It's all pure speculation but honestly
@OneEng I think you may be right.
This whole Mk2 release smacks of a money grab. I do think they needed a Mk2 hardware unit probably because some of the old components may not be available. That leads to faster boot times and snappier performance. I'm fine with new colors on the Mk2 and holding the line on prices makes sense.
What makes zero sense is announcing new profiling tech that was nowhere near developed and ready for release. We're about 9 months past announcement and 6 months past the target date for the update. Clearly everything was rushed - if it even existed in the first place. So it sure looks like they publicly made this announcement in order to sell some Mk2 units.
And if they made a decision to hide v2 profiling behind a hardware pay wall that has nothing to do with actual DSP needs, the entire company can just go away completely. And before you call that a conspiracy, they did literally that exact same thing with Player upgrades.
It is possible that the needed to do MK2 because of old components. My issue with it is that the only thing the actually changed was the DIMM loaded "SOM" board which got a new OS processor (a faster version of the older one).
The rack and toaster DIDN'T get any of the new features that the stage and player got. To me, this means that Kemper didn't want to turn the board (layout a new printed circuit board). So EITHER they replaced only pin compatible parts (things that didn't require a new layout like resistors, caps, some IC's, transistors, etc), OR they are still using exactly the same main boards for MK2 Rack and MK2 Toaster.
Who would reasonably create an MK2 Rack and MK2 Toaster without the integrated WiFi and without the "True Impedance" matching in the main board that are present in the Stage and Player? This is what leads me to believe they are just re-using the same main boards they already have in stock and plopping a new DIMM SOM board in them (and a new paint job).
Without seeing the mb revision (if they silk screened it .... which most people do), I can't confirm this. It just makes lots of sense.
I think, if Im understanding you correctly, you think MKii is nothing but a fraud. They wanted to increase sales so they are going to trick people into buying the same product with superficial changes only and telling us that it is greatly improved?
Do you really think they believe, in the current paradigm of internet tech geek fanboys, they could pull that off in any kind of profitable way?!? The scam would be revealed in a big loud mess and sales would fizzle out to bankruptcy. If it is a publicly traded company people responsible would be sued by the shareholders. There could even be jail time for them. It would be an instant disaster.
Conversely they would make much more profit by simply continuing to ride their own coat tails as long as they could offering no new changes/upgrades!
I think you must be having a bad day!
I don't think what they have done is illegal in any way. The BOM for the new MK2 is absolutely different than MK1. It has a different face plate, missing a button, and has a different SOM board in it. It' is not the same product.
What I am saying is that the "greatly improved" profiling can be done on MK1. That Kemper is choosing not to do it is a business decision, not a technical one.
The DSP processor (that is on the main board) has not been changed. This is 100% verified. The DSP chip is 100% responsible for creating sound out of the input and the KPR file for the rig being played. This can not be done, and is not done on the SOM board processor due to the silly amounts of latency the interconnect between the 2 processors has (in terms of DSP time).
When you switch RIGs on a Kemper, either through the GUI or through a pedalboard, it is the SOM processor that is running the GUI. It loads the rig onto the DSP processor, and you are off and going on a different rig. This is common across all digital modelers.
No matter what they are doing on that SOM processor, they are not running the input to output sound through it. All of that is done on the DSP.
Supposedly, the new KPR files will be "higher resolution" than the old ones. Great. Both the MK1 and MK2 have the same DSP. The MK2 is using the same DSP to play these "higher resolution" files as the MK1 has ..... therefore, there is no reason the MK1 can't play a full resolution MK2 profile as well. This is just a plain fact.
I can't comment on if an MK1 could MAKE a higher resolution KPR profile or not. I suppose there could be SOME limitation imposed by the SOM board processor that prevents this; however, I would even question this. The rumor is that the new profiling will require the use of a PC and connection to the rig manager. My guess (this is purely speculation) is that the DSP will collect lots of data, feed it up to the SOM board processor, that will send a file (or stream) to the PC. The actual profiling will happen on the PC. The profile will be created on the PC, then sent down to the SOM board processor and be ready for use as a new profile.
As I said, it is possible in this setup that there are limits to what an MK1 can create. I think I could find a way around it. My guess is that if it required more work, Kemper wouldn't do it.
The playback of new high res 2.0 profiles though? It's just isn't believable that MK1 couldn't do it.
It isn't even unethical really. It is just ...... underhanded?
None of this fixes the problem that other products are moving forward while Kemper isn't. I also feel it is unlikely (and largely unnecessary) that Kemper will eclipse NDSP in accuracy. It just seems like this is where they are hanging their hat. Perhaps that is a better target than trying to compete on other areas of usability that the competition is rapidly just pulling away with.
