Software updates rarely set the pulse raising but when Kemper releases a new version of its Profiler operating system with a quartet of new effects, that means new tones and it is an entirely different matter.
The Profiler OS 7.5 is a free update for owners and brings with it Acoustic Simulator, Phase Widener, Delay Widener, and Autoswell to Kemper's effects library. Now, if only every time we had to update Windows 10 we had four new effects to play with.
Let's take a look at them...
The Acoustic Simulator: This is exactly that: switch it on, et voila! You're James Taylor. But seriously, its operation, and what it will do to your tone, is not dissimilar to something like a Boss AC-3.
It operates like a stomp box, and takes your electric signal and makes it sound like an acoustic, playing around with the transients and all that electronic hugger-mugger in your clean tone to create a sense of that organic acoustic resonance.
As with other acoustic simulators, the results might fail a blind taste test, but with Pickup, Body, Bronze, and Sparkle modes they'll offer four flavours of acoustic tone that would work pretty darn well for acoustic interludes and intros that you don't need to have an Ovation mounted on the stage at all times. Very cool.
Phase Widener: A Kemper-designed effect, this takes a mono signal and turns it into a wide stereo. Kemper promises no colouring on the tone, which sounds very interesting.
Delay Widener: This we have seen in Pro Tools and elsewhere, where a stereo signal is widened by delaying on side of the signal. Kemper suggests 30ms as a sweet spot, but as ever, experimentation is the name of the game. Just make sure you place the effect after the Stack section so that the signal has been processed in stereo.
Auto Swell: Mimics a volume pedal as you strike the strings, a la the TC Electronic Crescendo and others.
Other updates include some low and high cut output filters and S/PDIF Slave Mode, while the Rig Manager 3.0 update brings new functionality to its library and rig editing capabilities.
