Posts by MementoMori

Quote from nightlight

1) You didn't read my post. I contacted the mods via PM and got no reply for two days.

I did read your post. It was posted here. You may have mentioned having trouble reaching them in PM's, but you still posted it publicly.

Quote from nightlight

2) Have you seen the Helix and Quad Cortex and Axe FX threads here? How do you justify those then? These aren't the Axe FX forums, they have always allowed the discussion about competing products within reason. Please don't use these kinds of tunnel vision arguments.

A discussion on a new product is hardly akin to participating in a brand-driven promotion. Maybe Kemper doesn't care that way, but to me I see a difference, at least one bringing up in figuring out why maybe that thread was mysteriously hidden.

Quote from nightlight

3) Telling people there's a contest isn't even remotely rude to the host on any forum, It'd for a plugin, why would I not mention that it's a Neural DSP contest? Iirc, the Kemper demo guy at quite a few NAMM shows (I forget his name, Thomas something) posted his entry to a contest where he came first. It's been done before too. What's the harm? I never even insinuated it's as good as the Kemper, which people were doing on the Quad Cortex thread without any clips even.

I'm only offering a possible explanation of why Kemper may have done something.

Quote from nightlight

4) Butt out means when I ask a mod "why did you make my post invisible", someone who isn't a mod should mind his business and let a mod tell me what I did wrong.

Again, you posted it publicly. My sincerest apologies for trying to be thoughtful & constructive.

Quote from nightlight

You mean sort of like they're not over the moon about you being on the forums? You'd think they'd have made you invisible by now then.

Well, I have been selectively banned for periods of time, which makes me effectively invisible for a while and discourages my participation. Though, I never suggested they outright get rid of everything they don't like here. Not sure how these are connected.

Quote from nightlight

Let them explain it to me, ay? In the screen shot I posted, there's someone else that had posted a contest video.

I'm not prohibiting them from doing so, I'm just offering the way I see it from the outside.

Quote from nightlight

You of all people should know by now they don't throw out people who talk about other competition and trash talk the Kemper very subtly all the time, neh? I just posted a video with the Kemper in it.

So to be polite, butt out, yes?

I'm a little confused. I never suggested they just throw people out, only that they may not like you promoting a competitors marketing campaign in the header of a thread. It's of course an assumption. As for butting out, you posted on a public thread rather than a DM to the admins, which invites participation and scrutiny, much like how you offer your perspective in conversations not directed at you here. I thought my response was polite and constructive but you seem to have taken some personal offense.

I'm sure they're not over the moon with posting entries to another competitor's contest that's designed to promote their brand. If you hadn't mentioned Neural or the contest, just linked the video and said Kemper was used in it, I don't know that anything would have happened.

Seems like they maybe hid it instead of deleting it hoping you wouldn't notice or be insulted? Surely a better thing to do would be to politely ask you not to advertise another company's competition on their forum like that, which I think would be reasonable.

Quote from G String

the "majority"? i don't think you can name magazines or you have proof. if you have names, share them privately with us. because frankly, i think you're just spreading fake news. i'm in this industry for a very long time and never came across this a single time. and for you it's most of the magazines. isn't that strange?

Have you worked in marketing in this industry? Sounds more you like you having an axe to grind because you don't particularly like me very much, which is apparent in how you've doled out (and not doled out) warnings and bans.

The immediate example I'll give you is MusicRadar's parent company, Future plc, does exchange compensation for such types of awards. That doesn't mean they just accept any old garbage, it has to meet acceptable terms, but they don't actually give you that publicity without compensation. In other cases, as lightbox points out, there is a quid pro quo when it comes to things like this, such as an award being given out for past or future investments in ads. There isn't one policy that rules every publication, print or online, but these are similar themes. They're businesses after all. When it comes to MusicRadar, I've just never had an experience with them on this matter to 100% say one way or another.

Let me add to it in another way: considering how publications make their living selling editorial content & native advertising which masks itself as impartial editorial content, is this really a logical stretch? There have been some instances where we didn't pay for editorial space or "awards" and received some, of course, but it's very infrequent and typically follows with the sales team at the publication contacting you to ask for money in future ads and editorial content. Maybe because Kemper is such a hot commodity item, magazines behave a little differently since their readers will have a built-in interest. I won't sit here and claim the treatment my company gets vs, say, Gibson, is completely the same. But holy hell, this was obvious to me as a kid reading guitar magazines where every "award" was given to the same companies, chiefly Line 6 and Gibson, brands who would consistently advertise with them. Are we going to suggest mutual back-scratching isn't compensation for "awards"? And let me clear up that just because such offers come across my email doesn't mean I take them up. There are ethical and unethical ways of advertising, and I find buying "awards" to be unethical, but I don't lie that it happens, and happens often in the publications I've communicated with.

There's no "fake news" [eye roll]. Other times on the forum I've peeled back the curtain a bit because this is the industry I work in, but I don't like getting overly specific if I don't have to considering the sensitivity of some matters. The idea that I'm going to sit here and give you a cataloged run down of every magazine that has approached my company about NAMM and other tradeshow awards is just ridiculous.

