Kemper KPA Rig Manager
Rig Manager is a PC/Mac software program from Kemper that connects to the KPA via USB. I highly recommend using it, as it sidesteps the more cumbersome method of importing rigs via a USB flash drive to audition them. Download it here.
Contents
Basics
Rig Manager mainly consists of three vertical panes. The left-most one contains a tree-view of KPA rig sources. These can be Rig Manager's local library folders, the Rig Exchange, your KPA itself, or KPA backup files. Clicking on any of these items will show a grid of rigs in the middle pane.
The middle pane's grid shows several columns of pertinent information for each rig, such as the rig name its modification date as well as several of the rig's tags like Amp and Cabinet. Which columns are displayed can be changed by right-clicking on the header row, and the rigs can be sorted by clicking on any column header. Typing into the search box in the upper right corner will filter the list of rigs to display only rigs that contain that text in one of their tags. It cannot be narrowed to any single column, so be careful about false positives. For example, typing "Mesa" will not only return rigs based on Mesa/Boogie amps, but also those that used a Mesa/Boogie cabinet or boost pedal. Also, tags are free-form text with no guarantee that the rig's author correctly populated them - one author may use "MB" while another uses "Boogie" and searching "Mesa" will not grab either author's rigs.
The right pane shows all the tags of the selected rigs and allows you to edit (most of) them. Be careful when editing - normal tab and arrow keys can behave somewhat different than you may be used to.
Loading Rigs
Rig Manager can not only copy rigs to and from your KPA, but load rigs as a "preview". You simply highlight the rig in the middle pane and press space-bar or double-click it. Once you've loaded a preview rig, you can use your computer's left/right arrows to load the previous/next rig in the middle pane.
Rig Exchange Connectivity
Rig Manager can connect to Kemper's Rig Exchange, so that the entire Rig Exchange library is at your finger-tips. You no longer need to download the rig file from Kemper's site, copy it to a USB drive, plug the USB drive into the KPA, and choose to import. You just click Rig Exchange in the left pane, select the rig you want to load in the middle pane, and double-click or press space bar to load it. The rig is not actually stored onto your KPA - if you decide you don't want to keep the rig, there is no need to manually delete it. Once you load another rig, the temporary copy of the rig is gone.
Organizing
Rig Manager makes organizing rigs much, much easier. Everything is drag and drop. If you find a rig from the Rig Exchange you want to load onto your KPA, you just drag the rig from the middle pane onto the KPA item in the left pane. You can create a hierarchy of local library folders in the left pane (right-click on the parent folder and choose to add a new folder). Then you can drag-drop rigs from the Rig Exchange, your KPA, a backup file, or other local library folders into that folder. You can hold Ctrl to copy the rig instead of moving it.
You can also drag and drop rigs in and out of Rig Manager. So if you downloaded some rigs and they're on your desktop, you just select them like any file and drag-drop them into the appropriate folder/item in the left hand pane of Rig Manager. You can also highlight multiple rigs from the center pane and drag them onto your desktop or some other folder on your computer, and it will create .kipr file copies for those rigs in that folder.
You can also condense and organize backups. Using the File > Import menu, you can select a .kpabackup file (most likely still on your USB drive) and it will appear as its own item in the left hand pane. Do this for all your backups, and copy all the rigs into a folder in your local library. If the same rig is saved in multiple backups, it should only appear once - Rig Manager detects 100% duplicates and does not import them. However, if you had tweaked the rig, so that there were different settings even with the same rig name between backups, you'll see all the multiples in your local folder. Now you can look at the last modification date and A/B them and delete outdated versions.
