edit your post to correct it, but at the same time, they'll ignore the question you asked .

 

[Gary_W]

@Gary_W I saw your avatar on Kemper forum without a ban, so your punishment is over for now.

But OneEng (EE) was banned. Yet again. I see his avatar with the "locked" sign. That's a Kemper guy I always found quite reasonable and respectful on the Kemper forum.

At this point, it's almost like forum sadomasochism for some to continue participating on there. It's just my own view and perception, but nonetheless.

It is crazy. Some of the true believers there go to snarky butt-hurt almost immediately. I’ve never found OneEng to be wired that way - he’s a true believer for them (or was last time I saw him post) but always did his best to articulate his point politely rather than just say ‘CK is a genius and will make the best device ever……. Soon…. trust in this undeniable fact or you smell’ which is how a couple of the people there come across. Trying to push guys like OneEng away makes zero sense IMO.

Apart from a few folks as described above, there’s lots of decent people there who are long time happy users and many of them are trying to continue supporting the company with money. They believe the owner is a decent, bright guy (as do I) and they would like to support him. No need to test the faith of the true believers in the way they run the official forum right now.

 

[Dimiguitar]

It is crazy. Some of the true believers there go to snarky butt-hurt almost immediately. I’ve never found OneEng to be wired that way - he’s a true believer for them (or was last time I saw him post) but always did his best to articulate his point politely rather than just say ‘CK is a genius and will make the best device ever……. Soon…. trust in this undeniable fact or you smell’ which is how a couple of the people there come across. Trying to push guys like OneEng away makes zero sense IMO.

Agreed. OngEng is (I assume still) a very big Kemper fan, but certainly no attack dog on that forum. From anything I can remember, he'd offer reasons for his views, didn't arrogantly dismiss criticisms, and his comments were not thinly veiled jabs.

If you're Kemper, I would imagine you want people behaving like that on your forum.... Folk super into your products, but who don't go full on crocodile on folk every time there's a perceived threat.

The attack dog role, for me, just creates a cult-like atmosphere that largely looks bad to outsiders.

Apart from a few folks as described above, there’s lots of decent people there who are long time happy users and many of them are trying to continue supporting the company with money.

For sure. Many people are like that.

And I agree that CK is (very) bright. Certainly difficult to deny such a thing, when he essentially took the industry by storm, combining different technologies the way he did (and not only that). No question.

 

[Dimiguitar]

And I've also liked CK's conduct when it comes to competitors. From what I've seen, he's never come off as directly trying to put others down, in terms of rhetoric , to elevate himself and his company.

That's one thing I always appreciated about him. I don't think it can be said about everybody, even if there's often a relative sense of comradely among people in this relatively small industry.

 

[Jarick]

Yeah I don't think the issue is CK. I think the issue is the mods on the forum, and maybe the marketing folks in the company as well.

 

[Orvillain]

Badass callout idea for a breakdown in today's music

"GARY_W.....THE TEA IS READY"

*Filthy Breakdown commences

I think this one takes it tbh.

 

[Mongillo19]

I think this one takes it tbh.

Out of left field with that one

 

[ejecta]

Yeah I don't think the issue is CK. I think the issue is the mods on the forum, and maybe the marketing folks in the company as well.

Unfortunately this isn’t true for all company forums. Sometimes the prick attitude comes from the top down.

 

[Dimiguitar]

I think heads of these small companies tend to have an effect on how forums are run.

Some times people say that Cliff, for example, has nothing to do with arguably "toxic" parts of culture around fractal products. If you think otherwise, you're just a "dick head". The issue is supposedly just some fractal followers and such.

But I don't believe that's the whole story. In my book, there's definitely top down reasons, among others, why you see such attitudes along users imo, and forum culture. I'm told about meltdowns on fractal forum when Kemper came out, and it's not surprising.

Or at the very least, it's unlikely there's no historical connection there at all, even if nowadays things are better.

I think some of the same goes for CK and Kemper. Moderators are unlikely to be the sole issue for how the forum is run. Is CK that unaware of what happens there? You would imagine him taking issue with behaviors that have gone on for years and years and years -- but apparently not.

 

[Dimiguitar]

Which isn't me btw saying Cliff and CK = Satan. I think from other statements I've also made, that it's clear I don't believe so.

 

[laxu]

I think heads of these small companies tend to have an effect on how forums are run.

Some times people say that Cliff, for example, has nothing to do with arguably "toxic" parts of culture around fractal products. If you think otherwise, you're just a "dick head". The issue is supposedly just some fractal followers and such.

But I don't believe that's the whole story. In my book, there's definitely top down reasons, among others, why you see such attitudes along users imo, and forum culture. I'm told about meltdowns on fractal forum when Kemper came out, and it's not surprising.

Or at the very least, it's unlikely there's no historical connection there at all, even if nowadays things are better.

Having spent a good amount of time on Fractal forums, there's definitely a bunch of sycophants with no other ties to Fractal than owning the gear. These can sometimes be "holier than thou, Fractal can do no wrong" type people quickly pouncing on any criticism. Most people are helpful if the user asking for help isn't being a complete ass (e.g totally ignoring given advice).

I think some of the same goes for CK and Kemper. Moderators are unlikely to be the sole issue for how the forum is run. Is CK that unaware of what happens there? You would imagine him taking issue with behaviors that have gone on for years and years and years -- but apparently not.

I would expect CK would see no issue, since it's the moderators pouncing on users and basically cleaning up before anything travels upstream. Kemper doesn't seem to participate on any other forums to my knowledge.

 

[Dimiguitar]

Having spent a good amount of time on Fractal forums, there's definitely a bunch of sycophants with no other ties to Fractal than owning the gear. These can sometimes be "holier than thou, Fractal can do no wrong" type people quickly pouncing on any criticism. Most people are helpful if the user asking for help isn't being a complete ass (e.g totally ignoring given advice).

I think both things are probably the case; that 1) it's unlikely there's no top-down influence at all, on people, but also 2) that some people would show up and act the same on pretty much any forum of high level gear.

 

[Jarick]

Fractal forum definitely has a lot of fan boys (or brand loyalists if you prefer) but the moderators don't stifle discussion. If I went over and started praising the Fender TMP I'd probably get a lot of flack from the crowd but I wouldn't get flagged and banned for being "off topic".

Manufacturer forums are weird, especially with heavy handed moderation. Mods set the tone and then users will self-reinforce. It's like a social engineering experiment. If mods are really welcoming of different discussions, the people will follow suit. If mods are constantly enforcing and shutting down discussions, users follow suit.

They can be really good about getting excited about a piece of gear or getting help with certain things. Very rarely for any type of criticism even if it's constructive and earned.