Quote from G String

MementoMori really? which ones?

The majority of ones I've had to work with over the past 3 years. I don't feel obligated to just outright name them unless they specifically come up and it's worth scrutinizing. It's certainly nothing rare in marketing or a big secret.

The BulGuitar Iridium really intrigues me a lot.

Quote from dmatthews

One wonders what "Best in show" means when nobody can buy it and play it.

It means that products shown at the show. At NAMM you can play the prototypes at their booth. What metrics Music Radar use for that I can't speak to. For some publications, you pay for these awards, but in my time working with Music Radar I don't think they do that.

It already won Music Radar's "Best in Show" for NAMM, so there's that.

I work for a cable manufacturer. For line level you really only need decent interconnect cables. Mic cables work just as well, but they are more bulky and expensive, so it's a bit of overkill.

I know the word "decent" is a bit arbitrary, but you want something with medal ends and where the jacket isn't almost as thin as the conductor inside. Plastic molded end cables won't end the world, but they don't have nearly as good of isolation and typically made to meet a price point rather than a high standard. Since it was mentioned, gold or nickel contacts won't make a significant difference that you'd likely be able to tell. Gold is more conductive, but its use is more for durability since gold doesn't oxidate or corrode nearly as fast as nickel. Still, this isn't something you're likely to worry much about. It's a nice feature, but not a necessity.

Price can vary dramatically, but more $ does not always equal better. Higher price can certainly denote more rigorous QC or better components, though the cost in components is fairly negligible in most cases. Most often it's just down to where it's manufactured and the cost of labor there. Good cables come from China, bad cables come from China, or Taiwan, or Indonesia, or Japan, or even the USA. You can buy an inferior cable made in the USA that's more expensive than a cable made overseas that's spec'd out, and visa versa.

Quote from nightlight

I just found some of the earlier posts on this thread a little too fanboyish (when there's nothing to be a fanboy about, yet), so I thought I'd play a negative nancy.

Which is fair, and you know that type of stuff bother me as well. The people, at least here, showing the most enthusiasm are basing it on their liking of Neural and Darkglass offerings, so they assume this is going to be right down their alley. Company's know how quintessential a reputation is, which is how you have cohorts of people on this forum that will buy any Kemper offering on the grounds that it's Kemper.

Quote from nightlight

Seriously, it looks (sounds) like the best modeller ever. And that's a good reason to be sceptical at the moment.

Of course, all marketing should come with healthy skepticism. I only roll my eyes when it's overt cynicism or irrational idealism.

Quote from nightlight

I'd have to say, "Right back at you."

I'm very keen to see what this device can do, but to hear claims that it is a Kemper killer, etc, is a bit too much, don't you think? Especially without a single audio clip.

I never suggested it was. All I've suggested is my interest in seeing how well the claims stack up to the results.

Of course people should want to hear examples and such before jumping to conclusions, but I think some people here are getting ahead of themselves. The purpose of the announcement isn't to do a 2 hour long video of all the features, examples, and how to use them. The purpose is to give a synopsis of a new product ahead of NAMM to build anticipation. As time progresses, more videos and examples will be made that we can use to determine how good or bad it is, or if it meets the hype. To expect the teaser will answer each and every question in depth is unreasonable.

Neural is going live in a couple hours with a Q&A for those interested in listening in or inquiring:

Quote from lightbox

This being said, I already dislike what they do / how they do. Will be very hard for them to change my mind. Just because of their attitude in early marketing.

Without actually knowing fully what it is or hearing it, this just comes across as reflexive defensiveness because it threatens the Kemper. Just because there are some claims in marketing copy doesn't mean they are wrong, we need to decide that or not. And besides, let's not pretend that Kemper didn't market profiling with really big claims that made some skeptical.

Quote from nightlight

After all, the Kemper is pretty much spot on, afaik. So better than what?

Spot on in terms of? While there are some cases where results are very impressive, there are also times where it is off significantly. If the Neural's claims are true, it could "capture" multiple gain stages and signal paths. That's something the Kemper can't do, and when you try, even Kemper says results won't be accurate. There's also been many cases and examples of when profiles are close but certainly not perfect, leaving room for some improvement, as has been discussed ad nauseum on the forum. So while profiling can do a lot, it most certainly can't do it all. We will see if Neural's offering lives up to the hype.

Quote from TheChicagoTodd

Something that I thought I picked up on, and correct me if I misread this, but Kemper profiles provide a "mic'ed" cab sound and do not provide "amp in the room" sound. If I read the Neural DSP stuff correctly....their AI is able to reproduce the sound to what the human ear hears. I'd like to see what this means....does this this mean they might be able to reproduce amp-in-the-room sounds? If so, game changer for sure. Please let me know if I'm offbase here.

