Any Kemper users here? Reamping issues.

[Darryl Ramm]

And had to remind myself it's the "Software Inputs" in the MBox Control Software you need to look at as well as "Outputs". "Software Inputs" are what most of us would call the DAW Returns, a bad choice IMNSHO to call them anything "inputs".

[B_ryan]

I have just looked in the manual again. I have copy/pasted (all in bold format is pasted from the manual, so you can skip that, if you want) what it says:

Hardware input: The Hardware Input section shows fader strips for all MBOX hardware inputs. The view is scrollable left and right

Each fader strip provides a Pan knob, Solo and Mute buttons, input meter(s), and Avid FX Send level meters. Each fader adjusts the out- put level of the input channel (the level fed to MBOX output mixes). These controls mirror the same settings in the Channel Focus tab, letting you adjust pan, solo, and mute even when a channel is not the current channel focus.
Adjacent channels can be stereo-linked (see Stereo Linking). Double-clicking on a channel strip collapses it to a narrow view, to con- serve screen real estate. Double-click again to expand.
For more information on these and all other input controls, see Channel Focus.

Software input: The Software Inputs section shows fader strips for all “internal” inputs (software inputs from Pro Tools). In Pro Tools, these appear as MBOX Send 1–2, MBOX Send 3–4, and so on. These controls mirror those in Channel Focus when a Software Input is selected.
Double-clicking on a channel strip collapses it to a narrow view, to conserve screen real estate. Double-click again to expand.

Hardware output: The Hardware Output section shows fader strips for all MBOX hardware outputs.

Clicking to select an output shows the current levels and settings for that output mix. Fader caps change color to match that of the se- lected output. Double-clicking a channel strip collapses it to a narrow view, to conserve screen real estate. Double-click again to expand.
MBOX Control Software Overview 34
Hardware Outputs can be controlled from their fader strip controls (Trim, Volume, Mute, when available), and from the Monitor sec- tion. The following are available from output fader strips.

And that's it. I really can't see, where to find the information I am looking for: HOW to route in WHAT situation etc. I've stated this before. The MBox Studio manual is really really basic and amateurish from my point of view. To me it reeks of laziness and indifference.

How it works is really up to yourself to figure out or you have to know this setup prior to using it. There's literally no instructions what so ever and I have complaint about that. It's not a cheap device. No instructions in s/pdif routing or routing in general. The instructions of loopback is also lazy done and loopback doesn't work for me and others.

It's just really a huge disappointment investing in this unit. It checked all the boxes prior to purchase, but I'm left in a state of frustration over a big company can get away with doing something so lazy. It has the potential to be the best interface for a lot of people.

I'm sorry for this rant It's just when upgrading from a cheap setup to an expensive setup and all just becomes crap instead of joy, it kills the inspiration to make music.

That's why I was hoping someone had a Kemper and could say "do this, do this and then do this and then it works".

[Darryl Ramm]

Not the worlds greatest documentation, but it is describing software inputs, you set your dry track output to one of those. You then route that to a physical output using the output mixer.

The mixers provide meters so you can see where signals go. Use them to see what is going on.

I have already suggested you put a high level test signal on the dry track and just follow where it goes. I have already suggested you draw a picture of the signal flow to help yourself (and there is a diagram in the documentation).

There is nothing hard about working out what is going on if you stop whining about stuff and use basic troubleshooting skills you should have.

You have upgraded from a cheap interface to a slightly more complex setup and are not grasping the hardware routing in this interface, and maybe Totalmix in RME was the problem there. If you are totally lost on the hardware mixer one thing to do is just play with it at first with no DAW running and play routing say a mic input to headphones, and/or monitors and/or spdif outputs etc. This stuff takes a little getting used to, but you need to dive in and use it. High-end interfaces like Avid MTRX have much more sophisticated routing and monitor management controls.

[B_ryan]

While I appreciate you trying to help me, I cannot say that I appreciate being talked down to like a child or whatever. I admit that I find this difficult and I have tried to figure this stuff out for a long time - without any succes. When reaching out for help it's not like one is feeling awesome in this situation, where one is at the mercy of others. If an "expert" of a RME/Mac/Kemper setup could not figure it out for me, I feel pretty stuck. The RME and Mbox Studio seems pretty similar regarding how to route.

But I'm sorry....for someone to claim, that there's nothing hard about figuring this out, is only seeing the world from one perspective. To SOME....it IS hard. it may come as a surprise to you, but people aren't prone to possess knowledge equivalent to each other in all areas of life. And I'm not talking about it being hard to move levels on a mixer up and down and follow a signal. I'm talking about the situation, where this no longer makes sense; where one have lost the overview and where one is either missing something or looking into an abyss: e.i. something that cannot be done due to circumstances involving different parts not speaking well together. E.g. why is the metronome and midi tracks going to the Kemper, but not the track, that I've selected? I cannot figure that stuff out by pulling some levels in the Mbox Control. There's something else, that I am not getting.

