Kimera User Manual

1. Start here

Kimera is an audio effect for designing and playing a modeled guitar amplifier. Start from the factory Default design, listen in your host, and move to EDIT when you want to change the amplifier or build performance controls.

Insert Kimera as an audio effect in your host to design, save, and play modeled guitar amplifiers.

Make your first sound

Load the factory Default design, listen through your host, then save a copy before making larger changes.

1. Insert Kimera as an audio effect on a mono guitar or instrument track. Kimera accepts mono input and can provide mono or dual-mono stereo output, as selected in your host.
2. Connect or route the track to Kimera and start playback. A new instance loads the factory Default design in PLAY view.
3. Set your track and interface levels conservatively. Watch the input and output meters while you play.
4. Switch to EDIT to inspect the amplifier design. Change a simple control such as an amp knob, then return to PLAY and compare.
5. Use SAVE AS to create your own `.kim` file before making larger changes.

System requirements

Kimera runs on 64-bit macOS and Windows systems. For plug-in use, the host must also meet its own system requirements.

Activation and evaluation

A signed license enables licensed use; a 60-minute evaluation trial is available for each plug-in instance.

If Kimera has no valid license, its activation screen offers ACTIVATE and START 60 MIN TRIAL. To activate, paste the signed license text into the field and choose ACTIVATE. A successful activation is stored in the computer and is shared by other Kimera instances running in the same process.

When the trial time expires, the audio output is muted. The editor remains available so you can save your design.

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2. The interface

The top bar keeps preset, operating, and level controls available in both views. EDIT is the design workspace; PLAY is the performance workspace.

Kimera opens in PLAY on a new instance. Use the vertical EDIT/PLAY switch near the left side of the top bar to change views. Many hosts let you resize the plug-in window; use a larger size if controls or labels are difficult to read.

Shared controls

These controls remain available in both EDIT and PLAY and affect the active design or its signal level.

Adjust a trim by dragging or scrolling over its value. Click the value to type a number, press Enter to commit, or Escape to cancel. Trim values are part of the design and are stored in `.kim` files.

Signal chain

The model routes audio through four preamp stages, a movable tone stack, and a power amp.

The design contains four preamp stages, one tone stack, and one power amp. The tone stack can be placed after any of the four preamp stages. The input and output trims sit outside that modeled chain.

In EDIT, click a PRE I–PRE IV block name to choose which stage's DNA appears in the editor. Click a section's enable control to bypass or restore that section. Use the left and right arrows in the TONE block to move the tone stack. These settings change the design and are saved in `.kim` files.

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3. EDIT: build an amplifier

EDIT exposes the model's lower-level design controls. Change one parameter at a time, listen, and use the analysis plots as a visual aid rather than as a substitute for listening.

The left design area contains DNA controls and amp knobs. The signal chain sits directly below the top bar; the script editor is in the center and analysis plots are on the right. The design name and description can be edited in EDIT; they are read-only in PLAY.

DNA controls

DNA controls set the amplifier model's internal parameters. The interface shows normalized slider values and, where available, a converted physical-unit readout.

DNA is the model's set of 73 internal amplifier parameters. In the interface, each is shown as a normalized value from 0 to 100; the design file stores each as a byte from 0 to 255. Where the model defines physical units, Kimera also shows a converted readout such as Hz, kHz, dB, or volts. Frequency and some other controls use nonlinear mappings, so equal slider movements do not always mean equal physical increments.

Select one of the four preamp stages to edit its 11 parameters. The tone-stack section has 16 parameters, and the power amp has 13. Drag a slider or use the mouse wheel. Hold Shift or Ctrl while scrolling for finer wheel changes. Right-click a DNA slider to set its normalized value to 50%.

The three-dot menu for each DNA group applies a prepared configuration. For a preamp, it can clone all 11 values from another stage or apply Standard amplifier or Cold Cathode. The tone-stack menu applies its Default values. The power-amp menu applies Default or Transparent without gain. These operations replace the relevant DNA group, not the whole design.

Amp knobs

The seven amp knobs provide familiar, higher-level controls over the model. Scripts can expose any of them as a performance control.

The seven familiar amplifier controls are Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Master, Resonance, and Presence. Each is normalized from 0 to 100. In this model, the knobs interact with the internal DNA settings; they are not simply labels for independent, fixed hardware components.

A script can map a PLAY control to any of these seven knobs. When a script mapping actively drives a knob, its slider is tinted to indicate that it is mapped.

Sections and bypass gain

Enable or bypass each modeled stage, and compensate for the level change while a stage is bypassed.