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

The only thing that gives you an amp in the room sound is an amp in the room. Though, Universal Audio via their OX Box apparently does a really marvelous job with emulating a "room" feel in its cab emulations. At least that's what I hear from some people. Perhaps something closer to that would give a "profile" or "capture" the type of response and feel some players want and feel a bit less "plastic" or "boxy".

Quote from RookGarner

Wow, they claim they do profilling and I also saw the word rig on their site.

They call it "Capture", not profiling. We assume it's the same or similar. The term "rig" is used in many places, and Kemper most certainly doesn't have a trademark on that term.

Quote from RookGarner

Plus it shows a "refine" page - just like Kemper.

Again, "refine" is not a trademarked term Kemper owns.

Quote from RookGarner

Looks like this is heading for trouble... or maybe not, maybe they do not violate Kemper's patent - who knows.

People were saying the same thing about Positive Grid and their "Amp Match" function. Kemper would have a patent on a particular methodology, not on EQ and gain matching as a whole. It's possible that Neural has a different way of accomplishing those ends. I'm keen to try it.

Quote from RookGarner

hey claim to have perfected profiling - wow, bold!

The marketing copy I've seen doesn't say anything about either profiling or perfection. They claim the learning algorithm creates more realistic representations than others. Of course anybody can say anything, so we shall see.

Quote from Yoda Guitar

I would not be surprised if you need an internet connection to "profile".

The built-in ARM Cortex A5 processors and the SHARC floating point cores are, in any case, IMHO unable to provide the computing power required for an AI.

Therefore, it will probably work more like Siri or Alexa.

Hey little box I want to sound like John Petrucci ...

Answer: I cannot do this. I have no stable internet connection. Go and practice your stuff ...

Display More

Not sure. It does have WiFi connectivity, so perhaps there's something to that. Neural's social media personality is a buddy of mine and supposed to get a prototype soon, so we're looking forward to putting it up against the Kemper and figuring this thing out.

What is Neural Capture?

Other companies already digitally capture the sound of an analog rig, some very cleverly for the time they were introduced. But with the advances in machine learning technology and in embedded processing power, we thought we could greatly contribute to this field. Our biomimetic approach relies on a unique combination of advanced machine learning techniques and neuroscience; we invented a way to train an AI to perceive sound in the same way the human ear does. Quad Cortex’s neural networks are hearing your rig in the same way that you do, giving it the most comprehensive and detailed detection system, and the resulting digitized rigs are the most accurate and powerful on the market.

Will be interesting to compare side by side to the Kemper when it's released. I'm not so keen on a floor model and prefer to keep everything behind me, but I love the idea that it could possibly achieve closer results. Their plugins are already seen as top of the class, so I'm excited to see what this does.

Quote from dmatthews

I play in a cover band, and although I don't like every profile I do find many useful ones.

I think that philosophy is a bit different in that cover bands seek to replicate the source material, not so much find your own sound. Never said many profiles weren't useful, though. If people find tonal bliss in the Kemper and commercial profiles, I'm genuinely happy for them and not trying to convince them otherwise.

Quote from chu

Hope you get it resolved. As I mentioned before, a great number of profile packs from well respected sellers have proved to be garbage to my ears; often I wondered how they had been able to make something sound so bad. After stumbling around getting a little closer, trying profile after profile of amps I've loved or considered I would, i found my perfect base sound already in the box (either factory content or Rig Manager I can't recall which). It turns out that a Splawn QuickRod was what I was looking for but just didn't know.

I've dealt with a lot of dejection based on this premise. Honestly could never gel with MBritt, Top Jimi, Amp Factory, ReampZone, Bert, Mattfig, and many other common names selling profiles. Part of it is the profiles not being dialed in for my pickups and the Kemper feels veryyy sensitive to pickups. There's no crime in that, though I also hear audio samples from lots of people who are in love with these profiles and all it demonstrates is tone is subjective because 90% of the time I wouldn't desire such a sound.

Basically, for someone getting the Kemper, I wouldn't suggest it unless they also plan on making profiles. This isn't like an Axe-FX or Helix where if you don't like the sound you can tweak it to taste, there are so many times where you have to ditch massive amounts of profiles to find a few gems. For all the people who complain about "tweaking" when it comes to traditional modelers, they spend the same amount of time profile hunting to achieve the same result. I would say that the Kemper method is unique and cool, but also more frustrating. You're not just getting amps, you're getting full signal chains: amp > cab > mic > mic placement > mic preamp > pedals in the chain > cables, and anything else in the chain which affects the tone in some small way. That's a lot of variables to be stuck with if you don't care for the sound, whereas creating your own profiles means you're immediately left with something much closer to a tone you know you like.

Don't get me wrong, I have a number of commercial profiles still on my KPA, some I use quite often, but many are either profiles I've made or gems I've found after auditioning thousands on rig exchange. Some are also freebies shared in the FB group or here that aren't on RE. Still, I wouldn't advise getting a KPA if that's all you're looking to do because it's a time-suck and vortex of frustration IME. Then again, some people seem to be suspiciously over the moon with each and every profile they try, so I guess we all have different standards.