And yes...it's describing the basics of what, what is. To some that is not enough. I.e. me for instance. I need a manual, where I can find information on all the stuff one can do and how to do it; not a help-yourself-guide.

Nevertheless....thank you for your attempt to help. Much appreciated and merry X-mas.

[uptheoctave]

Originally Posted by B_ryan

While I appreciate you trying to help me, I cannot say that I appreciate being talked down to like a child or whatever. I admit that I find this difficult and I have tried to figure this stuff out for a long time - without any succes. When reaching out for help it's not like one is feeling awesome in this situation, where one is at the mercy of others. If an "expert" of a RME/Mac/Kemper setup could not figure it out for me, I feel pretty stuck. The RME and Mbox Studio seems pretty similar regarding how to route.

But I'm sorry....for someone to claim, that there's nothing hard about figuring this out, is only seeing the world from one perspective. To SOME....it IS hard. it may come as a surprise to you, but people aren't prone to possess knowledge equivalent to each other in all areas of life. And I'm not talking about it being hard to move levels on a mixer up and down and follow a signal. I'm talking about the situation, where this no longer makes sense; where one have lost the overview and where one is either missing something or looking into an abyss: e.i. something that cannot be done due to circumstances involving different parts not speaking well together. E.g. why is the metronome and midi tracks going to the Kemper, but not the track, that I've selected? I cannot figure that stuff out by pulling some levels in the Mbox Control. There's something else, that I am not getting.

And yes...it's describing the basics of what, what is. To some that is not enough. I.e. me for instance. I need a manual, where I can find information on all the stuff one can do and how to do it; not a help-yourself-guide.

Nevertheless....thank you for your attempt to help. Much appreciated and merry X-mas.

I do sympathise, this is sometimes where youtube videos can help.

Could you film with your phone exactly what you are doing, show the signal flow, how you are routing in Pro Tools?

Often it is something simple, but as said already until you figure out the one thing that you've missed it will stump you.

In terms of the responsibility of the vendors to educate, that isn't how it works.

There is so much capability built into these devices and of all the various possibilities you are asking for a documented solution to your specific case. Which means that in order to do that they'd need to provide entire solutions for every single use case, using all the gear that is currently available in order to cover that off. Avid are pretty good at video content. Much better than some of the other vendors, but they can't do that.

Even when you do Avid certification (as I've done) you don't get that. You get a broad introduction to what you need to know and then you go away and figure out what you need. At the higher levels you get more specific but it doesn't include equipment from other vendors. Integrating equipment from multiple vendors to do specific jobs is where most people fall down because unless someone makes a tutorial video then you have to experiment and aggregate information from multiple places in the process.

One of the things I do is write articles for publication.
When deciding on content for some of it I look at forums and see what people are asking about and sometimes build content based on some of the current issues. For instance lately I've seen a lot of questions around the MTRX/MTRX Studio Thunderbolt card and managing sample rates. So I have some New Year content planned to address that.

On your issue, I'm a guitarist (amongst other things) and I have a Kemper, Axe FX III, FM9, some hardware amps and a few other devices. I will put a 'guide to reamping' on the roadmap for 2024 articles. This doesn't immediately answer your question today but I will get around to it fairly soon. I don't have an MBox Studio though, I'll be using an MTRX II.

Feel free to post the video I talked about before and I will try to take a look.
It is always harder to do via forums though- sometimes you need to either be physically in the room or at least on a video call to figure things out for people.

I am available for one-to-one tutorials via Zoom, but that is paid.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by B_ryan

While I appreciate you trying to help me,

So have you actually tried to help yourself by doing anything I have suggested?

Your dry track output is set to what? It is then routed in the mixer to what physical output? Some tracks are maybe not going to the physical outputs because they are not routed correctly in the mixer. That seems like the most likely cause so you test that hypothesis.... Is the problematic track meter showing a level in Pro Tools? Is that same level showing up in the HW mixer input? Is the mixer passing that to the output? Check at the output with something besides the Kempler. Put a high level test signal in the track to make it easy to see on the meters. If it works on other tracks what is different with their IO routing and corresponding settings in the mixer? Switch the IO output used by one of the tracks that does work with the track that does not... does the behavior follow the outputs or the tracks?

...These are the kind of things that you will have all the knowledge you need to do even if you don't deeply understand some part like the hardware mixer.

Draw a picture of the signal flow and post here (maybe start with diagram in the documentation, draw on top of that).

You need to do some work here, start simple and work out what is going on. Can be useful to draw signal flow diagrams... and mark on them where you have verified the signal flow, to take notes of testing, sometimes even write down the different hypothesis you want to check.