My Organization Method
I make folders on my computer for the following types of rigs, and I make corresponding local library folders in rig manager:
- Commercial Raw - unmodified copies of commercial profiles
- Commercial Mod - commercial profiles that I've modified
- Free Raw - unmodified copies of free profiles (packs posted to the forums, vendors' free samples, Kemper downloadable content)
- Free Mod - free profiles that I've modified
- Favorites - my personal favorite profiles, whether commercial/free or modified/unmodified
- Sub-Rig Exchange - Copies of great one-off profiles on the Rig Exchange that I want access to if I ever lose internet connectivity
In my computer file system, I break down commercial and free profiles by a level of sub-folders for author/vendor, then in each of those another level for each pack or amp. In Rig Manager, I don't go to that level of detail. I prefer to be able to copy my entire "Free Raw" or "Commercial Raw" folders into the corresponding folders in Rig Manager, and all sub-folders in my file system are imported - if the files already exist in Rig Manager, they are not duplicated. If I need to find a particular vendor or amp in Rig Manager, I simply use the search functionality.
I also keep these folders in my Dropbox folder, so they are available on every computer I use that syncs with Dropbox.
Quirks
Rig Manager does have some quirks, addressed below:
- Rig Manager's Local Library does not correspond to like-named folders or files in your computer's file system. It is actually a database that is stored as a single file. For Windows, it is stored in C:\Users\<username>\App Data\Roaming\Kemper\ . If you are using Rig Manager on several PC's and need to keep them in sync, you have to copy this file back and forth every time you make changes, which can be a hassle. To avoid this, I create a symbolic link for that folder on each computer to re-route it to a Dropbox folder.
- While Rig Manager makes auditioning profiles much easier, it does not make editing them much easier (outside of changing tags). There are no controls in Rig Manager to edit parameters or save changes. If you load a rig from a local library folder, you must tweak it using the KPA's controls. Once finished, you must use the KPA's Store button to save the rig, which will save it to the KPA itself. You need to then choose your KPA in the left-hand pane, find the rig you just saved, drag-drop it back into the local library folder, then find the old version of the rig in that local library folder and delete it.
- If you have your KPA selected in the left-hand pane and use Store As on the KPA to store a new rig, the stored rig will not automatically populate in the center pane's grid. You have to select another item, such as Rig Exchange, then select your KPA again to see it.
- Sometimes double-clicking a rig does not load it. I find using the space bar to be more reliable.
- The grid columns you have chosen to view are not persistent when exiting and re-entering Rig Manager.
- If you leave Rig Manager open for a long period of time, it will lose its connection to the Rig Exchange and you will not see any new rigs appear. You have to close and re-open the program.
- The Local Library is limited to a folder depth of 3. Once you are 3 levels deep, you cannot add child folders.
- Rig Manager cannot import amp, cab, or stomp/effect presets. Currently, this causes the program to hang, preventing you from importing rigs in the same folder.
- When you import rigs from your computer, Rig Manager actually creates its own copy of the rigs. Any changes made to these rigs will not be reflected in the original files. They must be exported from Rig Manager to get the modified .kipr files. KPA rigs on your KPA or on the USB stick connected to your KPA are directly edited, however.
- Rig Manager will not import any rigs if the entire file path containing the rig files has an "illegal" character (which is rare). The most well-known example of this was Till's Chimera pack. The apostrophe in the zip file name contained an acute accent character instead of an apostrophe, and if unzipped to a folder of the same name, they will not import. Note: if the file path is C:\FolderA\IllegalFolderName\FolderB\ and you drag-drop FolderB, it still won't work - it doesn't matter if the illegal character is above or below the folder you're importing - the entire path cannot contain a single illegal character.
- Rig Manager cannot import rigs that are inside of an zip (or other format) archive. Unzip them, then import.
Owner Name and Favorites
If you incorrectly enter your "owner name" when setting up Rig Manager, you will notice that none of the rigs are correctly marked as your favorites. Follow the steps below to make sure you enter the correct owner name:
- On your KPA, open the System block. On page 1/9 press "Show Tag". Here you'll can find (and edit) the KPA Owner name.
- When you run the software for the first time, you will be asked to provide not only your login ID/password, but your "author name" - this is the same as your owner name in the KPA. You can change this info anytime going to File > Preferences.
Be aware that Owner/Author Name is case sensitive. Type it exactly like it is on your Profiler! If you ever change your name on the Profiler, make sure you change it in RigManager as well!