How to "profile" the Kemper Remote with a PBC?

Wheresthedug

Wheresthedug

Well-Known Member
I recently bought a Kemper KPA but decided to hold off buying the dedicated remote until I after trying it with either an old FCB1010 that I have lying around or my Mastermind PBC.

I know that the PBC editor has all the Kemper c.c. commands etc preloaded so I should easily be able to set my button pages to mimic the dedicated remote (an much more besides). However, as I'm feeling lazy just now, does anyone have a settings file that has already been set up for Kemper use that I could use as my template to save reinventing the wheel?

On a separate note, I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that I am unlikely to use a traditional pedal board for much longer so the PBC probably isn't the best match for my needs. I still love the RJM stuff and Ron's legendary support.

If there is anyone in the UK who fancies swapping a GT for a PBC let me know.
 
So I have a friend who used to use the FCB1010 with an Uno4Kemper chip in it who now has a full Kemper Remote. He gave me the Uno chip to try myself. It works well but is limited in regards to which FX modules / Stomp Slots it can control so isn't likely to be a long term option for me.

I sat don with the PBC Editor yesterday and tried to set up my PBC to control the Kemper KPA. Wow, it's remarkably easy to program thanks to Ron's great work preloading all the midi commands.

It is clear to me that the PBC will be able to serve as a viable alternative to the Kemper Remote (other than the fact that Kemper seem to have disabled all midi support for the looper functions) however, I am still undecided how to lay out my button pages to make for the smoothest operation in a live setting. The possibilities are endles.

Has anybody set up a PBC or GT10 to control a Kemper. If so how have you laid out your button pages?
 
Ron I need your help please.

I no have a PBC file set up with bank up/down on the external switches, Buttons 1 - 5 controlling the 5 slots in Kemper performance mode (set as a group ), the L6 button assigned to tap tempo and the top 4 buttons selecting individual stomp slots A - D on the Kemper.

I noticed on your old video about setting up the GT10 with Kemper that there was an option to have the Kemper send all the preset names etc to the GT10. Can this also be done on the PBC? If so how?

The video also showed that you could set the GT10 to only light up the buttons that are in use eg if the performance bank only uses 2 slots these light up with their names but the other 3 remain dark. Is it possible to do something similar on the PBC whereby if a slot is in use PBC recognises this and lights up Red when not active and turns green when activated but stays black if not in use?

If my bank in Kemper Performance is named as the song can this be made to show up on the PBC display?
 
Yes to all of that. Turn on Auto Names in the Devices tab and it will download and display names as you select performances.
 
Awesome!

You’re an absolute legend sir :)

I’ve switched everything off for the night but will do that tomorrow

Thank you
 
Hi Ron, I've just checked and it appears that Auto Names was already checked but it doesn't seem to be working.
 
From your email, it looks like you don't have a bidirectional connection between the two. All of the Kemper advanced functionality requires it. You either need two cables between Kemper and PBC (Add a second one from Kemper MIDI Out to PBC MIDI In), or you can use a phantom power box to combine the two MIDI connections from the Kemper into a single bidirectional MIDI connection.
 
Thanks Ron.

I already have two midi cables connected. Out from PBC to In on Kemper. Out on Kemper to In on PBC. This seems to be working fine on the FCB1010 and I seem to be seeing the 2 arrows bi-directional icon on the Kemper display.
 
What settings do you need? The RJS file (which I emailed yesterday) or something from the Kemper?

I checked the Kemper screen a moment ago with the FCB1010 connected I can see the 2 way communication arrows but when I change over to the PBC these aren't showing so the Kemper and PBC aren't talking to each othhr via bi directional even with 2 cables connected.
 
Change all of the "Slot 1", "Slot 2", etc. buttons to "Preset" type and remove any actions on the buttons. Auto Names requires preset buttons in order to work. Also remove the actions on those buttons. Also set MIDI Receive Channel to None in the MIDI tab. That fixed it here in the lab.
 
That still doesn't do it at my end.

When I set the buttons to "preset" and remove the actions I do get Names showing on the PBC properly. However, the rig slots in performance mode don't change when I push a preset button. The light over Preset Button 1 lights up. When I push any other button the Preset 1 button remains lit.

When I press bank Up/Down it moves the first time then Kemper tries to load something and starts flashing the 4th soft key (load)and the exit buttons.

Tap tempo works but still no flashing light.

If I select Browser Mode none of the presets buttons do anything but Bank Up/Down seem to scroll through the presets. However as browser mode sdoesn't pre load rigs into memory there is a delay while the Kemper finds the rig I want.

I have tried your settings and various other ideas that seemed logical but nothing seems to work.

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The way I envisage it should work is:

Set Kemper to Performance Mode

Each Bank Up/Down on PBC steps through Kemper songs. Holding the Bank up/down buttons scroll through songs quickly.

When a song is selected via Bank Up/Down Kemper shows this but doesn't load any rigs from the new song until a Preset button is pushed on PBC. The PBC screen shows the song name on the top line and the Preset/Slot name from the Kemper on the bottom line.