Each of the four preamps, the tone stack, and the power amp can be enabled or bypassed. Each section also has a bypass compensation gain from −60 to +60 dB, used when that section is bypassed. This lets you compensate for a level change while comparing the section on and off.

Section enable states, compensation gains, and tone-stack position belong to the saved design. A script may also map a control to a section name to toggle it while performing.

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4. Control scripts

A control script defines the sliders and switches shown in PLAY and maps their positions to amplifier settings. Scripts are plain text stored with the `.kim` design.

The editor has line numbers, scrolling, cursor navigation, and clipboard shortcuts. It reports the first parse error and highlights the corresponding line. Right-click inside the editor for New blank script, Copy all, or Paste. An invalid script stays in the editor but its invalid mappings are not applied.

Declare sliders and switches

Declare continuous sliders or stepped switches, then attach one or more amplifier mappings to each control.

A slider has a continuous position from 0 to 100. A switch has two or more discrete positions. Names and optional switch labels are enclosed in double quotes. Blank lines and lines beginning with # are ignored.

slider : "Preamp brightness"

switch,3: "Tightness", "Loose", "Normal", "Tight"

Switch labels are optional, but if supplied there must be one non-empty quoted label for every position. Without labels, the interface uses numbered positions. Each control can have multiple mappings.

Targets and formulas

Mappings translate a control position into a DNA value, amp knob value, or section enable state.

Write each mapping as target = expression on a line after its control declaration. Supported targets are dna0 through dna72, the seven amp knob names, and the section names preamp1 through preamp4, tonestack, and poweramp.

Slider formulas may use x (the slider position, 0–100), numeric constants, parentheses, unary plus/minus, and +, -, *, /, and ^. Division by zero and non-finite results are rejected. DNA and amp-knob results are bounded to their supported 0–100 range before application. A mapped section is enabled when its result is greater than zero and bypassed when its result is zero or less.

For a switch mapping, give one numeric expression per switch position, separated by commas. Switch expressions are constants; they cannot use x. The first number corresponds to the first position, the second to the second, and so on.

MIDI CC assignments

Assign an incoming MIDI Control Change number to a script control to operate it from a MIDI device.

Place a line such as [cc3] after a control declaration to assign MIDI Control Change 3 to that control. CC numbers range from 0 to 127. A control can have one CC assignment, and the same CC may be assigned to more than one control. Kimera reads incoming MIDI CC messages and maps them over the slider's 0–100 range or into equal switch-position buckets.

Worked script: brightness and tightness

This example combines a continuous mapping, a direct amp-knob mapping, and a three-position switch.

This script raises the selected preamp's color frequency across a range, exposes a direct Gain control, and assigns three modes to a switch:

slider : "Preamp brightness"
[cc3]
dna1 = x / 100 * 25 + 75

slider : "Gain"
gain = x

switch,3: "Tightness", "Loose", "Normal", "Tight"
[cc5]
dna8 = 35, 50, 75

Here x runs from 0 to 100 for the slider. The formula maps that sweep from 75 to 100. The switch writes 35, 50, or 75 to dna8. Remember that the DNA name is an internal model parameter; the nearby DNA reference explains which group it belongs to.

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5. PLAY: perform with a design

PLAY hides the detailed model editor and presents the controls declared by the design's script. It is intended for performance and quick changes without exposing the underlying amplifier settings.

Operate script controls

Adjust the controls the design author chose to make available for performance.

Each script slider or switch appears as a row with its name, control, and current value. Drag a slider across its track or choose a switch segment. Right-click a slider to set it to 50%; this shortcut does not apply to switches. When there are more controls than fit, scroll the list or drag its scrollbar.

Use incoming MIDI

MIDI CC assignments in the script operate the same sliders and switches shown on screen.

Incoming MIDI CCs assigned in the script can change the same controls. Input/output trims, meters, theme, global ON/OFF, oversampling, and preset controls remain available. The design name and description are displayed but cannot be edited in PLAY.

Empty control page

An empty or unapplied script leaves PLAY with no performance controls to show.

If the script contains no controls, PLAY displays This amp does not have user controls. Switch back to EDIT to write or repair the script.

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6. Analysis plots

The five plots provide analysis views of the current amplifier design. They can help compare stages and parameter changes, but they do not replace listening through a guitar, host, and monitoring chain.

Choose a plot

Show only the analysis views you need; the visible plots divide the available plot-panel height.

Use the plot buttons to show or hide plots. Visible plots share the available vertical space. Data is recalculated as relevant DNA and knob values change.

1. Preamp linear: four traces, one for each preamp stage.
2. Preamp nonlinear: input/output waveshaper traces for the four preamp stages.
3. Tone stack: four responses for Bass/Mid/Treble at 0%, 100%, 50%, and the current knob settings.
4. Power amp linear: response including modeled filtering and resonance/presence settings.
5. Power amp nonlinear: input/output waveshaper response.

Linear plots show frequency in Hz and magnitude in dB over the supported part of 20 Hz–20 kHz. Nonlinear plots show input and output voltage. Plots autoscale. Zoom and scroll are not implemented.

Copy or compare data

Export the displayed traces or load a reference dataset to compare against a measurement or another design.

Right-click a plot to copy its currently displayed traces as labeled comma-separated x,y rows, or load a reference dataset. If a reference is loaded, the menu can hide/show or remove it. Visible references use a distinct trace and affect autoscaling.

Reference text files need at least two numeric points. Separate the two columns with commas, semicolons, tabs, or spaces. One optional text header row is accepted, as are blank lines and comment lines beginning with #. Rows are sorted by x value after loading.

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7. Design files and sessions

A `.kim` file is a portable, human-readable JSON design document. Your DAW session stores a separate snapshot of the complete design so it can restore the sound even if the original file moves.

Preset browser

Browse factory or user designs by name, or step through the selected collection one preset at a time.

Factory and User collections are available from either view. Use FACTORY or USER to choose a collection. The previous/next buttons wrap at the end of the list. The position counter shows the selected item and total count. Click the filename or count to open the current collection's preset list; its first, disabled row identifies the collection.

Factory presets are bundled with the plug-in. User presets are found in the operating system's Documents folder under Kimera/Presets. On Windows, the Documents path follows the OS-known Documents location; on Linux, Kimera checks the XDG user-directories setting and otherwise uses ~/Documents. Open the folder in Finder, File Explorer, or your desktop's file manager to browse its designs.

The browser lists valid `.kim` files alphabetically by displayed design name. Files that cannot be read or decoded are silently omitted. When a collection is unavailable or empty, the filename area displays No preset folder or Preset folder empty, while a blank design can still be edited and saved.

Open and create

Load an existing `.kim` design or start a blank design that you can edit and save.

OPEN loads any `.kim` file selected in the file dialog. A file inside the Factory or User preset directory is associated with that collection; a file opened from another location is treated as a standalone design and does not get a collection position.

NEW switches to the User collection and starts a blank, unsaved design after resolving any modified-design prompt. It does not select an existing preset. The active design name and description are editable in EDIT. Empty fields show placeholders.

Saving and change prompts

Save updates a writable current design; Save As creates a copy at a location you choose.

SAVE updates the current saved design or User preset. It is disabled when a factory preset is selected. SAVE AS opens a file dialog with a suggested filename based on the design name. Its initial folder depends on the selected collection; the dialog permits the user to choose another destination.

A `*` beside the preset file icon indicates that the design differs from its loaded or saved baseline. Kimera checks the design values, including its name and description, DNA, knobs, enabled sections, bypass compensation, tone-stack position, trims, and script. If an action would replace a modified design, a prompt offers save, discard, or cancel. For a modified factory design saved as a copy through that prompt, the dialog starts in the User Presets folder.

DAW session recall

The host session keeps an instance-specific design snapshot and performance state for reliable project recall.

DAW state stores the complete active design, Player control positions, oversampling ratio, global amplifier enable, EDIT/PLAY view, selected collection, preset identity, and modified-state baseline. Each plug-in instance can therefore hold its own design. The embedded design snapshot is authoritative during restore, even if the source `.kim` file has moved or been deleted.

Theme is a user-level preference, not a per-instance design setting. Reference curves, plot visibility, editor layout, and live audio filter history are not stored in the DAW session. DNA and amp-model controls are not exposed as host automation parameters; use incoming MIDI CC assignments for script controls.

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8. Troubleshooting

Use this section to distinguish expected behavior from problems and find the relevant control or setting.

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9. Reference

This section collects the model's DNA groups, saved-file contents, and terms used elsewhere in the manual.

DNA map

Use the index ranges to find each parameter group or address a parameter from a script.

Each DNA row has an index used by scripts (`dna0`–`dna72`). The UI groups the values as follows. Frequency ranges and units depend on the parameter; the live interface shows the model's physical-value conversion where one is defined.

Preamp cloning copies all 11 indexed values from one stage to another. The prepared DNA menus use model-owned preset arrays for the Standard amplifier, Cold Cathode, default tone stack, default power amp, and Transparent without gain power amp.

Script target names

Use these exact names when a script mapping targets a model value or section.

`.kim` file contents

A `.kim` file stores the portable design and Player-control positions, while the DAW session stores instance state.