Pressing Preset 1 Button loads the rig stored in Kemper's performance mode slot 1 of that song. Preset 2 button on PBC selects the Kemper rig saved in Slot 2 etc. If there is a rig loaded in a slot on the Kemper PBC Preset buttons light up Yellow except the actually selected rig which lights up Green. If the Kemper doesn't have a rig assigned to a particular slot the PBC Preset button for that slot stays Black.

All 5 Preset buttons on PBC are linked as part of a group so that only one Kemper Slot can ever load at any given time.

The top row of buttons on the PBC can be used to manually select any effects in the Stomp Slots A - D.

External footswitch buttons 1 & 2 scroll through the banks (Songs) in Kemper's performance mode.

The Global Preset button is assigned to Tap Tempo and flashes in time with the tempo selected.


I have uploaded the most recent attempt at a RJS file for your comments. What am I missing?
 

Attachments

  • Kemper.rjs
    1.6 MB · Views: 6
I loaded your settings here and they work fine for me. What firmware version are you running on the Kemper? Also make sure the Kemper is receiving on MIDI channel 1.

For the tempo button, turn on Update on Preset Change on the button and it should start flashing.
 
Thanks Ron.

I was away for a few days over the Easter weekend but have now tried again.

The tap tempo solution worked perfectly.

As for the midi suggestions- it tur s out it was all my own incompetence. Although I had both mid cables connected and the Kemper set to send and receive in omni mode, i hadn’t realised I had to manually co figure the midi ports in the system menu. As the FCB1010 with Uno4Kemper chip worked without doing anything I just assumed the PBC would be the same. Once I configured the Kemper’s midi portseverything worked perfectly.

Thanks again for all your help.
 
Hi Ron, now that I have stage one of my Kemper ntegration set up And working seamlessly I now have some more questions:

1 - I tried to set up my expression pedal today but hit some issues.

I want to set up a basic set of button pages on the PBC to control all the Rigs in the Kemper Performance mode. I don’t need to set up individual presets in the PBC so the button functions will effectively be static from Rig to Rig.

I tried to set up a button on page 2 of my PBC to step through various Kemper functions eg default wah, press again change to pitch, press again change to delay mix, press again change to delay feedback. However, I can’t find an expression pedal group option in the editor anymore. I think this wa replaced by individual exp selections per preset. As I don’t want to set up multiple presets can I still achieve the desired result?

I don’t want the exp pedal to change each time I change a Rig but merely be manually selectable on the fly.

2 - as I don’t have enough buttons available to select Stomp A-D and fx X, mod, delay & reverb on one button page, I have made a second page for the X - reverb fx on/off switches. On the Kemper remote it is possible to do a “learn” type function where you hold a button on the Kemper then push a footswitch on the remote to link the two. Can something similar be done on the PBC or is this a feature that requires non midi communication over ethernet cable? If it would work I might be able to use only one button page.
 
Wheresthedug said:
Hi Ron, now that I have stage one of my Kemper ntegration set up And working seamlessly I now have some more questions:

1 - I tried to set up my expression pedal today but hit some issues.

I want to set up a basic set of button pages on the PBC to control all the Rigs in the Kemper Performance mode. I don’t need to set up individual presets in the PBC so the button functions will effectively be static from Rig to Rig.

I tried to set up a button on page 2 of my PBC to step through various Kemper functions eg default wah, press again change to pitch, press again change to delay mix, press again change to delay feedback. However, I can’t find an expression pedal group option in the editor anymore. I think this wa replaced by individual exp selections per preset. As I don’t want to set up multiple presets can I still achieve the desired result?

I don’t want the exp pedal to change each time I change a Rig but merely be manually selectable on the fly.

2 - as I don’t have enough buttons available to select Stomp A-D and fx X, mod, delay & reverb on one button page, I have made a second page for the X - reverb fx on/off switches. On the Kemper remote it is possible to do a “learn” type function where you hold a button on the Kemper then push a footswitch on the remote to link the two. Can something similar be done on the PBC or is this a feature that requires non midi communication over ethernet cable? If it would work I might be able to use only one button page.
Click to expand...

Expression pedal groups are were removed in favor of expression pedal settings blocks. On the Globals tab, set up four different settings blocks (you can set up to 128 of them, let's say you use blocks 0-3). Then create an IA button, turn on Send/Update on Preset Change and turn on IA Cycle. Add actions to the button like this:

System / ExpPedal off:None on:0
System / Step
System / ExpPedal off:None on:1
System / Step
System / ExpPedal off:None on:2
System / Step
System / ExpPedal off:None on:3

You can set up step names and button colors for each step in the IA Cycle Steps section of the button edit page.

This will do everything expression pedal groups does, plus allow you to set colors for each different setting.

The Learn function is something specifc to the Kemper and its remote - we can't do the same.
 
Brilliant! Thanks Ron

I was on the right tracks but had made a few mistakes. Firstly I had a step in at the beginning before the first System / ExpPedal line. Also I had the off values and on values wrong. I see how it works now.

The learn function doesn’t surprise me but I thought I’d ask just in case.

Cheers.
 
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