A `.kim` file is UTF-8 JSON with the Kimera design format identifier and version. It contains the design name, author, creation timestamp, description, DNA bytes, amp knobs, section enabled states, bypass gains, tone-stack position, input/output trims, script, and saved Player control positions. Unknown extra fields are ignored; malformed required fields or invalid values cause the file to be rejected without partially applying it.

Oversampling, global amplifier enable, selected UI view, selected preset identity, and comparison baseline are instance/session state and are stored in the DAW state envelope, not in `.kim`. Theme is a user preference. Plot references are temporary editor data.

Glossary

Short definitions for terms used throughout this manual.

DNA

The 73-byte parameter sequence used to configure the modeled amplifier stages.

Design

A saved Kimera amplifier configuration, typically stored as a `.kim` file.

Factory preset

A `.kim` design packaged with Kimera.

User preset

A `.kim` design stored in the user's Kimera preset folder.

Baseline

The design values used as the comparison point for the modified `*` marker.

dBFS

Decibels relative to digital full scale; 0 dBFS is the maximum nominal digital level.

Oversampling

Running the amplifier model at a multiple of the host sample rate, then converting back to the host rate.

MIDI CC

A MIDI Control Change message, numbered 0–127, that can be assigned to a script control.

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10. Copyright, licensing, and legal notices

Kimera's original product materials belong to Signal Domain ApS, except for identified third-party components. The evaluation and paid-use permissions are summarized below.

The permissions described below apply to evaluation and paid use of Kimera; they do not transfer ownership of the software.

Copyright and ownership

The product and original materials are attributed to Signal Domain ApS, which also uses the registered name Joe Simon Audio.

Copyright © 2026 Signal Domain ApS. Joe Simon Audio is a registered secondary business name (binavn) of the same legal entity. The Kimera name and the original Kimera application, GeneticAmplifier model, interface design, and product materials are proprietary to Signal Domain ApS, except for third-party components identified below. Copyright notices do not transfer ownership of Kimera to a user.

Evaluation and paid use

The evaluation license lets you try Kimera for a limited time. A paid license is perpetual for the version purchased and is assigned to one person.

The evaluation period is 60 minutes per plug-in instance. When it expires, that instance's audio is muted; you can still save your design. You may use audio you create with Kimera, including during evaluation, in personal or commercial projects without royalties or attribution to Signal Domain ApS.

A paid license is for the named licensee and may be used on multiple computers owned or controlled by that person. It has no device-count or concurrent-use limit. The licensee may not share or resell the software or license key. A license may be transferred if the original licensee stops using Kimera and removes their copies.

The paid license does not expire for the version purchased. Updates within that version are included. A later major version may be offered separately. For product and license information, visit kimera.dk.

If you request a refund from Signal Domain ApS within 14 days of purchase, we will refund the purchase price without requiring a reason. This refund policy is in addition to any mandatory consumer rights and does not limit them. Where a consumer's statutory withdrawal right applies to digital content, any exception for starting delivery early requires the consent, acknowledgement, and confirmation prescribed by applicable law.

Third-party components

Some code and fonts shipped with Kimera are licensed by their own copyright holders and are not owned by Signal Domain ApS.

• iPlug2: Kimera is built using the iPlug2 plug-in framework. iPlug2 and the third-party libraries it incorporates are subject to their own notices and license conditions.
• Iosevka fonts: distributed under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1.
• Roboto: distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
• TweetNaCl: the license-verification source is based on TweetNaCl, which its authors place in the public domain; Kimera's copy has been trimmed and modified.

Third-party components remain subject to their respective license terms. Those terms take precedence for the component they cover. The accompanying THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt file lists the components included in Kimera and reproduces their applicable license notices.

Intended use and legal rights

Kimera is a creative audio tool, not a safety system. This caution is not a blanket waiver of responsibility or user rights.

Kimera is not designed, certified, or intended for medical, emergency, safety-critical, or life-critical operation. Keep backups of important designs and projects, and set audio levels safely when testing amplifier models.

Nothing in this manual or the applicable license terms limits a consumer or other legal right that cannot lawfully be limited. Keep backups of important work and check audio output before using it in a project.

Consumer purchases

Purchase terms explain the seller, total price, delivery, compatibility, and consumer rights before an order is placed.

Consumer purchases are covered by the mandatory consumer-protection laws that apply to the buyer and seller. For online digital content in the European Union, consumers generally have a 14-day right to withdraw. If delivery starts during that period, the right to withdraw is lost only when the consumer expressly agrees to immediate delivery, acknowledges that this means losing the right to withdraw, and receives the required confirmation of the contract. Before ordering, review the seller's identity and contact details, total price, payment and delivery information, product functionality and compatibility, and applicable withdrawal and refund terms.

Company contact

Use the company contact details below for product inquiries.

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